Porn: the good, the bad and the ugly
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Pornography is no longer the dark underworld of the internet, but now a heavy force in the entertainment mainstream. It is the fast-moving undercurrent of internet traffic,…
The women we grew up watching: muses, fantasies and troubled
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Over lockdown I found myself slowly returning to the TV shows and films that many of us grew up with. This time round, I began to see…
Love Island has gone on sabbatical, but should it ever return?
It seems the summer of 2020 will be spent at home. With the majority of the British population confined to one time zone perhaps Love Island 2020 would have been…
Isolating alone is not the romance that was sold to us
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson When the UK was plunged into lockdown two months ago we were forced to alter our relationships; with those we live with and those we do not….
Normal People can open the conversation on men’s mental health
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson ‘Normal People’ is the latest hit drama of lockdown, and after watching it I can understand why. Through a compelling and authentic storyline, the two lead actors,…
Calling Normal People ‘basic’ reveals underlying sexism
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Everyone is talking about Normal People. Rightly so, the programme conjures such richness and complexity with deft, subtle strokes. It also seems breathtakingly new and it has…
Are Jews destined to feel invisible in popular culture?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson It was nearly a year ago that William Finn’s musical Falsettos made its debut in UK theatres. The protagonist’s self-deprecating humour and sporadic neuroticism were clearly very…
Normal People: A triumphant collaboration of female writing and male directing
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson I have not read Normal People. I have been told how brilliant it is, but I simply never got around to reading it. So when the advert…
The UK media is failing us in this pandemic
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson There is no way to gloss over what is currently happening all over the world, no way to play it down or over state just how awful…
Netflix’s Love is Blind reinforces Female Stereotypes
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Masterfully dropping on the eve before Valentine’s Day, Love is Blind has since snowballed in popularity. Perhaps this is unsurprising, it is the televisual equivalent of mashed…
Sorry We Missed You has the power to swing the election result
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Ken Loach and Paul Laverty are back with their latest film Sorry We Missed You – an honest yet moving insight into the reality of the gig…
Making the ‘Unbelievable’, believable
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Just last month, Netflix added to their catalogue of ‘binge worthy’ crime mini-series with its adaptation of Miller and Armstrong’s 2015 article ‘An Unbelievable Story of…
Joker and the misrepresentation of mental disorders
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Joker, every edgy boy’s new favourite film, opened this weekend to polarising reviews. Some critics praised the gritty look into the origins of everyone’s favourite psychotic…
Cultural appropriation: the only way out of genocide?
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Recently, high fashion house Louis Vuitton released an Instagram campaign in which they featured China’s most popular actress, Dilraba Dilmurat, posing in Shanghai alongside fellow actress…
A female Bond is not the answer
I love James Bond. I love the excitement, the intrigue, the glamour and, of course, the gorgeous Aston Martins. Ever since watching Casino Royal, I have been hooked by the…
Is whiteness integral to the name of Bond?
Recent popular speculation that James Bond might soon be portrayed by a black man has met a surprising and disappointing amount of resistance. The arguments put forward by the members…
‘Lunatics’ reflects Chris Lilley’s dark humour
If you have any form of social media, it is highly likely that you will know exactly what Summer Heights High is and who the most meme-worthy character, perhaps of…
Impartiality is not an excuse for harmful debate
‘Is it morally right for 5-year-old children to learn about LGBT issues in school?’ was a question from a member of the Question Time audience last week. It’s one thing…
Disney, it’s time to admit you jumped the Gunn
As if Paddy’s Day wasn’t enough excitement for one week, the news that James Gunn has been rehired by Walt Disney Studios to write and direct ‘Guardians of the Galaxy…
Leaving Neverland should act as a cautionary tale
I was ten when Michael Jackson died. I remember coming into my primary school and people talking about it. I knew the name of Michael Jackson, but did not really…
And the Oscar for making us feel unbridled emotion goes to…
I won’t pretend that last week’s Oscars didn’t leave anything to be desired, that we don’t still have a way to go regarding who and what deserves accolade, and…
Love Actually champions women
You’ll watch ‘LoveActually’ this Christmas. I promise. You will watch Love Actually and probably hate it. That sort of thing is going around. It is not, you will protest, a…
Has literature and film distorted history?
