« Media: Bruce Willis interview | Main | John Lott defends "More Guns, Less Crime" studies »
PBS series on Annie Oakley
Just was informed PBS should be running tonight (Monday) a documentary on Annie Oakley, entitled "Annie Oakley: Little Miss Sure-Shot." I don't have schedule information, so consult your local source.
This is the documentary that Riva Friefeld has been working on, for several years. Don Kates just emailed me a review in the NY Times (can't find it online yet) that praises it with NY Times-type reluctance, beginning "Plenty of women accomplished plenty of things in the first century or so of United States history, so it's a little dismaying to think that the country's first female superstar was famous not for her voice or her musicianship or her brain, but for her ability to shoot firearms accurately. Yet tonight's installment of "American Experience" on PBS makes the case that Annie Oakley was the first American woman whose fame and knack for spawning legends (a close cousin of gossip) qualified as superstardom."
Comments
Here's a link to whole review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/08/arts/television/08oakl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
After sniffing his distaste for the sport a couple of times, the reviewer at least goes on to praise the show.
I saw the show, and found it inspiring and very moving. One could do much worse than to aspire to be more like Annie Oakley.
Posted by: juliesa at May 9, 2006 06:47 PM
Let me get this straight. The NYT is disturbed that a woman became a superstar not for her looks or for performing on stage but because she could do something that usually men do but she was able to do it better? Hey, everybody, the NYT is engaging in sexist stereotyping!
Posted by: Windy Wilson at May 10, 2006 12:30 PM
Precisely, Windy. And I think a great markswoman is a much better role model for kids than a hootchie-cootchie like Madonna or Britny.
Posted by: juliesa at May 10, 2006 07:14 PM