I was fascinated by the reaction of male film critics to The Golden Compass, an excellent fantasy film and an assault on religious authoritarianism. Could it be that most male film critics are religious bigots? This seemed unlikely. Yet there it was: female critics are almost unanimous in praising the film, while male critical responses are almost two to one unfavorable.
The answer, I finally realized, was simple: the film had a female protagonist. I've noticed this in the...
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