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.
The ‘Logic of Brazil,’ in 160 Minutes
The Secret Agent is a deep reckoning with an authoritarian regime—and with how those affected can move forward.
Fortunes
A short story
Cinema’s Newest, Grimmest Trend
Call it the anti-coming-of-age story.
Sucker
My year as a degenerate gambler
The People Who Shun Super-Popular Pop Culture
The Pitt, Severance, Sinners, you name it: For some reason, the more hype something gets, the more likely I am to resist it.
The Midlife Crisis Comes for Millennial Pop
On her first album in eight years, Robyn reckons with motherhood and midlife desire.
The Highly Exclusive Way That Everybody Shops Now
When everything’s a drop, what’s the point of a drop?
Six Books That Simply Must Be Talked About
These six books demand discussion—with a pal, a date, or a book club.
Just Don’t Say the W-Word
Trump’s administration has both used and avoided the word war in ways that seek glory and evade responsibility.
Love Story Is a Horror Story
The show, which deeply empathizes with John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, is ultimately just a paparazzo by other means.