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‘Dickinson’ Review: Emily Dickinson Gets an Update for the Instagram Age in This Apple TV+ Series


In the past, pop culture has portrayed Emily Dickinson as something of a lonely spinster—a weird recluse who spent her days gardening and writing poems that wouldn’t be published until after her death in 1886. It’s true that Dickinson never married and preferred isolation in her later years, sure, but there’s so much more to her story. And Dickinson, now available for streaming on Apple TV+, is here to tell it.

“Emily Dickinson’s life was defined by these great ironies,” explains series creator Alena Smith. “She wrote nearly 2,000 poems, one of the greatest bodies of work ever written in the English language, and almost none of it was ever published or recognized while she lived. How she found the will to keep going as an artist and where that drive came from was so fascinating to me.”

Smith’s vision: Use the 1850s—a crucial period in Dickinson’s life—as a lens for today. The result? A fresh coming-of-age tale starring Hailee Steinfeld as the titular poet. While the setting is squarely in the 19th century, Dickinson draws parallels to the present through modern music and winks at current events. In episode one, for example, Dickinson imagines meeting Death (played by Wiz Khalifa, naturally) while “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish blares in the background. In another, a period-appropriate dance ends with everyone twerking.

Apple TV+

Using these 2019 updates, Smith explains, gives viewers a direct look into Dickinson’s inner life—this is a woman who’s at war with her rigid Victorian society. “If Emily Dickinson was an artist who was quite misunderstood in her own time, maybe we can understand her better in ours,” Smith says. “Just as Emily’s poems were breaking the rules and ahead of her time, this show is just trying to catch up with her in a way.” So Dickinson is not a literal transcription of Dickinson’s life—think of it more as a translation. Everything is rooted in fact, just with a 21st-century twist.

Steinfeld found another parallel between Dickinson and today’s millennial women. “In the show Emily goes back and forth about, ‘Do I even want to have an audience?’ Because all you want when you don’t have one is to have one. And then you start to actually get into the reality of having an audience, and you’re like, ‘This could be the worst possible thing ever.’ I think that has a lot to do with what millennials are dealing with today. You can seek attention and receive it [with social media], but once you get it and realize it’s not what you want, you kind of can’t turn back.”



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Relationship Age Gap: How Big Is too Big?


I once thought I’d fallen in love with an adorable lawyer who started chatting with me while we waited at a crosswalk in Manhattan. I felt an immediate spark, and after we exchanged numbers, we planned our first date without ever bringing up our ages. A week later, somewhere between one and four glasses of wine, he told me I looked “quite young” and asked how old I was.

“I’m 25,” I said, trying to seem proud of the number even though I’d just celebrated this birthday with a bit of dread about growing up. He nodded in surprise and didn’t offer his age until I asked for it. “You’ll never guess,” he said, which is when I tried to examine his face for wrinkles and his hair for salt-and-pepper grays—there weren’t any.

“I’m 38,” he said. Thirty-eight. I wouldn’t have guessed, I told him. Then he excused himself to the go to the bathroom while I sat wondering what our relationship age gap meant: Would he want to move faster in a relationship? Would he be thinking about children already? Would he be appalled by my tiny studio apartment, which I could barely afford?

“So I know what you’re thinking,” he said, upon returning. “Why isn’t this guy married with kids?” He launched into an explanation about not finding the right woman yet and managed to quell all of my concerns—at least for the time being. I continued to find myself smitten, gushing to my mom about him, telling her that 13 years wasn’t that big of an age difference because we got along so well and it just didn’t matter.

We continued to date until, eventually, our lifestyles proved drastically different. His career and financial situations were a far cry from mine, and the idea of things getting serious felt rushed and scary to me. He was closer to 40 than I was to 30, and I felt like he’d inevitably want marriage and children much sooner than I would. So I let our connection slip away, allowing my concern over our age difference to overshadow our passion.

It was ultimately the right call, I felt, and experts seem to agree. The truth is that age is not just a number, says Seth Meyers, Ph.D., a psychologist and author of Overcome Relationship Repetition Syndrome and Find the Love You Deserve. A relationship age gap bigger than 10 years often comes with it’s own set of issues. “While there are always exceptions to rules, a good rule to remember is that dating someone more than 10 years older will present challenges now or later that add to the preexisting challenges any relationship has,” he says.

