The Take

In the Mood for Love, A Cinematic Analysis | Total Take

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0000

Wong Kar Wai’s 2000 masterpiece In The Mood For Love has captivated audiences since its (rather chaotic) premiere at Cannes Film Festival. A meditation on not just a feeling but the atmosphere of an era, the film managed to capture a haunting, mournful truth within its beauty. It continues to place in the top five of ‘best films of all time’ lists around the world, and continues to pull in new fans year after year. But what is it that makes this story of longing and regret so deeply affecting? This is the Total Take, where we break down the most analyzable films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, symbolism, world, and impact. Let’s dive into our Total Take on In The Mood For Love!

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Six Feet Under: the Best Kept Secret of TV's Golden Age? | A Cinematic Analysis

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0000

HBO's Six Feet Under pretty much always comes up in discussions of the best tv shows of all time, but also somehow doesn’t seem to have been able to stake its spot in the larger cultural memory in the same way as hits of the same era like The Sopranos or The Wire. So today we’re taking a deeper look at this insightful, darkly hilarious show and what made it work so well – but also why some of those same traits that made it a critical darling and fan favorite might have been the reason it was almost left behind (and why it’s now, nearly 20 years after it that perfect finale, starting to find a whole new audience!) This is the Total Take, where we break down the most analyzable films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, symbolism, world, and impact. Here’s our Total Take on Six Feet Under!

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Titanic, A Cinematic Analysis: Why A Romance-Adventure Became the Biggest Movie of All Time

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0000

A cinematic analysis of Titanic | Go to http://greenchef.com/50thetake and use code 50thetake to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping! Over a quarter of a century after its release, Titanic continues to hold its place in the hearts of audiences across the world. Branded a sure flop during its hectic production with an ever bloating budget, the film ended up proving the critics wrong in more ways than one. This sentimental romantic film not only did well, it went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time (and remained such for over a decade.) Let’s turn back the clock and take a deeper dive into what specifically helped Titanic become not just one of the most iconic movies of its decade, but of all time. This is the Total Take, where we break down the most analyzable films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, symbolism, world, and impact. So here’s our Total Take on Titanic!

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Nicecore, Explained: The Cultural Power of Hopeful Movies and TV

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0000

Nicecore films and shows are on the rise again – from KPop Demon Hunters to Heated Rivalry to Abbot Elementary and beyond – but... are they good for buoying our hopes, or just causing us to ignore larger issues? Let’s take a deep look at the Nicecore trend, why it’s only becoming more and more popular, why its boundless positivity makes some people so angry, and how their uplifting stories can actually help push us towards positive change in our real world!

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Arrival, Still Brilliant 10 Years Later | A Cinematic Analysis

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 15:00:00 -0000

A cinematic analysis of sci-fi film Arrival | Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50off and use code thetake50off to get 50% off your first Factor box PLUS free breakfast for 1 year!

Arrival, Denis Villeneuve's 2016 first contact drama uses its fantastical premise to tell a very human story. Rather than whisking us away to a far off galaxy, the film instead stays close to home and unpacks one of our oldest ‘technologies’: written communication. Arrival analyzes what it really means to understand one another – and how figuring that out could be the only thing that could save us all. This is the Total Take, where we break down the most analyzable films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, symbolism, world, and impact. Let’s take a deeper look at Arrival, a film whose messages are more relevant now than ever!

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Analyzing The Cinematic World of Her - Why It Feels Even More Relevant Now | Total Take

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:00:00 -0000

Her, Spike Jonze’s sci-fi romantic drama, seems to feel even more relevant today than when it was released in 2013. The film follows Joaquin Phoenix’s Theodore as he forms a deep connection with his computer’s new AI, played by Scarlett Johansson. Since the film’s release, we as a society have become ever more intertwined with our own technology and AI has started working its way into all facets of our life, making much of Theodore and Samantha’s journey feel almost prescient. So what is it, specifically, about this film that has kept it bouncing around in our memory banks for the last decade? This is the Total Take, where we break down the most analyzable films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, symbolism, world, and impact. So here’s our Total Take on Her!

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Euphoria, A Total Analysis | Visual Storytelling, Writing, Symbolism & More

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:47:00 -0000

Euphoria is a show that people can’t help but talk about – from the wild clothes to the even wilder storylines, this HBO teen drama has made its mark on audiences’ minds and hearts. While the show is over the top in pretty much every imaginable way, it also manages to find a relatable core that keeps it tethered to Earth. But what is it, specifically, that makes the show so engaging and somehow, despite it all, relatable? This is the Total Take, where we break down the most analyzable films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, symbolism, world, and impact.

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Marty Supreme, Explained - Story, Symbolism, Ending & More

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 23:00:00 -0000

Marty Supreme: Story, Symbolism & Ending Explained || Go to http://thepetstable.com and use code thetake55 for 55% off your 1st box PLUS 10% off your next 2! Marty Supreme has already raced its way into pretty much every best movie of the year list and seems like it might be the career-defining performance that nabs Timothée Chalamet his first Oscar. But why are people so into this film – and does it really live up to the hype? Lets dig into how this film about a ping pong champion manages to take us on a wild ride while also uncovering truths about the American Dream and the quest to fulfill one’s destiny at any cost.

