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.
Project Hail Mary Should Be Easier to Root For
The high-stakes space drama badly wants audiences to loosen up.
Mike Krzyzewski’s Final Insult to Duke’s Haters
The winningest coach in NCAA men’s basketball history picked a very good successor.
The Disney Princess Who Wasn’t
The Bachelorette promoted Taylor Frankie Paul as a new kind of heroine. Then reality got in the way.
Not So Fast, Bill Maher
The comedian was set to receive the Twain Prize before a sudden reversal of course.
What We Lost When We Lost Rom-Coms
Culture has little interest in love anymore. The consequences could be dire.
The Seinfeld Theory of Fiction
Annoying characters let us admit that we might be annoying too.
The Forgotten Female Pilots of World War II
The WASPs risked their lives flying for the Army. But for decades, the U.S. government refused to recognize their military service.
The City Where Coetzee Is God
Searching for the Nobel laureate in Cape Town, the city he left behind
A New Direction for the Trans Novel
Jordy Rosenberg’s Night Night Fawn is autofiction told from a sidelong distance.
The College-Educated Working Class
Can a generation of graduates frustrated by their economic prospects change American labor politics?