Couples with a big age difference need to think things through or risk finding themselves at conflicting stages in their relationship. “You can see varied cultural references, disapproval from family and friends, and perhaps community disapproval, as well,” says Rachel Sussman, a licensed marriage and family therapist in New York. “It might be hard to relate to each other’s peer groups, too.”

Since dating my the lawyer, I’ve capped my ideal man at about five to seven years older than me—especially on dating apps, where you can filter out those in a specific age group. But at the same time, I still keep an open mind—a big age gap doesn’t have to be a nonstarter. “The unhealthy individual either has a type that is too specific and narrow (I want someone between 30 and 35 who loves the outdoors, is really close to his parents and siblings) or, conversely, too broad and vague (I just want someone nice),” Meyers says.

Instead, be realistic about what you want in someone, not what you want from their age. Think of 10 years as a general guideline, but be open to other ages, as well—and don’t limit yourself to dating only someone older. “‘Cast a wide net’ is what I tell all my clients,” Sussman says. “Men should date older, and women should be OK experimenting with dating younger. And we should all be more open-minded.”



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Prince William Says Losing His Mother, Princess Diana, at a Young Age Was a 'Pain Like No Other'


When Princess Diana was tragically killed in a car accident in 1997, the world mourned. But her death had a profound effect on her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who were just 15 and 12, respectively, at the time.

In recent years, both the princes have opened up publicly about how they were affected by their mother’s death in their efforts to raise awareness about mental health. Now, in a preview clip for the BBC special A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health, which features a conversation with British soccer stars, William is more candid than ever. “I think when you are bereaved at a very young age, anytime really, but particularly at a young age—I can resonate closely to that—you feel a pain like no other pain,” he says.”And you know that in your life it’s going to be very difficult to come across something that is going to be an even worse pain than that.”

Prince William and Prince Harry during the funeral procession for Princess Diana.

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“It also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved,” William continued. “So instantly, when you talk to someone else… You can almost see it in their eyes sometimes.” He wants people to feel more comfortable sharing their pain in hopes of being able to help one another. “There has to be a moment for that,” William says, referring to having that British “stiff upper lip.” “We’re not robots.”

Prince Harry also talked about feeling the loss of Diana after the birth of his first son, Archie, with Meghan Markle. “He said missing a mother is like missing some kind of security, how you need that as a son, and it falls away when you lose your mother,” Dennis van der Stroon said of his conversation with Harry during a recent Invictus Games event in the Netherlands. “He said he meets a lot of people in his work who have lost a mother, father, sister, brother, or relatives, and when he hears their story, as he heard my story, he said he doesn’t feel so alone.”

Diana Princess Of Wales Prince William Prince Harry Visit The 'Thorpe Park' Amusement Park
Julian Parker/Getty Images

While the circumstances are definitely sad, it really is wonderful to see the princes talk so openly about their grieving process as a way to encourage transparency and honest conversations around mental health—and directly affect the lives of others.



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Men My Age Wouldn’t Date Me, so I Became a ‘Cougar’


When the 27-year-old French guy I recently matched with on Tinder says he wants to cook me dinner at his house for our first date, I’m not all that surprised. The French tend to be more romantic than Americans, even when it’s just about sex. But six hours before our date, he blows up my phone with food questions.

“You eat goat cheese, sweet Melanie?”

Yup!

How about salmon? Crepes for dessert? This or that for appetizers? What kind of wine?

“I’m sure I’ll love whatever you cook, don’t worry,” I say, partly touched, partly annoyed.

“But it’s the first time I see you. I want everything to be perfect!” he texts back.

I’m sure it will be, I assure him. I’m a 41-year-old woman with the sex drive of a teenage boy and we’d already established that we’re both just looking for a “sex friend,” as they call it here in France. All this effort on his part is nice but totally unnecessary.

When I arrive at his place, damn does it smell amazing. The table is so heavy with platters it looks straight out of a medieval feast. And even more food is cooking in the oven! “I made this sauce just for you,” he says, holding up a platter of breads, spreads, and fancy French cheeses. This special sauce—which, he informs me, is called “Melanie’s Special Sauce”—makes my knees buckle.

