Hamlet: An Identity in Crisis
Life is absurd. We are born into a world without a clear reason and we must play silly little games and perform trivial roles in order to be accepted into said world. And, in the end, we disappear.
Student Work: Criticism
The Dangers of Masculinity in Macbeth
The rigors of masculinity have tainted men’s understanding of themselves, their relationships with others, and the societies in which they live. In "Macbeth," the main characters implicitly express their beliefs on what a man should be.
“You and I”: Grammar and Narrative in Kinship
“Look, Doni!” the girl called to me, “I’m like a bird!” She discovering “the other,” organizing the world around her into the grammar of you/I, bird/not-bird, like/not-like.
Mutualism and Parasitism
What form of symbiosis do the Terrans and Tlics of Octavia Butler's dystopian “Bloodchild" exhibit?
B. Horseman
It’s the quality of so much sorrow held at the brink that attracted me to "BoJack Horseman." It’s brilliant, at once both witty and belly-laugh silly, and often capable of being shockingly real.
A New Trend: Reviving Greek Classics
The unique yet universal characteristics of Greek tragedy offer modern directors a creative freedom with both language and interpretation that facilitates space for activism.
A Mountain Made For Two: Landscapes in Gay Cinema
"Brokeback Mountain" excavates the rural mythos for all its possibilities of freedom, while still divulging its oppressive nature.
Girls and Gore
In horror films, why is it so often only the lily-white, shy girls who outrun the big baddie?
Outside Santos
Elizabeth Bishop very infrequently presents an uncritical or one-sided examination of any idea; her poems are filled with slight contradictions, subtle reversals, and moments of irony that force the reader to engage intimately with the material being described in order to find meaning.
Boo! The Surprise of “Fleabag”
The major surprise at the end of the first season of "Fleabag" is not your ordinary plot twist.
Fragility and Power: Looking at Art in Museum Spaces
The complexity of images lies in the malleability of the meanings we attribute to them.
The Art World’s Money Problem
Museums are tied to the interests of their funders and the power structures of their governing bodies, creating an impossible-to ignore-tension between the institution and the often radical artists showing their work within the institution’s walls.