Happy 151st Birthday Beatrix Potter: A Feminist Before There was a Name for Feminists #book2movies
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Happy 151st Birthday Beatrix!
Seeing how some of you are looking forward to next year's star-studded live action/animated Peter Rabbit starring Domhnall Gleeson as Mr. McGregor and Rose Byrne as Bea with the voices of James Corden as Peter Rabbit along with Margot Robbie, Rose Byrne and Daisy Ridley, I thought I'd pay tribute to Peter's creator Beatrix Potter by sharing the trailer for Miss Potter from 2005.
Labeled a proto-feminist (a feminist before the movement was born) Beatrix Potter was a self taught naturalist, painter and artist. After writing a paper called On the Germination of the Spores of Agaricineae which was rejected by the all male Linnean Society—probably because she was a woman—Miss Potter seems to have turned more seriously to her drawing and painting efforts.
I love this photograph of Beatrix with her brother, Bertram
When her first Peter Rabbit book—based on illustrated letters she wrote to the children of her governess—was also rejected, she decided to publish it herself in 1902. She was in her mid-30's at the time.
When the book did well, Potter returned to the publisher who agreed to take it on if she would add some color to the pages, which she did. Here we are, over 114 years after she created the classic still reading Beatrix Potter' creation The Adventures of Peter Rabbit to our kids and grandkids. Not bad for a girl.
Look, I'll be honest Miss Potter starring Rene Zelwegger and Ewan McGregor didn't exactly get raves when it was released in 2006. The New York Times called it too nice for its own good and called Zelwegger's accent into question, scorning her chipper Mary Poppin's behavior. On the plus side, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated her for a Golden Globe, the movie also stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson and is set in England. What else could an an British-born Anglophile desire?
You can catch Miss Potter on Showtime On Demand, YouTube, iTunes, GooglePlay, Vudu, & Amazon. Connect with fellow Anglophiles at Joy's British Isles Friday meme.
