A culture blog that reads between the lines
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Aeschylus’s The Oresteia is a foundational text in Western literature. Written in Greece in the 5th century B.C.E., the trilogy grapples with fundamental questions about justice, revenge, and the role of law in society. Comprising Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, the plays are…
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Captain America: Brave New World—A Superhero Film with Political Weight
I typically don’t start posts with a spoiler warning, but since Captain America: Brave New World (2025; Dir. Onah) is still new, I’ll note that while I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum, some are unavoidable. Brave New World arrives at a time of…
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The Name of the Rose: Libraries, Censorship, and the Fear of Laughter
The Name of the Rose (1986; dir. Annaud) is a multinational production starring Sean Connery. The film is an adaptation of Umberto Eco’s debut novel of the same name. Eco was a professor of semiotics, a medievalist, and a philosopher…
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The Many Faces of Forgiveness in Shrinking
Apple TV’s Shrinking balances comedy with deep emotional truths. At its core, the series explores grief, centering on therapist Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) as he and his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) struggle with the loss of Jimmy’s wife and Alice’s mother, Tia.…
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What World War Z Teaches Us About Global Responsibility
When World War Z (2013; dir. Forster) hit theaters, I was expecting a typical zombie movie that would quickly fade from memory. Instead, it’s a film I’ve found myself returning to several times over the last decade. The movie also inspired me…
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Despair and Resilience in The Midnight Library and The Beggar Student
Both The Midnight Library (2020) by Matt Haig and The Beggar Student (1940) by Osamu Dazai tackle despair, but they do so in starkly different ways. I picked up both of these books serendipitously. I miscalculated the amount of time I needed in NYC…
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The Existential Lens of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds: Alien Visitation and Our Humanity
Recently, I had surgery in New York City and wanted to have a small novel with me in case I was admitted for an overnight stay. I chose H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds because it felt fitting, given all the…
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Severance Season 1: Identity, Subjugation, and the Frightening Vision of Lumon
Apple’s Severance has a unique premise that presents itself in an outlandish but entertaining manner, and while I, like many, enjoyed the masterful storytelling and acting, I also found it to be unnervingly plausible. Created by Dan Erickson and directed…
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Godzilla Minus One: Theory, Strategy, and the Philosophy of Uncertainty
When Godzilla Minus One (2023; dir. Takashi Yamazaki) dropped, it rejuvenated the most venerated kaiju after he had been brought to a new low by several schlocky American Godzilla stories like Godzilla vs. Kong. Minus One did this through its unique styling, bringing the…
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Horror Double Feature—The Cure and The Wailing
Japanese and Korean cinema have delivered some of the most haunting and thought-provoking horror films in global cinema. Two standout examples, The Cure (1997; dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) from Japan and The Wailing (2016; dir. Na Hong-jin) from South Korea, represent the pinnacle of their…
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