Memes Will Be Blood: On Political Violence in the Digital Age
Revolution has always been theater; now the theater is a feed, and the script is written in pixels and blood.
From Villain to Visibility: How Film Portrays Trans Lives
Trans people don’t want to be plot devices, cautionary tales, or punchlines.
Tiktok Tarot: For You, From the Algorithm
These videos claim that they were ‘meant’ to find me. However, they are also ‘meant’ to find thousands of others.
Internet Hate Campaigns: From GamerGate to Blake
Every time the internet launches a disproportionate hate campaign towards a young woman, I’m suspicious. I lived through the Amber Heard Trial, I lived through the Anne Hathaway hate train. Reader, I lived through GamerGate…
Learning Hope from Literary Apocalypse
Good literature — like Station Eleven — reminds us how to resist despair: by building new worlds.
Past is Prologue: Why Nostalgia Replays Our Culture
The world is burning, but we don’t really need to turn to nostalgia constantly in order to hide from it.
Do We Really Need Another Biopic?
In the age of celebrity worship, biopics face the challenge of capturing the essence of a life on screen. Are they a sincere tribute or a manufactured exploitation?
Poor Girl Problems: Revisiting "Thirteen"
Thirteen was a foundational film for complex and tender representations of poor women and girls for my generation. After 20 years, it deserves a critical reevaluation.
A Dark Way To Look At It: Interrogating Male Abuse and The Boys
Five years later, The Boys has run out of sympathy for sexual assault victims and has made them the butt of the joke.
The Death of the Celebrity
Opening your phone these days is a bit like playing on a slot machine. You’re in for one of two outcomes: money, or loss. Luxury lifestyles, or dead children. It’s no wonder that we’re desperately reaching out for help in any direction.
The Toots and Boots of the 96th Academy Awards
In the cold light of Monday, we can all agree that the Oscars are kind of silly, but dammit they’re a fun silly!
I went to a screening of Big Shark with Tommy Wiseau so you don't have to
The plot follows three firefighters that have been tasked with stopping a killer shark from terrorising New Orleans. Pretty standard action movie stuff, right? However, Tommy Wiseau’s approach to storytelling is to ignore all the rules on how to tell a story.
Mean Girls: A Mid Movie Musical Movie
Mean Girls — the movie, the musical, the movie (again?), and the mediocrity.