Screen

Sophia Lillis, a white girl with short, red hair, looks into the ether in It Chapter One

Blood Sport: The Most Feminist Part of “IT Chapter Two” Is a Staple in Horror

by Jill Grunenwald
September 17, 2019 at 10:56am
There’s one genre that has never shied away from depicting menstruation: horror. Read more »
two Latinx men, one wearing oxygen, embrace in HBO's Alternate Endings documentary

Ashes to Ashes, Outer space to Oceans: Who Gets to Have an Alternative Death in America?

by s.e. smith
September 11, 2019 at 4:56pm
Many of the faces of “alternative death” are white, and there’s much less engagement with the cultural, community, and social traditions of communities of diverse color and faith in America. Read more »
Courtney Sauls as Brooke Morgan, left, and Nia Jerver as Kelsey Phillips in Dear White People. They are two Black women who are kissing on the end of a bed.

A Quick History of TV’s Elusive Quest for Complex Black Lesbians

by Jaelani Turner-Williams
September 6, 2019 at 5:41am
Characters are being given more complexity onscreen, as they are offered the chance to explore their queerness in ways typically reserved for white queer women. Read more »
David Bower as David, a white Deaf man with a hearing aid, in Four Weddings and a Funeral, 1994.

“Four Weddings” Is Still a Pop Culture Starting Point for Sign Language

by Lilit Marcus
September 3, 2019 at 10:46am
It helps not to think of a signed language, a written language, and a spoken one as being in any way connected to each other at all, but to recognize them as distinct, each one a living, breathing entity. Read more »
Two white women and one Black woman stand in a row in The Kitchen

In Hot Water: “The Kitchen” Is a Comic-Book Adaptation Whose Diversity Feels Forced

by Jourdain Searles
August 30, 2019 at 12:04pm
The film pushes a shallow image of female unity, flattening the complex characters from the comic into easily readable types. Read more »
Priyanka Chopra, in white suit with black blouse, sits in red chair and speaks into microphone

Hot Mic: Priyanka Chopra’s Selectively Woke Stardom Is a Strategic—and Risky—Decision

by Mallika Khanna
August 29, 2019 at 3:09pm
Diasporas and communities of color often feel that we must pedestalize even the least bit of representation that comes our way. Read more »
Several Black college students sit on a couch, including Jordan Woods as Dee.

Not A Stereotype: 5 TV Shows That Depict Mental Health Surprisingly Well

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 26, 2019 at 8:41am
TV is slowly making progress and learning how to tell the stories of characters with mental health conditions. Read more »
Veronica Mars, a white woman, sits at her desk at work. She wears a flannel and has blond hair parted down the middle.

Drama, Not Trauma: Rape Culture, “Veronica Mars,” and the Spectacle of Sexual Violence

by Roslyn Talusan
August 23, 2019 at 11:17am
From the very beginning, sexual assault is simply fodder for drama in the world of Neptune, California. Read more »
Queer Eye's Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, and Antoni Porowski sit on a couch together and look up at a screen.

In Favor of Straight White Viewers, “Queer Eye” Lives in the Middle Ground

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 20, 2019 at 3:42pm
Many straight women love and enjoy Queer Eye. Does it hold the same weight with queer women? Read more »
Aisling Franciosi, a white teenager with short, brown hair who's covered in blood and standing next to a brown horse, plays Clare in The Nightingale

In “The Nightingale,” Rape is a Tool of Colonialism

by Jourdain Searles
August 20, 2019 at 1:25pm
The horror depicted in The Nightingale is that of colonial violence’s endlessness, a war for power designed to go on forever. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

Saying Goodbye to Maria and the End of a Sesame Street Era

by Angely Mercado
August 13, 2015 at 5:52pm
Growing up, Sesame Street's Maria was one of the best Latina role models I had. Read more »

Tina Belcher's Sexual Revolution

​​​​​​​Tina Belcher, an animated teenaged girl. She wears glasses and has black hair with bangs.
by Gabrielle Moss
May 6, 2014 at 11:57am
Tina Belcher breaks all the rules of network sitcoms. That's why she's wonderful.  Read more »

What I Learned About Gender and Power from Sailor Moon

by Soleil Ho
May 31, 2013 at 1:43pm
My life began in 1995 — the year I turned eight and became a divorced kid.    Read more »

The Dramatic History of American Sex-Ed Films

by Sarah Mirk
June 17, 2014 at 10:29am
In 1948, in a seventh grade classroom in Eugene, Oregon, a teacher dimmed the lights and flipped on 16mm projector. A film called Human... Read more »