The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
When Wellness Can’t Bring Happiness
A provocative 1970s novel reads like a contemporary cry for freedom from the expectations of others.
Why Some #MeToo Fiction Puts Men Center Stage
Mary Gaitskill’s 2019 novella, This Is Pleasure, makes readers consider whether including male voices can help us understand women’s stories.
Humans Are Killable. The Alien Franchise Isn’t.
Alien: Romulus hits some recognizable beats, but the pleasures of its central concept remain undiminished.
A Memoir About Recovering From Men
Anna Marie Tendler’s mordant account of her life suggests a single source for her pain.
The Monumental Discovery That Changed How Humans See Themselves
The unearthing of dinosaur bones transformed Victorian society—and long-held notions about our place in the world.
A Movie That Understands the 2000s-Internet Generation
Dìdi is a crowd-pleasing portrait of adolescent angst set in the heyday of Myspace and AIM.
A Satire of America’s Obsession With Identity
The hero of Danzy Senna’s new novel is trying, and failing, to write the Great American Biracial Novel.
Who Wants a ‘Man in Finance’?
The song of the summer captures the bleak truth about today’s dating scene.
When Growing Up Happens in a Single Conversation
The Sundance gem Good One is a deceptively simple, and unusually precise, coming-of-age film.
It Should End Here
Hollywood sheen isn’t enough to enliven the tiresome romantic drama of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, It Ends With Us.