An Exercise in Empathy: Louis Sachar’s Holes and Finding Understanding Beyond Ourselves
Stanley Yelnats is unlucky. Most millennials and quite a good chunk of Generation Z are well aware of this truth, and that this bad luck can be blamed on Stanley’s no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. Kids in 2023 are also learning of Stanley’s bad luck, as it took me a few weeks on my library’s waitlist to get a…
Borg vs McEnroe: How Our Greatest Rivals Push Us to be Our Greatest Selves
Nothing thrills the spectators of any sport quite like a rivalry. College football rivalry weekend (Michigan vs Ohio State, FSU vs Florida, Auburn vs Alabama, etc.) is one of the most exciting events in the United States. The game no longer feels like just a game, but a chapter in a long running story unfolding…
An Ode to Survivor Fallen Angels
It’s a tale as old as Survivor: Borneo. The Fallen Angel. The Final Juror. The player who made it so close to Final Tribal Council only to fall short. Whether by the final vote or by fire making, this player does not see the end of the game, does not have the chance to plead…
Feelings We Shouldn’t Have: Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis and 1950s Conservatism
Everyone knows Elvis. Most of us don’t recall learning his name because we cannot remember not knowing who he was. Whether through Lilo and Stitch, an impersonator in a white jumpsuit, or a performer saying “Thank you. Thank you very much” we all know Elvis to the point that he almost feels ingrained in our…
Disney Can’t Imagine that Obi-Wan Kenobi Did Anything Wrong: Star Wars and the Absolution of Guilt
Like most Star Wars fans, when Lucasfilm announced an Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ featuring the return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan and Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, I was thrilled. I grew up watching the Star Wars prequels and have appreciated them even more as an adult. But since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, it has…
Modest and Pure, Polite and Refined: Expectations of Female Purity in West Side Story
When Rachel Zegler’s Maria began to dance around Tony in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, it was immediately apparent that Spielberg had upped the angelic imagery of Maria beyond what we’ve seen on screen before. The dreamlike lighting, Maria’s flowing white dress, Tony’s stoic nature receding as he begins to dance with her, Maria is…
The Last Duel and House of Gucci: What Jacques and Maurizio Die For
Trigger warnings for discussions of sexual assault and abuse. Stabbed in the mouth or shot in the back, Adam Driver’s characters did not make it out of either of Ridley Scott’s movies this year alive. Both characters were based on real men, and the movies, The Last Duel and House of Gucci, based on true…
Army of the Dead and Aliens: Zombies, Xenomorphs, and Monsters
When Scott, Kate, and Geeta ran out on the rooftop to find that their pilot Peters had left them to the zombies and the nuke in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, I could practically hear Ellen Ripley’s voice in my head: “BISHOP! GODDAMN YOU!” This was only hammered home when Peters made a triumphant…
Frodo, Sam, and Heroism
The protagonist of any story is the most easily scrutinized. The protagonist’s actions and choices drive the story and we as readers and watchers perceive these actions and choices with a critical eye. For this reason, among others, the protagonist of a story is often the most harshly judged. We spend the most time with…
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