The Ideological Antihero
"Black Sails" pulls no punches depicting the brutality of the pirate lifestyle, but its very premise asks the audience to sympathize with “monsters” by posing questions about the nature of villainy.
Student Work: pop culture
Bim Bom, in Other Words
A multimedia collage layering digital artwork, vintage tv ads, and film clips explores my creative process and critiques the representation of women in the mid-twentieth century, all to Astrud Gilberto's iconic bossa nova beat.
“Triggering” Manhattan: The Ethics of Self-Insertion
What are the ethical implications of an artist’s choice to portray their own protagonist in film and television? A comparative analysis of Woody Allen’s portrayal of Isaac Davis in "Manhattan" and Lena Dunham’s portrayal of Hannah Horvath in "Girls."
Unpacking the Cultural Readymade
In a renewal of intention behind existing objects of the past, who is the iconoclast? The one that does not ascribe new meaning because time has passed or the one that does?
Iz Burns: Creating Connections Through Creativity
"Creativity should be as innate as breathing; it’s all about being new, and expansive, and respectful.”
Taylor Swift and the Too-Big Teenaged Girl
Taylor Swift made being an adolescent girl a romantic, beautiful existence, something to be cherished, not run away from.
The Metronome
I do not practice with a metronome because I want to become a better drummer. I practice with a metronome to practice focusing. To practice pretending that the world is objective. To meditate.
Together at the Movies
My nickname is, in many ways, a stowaway from another life. The simple, happy life that my mom and dad had built in the Rockaways of Queens.
Cultural Entrepreneurship
Episode 3 of Nucleus: The Confluence Podcast. "There’s value in the power of certain artists realizing that the market has that influence, and using it to their advantage."
I Remember
I remember burying the seeds every time I ate an apple. They never grew into apple trees. I remember going to the airport for fun.
I remember, on Thompson Street, the moment they called the 2020 presidential race. I remember the way my childhood home smelled when it was completely empty.
Editor’s Note, A Seat at Our Table
Writing and research from Shatima Jones's interdisciplinary seminars, “(De)Tangling the Business of Black Women’s Hair” and “Black Experiences in Literature, Movies, and Television,” published in honor of Black History Month, 2021.
Redefining Femininity
How Janelle Monáe and Syd of The Internet subvert expectations of Black, queer womanhood
Gazes on Black Hair and Beauty
The second installment of "A Seat at Our Table," featuring “Modeling Race” by Netanya Ronn, “Redefining Black Beauty” by Tatyana Tandanpolie, “Blackness and Colorism in Kenya Barris’s Productions” by Britney Agyen, “Pelo Bueno/Pelo Malo” by Melany Canela, and “White Parents, Black Hair" by Rachel Goulston.
Blackness and Colorism in Kenya Barris’s Productions
How is skin color treated in "Black-ish," "Grown-ish," and "Mixed-ish"?
