Category: Art and Culture
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The High Price of Low-Cost Fashion: Unraveling the Reality of Fast Fashion
With the rapidly approaching summer vacation season, my friend needed help choosing some outfits. Beckoning me over to her phone, I was shown an endless array of summery clothing, not one over $15. After much deliberation, a shopping cart filled with fashionable pieces was finalized, amounting to an impressively low total for the amount of…
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The Butterfly Lovers: Truly the Chinese Romeo and Juliet?
Before Hollywood was churning out movies faster than the speed of light, forbidden romance was already a popular trope for centuries, manifesting in many different ways. And today, we’re going to be examining two stories from centuries ago that follow the very familiar forbidden lovers trope that we’ve really grown to love today: Shakespeare’s Romeo…
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A Man Called Otto: A Story of Learning to Love Again
A beautiful story of love, loss, and grief. “A Man Called Otto”, starring Tom Hanks, is the most authentic portrayal of dealing with grief and suicide. Adapted from the Swedish book, “A Man Called Ove”, Otto (Tom Hanks), initially seems like your average cranky neighbor living in Pennsylvania. Yet, as his story progresses, we can…
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar: A Victim of Consumption
Fast fashion: It’s like taking one bite out of an apple and then throwing the rest away. In the world of seemingly instant services like online food delivery and shopping at the click of a button, it seems as if everybody’s patience has become pitifully short. Perhaps the most prominent result of this phenomenon is…
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1998 and 2020… Where Did it All Go Wrong in Disney’s Mulan?
In 1998, Disney came out with the hit movie Mulan, depicting a courageous woman filling her sick father’s place in the military. It was critically acclaimed, reaching sales as high as $304M. But when Disney released Mulan again in 2020 as a live action remake, it’s safe to say that it wasn’t as well received as Disney would…
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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: A Story of Endless Discoveries
“Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer sun could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder” (Sáenz). In their path to discovering the secrets of the universe, friends Aristotle and Dante stumble across the brevity and unpredictability of life, as…
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Greta Gerwig’s Masterful Depiction of Love Through a Lens of Girlhood
It’s a beautiful night in May. A friend I’ve had since preschool ballet class rests with me on her sofa, sleepily lounging in her cozy, dimly-lit living room. Despite having much to catch up on from years of growing up in different schools, we linger in a comfortable silence. We hear the chatter of her…
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How Top Boy Changed British Culture
Netflix recently released the much anticipated fifth and final season of the hit crime drama Top Boy. The show was initially released in 2010 in the UK and achieved mild success. However, Canadian rap star Drake was a major fan of the series, often posting about it on social media. He got in contact with…
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Osamu Dazai — The Voice of Cynicism
Shūji Tsushima better known by his pen name, Osamu Dazai, was a deeply troubled man. Despite being one of the most prolific Japanese authors of all time only a handful of his books are available in English, despite this his writing has still made a profound impact on international audiences. Dazai’s immense popularity is in…
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The Evolution of Women’s Sexuality Through the Femme Fatale
Introduction The femme fatale character archetype, a seductive woman who uses her sexuality to manipulate men for her personal benefit, has been present in literature and media for centuries. However, the femme fatale as a defined trope did not emerge until the beginning of the 20th century in classic noir films. In these depictions, the…