Daisy Eagan on Ben Brantley's OF MICE AND MEN Review- Page 2

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 8:19pm

This does not excuse it, but Brantley tends to use "we" in his reviews all the time, so I do chalk it up as to a lazy habit on his part.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 8:37pm

Sorry, Daisy.

My reading of Brantley's review was very different than yours. I don't see his review as endorsing the choice to present Curley's wife as not slatternly and not provocative because if she had been presented that way some people might have concluded that she was "asking for it," much less that if she had been presented as slatternly and provocative such a conclusion would have been warranted.

Here's what Brantley said:

"Then there’s Curley’s wife, who is said to be a slatternly, provocative sex kitten. The glamorous, pencil-thin Ms. Meester (of “Gossip Girl” fame, and not embarrassing) provides no evidence of being anything of the kind.

Given the grim events that eventually befall her character, this may have been a conscious choice. We don’t want to be left thinking, “Well, she was asking for it.” But “Of Mice and Men” presents such a fatalistic canvas to begin with that you have to feel some crackle of resistance to the destiny that grinds these folks down."

My take is that Brantley was saying only this:

a) that he found it odd that a character who is said to be slatternly and provocative was portrayed as neither
b) that perhaps that was a conscious choice so as to preclude anyone in the audience from concluding that she "was asking for it," (without in any way justifying that conlusion) and
c) something fairly unintelligible about how this choice was out of synch with a work which requires us to feel a crackle of resistance to the tragic forces of fate (what this has to do with Meester's not playing the character as slatternly or provocative, I haven't a clue but I don't see how it any way endorses the sexist view that slatternly provocative women want to be raped, molested, harassed or assaulted).

Updated On: 4/22/14 at 08:37 PM