The Da Vinci Code, a fictional book, written by Dan Brown was heavily criticised for presenting fictional events in the history of Christianity as a reality. Brown, never claimed it…
Don’t hate the Netflix actor, hate the game
After a solid first quarter to 2017, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, leaned back ready to swell stakeholders’ confidence and share balances, answering questions. The event was uploaded to YouTube,…
City of stars: Here’s to the fools who dream
When sitting down to write about Los Angeles, I find myself playing the La La Land soundtrack for inspiration. The iconic film, not only two years old, has already gained…
City of Stars: the religious icons of Hollywood
Los Angeles, in our mind’s eye, is a montage of the city’s most iconic sights. But this flickering reel has been stitched together by Hollywood itself. Scattered across the sprawling…
Stacey Dooley is breathing new life into the traditional media
A few months ago, I’d only heard the name Stacey Dooley in terms of her so-named BBC 3 documentaries. That probably would have been it, had my friend not given…
Shannon Purser is a loser like me
I love Shannon Purser. And I love her for one very specific, very egotistic reason – she looks like me. As someone not blessed with facial symmetry or a toned…
Bake Off is representing disability perfectly
Briony Williams, one of the many front-runners for this year’s Great British Bake Off, has been making me think. She has a disability that one of my oldest friends shares,…
Drake shouldn’t be texting Millie Bobby Brown
I doubt that I am alone in my thinking that a 14-year-old and a 31-year-old having a text relationship is a bit odd, even more so when a) the texts…
Actors aren’t to blame for lack of diversity
Imagine: a white man writes, directs and produces a film with a female lead perfect for a young African American actress – but a white woman is cast. Or imagine:…
Ruby Rose should be the new Batwoman, gay or not
Last week it was announced that the Australian actor Ruby Rose had been cast as the first openly gay superhero in a TV series in the role of Batwoman. After…
Netflix has bitten off more than it can chew with Insatiable
If you have been reading any of my previous articles you will probably have noticed a consistent message of promoting an open platform for discussion, encouraging the embrace of offensive…
Girl talk: the Marvel films
Released this weekend, Ant-Man and the Wasp marks the first time that a woman has led a film in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Huzzah! It’s only the 20th film,…
#loyal to Love Island, even if it’s an anti-climax
With the final of Love Island upon us, panic is spreading across the country like an epidemic. What does life look like after Love Island? What will I do in…
Jumping the Gunn: Disney’s firing sets a dangerous precedent
This week, Disney announced the quickfire dismissal of James Gunn, who directed the Guardians of the Galaxy films for their Marvel subsidiary. The decision was prompted by the resurfacing of…
Terry Crews’ fight against toxic masculinity is invaluable
Something that I find particularly difficult to process is the sad fact that one of the only realms in which we have a kind of ‘herstory’, is sexual violence. The…
We should all feel sorry for Piers Morgan
With the rise of online harassment and the flood of media attention that it brings, a new career has been born – the professional troll: a person who takes their…
When it comes to sex education, it’s high time for a recoupling
There’s a lot uniting English people at the moment. The World Cup, Danny Dyer speaking the mind of the nation and standing up to Piers Morgan, our collective lobster sunburns….
Why is there so much sexual violence in films?
Every five years, the British Board of Film Classification (the BBFC – or the guys who decide what number appears in the bottom corner of your DVD boxes) carry out…
Ocean’s 8 and the danger of the all female remake
After watching Ocean’s 8, a film featuring a relatively diverse group of female leads, a film in which almost every scene passes the Bechdel Test, I felt excited. Excited about…
Hypocrisy and faux outrage are new hallmarks of the right
There has been no escaping the news of the swift downfall of Roseanne Barr. In case you needed reminding, within hours of making racist remarks on Twitter about Obama’s former…
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: wildly offensive, wildly educational
Despite running the risk of being branded as a TV addict, this week I decided to write about another TV show. During the last year at university, the show ‘It’s…
I love to love Love Island
The end of exams, glimpses of sunshine and the revival of t-shirts and shorts can only mean one thing. While many of you may confidently jump to the logical conclusion…
Colour conscious casting should be prioritised
The premise of colour conscious casting came to many people’s attention through the success of Hamilton, the widely popular musical depicting the tale of US Founding Father Alexander Hamilton through…
Star Wars’ gender problem has less Leias than you’d think
In a somewhat unbelievable turn of events this week, the same day that Solo: A Star Wars Story hit cinemas saw the news revealing the focus of Star Wars’ next…
Authorship down: Lars von Trier and the abuse of ‘art’
Auteur-provocateur, filmmaker-troublemaker, artist-misogynist… if you’ve heard of Lars von Trier, you’ve probably got an opinion on the Danish director. Up to now, discourse on von Trier has existed in a…
Weinstein traumatised the world – and his wife
Just one week ago, on 10 May, Vogue released an interview titled ‘Georgina Chapman on Life After Harvey Weinstein’. Much controversy has surrounded its publishing, with many praising its…
Blade: the forgotten gem of black cinema
Since its release, Black Panther has been praised for its strong writing, clever expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and memorable cast. This is deserved; Black Panther is arguably one…
Polanski’s expulsion is a good PR move, but not good enough
Rejoice! The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences – the Academy, to you and me – proudly proclaimed this week that they were expelling TV entertainer Bill Crosby and…
Netflix vs Cannes: The art of cinema, or defunct elitism?
Cannes: the crown of the French Riviera, upholder of the selfie ban, and guardian of cinema. Unsurprisingly, this prestigious film festival is also a particularly conservative institution – as evidenced…
Why is ‘The Virgin Bride’ still on a pedestal?
‘Just because you lost your virginity doesn’t mean you can go around throwing your cat at everybody!’ Emma Stone’s Olive Penderghast, the self-proclaimed ‘slutty’ version of Hester Prynne, spends the…
13 Reasons Why Not
When the first season of ‘13 Reasons Why’ was released on Netflix, it became one of those shows that was more obligation than choice. Everyone had binged it, everyone was…
Accusing someone on Twitter doesn’t make them guilty
In light of recent, mass, sexual allegations against Hollywood powerhouses Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, both have seen their reputation and careers left in tatters, becoming publicly condemned and professionally…
There remain a few respectable figures of authority in Hollywood
In little over a month since the Harvey Weinstein revelations surfaced, we have seen a scourge of further allegations – particularly in Hollywood, but also in various other professions around…