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What Deepfakes Reveal About Control, Consent, and Identity

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 21:48:00 -0000

The deepfake problem, explained || Go to http://www.groundnews.com/take to make sure you're getting the full picture of every story while also supporting The Take! Subscribe through our link to get 40% off unlimited world wide coverage for less than the cost of a single bag of candy at the movie theater!

Deepfakes have been a growing problem for a long time – but now it seems like none of us are safe. But while this specific iteration may be new, the underlying fears and problems have actually been around a long time. To get a better understanding of what’s really going on, we’re taking a deeper look at: the modern deepfake problem, the long-held fear of copies of yourself controlled by someone else, what’s really driving this problem, and how we might be able to fix things...

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After The Hunt: Provocative or Pointless?

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:47:00 -0000

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After The Hunt was poised to be the provocative drama of this year’s Oscar’s race – but it didn’t get the reception everyone was expecting, and has ended up dividing audiences for very different reasons. This prestige drama from a renowned director starring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars should have been a slam dunk – so what went wrong? Let’s take a deeper look at After The Hunt to figure out if the film really did miss the mark, or if it’s just misunderstood…

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The Heated Rivalry Phenomenon Explained in Under 15 Minutes

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 19:09:00 -0000

How did Heated Rivalry, a hockey romance drama, become such a huge cultural phenomenon?! The unexpectedly mega viral hit combines humor, sports, love and self-discovery in a way that's captured audience's hearts and minds. So, let's take a closer look at Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov's stories, their relationship, the truth about Heated Rivalry's alleged fanfic origins, why the show's ending is so important, and what might be coming next in Heated Rivalry's second season!

Watch the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/Fiv_nxX6oEM

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Friends: The Truth About Rachel's Life, Money & Friendships Then vs Now

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:30:00 -0000

On Friends, Rachel Green’s life was so aspirational in many ways – but would it be totally impossible to have now? From the giant apartment she splits with Monica, to her rocketing career trajectory, to the fashion and lifestyle she’s able to have in one of the most expensive cities in the country – it’s definitely interesting to imagine how things might be quite different for Rachel today (and how watching her story might have set us up with some unrealistic expectations…) So, let’s take a look at 4 key areas of Rachel’s life (her family wealth, career journey, $$$ lifestyle, & most important relationships) to see if she still would have been able to make things work now.

You can watch the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/dvu7eMeSBVs

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The Real Reasons AI Slop & The Blandness Epidemic Have Totally Taken Over Media, Explained

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:00:00 -0000

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Have we passed the point of no return with AI Slop and bland content? We’re going to dive into the four major aspects of this issue: businesses like Disney and Coca-Cola embracing AI (and possibly destroying their own brands), the financial reasons behind the blandness epidemic, how everyone seems to be losing the war for attention, the secret fear underpinning everything, and more to uncover the truth about the big problems and the ones hiding under the surface. Let’s take a closer look!

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The Rich Girl Plot Armor Problem , Explained | Trope Analysis

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:54:00 -0000

Go to http://uncommongoods.com/thetake for 15% off your next gift! Money can solve a lot of problems, but… what happens when nearly every character seems to be protected by a bubble of invisible wealth (even ones that are meant to be “just like us”?!) While “Rich Girls” have always had a certain amount of plot armor (on screen and in real life,) in movies and TV shows even average, supposedly down-to-earth characters can feel like they’re living in a total fantasy world. Which, on the one hand, makes sense since… they’re literally not real. But the truth is that these kinds of stories can have a psychological effect on us in real life, too. So, let’s take a closer look at all of the sides of this trope to figure out how it’s really shaped our perception of wealth and our own lives…

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Wicked For Good, Explained: Why Its So Polarizing, Why They Changed The Ending & More

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 14:51:00 -0000

Wicked: For Good, the sequel to last year’s hit film starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has smashed box office records – but even though it’s winning at the box office, for many viewers some of the magic seems to be missing in this installment. Bringing the stage musical’s second act to the screen was always going to be an uphill battle. The question now is: is the film really a miss, or is it just not what some people were expecting? To uncover the truth, let’s look at what worked, what didn’t, how they changed the ending and more!

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Stranger Things Season Five, Volume One, Explained

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 01:25:00 -0000

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Stranger Things is finally back, so what have we learned from these first episodes of season five? We're taking a look at the story so far, the symbolism, and deeper meanings to begin to get an idea of what it all means and where things might be headed in the finale!

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One Battle After Another: Ending Explained, Symbolism You Missed, That One Controversy & More

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 17:08:00 -0000

One Battle After Another, Explained || Go to http://www.groundnews.com/take to make sure you're getting the full picture of every story while also supporting The Take! Subscribe through our link to get 40% off unlimited world wide coverage for less than the cost of a single month of a streaming service. || Paul Thomas Anderson’s new action thriller One Battle After Another has already become one of the most talked-about films of the year. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, and Chase Infiniti, it’s blown away early audiences and surged into the Oscars conversation. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing: the film has run into some controversy and seemingly underperformed at the box office. In this video, we're unpacking One Battle After Another's deeper meaning, key symbolism and ending, as well as the slight controversy surrounding the film.

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Why We Can’t Have A Modern Carrie Bradshaw...

