A Hero I Can Believe In

February 23, 2018 by Editor-in-Chief in , Arts & Culture

By Anonymous

Content warning: description of depressive episode

Spoiler alert: you should probably watch Black Panther before reading this.

I wasn’t prepared for Black Panther. It gave me something new to believe in.

This is not an origin story, and it’s not a typical superhero story. The Black Panther isn’t tasked with saving the world. The film is full of difficult questions and is unapologetically black. Ryan Coogler shows off blackness in all its complexity—as a diaspora.

Are You There God? It's Me, Jake Peralta

February 23, 2018 by Editor-in-Chief in Arts & Culture

By Abby Schneider '21

For y'all unaware of the greatest television show of all time, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a sitcom about the shenanigans that the police detectives get up to in a fictionalized version of Brooklyn's 99th precinct. The show first aired in 2013 and has been wildly successful amongst twenty-somethings and college students ever since. Created by Michael Schur (The Office, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place) and Dan Goor (Parks and Recreation, The Daily Show, Conan), the show seamlessly incorporates pop culture, millennial humor, and even addresses current, culturally relevant issues without morphing into a drama.

I'm Sorry I'm Not Perfect

February 23, 2018 by Editor-in-Chief in , Arts & Culture, Identity

By Olivia Funderburg '18

Overall, I was left with a burning question: what if Lady Bird had really pushed boundaries? What if the film took its mother-daughter story and complicated it?

Kamala Khan: The Ms.-Ing Piece of the Marvel Universe

October 31, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Identity, Arts & Culture

By Padya Paramita

Content warning: mention of Nazis

On the day after the 2016 US presidential elections, a queer international student of color found herself at a comic book store face-to-face with a superhero she had never seen before. In encountering Kamala Khan—known by her superhero alias, Ms. Marvel—I discovered a girl much like myself: brown, Muslim, fighting demons, trying to find a balance between Americanization and her South Asian roots.

Falling (Back) in Love with Peter Parker

September 27, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Arts & Culture

By Samantha English and Olivia Funderburg

Content warning: implication of anxiety and claustrophobia

Disclaimer: If you haven’t seen Spider-Man: Homecoming or Captain America: Civil War, read with caution.

The original Spider-Man was created in 1962 by Stan Lee, who had noticed a rise in teen comic book readers and a lack of teen comic book characters. Most Marvel characters were adults at the time—take, for instance, Iron Man and Captain America, who both have origin stories linked to war even if their comics were written with a young audience in mind. Lee wanted a teen character that young people could identify with. He created Peter Parker, a fifteen-year-old New Yorker who loved science, was the victim of high school bullying, and, because of a radioactive spider-bite, spent his after-school hours protecting people on the streets of Queens in a mask and spandex.

When Marvel decided to incorporate the character of Spider-Man into the complex, multi-character, multimillion-dollar Cinematic Universe, the company finally took Peter Parker back to his roots

The Hate U Give: A Mirror and a Window

May 03, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Arts & Culture, Identity

By Olivia Funderburg

The Hate U Give follows 16-year old Starr Carter as she navigates the ins and outs of being a teenager: from friendships and sometimes fighting to boyfriends and maybe taking the next step. But Starr’s life is more complicated than some 16-year olds’ are. She has to navigate living between two worlds: the black neighborhood she calls home and the elite, predominately white high school she attends. Starr’s life quickly becomes even more complicated when she is the only witness when her childhood best friend Khalil, unarmed, is killed by a cop.

La La Land: On Reconciling Art and Erasure

February 23, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Arts & Culture, Identity

By Kele Alfred-Igbokwe '19

Content warning: mentions of racism

The film crushed my heart with the wistfulness of love lost over the course of chasing dreams, of the sacrifices of creative drive.

Throughout the film, however, my mind was bogged down by an incessant observation: all the people of color (except John Legend’s character) were in the background as amorphous jazz music machines. The thing is, they had presences as brilliant jazz musicians, but they had almost no speaking roles, didn’t drive the story, and were only there to supplement the main characters, who were almost all white. The film was centered around two white characters, while subsequently using people of color as musical props.