Quote:
"A structural narrative film in the self-styled guise of an animal parable like those by Beatrix Potter (author of Peter Rabbit tales), [Rat Life and Diet in North America] reinforces [Joyce] Wieland's senses of fixed, flat space, expressive textures, and the intricacy and grace of repetitive details, tiny movements and gestures. Sequences showing gerbils running loose on a supper table after the evening meal or eating cherries draw out sensuous colors and textures of food, dishes, and cloth similar to Dutch still life paintings or the more recent photorealist still lives of Audrey Flack."
-- Lauren Rabinovitz

Source:
Rabinovitz, Lauren Holly. "Radical Cinema: The Films and Film Practices of Maya Deren, Shirley Clarke and Joyce Wieland." PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1982. (p. 205)