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Sylvia Plath, now regarded as one of the most important poets of the twentieth century, committed suicide on the morning of 11 February 1963 in London.
Unfortunately, this recent "woke" documentary attempts to tell Plath's story through the lens of current, smug feministic revisionism, portraying her struggles as those of an archetypal Everywoman -- especially in the repressive1950s, when the world "was a great place for men" (btw: male suicides have always been greater in number by at least 4-to-1). It's predictable, but this approach just trivializes what her haunted, internal life was like and what she had to say about it... And to have her words read in contemporary vocal fry is enough to get her to stick her head in an oven had she not already done so.
Some people "close" to her, including friends and family members, are interviewed, and the doc makes effective use of period street footage. So it's competent enough. But the tone is just a trifle wrong-headed --- but it couldn't be done in any other way nowadays. And that's a shame.
But this isn't new. Plath's suicide has always been misperceived and misinterpreted and even romanticized by later generations (mostly women) to mean what they want it to.
It should be pointed out that her semi-autobiographical novel, "The Bell Jar," has one of the most effective first-person, internal monologue narratives of any book ever written, with all its angsty, claw-your-neck precision... That said, the 1979 movie version is horrid, and not in a good way, so please don't watch it --- and if you do, you're only killing Sylvia one more time.
Unfortunately, this recent "woke" documentary attempts to tell Plath's story through the lens of current, smug feministic revisionism, portraying her struggles as those of an archetypal Everywoman -- especially in the repressive1950s, when the world "was a great place for men" (btw: male suicides have always been greater in number by at least 4-to-1). It's predictable, but this approach just trivializes what her haunted, internal life was like and what she had to say about it... And to have her words read in contemporary vocal fry is enough to get her to stick her head in an oven had she not already done so.
Some people "close" to her, including friends and family members, are interviewed, and the doc makes effective use of period street footage. So it's competent enough. But the tone is just a trifle wrong-headed --- but it couldn't be done in any other way nowadays. And that's a shame.
But this isn't new. Plath's suicide has always been misperceived and misinterpreted and even romanticized by later generations (mostly women) to mean what they want it to.
It should be pointed out that her semi-autobiographical novel, "The Bell Jar," has one of the most effective first-person, internal monologue narratives of any book ever written, with all its angsty, claw-your-neck precision... That said, the 1979 movie version is horrid, and not in a good way, so please don't watch it --- and if you do, you're only killing Sylvia one more time.
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