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 18:00:00 -0000

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Rewatching Sex and the City, we can’t help but wonder… is it even possible to live like Carrie Bradshaw nowadays? Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda’s stories were all aspirational (to varying degrees…) but of the core four, Carrie’s life (especially in the beginning) seems to be the most relatable to so many of us who feel like we don’t quite have everything figured out yet. It’s interesting to imagine how things might be different for Carrie if she was on the struggle bus with us, now. So, let’s take a look at four major areas of Carrie’s life to see how things have changed (and how we might still be able to learn something from Ms. Bradshaw!)

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Bugonia: Symbolism, Ending & Deeper Meaning Explained

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 22:58:00 -0000

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Bugonia, the new Oscar-contender from director Yorgos Lanthimos starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, is simultaneously out of this world and very of our world. Effortlessly shifting between hilarious and horrifying, the film constantly keeps you guessing, and uses its zany story to raise some complex questions around our place in the world (and the cosmos) and if we can really save each other or even ourselves. So what is Bugonia (and that wild ending) really trying to tell us?

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Are Parasocial Relationships Making Us Miserable, On Screen & In Real Life?

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 23:00:00 -0000

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When does being a fan go too far? And could these intense attachments actually secretly be making us miserable? It’s actually a surprisingly complex problem, because while being a fan can undoubtedly bring joy into our lives, there’s also a dark side that’s been growing more and more intense in recent years. How do we know where the line with parasocial relationships really is? Let’s take a look at how this behavior plays out on screen and in real life to get a deeper understanding of the real issue…

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Wednesday Addams: The Perfect Modern Weird Girl Icon Becomes The Main Character

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 15:51:00 -0000

Let's take a deeper look at Netflix's update to Wednesday Addams! || Use THETAKE2 to get 55% off your first month at Scentbird https://sbird.co/3WVyN4j This month I received... Daring by Victoria's Secret https://sbird.co/47EJL4t Nude Skin by Skylar https://sbird.co/4qvwthY Hypnotic Musk by M.Micallef https://sbird.co/4oEzUBt Lightscape by Ulrich Lang https://sbird.co/3Jj3UE0 Wednesday Addams has always been subversively cynical and wickedly powerful, but it’s only recently that she’s been allowed to step into the spotlight on her own. Netflix’s Wednesday has given us the opportunity to get to know this long-time icon in a new, deeper way – and it’s also given her the freedom to grow as a person in ways she never has before. So how has Wednesday evolved? And what can we learn from her? Let’s dig in…

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The Danger of Making Oversharing Your Whole Career | from SATC to Girls to TikTok & Beyond

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:00:00 -0000

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Everyone likes to talk about themselves every once in a while, but what is it that compels some people to make it their entire career? To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, let’s use some of our favorite oversharing writers from movies and TV like (Carrie Bradshaw, Lena Dunham/Hannah Horvath, and even Gossip Girl himself Dan Humphrey & more) to unpack: the reasons why people tend to overshare, how some turned it into an entire career (from books to blogs to TikTok and other social media), and all of those downsides that people often don’t think about until it’s too late…

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What Really Went Wrong With TRON: Ares, Explained

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 23:54:00 -0000

TRON: Ares, the newest entry into the Tron franchise starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Evan Peters, has flopped in a big way and looks like it’s going to be an over $100 million loss for Disney. So, what actually went wrong here? Let’s break down the real reasons why TRON: Ares just didn’t quite work (and why that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a total failure forever.)

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Aura Farming: The Truth About Cultivating Cool, Explained

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:23:00 -0000

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Some say that the ‘it factor’ is something that you either have or you don’t, that ‘coolness’ is something that’s just innate within some people, and something the rest of us can never truly hope to capture. But the truth is quite different: coolness is pretty much always cultivated to some degree. This choice to deliberately work to build up a specific idea of yourself as interesting has gone by plenty of different names, from creating a persona, to curating a vibe, and now to ‘aura farming.’ But what is aura farming, really? It’s actually more interesting than you might expect, and can be relatable to our own everyday lives in surprising ways. So let’s take a deeper look to unpack what’s really going on…

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The Summer I Turned Pretty: Belly's Real Problem, Explained

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 14:00:00 -0000

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The Summer I Turned Pretty has become one of the biggest teen dramas of our current era, and one of the most contentious aspects of the show has actually ended up being the girl at the center of it all: Belly Conklin. She is quite the polarizing figure; while many find her to be relatable, others have had a very hard time connecting with her at all (and some have even come to see her as the villain of the show.) Belly’s story digs into the true messiness of growing up and trying to figure out who you are in a world that doesn’t always seem to make sense. She’s cringe, messy, indecisive, a little (okay, maybe a lot…) selfish – but not necessarily unrealistic. So let’s take a closer look at Belly and her story to uncover why her flaws are integral to her growth journey (even if they make us want to yell at the TV sometimes…)

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How K-Dramas Used Classic Movie Magic To Create A Modern Media Empire

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:14:00 -0000

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K-Dramas have been growing in popularity across the world for decades now, but they’ve seen a particularly huge growth in interest in the 2020s. While some might just chalk this up to the success of Netflix’s Squid Game, it’s actually a lot deeper and wider ranging than that. So what is it about K-Dramas that make them so beloved, and so addicting? The world of K-Dramas is vast and constantly expanding and evolving, so there’s no way we could cover everything in one video – but we want to begin with this quick dive into K-Dramas and what we love about them! So whether you’ve been hearing about them for a while but still haven’t taken the leap to begin watching or have been loving them for years, let’s dive in!

