I Ain’t Mad at Cha
On Tupac’s letter to Madonna from prison, and their complex romantic relationship mediated by race, sexualization, and fame.
Television
"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television." —Woody Allen
Law & Order: Higher Ed Unit
A professor of Arabic literature on seeing herself on the small screen.
I Need a Hero
What the music of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ tells us about heroism.
The Embodiment of Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham’s memoir shows the distorting effects of fame on her intimate relationships, especially with herself.
Love Transmuted into Archive
Netflix’s latest Istanbul melodrama adapts Orhan Pamuk’s 2008 novel into a multilayered exploration of class and gender tensions, memory curation, and tragic limerence.
A Romance You Watch in Secret
The Russian-language reception of Crave’s ‘Heated Rivalry’ shows how tenderness, desire, and character complexity shape a phenomenon that transcends borders.
Life as It Should Be
Devon Halliday on the lure of reality TV in Stephen Fishbach’s novel ‘Escape!’
Opposition Party
In 2025, television offered a primer in principled dissent.
Sounds of Freedom: The Biden Years On-Screen, Part Three
The third installment of ‘The Biden Years On-Screen’ considers the cinematic fallout of cancel culture, the overruling of Roe v. Wade, and the 2022 midterm elections.
Mug Shot Matriarchy
Jake Flanagin examines how reality TV juggernaut Bravo and its ‘Real Housewives’ spin criminality into character development—and ratings gold.
Everybody Loves a Lover
Janna Jones writes about the history and resonances of ‘Love Tapes,’ Wendy Clarke’s 1980s video project.
Run for the Sun, Little One
Carly Mattox considers recent critiques of imperialist nostalgia via Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later” and Adam Curtis’s “Shifty.”
