How Lars Von Trier portrays mental illness as a superpower in Melancholia.
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All articles filed in Essay
[The Revolution Will Be Televised] ‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ (2019) and the Mythological Bedrock of Rebellion
True History illuminates the ways shared fiction gives form and mass to rebellion, and how cult mythology acts as the cornerstone to revolt.
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‘It’s a Sin’ (2021) Exploring Fear of the Unknown
It’s a Sin is not only a sincere exploration of the AIDS crisis in 1980s London, but also explores how we deal with fear.
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The Timelessness of Space and Intimacy in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ (2005)
2020 has been an extremely long and incredibly weird year, one defined by absence: of precedence, of bureaucratic competence, of any semblance of sanity or normalcy. It has also been—mind-numbingly, infuriatingly—a year defined by excess: of death, of time, of news, and, most notably, of distance. Quarantine, social distancing, masks, lockdowns—the language of separation and…
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Kim Do-young’s ‘Kim Ji-young: Born 1982’ Wilfully Misses the Point
During my period of self-isolation, the film adaptation of this novel was available only in Asia and practically impossible to find online. However, when I finally found a copy of Kim Do-young’s adaptation, I immediately started playing it. I was in for two hours of anger and disappointment.
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10 Years Later, ‘Easy A’ (2010) Grapples With a Complex Legacy
Separating the legacy of ‘Easy A’ from Emma Stone’s career is an impossibility: in a way, she is this film’s legacy. The durability of her performance is indisputable—Olive is a star making role, and Stone thrives when given the license to be her full charismatic self. Instead, consider this: has ‘Easy A’ itself stood the test of time? The answer is… complicated.
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Ennui on the Screen and Life Lessons
Entertainment has often show education on the screen, but where has this representation failed and succeeded? Might it be able to even teach us how we can learn better in life itself?
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“You Shame Me!”- Analyzing a Woman’s Shame in ‘Drag Me to Hell’ (2009)
Since its initial release, Drag Me to Hell has received critical and commercial success. It showed the same scary, campy horror brilliance that Raimi demonstrated with The Evil Dead decades before. What also makes Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell so amazing is the subtext of shame. Whether he intended to or not, his film is saturated with associations of a woman’s shame. For this month’s Women in Horror, we want to take a deep dive into this subtext and dissect Raimi’s subtle nuances to convince you that this film is truly about a woman’s shame and how it is these insecurities that lay her literal path to hell.
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Finding Beauty in Humanity: Remembering Lynn Shelton Through Her Work
Throughout her career, Lynn Shelton created a safe space for characters (and viewers alike) to feel like they belong – no matter how awkward, complex or messy they are.
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Why, 25 Years Later, ‘Clueless’ (1995) Remains Our Smartest Jane Austen Adaptation
When Jane Austen began work on her 1815 novel, Emma, she predicted that her heroine would be one “whom no one but myself will much like.” It’s true that Emma Woodhouse, being “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition,” moving through her provincial life “with very little to distress or…
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