Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ Echos Our Lasting Pandemic Grief
Addressing pandemic-induced topics such as loss, grief, and mental illness, Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ serves as a metaphor for life in the time of COVID.
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The Dramaturgy of the Rise and Fall of the Bon Appétit YouTube Channel
If food has always been political, as Bon Appétit asserts—so, too, has performance style. It is overdue for food media creators to wake up and smell the coffee.
Bo Burnham’s Pandemic Comedy Special ‘Inside’ Is the Krapp’s Last Tape of Our Times
Like Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Bo Burnham’s Inside offers rich insights into how our psyches and sense of self get warped by ever-advancing technologies.
Chris Brancato on the Moral Conundrum in ‘Godfather of Harlem’
Chris Brancato talks about addressing today’s hot-topic social issues through the lens of the ’60s in the television series, Godfather of Harlem.
Why We Didn’t Need a ‘Friends’ Reunion
The Friends Reunion has awakened the beast of ’90s nostalgia…but what else has it unearthed?
Anja Marquardt’s Storytelling Sorcery in ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ S3
Anja Marquardt, co-creator of ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ with Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz, talks about the magic of creating something outside one’s self.
The Power of Alternative History in Barry Jenkins’ Series’ ‘The Underground Railroad’
Barry Jenkins’ beautiful and brutal adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s alternative history, ‘The Underground Railroad’, indulges in compelling retro Afrofuturism.
‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In’ Still Socks It to Us
Watch Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in and you will receive a sound education in America’s politics and pop culture of the late ’60s / early ’70s.
WandaVision’s Grief Is America’s Grief
To cope with her grief WandaVision‘s Wanda reverts to a comforting but false alternate reality set in idealized 1950s America. Sound familiar?
NBC Comedy ‘Superstore’ Tackles Capitalism with Humor and Pathos
Superstore consistently depicts with humor and pathos how corporate America keeps working-class people in a perpetual state of precarity.
Nurse Ratched vs. Nurse Ratched
Each portrayal of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s infamous Nurse Ratched reflects what has changed in American society’s attitudes toward women — and what has not.
‘Firefly Lane’ Betrays the Golden Rule of Chekhov’s Gun
Netflix's Firefly Lane put the gun on the stage. Creator Maggie Friedman had the characters pick it up and play with it.