Over appetizers, he waxes poetic about what a strong American woman I am—I climb mountains, travel the world alone, I’m fearless. He launches into a monologue about how impressed he is with all I’ve done with my life so far and how he hopes I’ll find him even half as interesting. “I’m just so happy you’re willing to date someone as young as me,” he adds.

Of course I am. Who else is there, anyway?

I was so worried about turning 40, certain I’d suddenly become invisible to men—like Cinderella turning into a pumpkin in the middle of a party full of twenty-somethings. If my Tinder matches are any indication, that fear isn’t totally unfounded: Dudes my own age just aren’t interested anymore.

At first, I worried this meant I had in fact become an unfuckable dried-up old hag. Society has told women our entire lives that men won’t want us after 35. Hollywood casts age-inappropriate women for almost every leading man while at the same time casting women my age as the mothers of their peers. For women in America, turning 40 is a death of sorts. The loss of all our sexual capital. Nobody will want us or our bat wings. And bless your heart if you’re a woman in Los Angeles who refuses to get Botox and is edging toward 40.

I’ve come to realize, in my infinite old-woman wisdom, that this all bullshit. And if men in their forties no longer want to date me, well, that’s a good thing. Frustrated with my desolate Tinder inbox, I finally thought, Screw it, and set the age minimum on my dating app to 25. Whew, boy! Almost immediately my inbox caught on fire, filled with twenty- and thirty-something men just dying to take me on a date. Younger men not only want to date older women; they think we’re amazing.

I didn’t set out to be a “cougar,” but it seems like Tinder is chock-full of lonely cubs. I have never had this much sex—let alone good sex—in my life. These younger guys are more progressive, have less emotional baggage, and love dating a confident woman who knows what she wants and tells them what to do. I’ve never felt so sexy and attractive.



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Prince Harry Had the Sweetest Advice for a Boy Who Lost His Mom at a Young Age


If you need a good cry session today, Prince Harry has you covered. The royal is in New Zealand this week for his first official royal tour with his wife Meghan Markle, and he used some of the final moments of his visit to comfort a young boy who grew up without his mother.

Prince Harry was greeting crowds in Auckland on Tuesday, October 30, when he learned that a six-year-old boy named Otia had lost his mother when he was just a year old, according to The Mirror. His grandmother, Te, told Harry that Otia admired the prince, whose own mother, Princess Diana, died in a car accident when he was 12. The Duke of Sussex instantly went into dad mode and took some time to chat with the boy to let him know that everything would be OK.

“Life will always be alright, you know that? I made it to 34 years old and life is great, I’ve got a beautiful wife and a baby on the way,” he reportedly told Otia. “Your life is gonna be sorted, don’t you worry about that.”

He also joked with him to lighten the mood, asking, “You live here in Auckland? You gonna be a rugby player?”

PHOTO: Pool

Harry then offered some nice words to Otia’s grandmother by telling her she was taking good care of her grandson. “You’re doing a great job, Nan,” he said, according to Hello Magazine. “Nans are so important in our lives.” (Prince Harry and his brother William are known to be extremely close to their own grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.)

This isn’t the first time that Prince Harry and Markle have made us teary with cute kids during this royal tour. Earlier in the month, Harry found a little girl who looked just like Markle and even broke royal protocol by snapping a photo of them together. This latest moment is more proof that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who announced that they’re expecting their first child this spring, are going to be pretty great parents.

Related Stories:

Prince Harry Already Has a Nickname for His Royal Baby

Meghan Markle Laughed So Hard She Cried During This Choir Performance

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Snuck in a Romantic Getaway During Their Royal Tour



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In the Age of #MeToo, Will Christine Blasey Ford’s Experience Be the Same as Anita Hill’s?


A judge lauded by conservatives gets picked by the president to become the next Supreme Court justice. As he travels the path to Senate confirmation, he unexpectedly confronts graphic allegations of sexual misconduct put forth by a respected female academic. The process is thrown into an uproar—as is the nation.

Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford in 2018? Or Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill in 1991?

On Monday, once again, a woman will go before members of the U.S. Senate to accuse a SCOTUS nominee of wrongdoing.

And it’s hard to ignore that the cases have similarities even though they are playing out nearly 30 years apart.

