When I’m really pissed off, reviews write themselves. From my commentary on The Princess Diaries and Ghost World:

This is what's wrong with the world:

Slipping girls a bubble-gummy, cinematic adaptation of YM magazine is okay -- and gets you a G rating as long as no one uses any naughty words -- because the fact that a girl's worth is based strictly on her appearance is undeniable fact, and it's the kind of thing our daughters need to learn if they've any hope of snagging a date-raping football-player boyfriend in high school. Fine fare for the whole family.

Telling girls that being different is its own reward is bad -- and gets you an R rating for a little under-the-covers nookie and language no worse than kids hear in school -- because everyone knows that only losers don't worship at the altar of our mass-marketed, homogenized culture. Where would the cosmetics industry be if girls and women were not obsessed with their pores? It'd be anarchy, or economic collapse at the very least, and we can't have that.

• review of The Princess Diaries and Ghost World, posted 08.02.01

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