1934 Horror Film ‘The Black Cat’ Slinks Easily into Our Time of Terror
Nazi power had already risen and Hitler was Chancellor when The Black Cat shared its laser-focus on the dangers of the rising tide of right-wing politics.
Politics
‘How Civil Wars Start’ Interrogates American Exceptionalism
The same forces that tore apart societies from Yugoslavia to Iraq, Columbia, Northern Ireland, and the West Bank are fully present in the US, warns How Civil Wars Start.
The British ‘Idea of Europe’ Is Still a Mess
Shane Weller’s The Idea of Europe, hampered by an unconscious form of Euroscepticism, suggests that British critics are still not ready to listen to their neighbors.
Yanis Varoufakis Anticipates Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse in ‘Another Now’
Disguised as sci-fi, Yanis Varoufaikis’ Another Now contemplates how life post-capitalism might be more free and equal – and how that might be destroyed.
Ideological Incoherence in Films ‘3 Women’ ‘Girlfriends’ and Late ‘70s Feminism
The inconclusive nature of modern womanhood espoused by 3 Women and Girlfriends reflects and reifies the inconclusive nature of second-wave feminism.
Is Louis Menand Right About the Death of Art and Thought in America?
For intellectual historian Louis Menand, the Cold War gave rise to prospects and paradoxes in America, and Art was given status through essential criticism.
Peter Weiss and Further Reflections of a Political Kind
Vol. II of Peter Weiss’ novel and documentary history, The Aesthetics of Resistance, laments struggles lost as Nazism and WWII take hold.
‘The Afghanistan Papers’ Reveals How Not to Fight a War
Craig Whitlock’s searing Afghanistan war book is a jaw-dropping compilation of arrogance and stupidities that nobody wanted to see.
Oscar Wilde Envisions Our Post-Pandemic Socialist Future
Millennials and GenZ had time to contemplate the real harms wrought by capitalism during the pandemic shutdown. Perhaps they might read Oscar Wilde, now.
‘Beirut 2020’ Portends What Awaits America
Majdalani’s Beirut 2020 warns that unwillingness to enforce rules and due process lies at the heart of the problems plaguing both Lebanon and America.
Robert Altman’s ‘Nashville’ Is a Many-Headed Musical-Political Animal
Robert Altman’s Nashville is sour and sympathetic, accurate and exaggerated, messy and beady-eyed, a sprawling canvas reminiscent of Bosch or Breugel.
