2022 is, without question, an excellent time to be Andrew Garfield. At 38 years old, the British-American actor is having a remarkable resurgence in his career: In the past 12 months alone, he’s starred as real-life televangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, reprised his role as Peter[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric
The price of stardom: When your image is no longer yours
A little over a week ago, a video surfaced of Kanye West, with the swagger of a man who left his sanity on the 2016 VMA stage, confronting a member of the paparazzi. This isn’t a change of pace for Kanye—the man confronts the paparazzi as often as I miss[Read More…]
Concept albums and the problem with defining subjective terms
Albums come in a multitude of shapes and sizes, with each crafted with different aims in mind. In 1973, Pink Floyd released their monumental album The Dark Side of the Moon, a progressive rock masterpiece and one of the most acclaimed albums of the decade. But Dark Side was more[Read More…]
‘Degrassi’ keeps it real, for better or worse
If something happened at your high school, it probably also happened on Degrassi. Although the show’s “classic” era ended with Degrassi High in 1992, the Next Generation series surpassed it both in length and popularity. This was largely due to the show’s memorable cast: Toronto rapper Drake and actress Nina[Read More…]
Where do I begin: NFTs
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the new year’s craziest phenomenon and strangest mystery. Following in the footsteps of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investments, these tokenized digital commodities have taken the internet by storm. NFTs allow collectors to own original pieces of artwork in the digital form. What started as a way[Read More…]
The treacherous trend of celebrities dating teenagers
Music fans far and wide rejoiced on Nov. 12 over Taylor Swift’s re-recording of her 2012 hit album Red, rebranded as Red (Taylor’s Version). This redux country-pop album joins Fearless (Taylor’s Version) on the singer’s journey to finally own all the rights to all her music. Die-hard fans were especially[Read More…]
Astroworld tragedy renews debate on the safety of mosh pits
The Travis Scott Astroworld Festival tragedy, which left 10 concertgoers dead and hundreds injured, has renewed discussions on the question of violence at music events, leaving many wondering if such a tragedy would have occurred without the influence of mosh pit culture. Moshing involves pushing and slamming—or sometimes just vigorously[Read More…]
Capitalizing on fanbases is a win-win for artists and companies
Celebrity fanbases such as BTS’s “ARMY,” Beyoncé’s “Beyhive,” and Taylor Swift’s “Swifties” all have one thing in common—they are incredibly loyal. From buying front-row concert tickets to investigating every detail of social media posts, these fans follow their idol’s every move. Such devout admirers make for perfect marketing targets for[Read More…]
Halloween movies: When holiday culture meets the horror film genre
Randy Meeks from the cult classic Scream once said, “There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.” In Meek’s words: “You can never have sex, you can never drink or do drugs, and never (ever, under any circumstances) say ‘I’ll be[Read More…]
Film trailers with spoilers rob us of the joy of surprise
In an era of empty movie theatres and increasingly popular streaming services, movie marketers are desperate to entice viewers back to cinemas. According to the Motion Pictures Association’s annual theme report, the United States and Canada’s box office market decreased by 81 per cent between 2019 and 2020. At the[Read More…]
