No doubt because of the state of the world in general, I am in a phase where the discounting of the real-world experiences of young women is particularly enraging. The documentary "I Am Greta," now on Hulu, definitely hits the sweet spot of my irritation.
Greta Thunberg faces a numbers of hurdles: she's young, she's female, and she's advocating for a cause that slams against the the deeply-held societal belief that we can capitalist our way out of everything, even annihilation. As the documentary shows, she's threatened and condescended to in equal parts.
Thankfully, it is inspiring to see how she rises about it all — and not inspiring in a "there, there" head-patting kind of way. The documentary follows Greta from her solo school strikes in front of the Swedish parliament building to the firebrand speech she gave in front of the United Nations in 2019. It's exhilarating.
An unexpected benefit: My son was interested in watching it. He was curious about Greta for no other reason that she's a fellow kid, and I think he even absorbed some lessons about activism and climate change as he played with his Legos in front of the TV.
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