Wild Nights with Emily (2018)

The thing with biopics is that sometimes, they are too serious for their own good. But this one, with its Drunk History approach, does not for a second become preachy, even as it drives home some hard-hitting truths about the nature of patriarchy and heteronormativity in our societies.

Not gonna lie, I was really uncomfortable in that scene where Emily meets Higginson to show him her poetry, and he goes off on a self-congratulatory little speech about what a great feminist he is. Of course the movie mocks him, but it was uncomfortable because in a time and place far, far away from Emily's, so many men that I have met have been Higginsons. Really makes one question the nature of progress of our movements.

Oh, and after the movie ended, I hurled the choicest of abusive words at Mrs. Mabel Todd (ugh, I can't even type her name without cringing). And yes, as fun and Drunk History-esque the rest of the movie was, the ending left me with an acute sense of discomfort and foreboding. Even though I know exactly how history treated Emily Dickinson, having studied her for my English Literature degree in college.

Watch it, for Emily Dickinson. And then go read her poems, if you haven't already. 

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