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Parks & Recreation: April Ludgate, The Secretly Optimistic Cynic

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:08:00 -0000

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Parks and Recreation’s April Ludgate is known for her cynical, sarcastic demeanor. But, underneath that moody exterior, she was actually a surprisingly positive thinker – it’s just that optimism looks a little different on April. Though it might not seem like it at first, April provides a really relatable example of how to figure out your sense of self and build your own life without giving up all of the things that make you you. So, how did she do it? Let’s take a closer look…

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Can We Trust Anyone We Meet Online Anymore? From The High School Catfish to Fake Digital Identities & Beyond...

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 15:00:00 -0000

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Everything from faking dating profiles to Netflix's Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and beyond has us questioning how we can *ever* really be sure who to trust online at this point... So let’s take a deeper look at this problem from a few different angles, from digital tweaking to AI profiles to Catfish to parents catfishing their own kids and beyond to get a better understanding of what’s propelling this issue – and why it’s only getting scarier.

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Abbott Elementary's Principal Ava: The Good Side of Narcissism(?!)

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 14:00:00 -0000

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Abbott Elementary’s Principal Ava Coleman is many things: outlandish, vain, selfish, hilarious. Ava’s narcissistic nature has caused many problems over the course of the show, for herself and others (mostly others…) But as time has gone on, we’ve also gotten to see how, when she uses her powers for good, this side of herself allows Ava to do great things and make the world around her a better place. She may not always be the perfect principal, but she does actually have a great lesson to teach us!

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The KPop Demon Hunters Phenomenon, Explained | Story, Symbolism & Ending Analysis

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:44:00 -0000

Get 50% off your first year at http://monarchmoney.com and use code THETAKE Smash hit KPop Demon Hunters has surprised people in more ways than one. It’s an original story that manages to walk the line between fun and depth, hitting on real, relatable emotions without ever losing its edge or humor. The movie has become a mega hit for Netflix – not only is it now the streamer’s most watched film of all time, it’s also dominating the box office and making waves on the music charts. So what is it that has allowed Kpop Demon Hunters to so totally capture the hearts and minds of audiences? To find out, let’s dig into the film and its symbolism! Then we’ll unpack the deeper meaning of the story’s ending. And finally we’ll put it all together to analyze the true reasons this movie has become such a major success – and the important lessons Hollywood should learn from it if it wants a chance to repeat it!

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Samantha Would Have Saved Sex and the City Reboot And Just Like That

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Sex and the City actually had the chance to make something really engaging and fresh with its reboot And Just Like That, but the show ended up being anything but... The lack of Samantha Jones was a big problem for fans from the jump, but her absence also highlights everything that the show was narratively and creatively lacking that kept it from recreating Sex and the City's magic. Now that it’s over, we can’t help but wonder… what would the show have been like if Samantha had been around? Could she have saved And Just Like That? Let's take a closer look at how having Samantha in AJLT would have made everything better for Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbes and *us*!

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"Immortality Tech" Is Coming, But... Do We Really Want To Live Forever?

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:00:00 -0000

We might one day soon have the option to live forever, but… is that even a good thing? And what would it really look like in practice? Let’s take a look at some examples from on screen, like Upload, Pantheon, The X-Files & more, and in real life to get a deeper understanding of the issue. Humans have always had fantastical ideas about what might happen to us after we shuffle off of this mortal coil. In our modern era, technology seems to be on its way to giving us the option to bring these wild ideas into reality: from preservation to maybe never truly dying at all. This is, on the one hand, exciting to a lot of people. But on the other hand, it also opens up a whole lot of questions around technological capabilities and ethics...

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The Truth About Being "Too Much" | Trope, Explained

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 15:00:00 -0000

She’s brash, emotional, inconsiderate, and a little intense – she just "too much." Or, at least, that’s what everyone else tells her. From Too Much's Jessica and Girls' Hannah to The Office's Kelly Kapoor and Weeds' Nancy and beyond, "too much" women can't seem to escape their problems. Their inability to look at the big picture causes a lot of problems for them (and everyone else around them...) But there's also something so relatable about them that keeps drawing us back in. So what’s really going on with the “too much” woman trope? And why can’t we stop watching her, even when she drives us a little crazy?

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And Just Like That... A Terrible Ending To Sex and the City's Reboot

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:00:00 -0000

And Just Like That... after 3 seasons, the Sex and the City reboot has come to an end. So now that it’s officially over, where did the show leave these beloved characters in what may be their final ever run on screen? Let’s unpack where Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, Charlotte York, Samantha Jones and more ended up in the two part finale, and then we’ll dig into all of the reasons why the show’s ending was such a disappointment and ended up receiving so much backlash. #AndJustLikeThat #SexAndTheCity #AJLT #SATC #AJLTEnding #Ending #EndingExplained

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The True Terror of Weapons | Movie Review, Symbolism & Ending Explained

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Weapons, the surprise hit new horror movie from writer/director Zach Cregger starring Julia Garner, didn’t end up being what anyone thought it was going to be – and it turns out that’s exactly what everyone loves about it! The film manages to combine horror and comedy with an exploration of some really deep themes, while constantly keeping you guessing. So, what is Weapons really about? And what does the ending actually represent? Let’s unpack Weapon’s symbolism and themes to find out…

