Pretty miffed! Barry Norman blasts back at claims that he’s a sexist
BEING critical is Barry Norman’s job. But now the veteran film reviewer is facing some critics of his own. Readers have taken him to task over his weekly film review column in the Radio Times, saying it is sexist, misogynistic and stuck in the past.
They pointed to his recent review of 1990 movie Pretty Woman in which he described Julia Roberts’s character as an ‘archetypal tart with a heart’ and ‘every man’s dream hooker’.
But Norman, 79, insisted he was
‘He needs to move on’
merely describing how the movie depicted women rather than expressing his own views.
‘God Almighty, what is the matter with these people?’ he said.
In the Pretty Woman review he wrote: ‘Nowadays this arouses the tut-tut of disapproval for its sexism and rose-tinted view of prostitution (as personified by every man’s dream hooker, Julia Roberts).
‘Richard Gere (every girl’s dream billionaire) is the businessman who picks her up in Hollywood and hires her for a week, partly for sex but mostly as arm candy to be worn at dinners and polo matches.
‘What evolves is a modern fairy tale, Cinderella without the ugly sisters, as love inevitably blooms.
‘Roberts, of course, has been driven to the streets by harsh circumstances and is really the archetypal tart with a heart while Gere is not nearly so ruthless as he first appears.
‘Suspend disapproval and enjoy because it’s made and played with a great deal of charm.’ In another review Norman appeared to suggest women liked James Bond because of the spy’s ruthless approach to love.
He wrote: ‘He was pursued by so many beautiful women that he almost had to beat them off with a stick.
‘For a young man, what was not to like? We all wanted to be James Bond. And somehow, despite – or who knows, possibly because of – his cavalier and occasionally cruel treatment of their sex, women seemed to like him, too.’
In another review he described Marilyn Monroe’s 1953 classic movie How To Marry a Millionaire, saying: ‘It’s all very sexist (Women’s Lib hadn’t been invented then) but it’s amusing enough.’ In another, he referred to Julie Walters’s character in the 1983 movie Educating Rita as a ‘ tarty working- class student’.
Reader Jackie Grant, from Oxford, complained that Norman had made ‘four sexist remarks in just a few lines’, adding: ‘I’m tired of reading the misogynist (sic) comments Barry Norman injects into so many film reviews.’
Outspoken headmistress Dr
‘It’s possible to be too prickly’
Helen Wright, from St Mary’s Calne in Wiltshire, said Norman should take more care not to repeat negative stereotypes of women.
Miss Wright, whose targets have included X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos for a foul-mouthed rant on Twitter, said the world had moved on and Norman should too.
‘While he is writing about films from a more sexist era, he should be careful not to suggest they are reminiscent of a glorious golden age,’ she said.
‘By repeating sexist phrases, you help reinforce sexist views.
‘Mr Norman is a witty and acerbic writer. Someone with that power of language needs to be careful not to reinforce outmoded ways of thinking. The world has moved on from the days when it is OK to describe a woman as a “tart with a heart”, and he needs to move on too.’
However, Mr Norman was scathing in his defence.
‘God Almighty, what is the matter with these people?’ he said.
‘I was merely describing in shorthand how these films depict women, not advancing my own views. If people don’t have the intelligence to see that, it is not my fault. I’m not old fashioned.
‘These are phrases that have been used for years, and are still used now.
‘I think political correctness can be very important, but it does go overboard sometimes. It is possible to be too prickly, possibly a little humourless about things.’