Lady Bird's glaring white mediocrity

Neither this film nor its protagonist are remarkable. And still, the critics fawn.

'Lady Bird.'
(Image credit: Merie Wallace, courtesy of A24)

Lady Bird, a movie so popular it has made history as Rotten Tomatoes' best-reviewed movie ever, focuses on the life of the titular Lady Bird, whose given name is Christine. Lady Bird, who crafts a persona of alternative artsiness with her name, dyed hair, and awkwardness passing as weirdness, is the heroine of this coming of age tale. Critics have lavished praise on the film and its writer/director, Greta Gerwig, calling it "big-screen perfection" and "exquisite." The problem with Lady Bird isn't so much that it's a bad movie, but that, like its protagonist, it's not a terribly remarkable one.

Lady Bird, who finds it "ridiculous" that people just accept the names their parents give them, struggles throughout this movie to find something unique about herself. She has, for better or for worse, an ordinary, fairly good life — a stable middle-class family, good schooling, and seemingly good mental health (aside, of course, from the first scene, where she literally jumps out of a car mid-argument with her mother). She is surrounded by people less privileged than her, yet she still feels like she has been dealt the lesser hand. Her personal drive for uniqueness and imperviousness to outside issues is often aggravatingly solipsistic.

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Aditi Natasha Kini

Aditi Natasha Kini is a writer and artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Aditi's writing often examines pop culture through the lens of intersectional feminism, collective knowledge, and power. Aditi holds a B.A. in psychology and writing, and an M.A.L.S., from Wesleyan University.