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The Financial Reason Behind Why It's So Hard To Make Adult Friends, Explained

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 14:30:00 -0000

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Why is it so hard to make friends as an adult now? There’s been lots of talk in recent years about the difficulty of making new friends in our modern era once you’re out of college, and about the loneliness epidemic at large. There are, of course, many causes for this, but one major one is actually financial. While money (or lack of it) affects so much of our day to day lives, you might be surprised at just how much of our current financial issues (individually and societally) are contributing to our friendship woes. So, what’s really going on here? And… is there anything we can do about it?! Let’s take a closer look at four of the biggest money-related obstacles to building friendships in adulthood, and then we’ll dig into some ways people are finding solutions!

00:00 Intro

00:47 Crushed for time (& energy...)

04:39 Can't afford to do anything

07:14 The loss of third spaces

09:31 The good & bad of social media...

11:07 We can't afford *not* to have community

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Rachel, Penny & The "Sitcom Hot Blonde Trap", Explained | Friends & The Big Bang Theory

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0000

The Big Bang Theory’s Penny and Friends’ Rachel Green actually had a lot in common, though one of their most surprising similarities is actually the way that their stories treated their growth – and, unfortunately, their endings. So let’s take a closer look at how both of these characters found their own ways out of the ‘sitcom ditzy hot blonde’ box, why their stories of growth were so important to their shows as a whole, why their shows decided to throw wrenches in their plans at the last second, and what it all means…

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The "Gen Z Stare" Controversy, Explained

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0000

The “Gen Z stare” has become a huge topic of conversation on TikTok and the internet at large, and the real problem is actually a lot deeper than you might expect! Gen Zers say it’s just a logical reaction to the illogical world they’re confronting, Millennials say there’s more to it than that. A large part of the issue stems from the fact that in many cases, people aren’t actually talking about the same thing. So what’s *really* behind this “Gen Z stare”? Is it really a problem? (And, if so, what’s the solution?)

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The Struggling Artist Trope, Explained: Why Movies & TV Equate Creativity with Suffering

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0000

While so many of us might dream of building our lives around our creative passions, often the financial reality of being an artist can be a major hurdle. In film and television this isn’t always seen as a bad thing, however – often, struggling is in fact seen as proof of an artist’s true commitment to their craft. And indeed suffering has been so intertwined with the idea of creativity that it’s often seen as a necessary part of the journey. But why is the idea of suffering for your art such a major part of pop culture? And how does it affect our views of artists and their work in the real world? Let’s take a closer look…

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The Sabrina Carpenter & Sydney Sweeney Controversies, Explained

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:07:00 -0000

From Sabrina Carpenter’s new album cover to Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater soap and beyond, a spate of recent controversies have some people questioning if pop culture is not only signaling but aiding in the backtracking of female empowerment. But while these recent issues might be new, this conversation certainly isn’t… So, why are people mad at Sydney and Sabrina? Where does it fit into the larger conversation? And is it all really a problem? Let’s take a closer look…

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Why Superman 2025 Actually Works

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 22:28:00 -0000

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James Gunn’s new take on Superman was up against the odds from the beginning – and initial reviews weren’t very kind to it. But now that it’s been released to the public, it’s become a smash hit! While the film has already sparked a lot of discourse, the reasons that it’s connected with audiences actually make a lot of sense. So, how does this take on Superman measure up? And why has it really been so controversial? Let’s take a closer look.

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Our Shifting Perception of Color, Color Blindness & The TikTok Couch, Explained

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

A recent viral TikTok of a woman who believed her grey couch was actually blue has people yet again thinking about how color plays a huge role in our lives, and how differently we can all see the same thing. Colorblindness and monochromatic-ness have long been used symbolically in film and TV as metaphors for larger ideas. And as we’ve all become more and more connected to visual mediums, many people are beginning to realize the impact it can have in their everyday real lives as well. So, what’s really going on with our perception of color and color vision deficiencies? And what does it all mean? Let’s take a closer look… Check out the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/ThSaP6FCk2I

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Why Rich People Are Labeled Geniuses (Even When They Fail) | Mountainhead, OceanGate Titan, & Beyond

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 22:55:00 -0000

Go to http://greenchef.com/50thetake use code 50THETAKE to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months with free shipping. Money has long equaled power – but does it also equal intelligence? Many people seem to think so, regardless of any evidence to the contrary… Both in movies and TV and in real life we’ve seen a number of recent examples of the problems big and small that can arise when immense wealth comes to dominate views of what it means to be smart, productive, and capable. Let's take a closer look at this trend via recent releases like Jesse Armstrong's Mountainhead, the two OceanGate Titan disaster documentaries & more...

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Why Looking for a Job Is Miserable Now (But So Is Having One...) | Explained

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

While work has never necessarily been fun, recently the “grind” has been truly grinding us down – and, terrifyingly, trapping us in. As the world of employment has become ever more dire, we’ve begun to see this total imbalance between work and a healthy, safe life play out on screen in a variety of ways – from the psychological in Severance, to the physical in Mickey 17 and Paradise, and beyond. So, what do these kinds of stories tell us about the dangers of the total fracturing of our lives for work – and can they give us a map to escape?

