Tuesday, November 15 2011
The ‘Down-Low’ Is Still Kept Down and Low in Black Communities
Despite gay rights progress on many fronts, the problems of black LGBT people are still largely invisible, as they are often shunned by the black communities from which they come.
Friday, September 16 2011
Drawn Together: Cornell’s “Demon Knights” and the Ideal of Camelot
In Demon Knights Paul Cornell not only dramatizes the idea of Camelot, but exquisitely reenacts it at one of the oldest comicbook publishers.
Tuesday, June 21 2011
Reality, and Then Some, as Conveyed in ‘The Wire’ and ‘Oliver Twist’
The spoonful of sugar that The Wire employs in relating its harsh theme is all wrapped up in that medicine's themes of fatalism. The humor employed in Oliver Twist highlights the opposite: the needlessness of the system that allows orphans to starve to death.
Friday, March 18 2011
Still Flying: An Interview with Tim Minear, Part I
Both an integral part of the Whedonverse and a major television creator in his own right, Tim Minear was the co-creator of Firefly in addition to working as a writer on both Angel and Dollhouse. He is currently the showrunner of the FOX series The Chicago Code.
Friday, January 14 2011
Gotta Be ‘In Treatment’
Loss is a necessary part of life, sure, but must it be a necessary part of TV?
Wednesday, September 8 2010
‘The Wire’ As American Noir
The Wire’s intentional difficulty and rigor -- along with academia’s ongoing love affair with cultural studies -- might very well explain its emerging as a centerpiece in a growing number of courses at many colleges and universities in the United States.
Monday, July 19 2010
New Jurisdiction: How Will the Dark, Brooding ‘Luther’ Fare Stateside?
Airing on BBC America later in the year, the BBC's recent dark crime series, Luther, deserves to do as well stateside as it's doing here in the UK.
Friday, July 9 2010
Brava, Bravo!
Those Bravo executives are tricksters, fooling me into believing familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. I'm totally hooked.
Wednesday, January 20 2010
Fast Train to Nowhere: Watching ‘The Wire’ Aesthetically
Every scene, no matter how seemingly throwaway, no matter how seemingly unimportant, contributes to a larger vision, a complex set of patterns and narratives. Which is why The Wire is both totally fascinating and utterly unrealistic.
