barbie
What we discourse about when we discourse about Barbenheimer
The discourses around Barbie and Oppenheimer have followed very similar patterns.
Emily St. James
Emily St. James is a writer and critic whose work has appeared in Vox, The A.V. Club, and the New York Times. She is the co-creator of the podcast Arden and a writer on the TV series Yellowjackets.
pop culture weekend
Pop culture weekend (Aug. 18): I can't watch bad things happen to fictional kids anymore.
I became a parent, and you won't believe what happened next! (Spoilers: I found watching scenes of children dying or being endangered almost completely unbearable.)
pop culture weekend
Pop culture weekend (Aug. 11): Country music and hierarchies
Just how conservative is country music anyway?
criticism
You are not smarter than the art you critique
Here's my best advice for young critics: Don't presume you know better.
pop culture weekend
My pop culture week, your pop culture weekend - August 4 edition
August kicks off with the three of the most prominent women of our time: Taylor Swift, Leigh Bardugo, and Bluey.
trans
I was busy thinkin' 'bout boys
What if your sexuality transitions too? What then?
pop culture weekend
My pop culture week, your pop culture weekend - July 28 edition
This week includes thoughts on Wayne's World, Into the Woods, A Fever in the Heartland, Barbie, and Oppenheimer.
Episodes 6.0
My pop culture week, your pop culture weekend - July 21 edition
Across the Spider-Verse
Across the Spider-verse is not half a movie. C'mon, now.
(Since I published my last newsletter, SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA in a strike against the AMPTP. SAG-AFTRA has asked its members to cease promotion of projects for AMPTP signatories. I'm not a SAG-AFTRA member, and journalism and criticism are not promotional. That said, I am also not strictly
open thread
What's your pop culture weekend? July 14 edition
trauma plot
The Trauma Plot and the Abuse Plot
More than a few reviews of director James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 damned it with faint praise along the lines of "This is as close as a director in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can get to making a personal statement." Usually, these reviews
Episodes 6.0
Welcome back
The last time I wrote anything for this newsletter, I was writing on a different platform. (Best of luck to Letterdrop, a wonderful platform that has opted to move in a different direction with its business model.) I was waiting for my child to be born and freaking out that