Rhonda Garelick in The New York Times:
It feels fitting right now to think about the power of anger in the face of injustice.
I think most men would be amazed by the amount of low-lying rage that simmers in the background of many women’s lives. I’m talking about the anger at avoiding street harassment, trying to comply with irrational beauty standards, the disproportionate burdens of family life, the loss of reproductive freedom, the struggle for equitable pay and, of course, the ever-present threat of attack. From childhood, girls are taught to wonder: Am I safe? But in the zeal to protect us from harm, we are rarely taught how to express the anger we might feel at having to be so damned careful all the time.
In the weeks leading up to the midterms, Netflix offered us Zoe Kazan’s “East of Eden,” a seven-part meditation on an extreme, unchecked expression of — specifically female — anger. It was bracing and, in a way, perhaps prescient. “East of Eden,” based on John Steinbeck’s classic 1952 novel, prompts us to consider a still-shocking proposition: What if a woman sought revenge for her own oppression? What if she resorted to violence, with no concern for morality or law or consequences? How would we view her fury?
More here.
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