Screen

Lorna Raver, an elderly white woman, plays a witch whose face is decaying in Drag Me to Hell

Hell Is Older People: Aging as the Ultimate Cinematic Horror

by Alana Prochuk
October 21, 2019 at 9:00am
Unlike horror-movie fates such as, say, decapitation by paper cutter, aging is the ultimate fright because viewers recognize that they cannot escape it. Read more »
Sarah Shook, a white actress with short, red hair, wears a black suit, on Succession

No Good Deeds: “Succession” Rejects the Redemption Arc for Its Ruthless Characters

by Kyndall Cunningham
October 18, 2019 at 11:47am
HBO’s hourlong drama about a Murdoch-inspired family slyly toys with Americans’ impulse to see the good in the worst people, particularly when those people are white.  Read more »
two white women stand in front of a dollhouse on Sharp Objects

Housebound: Why the Dollhouse Metaphor Remains So Indelible

by Gretchen Sisson
October 17, 2019 at 10:28am
The dollhouses of today are not, then, miniature playgrounds that train girls to believe their future paths go no further than their front door. Read more »
Uneasy Spirits header image of a Black woman in oversized clothing holding a serpent in her left hand and a dagger with a star halo around her head

Uneasy Spirits: Black Vengeance in Supernatural Pop Culture

by Sela Gebre
October 14, 2019 at 11:00am
There’s a specter in our midst, and it’s white people’s projection of their own guilt and fear onto the Black search for justice. Read more »
a ring of white-robed women sit in a forest in front of their leader

Girl Watchers: The Uneasy Female Gaze of “Black Conflux” and “The Other Lamb”

by Jourdain Searles
October 11, 2019 at 3:00pm
Two new films challenge sexist coming-of-age tales where teen girls are master manipulators. Read more »
an Asian couple walks through San Francisco together in Always Be My Maybe

Transmitting Culture: A New Slate of Films Serve as Love Letters to Korean American Mothers

by Margaret Rhee
October 11, 2019 at 1:55pm
Always Be My Maybe, Searching, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before depict Asian American mothers as worthy of the same care, sympathy, and compassion that they bestow on their children, family, and friends. Read more »
A white woman with long red hair stands in front of a city at night. A light in the shape of a bat is projected into the sky. She is wearing a black mask and skintight catsuit with a red bat across the chest.

In “Batwoman,” Lesbians and Queer Women Are Complicated—and Brave

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
October 11, 2019 at 11:02am
A lesbian superhero who saves the city and her girl stands out considering that pop culture is still learning how to stop killing off lesbians onscreen. Read more »
A preteen girl with light skin and black hair stands in front of a classroom with her teacher. She has on glasses and is gesturing with her hands.

“Big Mouth” Endlessly Explores Sexuality, but Still Stumbles on Queerness

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
October 8, 2019 at 9:18am
It’s not that I’m surprised a television show failed to accurately represent bisexuality and pansexuality. It’s that I’m surprised Big Mouth was one of those shows. Read more »
The cast of NBC's The Good Place in a red room in Season 3

Cord Jefferson Finds a (Good) Place for Pop Culture Optimism

by Cate Young
September 27, 2019 at 2:05pm
In 2016, Michael Schur’s The Good Place started as another quirky NBC comedy that then blossomed into a bona fide cultural phenomenon. Read more »
Nomi, played by Emily Arlook, a white college student with blond hair, left, and Professor Hewson, played by Katherine Moennig, a white woman with dark, short hair, on Grown-ish

Not Quite “Grown-Ish”: Power Dynamics Complicate Onscreen Lesbian Student-Teacher Relationships

by Kirby Marshall-Collins
September 27, 2019 at 12:29pm
Despite our excitement and enthusiasm about seeing brilliant lesbian professors represented onscreen, they aren’t immune to critique. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

Films and TV Portray Abortion as More Dangerous Than It Is

by Erica Thomas
February 19, 2014 at 3:47pm
Films and television shows tend to present a skewed portrayal of abortion—when fictional movies and TV shows include a plotline about abortion... Read more »

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 »