Thirteen Women

Well, now... that was interesting.
There were some good things, but... the bad things kind of covered the good.

It's very racist. In a very unsettling way. The author genuinely believes in racism. There's no shame there, no joke, not even a hint of doubt. All the characters are racist and the author believes that's the way it should be. Well... there is some decency there, Laura does admit it wasn't ok to treat Ursula the way they did, but it's kind of empty decency. She doesn't realize the treatment didn't stop there at school, that it never stopped for Ursula. Also, it wasn't not OK, because racism is bad, but because it's not ladylike to treat people badly, even though they have darker skin. That Ursula was brilliant is of no concern. It just makes her a great villain.

I find it curious that they don't seem to see any difference in... how to put it... shades of dark. Ursula's mother was Javanese, and her father was white. She wouldn't have been mistaken for a black woman, or mulatto. Javanese people aren't that dark. But maybe that's just me. Maybe they called all non-white people black back in the 20s.

The plot was interesting, though it had some weaknesses. I suppose she was meant to fail. I think this might make a nice tv series, with 13 episodes, with one woman dying in each episode ending with Ursula dying. I think I want to see the movie.