“Even though [Miranda] July is often lumped in with directors like Wes Anderson, Jonze or Baumbach, the face of independent film — really, the face of film — remains distinctly male. Her work is highly personal, delving into the emotional, inner life — in other words, it’s girl stuff. Criticism of July often carries a whiff of sexism. “Precious,” “light,” and “twee” all describe conventionally feminine qualities, and all have been tossed July’s way as insults.”

— I could unpack this quote from the New York Times Magazine piece on Miranda July all day long. It’s in the right ballpark, but tonally imprecise, I find. For example: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach get called “twee” all the time. They should be. Anderson has the most twee, precious art direction in the world, and it doesn’t always suit his films. Is twee necessarily gendered? Isn’t it more of a “hipster” term? Lets talk about this! I do think that as a director she’s been… not included in an “auteur” conversation - and here is where the innate dismissiveness of “precious” and “light” matter - partially because of gender, and also partially because she’s so artistically omnivorous. When you think of Miranda July, do you think of her strictly as a film director? Or a writer? Or an artist, performance and otherwise? I think that complicates the critical view on her as well. It’s there in the piece but this particular quote is just imprecise. Sometimes I wish the words twee and hipster could be retired, since they’re increasingly meaningless.