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How A Character That Wasn't Supposed To Exist Made The Show Work | The O.C.'s Summer Roberts

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

While Summer Roberts may have began The O.C. as a ditzy mean girl, she quickly became a beloved fan favorite (and even found the smart girl persona she had been forced to hide for so long!) In this video, we're unpacking how Summer went from a stereotypical side character to a multifaceted star! The O.C.’s Summer first appeared on the show as a stereotypical mean rich girl ditz – she wasn’t even a part of the main cast but instead just intended to be a glorified extra, a friend of Marissa Cooper’s with minimal impact to be essentially forgotten after the pilot. But even with the minimal screentime she got in the beginning, she quickly became a fan favorite and an integral part of the show. And over time, as her character was given room to grow, she broke free from those 'mean girl' confines and ended up getting one of the best arcs on the show. Summer is the perfect showcase of what can happen when a smart girl doesn’t have that side of herself fostered by her environment, but is instead pushed in the total opposite direction. She’s also a very underrated example of how we don’t have to be trapped in the boxes we’re put in as kids forever – and how learning to embrace our full selves can help us build a life even better than we could have ever dreamed of. So let’s take a closer look at how Summer evolved from a miserable mean girl into a successful smart girl!

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Modern Family: Cameron Was Right About Everything (Almost...)

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

Modern Family’s Cameron Tucker was criticized for dramatic, over emotional, and generally over the top. But as melodramatic as he may have been, Cam provided a very important counter to the Pritchett family’s more uptight, closed off ways. He’s a dreamer that’s unafraid to go after what he wants, try new things, and think big. Cam’s mindset might cause him (...and others) some problems here and there, but it also allows him to build the life he wants (while also helping those he cares about achieve their dreams, too!) So, let’s take a deeper look at the really important lessons Cam teaches us about living your life your way.

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Sinners Can Save Hollywood (If They Let It...)

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Sinners has become the surprise smash hit of the year, breaking records and raking in over $300 million dollars so far at the box office. Starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell and more, and directed by Ryan Coogler, the film has managed to take things that are usually seen as harbingers of low audience turnout (like an R rating and the horror genre) and mold them into a film that’s wildly successful. And it could possibly even save Hollywood – if the studios are willing to take the right lessons from this triumph. So, what does Sinners tell us about how to make a winning film in our modern era? Let’s take a closer look!

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The Lilo & Stitch Ending Change Controversy, Explained

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 19:41:00 -0000

The new Lilo & Stitch live action remake has been a huge box office hit, but reviews have been mixed... While it’s definitely a cute film with some bright spots that (at least attempts to) stay true to the original film, it falls flat in some important areas. While some of the changes to the film are minor, others seem to lose sight of the entire point of the story itself. One major change to the ending of the film has people particularly unhappy. So, let’s take a look at how this new film grapples with the story’s most important theme: family – and if the changes have really forgotten what 'ohana truly means.

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The Truth About the Lopsided Love Trope, Explained

Fri, 23 May 2025 19:35:00 -0000

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There’s one big fear hiding at the heart of many relationships: that you love your partner more than they love you... We all want our relationships to feel equal, but so often it seems that one person ends up more dedicated to the relationship. This can happen for a number of reasons – from fear of commitment to lack of care and beyond – and lead to strife and even tragedy. But there’s more to lopsided love than meets the eye. So, what’s really behind unequal love matches – and is there any hope for a happy outcome? Let’s take a closer look at the trope on screen, from How I Met Your Mother's Lily and Marshall, to Anora and Vanya, to Friends' Chandler and Janice and more!

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Is Covert Narcissism Killing Critical Thinking?

Tue, 13 May 2025 23:13:00 -0000

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There’s a problem that’s become more and more prevalent across social media, popping up in nearly every comment section and thread... it seems that personalized algorithms have caused people to forget that not everything they encounter online is made exclusively for them. From the Bean Soup controversy and beyond, people have noticed what feels like a drop in critical thinking skills dovetailing with an uptick in self-centeredness. And it seems that a lesser-known culprit might be at the root of the problem: covert narcissism. So, how is this different from the regular narcissism we’re used to, and why has it seemingly taken over online? (And… is there any hope of things changing for the better?) Let’s take a closer look!

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Thunberbolts, Explained: When The Biggest Battle Is In Our Minds

Fri, 09 May 2025 16:34:00 -0000

Thunderbolts has become a hit with audiences because it went back to what works and managed to meet the moment. In this episode, we're unpacking what it got right about one of the biggest battles of our time: mental health. Thunderbolts is a welcome change of pace from recent MCU fare. One of the biggest reasons it resonates so much is that it wasn’t afraid to actually be about something. While a lot of superhero films and shows across the board have felt like they’ve lost their way and their connection to their human elements over recent years, Thunderbolts has found success by going in the opposite direction. It confronts the humanity of its characters and their situations head on – unafraid of exploring the dark while also remembering to find the light. So, let’s take a closer look at what Thunderbolts really has to say and why audiences have connected so much with it!

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Did The Internet & Dating Apps Really Ruin Dating?

Sat, 03 May 2025 17:15:00 -0000

Are dating apps and the internet (and now AI) really the reason why dating is often so miserable now?

