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Nazis, Nostalgia, and Critique in Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit'

Arriving amidst the exhaustion of the past (21st century cultural stagnation), Waititi locates a new potential object for the nostalgic gaze with Jojo Rabbit: unpleasant and traumatic events themselves.

                                      
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PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.

Arriving amidst the exhaustion of the past (21st century cultural stagnation), Waititi locates a new potential object for the nostalgic gaze with Jojo Rabbit: unpleasant and traumatic events themselves.

Kelsey Miller's I'll Be There for You, on the production and cultural legacy of Friends, is a must-read for fans and anyone interested in understanding TV culture over the past 20 years.

Adult Swim's short film "Too Many Cooks" and Cartoon Network's Rick and Morty are distinctive examples of the Vaporwave Sensibility expressed in narrative-visual form.

In the Star Wars universe, those who do not remember history are doomed to sequel it; those who do, apparently, make prequels.

The return of Roseanne brings with it some complicated political baggage -- and it brings Dan Connor back from the dead.

Dominic Arsenault's Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware cuts through the nostalgia so sharply that it comes off as dismissive, hostile even, at least to someone used to reading the flowery prose of fan literature.

Baby It’s You pushes past high school’s safe spaces to confront the audience with an imperfect world.

The perils of nostalgia notwithstanding, many listeners will find the foggy atmospheres and neon-lit cityscapes of RR7349 irresistible.

My wife witnessed a Pokeromance in the making, while I discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Pokehunting with a 14-year-old.

You know the story. You’ve lived the story, and you're destined to relive it again and again.

Kano’s fifth LP sees the rapper revisiting his childhood haunts in an attempt to come to terms with his past.

Nostalgia has its uses, its benefits. But is it useful and beneficial when it obscures the reality of the past and present, usually in the service of power, prestige, and making a buck?

Revered English musical visionary Steven Wilson discusses the inspirations, methods, and reflections that helped create his newest solo opus, Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Aching for the past dam(n)s The Stream.

The new nostalgia signals the ultimate rejection of millennial anxiety, postmodernism, irony and the future. It longs for a post-industrial, green world. Of course, that suggests a vague and painful longing for something that never was.

What's the good in looking back if you refuse to look forward?

Ice Climber is the game that I might rank as my favorite game that lacked an end-goal, that created an arcade-like experience in which the player kept climbing for the sake of climbing and for, of course, the sake of points. Though that was not the only reason that one climbed.

Glitchy loops and droning organs make for a surprisingly moving electronic elegy on Brooklyn duo's latest

Ernest Hemingway compared Paris to a moveable feast because no matter what time it is, Paris is always the magnificent city of lights. Woody Allen expands upon Hemingway's testimony in the magical Midnight in Paris.

Roots-reggae stalwarts dish up an impeccable platter of nostalgia.

A work of heroic heritage -- reorganizing an era that is too often dismissed as sterile.

If you liked The Hangover, are a fan of any of the leads or enjoy the kind of humor associated with Apatow-style films, Hot Tub Time Machine may be for you.

At best, the cassette revival is merely a vacuous fad of no genuine value; but at worst, it's a confused, regressive cultural misstep more dangerous than most would care to admit.

A hugely enjoyable blend of humor and agony that captures the confused, painful, but open-ended state of late adolescence.

The 'Evolved' option is quite possibly the most pointless update since Transformers' Soundwave became "New Soundwave".

It is Super Paper Mario's quick wit, above all, that makes it such a joy to play.