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(10/29/19 11:58pm)
There were petitions calling for the cancellation of Netflix’s Insatiable before the show was even released. After watching the trailer for the first season back in 2018, a number of outraged viewers felt Insatiable was unbelievably problematic. Having attracted criticism for homophobia, fatphobia, and racism, it seemed unlikely that Insatiable would ever survive its initial release. Now, over a year later, the show’s second season made it Netflix’s most binge–watched program on the internet.
(10/16/19 12:38am)
Ryan Murphy just might be the iconoclastic arbiter of taste that television needs. With his keen sense of style, tone, and comedic timing, the showrunner has definitively changed the industry over the past couple of decades. As the creator of series like Glee, American Horror Story, Pose, American Crime Story, Feud, 9–1–1, The New Normal, Scream Queens, and Nip/Tuck, Murphy is a veteran, a veritable powerhouse of pop culture. And though each of the creator’s works are different, they all feel interconnected by Murphy’s singular vision. Looking back, Murphy’s career trajectory reads as exactly that: a career trajectory, in which every work is influenced by the one that came before and will have a part in what comes next. So, in honor of the release of Murphy’s latest series, The Politician, (the first of several projects to be released through his monumental Netflix deal), it’s time for a retrospective.
(10/04/19 9:31pm)
Reality television is in a weird place right now. The genre, predicated on the idea of reality, has been exposed as being entirely false. In the time since the original release of shows like The Hills and The Bachelor, stars and producers have come forward admitting to the falseness of what we see onscreen (Lauren Conrad even wrote a YA series detailing how little truth there is to reality TV).
(09/17/19 1:34am)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has, for better or worse, transformed the landscape of the entire film industry. Phases One through Three of the MCU's timeline, which chronicled the stories of the Avengers and other side characters over the past ten years, consisted of dozens of movies, all of which were commercial successes. With its frequent, episodic releases and large quantity of beloved characters, Marvel had, for the most part, cornered the industry. Viewers couldn’t help but consume it; if you watched one movie, you would get sucked in and go to see them all. Then, this past April, Phase Three of the MCU timeline ended with a massive, booming box-office bang: Avengers: Endgame. It became the highest grossing movie of all time and left studios wondering how they could recreate even a fraction of that success.
(04/05/19 10:56pm)
On March 30 at 8 p.m., the Fillmore is brimming with teens wearing glitter and flannel. Save for a handful of parents, the bar is empty—this crowd is too young to drink. But even without the steady flow of alcohol, the space is full of energy and excitement. When the star of the night, Conan Gray, walks up on stage, the crowd roars the type of roar only the young and unjaded can muster. This is a safe, intimate space.
(04/03/19 9:39pm)
It’s been said that if you were to meet an exact copy of yourself, you wouldn’t recognize the copy as being you. That’s partly because we can only see our own image in reverse. Whether it be in mirrors or in pre–flipped selfie cameras, the us we recognize isn’t us at all. Instead, the version of ourselves with which we are most familiar is our opposite, our exact converse staring back at us. And this version is the only self that we know.
(03/23/19 6:06pm)
Even before its release on March 15, Five Feet Apart was embroiled in controversy. From a misguided influencer campaign to worries about the romanticization of in–patient life, the film has had a rough go of it. These criticisms were amplified by the sheer star power this film held for its teen audience: Haley Lu Richardson of The Edge of Seventeen starred opposite of Cole Sprouse of Riverdale, both under the direction of Justin Baldoni of Jane the Virgin. The movie seems tailor–made for lovestruck young girls and boys, the kind who swoon over teeny–bopper Instagram stars and wield social media as their greatest weapon.
(03/24/19 10:25pm)
Cable television has always been seen as somehow less prestigious than movies: a step down, even. This is due, at least in part, to the astronomical pay–grade difference between the two mediums. Apart from a handful of powerhouse series like the Big Bang Theory or Modern Family, television provides actors with far less "big bang" for their buck than movies typically do. Resultantly, we don't see movie stars do television (save for the rare miniseries) unless it’s a desperate attempt to revamp their careers.
(03/15/19 8:59pm)
Horror has always been treated as somewhat of a lesser genre. '90s and 2000’s horror, for example, is famously formulaic. At best, horror movies seemed like a way for the stars of teenybopper television to prove they could "act" with a capital A, and for studios to make a quick buck unfettered by the laws of good or logical cinema. Simply put, they epitomized the term “B–movie”.
(02/21/19 2:11am)
The road to the 91st Academy Awards has been a particularly rocky one. This season’s other award shows—the BAFTAs, the SAGs, and even the famously liquor–fueled Golden Globes—went off without a hitch. But the Academy Awards can’t seem to catch a break. In the past few months, the Academy’s every move has faced major backlash, resulting in the Oscars' first host–less show in 30 years, constant retractions, and worst of all, frequent reference to Kevin Hart. And when Kevin Hart’s name becomes an integral part of popular culture, one can’t help but feel a sense of impending doom.
(11/29/17 1:42am)
Right now, we're living in what has been called the “Golden Age of Television." But I’m not sure why anyone’s calling it that.
(11/14/17 8:31pm)
Love it or hate it, nostalgia is all the rage right now. From TV revivals of classics like Twin Peaks, Dynasty, and Will & Grace, to the return of vintage fads like berets and belt bags, the pop culture of yesteryear is back in full force.
(01/31/17 5:08am)
If there’s anything that Netflix has taught me, it’s that not all movies are created equal. In fact, most titles in the streaming realm are embarrassingly bad. Between low–budget horror flicks, weirdly offensive 2000s comedies and those 50 movies that everyone’s seen ten times, Netflix seems to believe that quantity can rectify quality. And with their monthly alternations, it feels like the site’s already–too–large supply of bad content is on the rise. There’s only so many things that The Unbreakable Schmidt and Narcos can save, ya know?