Many people have been wondering if the apps we use to help us in the arena of romance - like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge - might actually be ruining everything. There are some aspects of dating that are just miserable now, and many of those problems do seem to stem from how we use technology to connect. But in reality, the problem is a lot more complex than it first appears. So, what’s actually gone wrong with dating? Are the internet and apps really to blame? Let’s take a closer look at the whole problem to figure out what’s really going on here – plus unpack some silver linings that actually give us some hope about the future!

In this episode, we unpack how computers and the internet became such a big part of dating from Operation Match to Match.com and beyond, how that evolved into the apps we use today like Bumble, Tinder and Hinge, and how this form of dating has affected all of us - both bad *and* good.

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Sinners, Explained | Music, Symbolism, & Ending Analys

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 22:21:00 -0000

Sinners, the new horror movie from director Ryan Coogler starring Michael B. Jordan, has completely blown expectations out of the water. While everyone knows that Coogler is an adept director who makes great movies, no one quite expected just how successful his R-rated vampire horror would turn out to be. And the film isn’t just great because of its well done horror, it also packs some really deep messages into the 24 hours of its story. So, what is Sinners really about? Let’s unpack the film’s meaning and key symbolism, plus analyze what that ending really means.

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Why A Minecraft Movie Didn't Flop - How It Beat The Odds

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 19:03:00 -0000

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A Minecraft Movie, starring Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Danielle Brooks, has completely upended expectations – it not only didn’t flop, it’s become a huge success (pulling in over $700 million in just a couple of weeks!) While not everyone loves the movie (and it’s already caused its own share of issues,) the film and its success does actually tell us some pretty important things about modern movies. So, what was it that allowed A Minecraft Movie to overcome the ‘videogame movie curse’? Is it really as bad as some people are saying? And what does it tell us about the future of big-budget movies? Let’s take a closer look…

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Desperate Housewives Edie: an Underrated Icon Ahead of Her Time? | Explained

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Desperate Housewives' Edie Britt was shamed for her sexual confidence and freedom (by audiences and the other characters) back when the show premiered in 2004, but from a modern perspective, her story looks a lot different. And what’s more, Edie was… kind of a badass, if we’re being honest! So, let's take a look at why Edie got so much hate at the time, and why she might just be the secret hero of Desperate Housewives!

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Unpacking The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 (Episodes 1 - 3) | Explained

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 21:34:00 -0000

The Handmaid’s Tale is back for its sixth and final season after a long break. The story’s dystopia always felt unnervingly close to our modern era, and that continues to hold true as we’re dropped into the first three episodes of its final run. Over the show’s previous five seasons, some viewers felt that the show had lost its spark – so does it seem like it’s finally getting it back now for this final round? Let’s unpack what’s happened so far in season six, what it all means, and where things might be going next… Here's our Handmaid's Tale season 6 recap for episodes 1, 2, and 3 (plus a quick catch up on where The Handmaid's Tale season 5 left off,) and what happens to June, Serena, Moira, Nick, Luke and more in the new season so far!

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The (Actual) Snow White Problem, Explained

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 18:29:00 -0000

Disney’s new live action remake of Snow White was hit with problems from the very beginning, and its problems have only grown since its release. In many ways it seemed set up to fail, and was never able to overcome the various hurdles in its way. Many fingers are being pointed at star Rachel Zegler, but the real problems with the film are much deeper. So, how does this film actually compare to the original? And what really went wrong with this version of Snow White’s story? Let’s take a closer look…

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The People Pleaser Problem: Why They're Miserable (But Helpers Aren't!)

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 14:00:00 -0000

Most all of us like to be nice, but some people just feel like they were born to help others. They’ll take any chance to provide assistance, big or small – unasked for (and, often, unthanked…) While being helpful is a good thing, it can also evolve into a people-pleasing attitude that can have surprisingly negative effects on the helper themselves (and sometimes even the people being “helped”!) So let’s take a closer look at what’s really going on with Helpers and People-Pleasers, what makes them different, the problems they can encounter, and what we can really learn from these tropes.

Unpacking the difference between the Helper Trope and People-Pleaser Trope on screen, people who are forced to be helpers, the *negative* side effects that can come from being a people-pleaser, and beyond. Featuring Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope, Black-ish's Rainbow Johnson, New Girl's Jess Day, Shōgun's Toda Mariko, Friends' Monica Geller, Superstore's Amy Sosa, and more! We take a look at people pleaser syndrome / why some people are people-pleasers, what a people-pleaser is, how it's different from just being a helpful person, and how being a people-pleaser can cause you problems

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HIMYM: The Truth About Lily & Ted's Big Fight (& Surviving Major Friendship Breakdowns!)

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 14:00:00 -0000

How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom filled with all kinds of drama – miniscule to major – but one big fight that’s stayed a topic of conversation even all of these years later is the blowup between Lily Aldrin and Ted Mosby. It’s not necessarily the most dramatic or consequential fight of the show but it is surprisingly important. Taking a second look at their battle after some time allows us to see it in a new light, and gives us insight into the deeper, more important layer to their problem. (And this also gives us some pretty useful pointers for our own lives, too!) So what’s the truth about Lily and Ted’s big fight?

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Shows You Need to Watch If You Love Sex and the City | Liked That? Watch This!

