Nora Ephron: No Mere Chick
The Atlantic made a serious error of fact and tone yesterday in remembering writer Nora Ephron, one of the sharpest wits and brightest lights of her generation. She died at 71 Tuesday in her habitat, Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
An associate editor at The Atlantic, Eleanor Barkhorn, characterized her contribution as making “chickflicks for everyone.” Glib and wrong. It puts Ephron in a corner of the room of one’s own, and her talent is much bigger than that.
Such a “tribute” shortchanges the consequence and weight of Ephron’s contribution to the culture at large, which she was forever leavening and enlightening. The word “chick” should not be used anywhere near her name.
I am here to say so since she’s gone. Barkhorn may not grasp that “chick” is a demeaning term for women, like “boy” for black men. Sadly, I am not surprised the Atlantic’s editors, a masthead top-heavy with men, did not catch this.
Nora Ephron’s genius in movies was obviously in romantic comedies, unforgettable ones. But if you ever read her novel, if you ever read her brilliant musing essays on the human condition, inspired always by her observations of life as she lived it, then you wouldn’t be so quick to make that mistake. SHE WAS AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL. And she had a sharp feminist antennae. I know, because I saw it in action at a Writers Guild awards dinner when she noticed from the podium that all dozen writers for Jon Stewart were young men in his image. And she called him on it, right then and there, in front of the whole gathering. Viva the piquant Nora!
Share this article
You might also like:
Comments
Latest Posts
Tumblr to Yahoo: Make My Day
May 17th, 2013Is the social blogging site Tumblr about to sell out?
Ad Week’s Mike Shields has the story that Tumblr has been having negotiations about being acquired by Yahoo.
As Shields reports, a deal could make sense for both companies:
“Yahoo is in serious talks with Tumblr to acquire the social blogging site, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks. The deal is not done, but could reach as high as $1 billion, Adweek has learned. Allthingsd.com was first to report on the talks between the two companies.”
Trial By Facebook: A Dangerous Virtual Path
May 17th, 2013I’m a criminal for being a woman, a journalist and someone with the temerity to walk into a bar.
In a fascinating study of both Facebook and freedom, Amnesty International New Zealand launched “Trial by Facebook,” which examines your profile, scours your timeline and “interrogates” yourfriends to find out what you’d be punished for posting, all around the
world. The app came out several months ago, but it’s been making waves
online this week.
Using my own Facebook page as a guinea pig, I found myself convicted 161 times, in 73 countries, for 13 crimes. Literally dodging a bullet, the
contents of my profiles weren’t tawdry enough to get me beheaded or shot dead, but I would be killed by extremists 22 times, sexually assaulted 16 times, imprisoned 58 times and beaten 73 times–and that’s just the beginning of the terror.
Google Plus Pointers, Twitter Fools
May 16th, 2013Tatiana Aders of Social Media News has made my day. If you don’t quite get how to use Google Plus, help is here:
“Google Plus has some of the most robust posting & sharing capabilities of any social network. From rich snippets to photo editing to individual circles, there are so many features that can make your post stand out from the pack. Here are some highlights from a cheat sheet that I built to get the most out of Google Plus posts.”
LinkedIn’s Latest Edict: Hookers Not Welcome
May 16th, 2013Attention ladies of the night and other interested parties: LinkedIn is taking a harder stance against prostitution.
As Mashable noted this week, the job-networking site has altered the language of its user agreement to expressly prohibit people from promoting escort services or prostitution on its pages.
Amy’s Baking Co. Social Media TIRADE
May 15th, 2013Amy should have stuck to baking.
The owners of Amy’s Baking Co. suffered what can only be described as an online meltdown after being pummeled on social media sites. And we’re normally sympathetic to anyone who gets beaten up by the mob.
But Amy and Samy Bouglazo poured kerosene on the digital fire.