First a refresher: Republican President George H.W. Bush made Thomas a SCOTUS nominee in July 1991 after Justice Thurgood Marshall announced his retirement. Similarly, Republican President Donald Trump this July nominated Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Anita Hill stepped forward to testify and accuse Thomas of a pattern of harassment when they worked together that included graphic porn references and other inappropriate behavior. At the time, Hill was a law professor; the head of the all-white-male Judiciary committee was a Democratic Delaware senator named Joe Biden.

Now, Kavanaugh is in the hot seat. Christina Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology, had initially asked her identity to be kept confidential when she wrote to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) alleging that Kavanaugh drunkenly assaulted her at at party when they were both in high school. Ford says she’s willing to testify to what happened before Senate Judiciary committee, which is now controlled by Republicans (but is more diverse in terms of gender and race, including four women members).

Republican Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary Committee, says both the accuser and accused will have their chance to be heard next week, according to multiple news reports Monday evening.

Kavanaugh denied Ford’s claims in a statement issued through the White House earlier Monday: “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone,” the judge said, adding that he’d be glad to talk to the committee “to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.” Decades earlier, Thomas had emphatically denied engaging in the crude behavior Hill described.

Of course there are serious differences in the cases. Ford’s story recounts attempted rape, not harassment. She’s also coming forward in the #MeToo era, when there is an active conversation about believing women. (Listen to Hill’s questioning by the all-male panel, and you’ll instantly see that wasn’t top of anyone’s mind.)

Duke Professor Emerita Karla Holloway suspects that this time will be different with a Judiciary Committee whose female members include the ranking Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, as well as Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Kamala Harris of California, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

“The powerfully present women on the judiciary will temper the aggressive hyper-masculinity we saw in play during the Thomas/Hill moment,” Holloway says: “[They] are clearly positioned and comfortable with challenging and naming that kind of aggression, and I think the men on the committee are aware enough of that potential to worry over how they publicly exercise their privilege. In this case, the political divide will be more telling than gender.”

FiveThirtyEight, in a look back at polling surrounding the Thomas confirmation, notes that his nomination was popular with the public. Not so with Kavanaugh: Recent surveys show Americans totally split on whether he should be confirmed.

In many ways, Hill arguably helped spark the change we are seeing today. Around the time of her testimony and after, polls found many more Americans considered workplace harassment a “very serious” issue. But Hill certainly paid a price for going public. Critics didn’t believe her; some were angry at her for upending the confirmation process for an African-American judge. Biden himself told Teen Vogue last year that he owed Hill an apology for what happened in the Thomas hearings, at which witnesses who backed her up weren’t allowed to testify.

By comparison, Ford, has gotten much more support—fairly understandable given the #MeToo movement, a fast-approaching midterm election focused heavily on women, and a social media-rich environment that didn’t exist when Hill took the stand. (Social media also means more opportunities for people to troll Ford—notably including the president’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., who mocked Ford and Feinstein on Instagram.

Monday afternoon, President Trump defended Kavanaugh as having a spotless record—but, as Jeff Mason of Reuters reported, “signaled he would approve of a ‘little delay’ in the confirmation process” if necessary so as to go through a “complete process.”

Asked by reporters if Kavanaugh had volunteered to withdraw his name in light of the allegations, President Trump replied, “What a ridiculous question.” Decades earlier, then-President Bush had also come to the defense of his nominee, declaring his “total confidence” in Thomas.

Holloway thinks it’s not the allegation that will trouble Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Instead, she says, “His poorly advised ‘categorical denial’ will shift the question from past conduct to present truthfulness before the committee.”

Back when she confronted Thomas, Anita Hill was attacked for her character. She was denigrated as a “a bit nutty and a little bit slutty.” So far, the GOP has not resorted that precise kind of tactic to try to defend Kavanaugh. Instead, they are turning to political process. For example, the head of the Republican National Committee, Ronna Romney McDaniel, chose late Monday not to go after Kavanaugh’s accuser, but Sen. Feinstein, the top Democrat on Senate Judiciary, for doing “a disservice to everyone involved” with how she’s handled the allegations.

If Kavanaugh’s path to confirmation will mirror Thomas’ is still a looming question. Questioning got rough for Anita Hill when she spoke publicly about Justice Thomas, and it’s reasonable to expect some of the same if Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate about Brett Kavanaugh.

When she does, America will have a front-row seat to see how much times have really changed. Or how much they haven’t.

Celeste Katz is senior political reporter for Glamour. Send news tips, questions, and comments to celeste_katz@condenast.com.





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