The Fast and the Furious series has always been concerned about the joy and pathos of family. The series and actors themselves have certainly felt the weight of loss with the real life death of co-star Paul Walker in 2013, who received an emotional send-off at the end of Furious 7, and whose real-life relationship…
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part Three
Content warning: this article discusses fictional portrayals of racism, including usage of racial slurs.
The Captain America We Need
A radical hate movement has infiltrated the American government. A cartoon despot pulls tactics from his skimming of Mein Kampf while a hostile foreign power pulls his strings. Just as we’ve started to make progress toward lasting change and brought long-overdue conversations on transphobia, racism, and systemic oppression to the public sphere, we find ourselves…
Nirvana in Fire is the Revenge Drama You Need in Your Life
The popularity of revenge stories can be seen in the success of action-thrillers like John Wick and Kill Bill. There is a vicious satisfaction in watching a hero violently complete their journey to retribution. But in the Chinese historical drama Nirvana in Fire (Langya Bang), the main character Mei Changsu (played by Hu Ge) pursues…
Dominic Toretto: The Failed Family Man of Fate of the Furious
No one watches The Fast and the Furious movies for grumbly, mumbly, sometimes shouty strong man, Dominic Toretto. Well, I guess some people must, but as the series continues and the crew grows and the scope of its heists and missions along with it, Dom Toretto, king of the street racers and, lately, international super-something, has…
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part Two
Content warning: This article contains excerpts from explicitly racist material. In the first post of this series, I discussed portrayals of race and racism in British horror fiction from the earlier half of the twentieth century, particularly in the work of Sax Rohmer, Bram Stoker, Nigel Kneale, and Dennis Wheatley. In this post, I will look at…
EGX Rezzed Con Diary: The Changing Face of Gaming
I have never been to a gaming convention. I come from a comics and literature con background–sci-fi at a push–but a video game convention? EGX Rezzed is an industry-based event, promoting new games, showing off the demos that people have spent years putting together, and putting Square Enix and Nintendo next to the tiny indie…
Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three: “Adolf, who?”
Even the name “Cold War” brings to mind long, slow, depressed periods of time. Yet, Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three offers constant humor and a spin on post-war Germany that I found mostly amusing, but often confusingly devoid of references to Nazis. When someone makes an uncomfortable parody of the U.S.’s current political state I hope…
Why Everyone Should Be Excited for Starz’ American Gods
The internet is approaching fever pitch over American Gods. Based on Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed epic, the show will be brought to Starz by Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller and Logan writer Michael Green. Social media is already teeming with excitement and speculation from the novel’s many avid fans. For this reason, or many others, you’ve been meaning…
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part One
In its own warped way, horror fiction has always reflected whatever is happening in the world around it. The most obvious metaphor is a funhouse mirror, offering a twisted representation of its surroundings for the audience’s surprise and entertainment. Inevitably, some of horror’s attempts to portray the surrounding world will be more successful than others.
Visionary Comics: Black Girl Magic is Spreading
Ariell R. Johnson of Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse in Philadelphia and Jazmine Joyner co-owner of Visionary Comics in Riverside California–we are two sides of one coin. The two black women in America who own comic book shops.
“Real” Wonder Women? The United Nations, Feminism, and the Media
The rift between commercialism and feminism emerged in the debate over the appointment of Wonder Woman as Honorary Ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. Last October, the UN announced that Wonder Woman would become the organization’s Honorary Ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. The empowerment of femininity, both physical and otherwise, is…
