Just for Laughs – Simi Ogunsola After four years of waiting, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is finally here and people have been talking. Some are calling the film an 11/10 and hailing Ryan Coogler as a genius while others can only describe the film as “mid” and prefer the first[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric
‘This is Actually Happening’ and the commodification of trauma
One particularly warm night this September, I found myself wide awake, sweating. Frustrated at my inability to sleep, I put on a podcast to take my mind off the heat. The show was an old favourite: This Is Actually Happening (TIAH). In high school, I listened to the show and[Read More…]
What’s wrong with world music?
On what grounds do we describe music that breaks with Western traditions? Does the simple label “world music” suffice? Unsurprisingly, this term was not popularized by so-called world musicians. Rather, like much of the language we use to describe music, it was the creation of profit-minded record label executives. In[Read More…]
Quinni of ’Heartbreak High’: Finally, a successful example of autism representation
On Sept. 14, Netflix released Heartbreak High, a remake of the 1994 Australian coming-of-age TV show of the same name. Critics praised the series for its realistic portrayal of high school and the diversity of experiences the show depicts. The series remained in Netflix’s Top 10 list in 43 countries[Read More…]
Pop Dialectic: To binge or not to binge?
Since the dawn of time, many great conflicts have arisen—from religious crusades to World Wars. The most polarizing? Whether streaming services should release episodes every week or all at once. While the introduction of platforms like Netflix boasted users’ ability to binge new content rather than wait, many have returned[Read More…]
The raw, ubiquitous power of body horror
Mild spoilers ahead for Raw and Saint Maud With weak plot lines, underdeveloped characters, and often cliché moralistic endings—such as the least-likely-to-survive character ending up as the final girl—slasher films serve one purpose: To disgust. Films like the cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and constant rehashings of Evil Dead[Read More…]
Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating life is more than just a punchline
Leonardo DiCaprio, who is verging on 50 years old, has never dated anyone over the age of 25. Thanks to his recent public split with fashion model Camila Morrone—just months after her 25th birthday—DiCaprio’s dating tendencies have resurfaced online as a trending topic. From an onslaught of ridicule on social[Read More…]
‘Dancing with the Stars’ premiere shimmies into the spotlight
Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) is the perfect mix of fact and fiction. Fact: I’m very confident that the majority of viewers that judge DWTS on Twitter could not tell the difference between a Paso Doble and a Jive. Fiction: The promise that all the contestants put the “star” in[Read More…]
Mo representation, Mo problems
Mo, a Netflix comedy-drama show released in late August, centres around the life of Palestinian-American Mo Amer in a story based on his lived experiences—navigating legal illegitimacy by selling bootleg merch, working at a strip club and a Texan olive farm—as an asylum seeker in the U.S. The show has[Read More…]
Spit-takes: Harry Styles vs. Chris Pine?
To spit or not to spit? That is the question. After months of alleged drama amongst the cast and crew of Olivia Wilde’s new film Don’t Worry Darling, it’s only fitting that press for the premiere centred around gossip rather than the mediocre-at-best movie. The moment in question happened just[Read More…]
