Dickinson's literary mistake

Emily Dickinson is whoever Hollywood wants her to be

Hailee Steinfeld.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Apple TV)

TV shows and movies are increasingly more obsessed with the idea of Emily Dickinson than with her actual work.

The last few years have seen a few different Dickinsons on film, like Cynthia Nixon's in A Quiet Passion and Molly Shannon's in Wild Nights with Emily, both of which reimagined the celebrated poet through a screenwriter's modern perspective. The latest example is the new Apple TV+ series Dickinson, which wildly conflates the author and her poetry.

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Maya Phillips

Maya Phillips is an arts, entertainment, and culture writer whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vulture, Slate, Mashable, American Theatre, Black Nerd Problems, and more. She is also a web producer at The New Yorker, and her debut poetry collection, Erou, is forthcoming in fall 2019 from Four Way Books. She lives in Brooklyn.