Colin Dray

drayfish (Colin Dray) is a Lecturer in Literature at Campion College of the Liberal Arts, Australia, and has taught Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His writing and criticism has appeared in Australian Literary Studies, Meanjin, Voiceworks, Antipodes (forthcoming).
The Spoiled Little Man-Child They Made King: Celebrity, Richard II, and Donald Trump
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The Spoiled Little Man-Child They Made King: Celebrity, Richard II, and Donald Trump

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 / 9 February 2017
Did Shakespeare predict Trump? No. That's ridiculous. He just wrote a play about a thin-skinned, petty, self-aggrandising narcissist whose poor leadership drove an empire to ruin. Totally different.
Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ Trumps Reality TV
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Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ Trumps Reality TV

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 / 8 December 2016
Shakespeare's As You Like It employed every signature reality show convention three and a half centuries before television even existed.
Things Strange: The Dungeon Master of ‘Stranger Things’
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Things Strange: The Dungeon Master of ‘Stranger Things’

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 / 4 October 2016
Stranger Things crafts something wholly individual out of the chrysalis of the past, turning the comfort of nostalgia against itself.
‘I Ain’t Afraid of No Bros’: What’s Really Scary About the New Ghostbusters’
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‘I Ain’t Afraid of No Bros’: What’s Really Scary About the New Ghostbusters’

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 / 13 June 2016
The new Ghostbusters have to fight twice as hard to be considered half as good as the old Ghostbusters. As a recipe for heroism, it's perfect.
Romeo + Juliet + Baz Luhrmann: Reconsidered
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Romeo + Juliet + Baz Luhrmann: Reconsidered

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 / 11 April 2016
Baz Luhrmann's films are not subtle. So why do I like Romeo + Juliet so much?
Chaos Does Not Mean Despair in Bowie’s Soundscapes
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Chaos Does Not Mean Despair in Bowie’s Soundscapes

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 / 5 February 2016
What Bowie's music describes, again and again, is that we were endlessly, relentlessly killing ourselves.
Night-Wing Media: Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart’s Lessons in Discourse
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Night-Wing Media: Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart’s Lessons in Discourse

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 / 14 October 2015
Through the levelling power of humour, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report cut through the culture's sensationalism and panic to remind us of the baseline of normality beneath all the hysteria.
’24 – Live Another Day’ ‘Cause You’re Gonna Die Anyway
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’24 – Live Another Day’ ‘Cause You’re Gonna Die Anyway

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 / 17 August 2015
24 began sugared-up on gooey clichés of liberty and freedom -- and ended in hypoglycemic shock. Would a new series be worse for our health?
Look at You, You Big Silly, Says ‘Assassin’s Creed 3’
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Look at You, You Big Silly, Says ‘Assassin’s Creed 3’

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 / 12 June 2015
Assassin's Creed 3 is an enormous, beautifully rendered sandbox game designed to kick sand in your face.
Still Life: The Portrait of Time in ‘Boyhood’
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Still Life: The Portrait of Time in ‘Boyhood’

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 / 17 April 2015
Boyhood sets itself the daunting task of reflecting the breadth of a human adolescence, but it instead reveals that it is in life's minutia that we find the most meaning.
The Upside of No-See Me: Invisibility and ‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’
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The Upside of No-See Me: Invisibility and ‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’

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 / 3 March 2015
For Buffy, turning invisible allows her to indulge all her worst impulses; but in doing so, she realizes that she is not embracing life, but fleeing it.
It’s Not Easy Seeking Green: My Muppet Show
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It’s Not Easy Seeking Green: My Muppet Show

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 / 16 January 2015
My Muppet Show is the Orpheus myth. You just have to swap out Orpheus for me; Eurydice for a frog; a lyre for a cartoon banjo; and Hades for the iTunes store.