Adolescence is marked with the seeking of identity. There is a simultaneous desire for an identity that is collective and individual. Of course if one lives in America, the sense of individualism is drilled in early, yet everyone seeks toRead more…
A Critic’s Role in the Golden Age
“TV is a problem only if you’ve forgotten how to look and listen,” claims a university professor in Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise. He complains that his students are no longer open to the medium; they find television “worse thanRead more…
How to Praise “Moonlight”
“It’s perfect,” remarked a friend of mine, a 21-year-old who identifies as a black and queer man, just after seeing Barry Jenkins’s new film “Moonlight.” He had trouble even putting into words one core tenant that made the filmRead more…
How it Feels
We walk by faith, and not by sight, but how do we critique? In Hilton Als’ critique of the seminal film adaptation “Moonlight” by Barry Jenkins and in Peter Schjeldahl’s critique of Kerry James Marshall’s retrospective “Mastry,” readers are offeredRead more…
The Urban Aesthetic: Urban Art Exploitation
On rare weekends between waves of projects and tests, I manage to escape the Northwestern campus and usually treat myself to a day in one of Chicago’s hip neighborhoods such as Wicker Park and Andersonville. However, this attitude and attractionRead more…
The Critic’s Dilemma: Description and Interpretation
Critics for weekly magazines generally have a limited space to write on; whether they want it or not, they are limited in the number of words. Given this limit, criticism that explicates too much on description of work often failsRead more…
Information’s Narrative
“There is an essential … distinction between stories, on the one hand, which have, as their goal, an end, completeness, closure, and, on the other hand, information, which is always, by definition, partial, incomplete, fragmentary.” -Susan Sontag Reading Maria PopovaRead more…
Evaluating Barry Jenkins’s Breakout
Moonlight might be the best movie of the year. Critics have swooned over Barry Jenkins’ second feature-length film, which premiered on October 21. The film explores the trials and tribulations of a queer black man, Chiron, that struggles with hisRead more…
The Intersection of Sexuality and Race and the Search for its Place on Screen
I am about to explore a world of which I have no part, but one that I bear witness to, though maybe not as much as I should. Actually, now that I think about it, I am not sure theRead more…
You Can Put Marx Back into the Nineteenth Century, but You Cannot Keep Him There: On Our Relationship with Works of the Past
On October 10, 2016, New Yorker talks about “putting Marx back” in his nineteenth century surroundings.” (Louis Menand, “Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today”) On October 17, 2016, New Yorker talks about “modernizing” Shakespeare into the twenty-first century. (Adam Gopnik, “WhyRead more…
Protected: Are the Suburbs Really Evil?
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Black & White: from Moonlight to Martin
Reviews are the oddest things. It boggles the mind that “Black Power,” a Hilton Als review of the film Moonlight, and “Agnes Martin, a Matter-of-Fact Mystic” by New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl are approximately the same length, in the sameRead more…
The Royal We
The royal we—who knew it actually had a royal history? I had only heard it used in reference to couples who, upon coupling, start using “we” instead of “I” when referring to themselves. Suddenly, “I saw the movie” becomes “WeRead more…