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:00:00 -0000

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Do you ever find yourself finishing a rewatch of a favorite show and wishing you could find more to watch that had the same vibe? Us too! That’s why, in this new series, we’re going to be taking a look back at some of our favorite shows to break down the key elements that keep us coming back, and branching out to find other shows that also match that energy.

First up is one of our favorite shows of all time: Sex and the City! It’s very of its time in many ways, but there’s also so much about it that continues to resonate even all these years later. So let’s unpack the major factors that made Sex and the City so great – and explore some other shows that tap into that same essence!

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This Movie Could Have Been Great, But... | The Electric State Review & Ending Explained

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 15:41:00 -0000

The Electric State, Netflix’s astoundingly expensive new movie starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, managed to take a very interesting concept and… ruin it. Though it technically has all of the parts that should, at the very least, make for a watchable big budget flick – star power, good visual effects, etc. – nothing about this movie seems to work. And in that, it’s ended up becoming the exact thing it was meant to skewer. So, what all went wrong with The Electric State? Why did The Electric State get such bad reviews? (And what’s up with that ending??) Let’s take a closer look…

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In Defense of Community's Britta (She's Actually Not The Worst!)

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 16:00:00 -0000

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Of all of the characters on Community, Britta Perry had the weirdest – and in many people’s eyes worst – arcs on the show. Starting out as the tough as nails idealist, over the show’s run she turned into someone that at times felt almost unrecognizable… But if we take a closer look at Britta’s story, we see that she isn’t the worst – and her journey actually makes a surprising amount of sense! So, why was Britta… the way that she was? And what made us love her anyway?

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The Oscars' Best Actress Sexualization Controversy, Explained

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 23:12:00 -0000

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While awards season always has its fair share of ups and downs, some have begun noticing that a very particular trend seems to be happening with recent Best Actress Oscar winners – namely Mikey Madison for Anora and Emma Stone for Poor Things. But… it’s actually not a new trend at all – but instead seems to be a resurgence of an old school problem. So, is it actually a signifier of a problematic shift backwards, or just a bit of coincidence? Let’s take a closer look at these roles, the larger context, and what it all really means!

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Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Explained

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 18:50:00 -0000

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Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the brand new installment in the story of the beloved heroine. While everyone was initially excited to hear that there would be a fourth movie in the series, its release has seemingly not had the mega-romcom sparkle we might have imagined. So, what’s really going on with the film? Why is there an age gap romance? Why is it so sad?! (And… why did the studio fumble what should have been a big hit?) Let’s unpack all of that, plus analyze the actually important message the movie and series as a whole is trying to send, and what the ending really means!

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Kendrick Lamar & The Art of Being A Strategic Hater

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:58:00 -0000

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We’re so often told to be nice, to try to meet everyone with kindness even when they aren’t kind to us. But sometimes… being a hater is the right answer. Superstar Kendrick Lamar has been running a masterclass on the power of strategic hate, culminating in his showstopping performance headlining this year’s Superbowl Halftime. And his success, and the collective enjoyment of it, is a sign of a larger shift of people no longer being willing to play nice with people who wish to do harm to us and our communities. So let’s take a closer look at what we can learn from Kenrick and other world class strategic haters.

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The Emilia Perez Backlash, Explained

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:38:00 -0000

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Awards darling Emilia Pérez has been getting a lot of attention since it made a splash at Cannes – but in addition to all of the accolades (including 13 Oscar nominations,) the film has been mired in controversy its entire run. Surprisingly, it hasn’t just been the type of backlash everyone might have expected (though there has, unfortunately, been some of that as well.) So, what really has so many people who should be the target audience upset with the film? Let’s unpack all of that, and how it’s part of a much bigger problem in Hollywood…

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Anora, Explained: The Controversy & What the Movie is Really About

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 18:37:00 -0000

Anora analysis and ending explained, unpacking the controversy around the film, & shining light on the truth about "Cinderella Stories"

Anora, Sean Baker’s new film starring Mikey Madison, has been getting heaps of praise since it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It takes a new look at a very old profession via a careening few days in the life of a vibrant young woman, and attempts to confront some very harsh realities about her and all of our lives. But some have questioned if it really manages to subvert those old cliches… So let’s take a deeper look at the film to figure out what it all really means.

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Why The TikTok Ban Does Actually Matter (Even If You Don't Like TikTok)

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 19:17:00 -0000

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The looming possibility of a TikTok Ban in the US has been causing chaos online – but the problem is actually a lot deeper than just the loss of a random social media app. It’s easy to brush off the TikTok ban since, to many, it’s just seen as a goofy app for annoying youths, but it’s actually part of a long history of using popular media – and our access to it – as a means of control. Looking at the ban within the larger context of history can provide us with a better framework with which to engage with it, and possibly even some hope for the future…

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The Real Tragedy of First Wife Syndrome (& The Surprising Bright Side) Explained

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 02:39:00 -0000

Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and book a top-rated doctor today.💍 Unpacking First Wife Tropes, First Wife Syndrome, and the First Wives who are taking back their power

The first wife trope on screen often sees married woman learning that her marriage was just her husband’s trial run, and now he’s moving on to someone else (who he often plans to treat a lot better.) Being the “first wife” was long seen as a major loss – but in recent decades many have started turning it into a win. Let’s dig into this trope to learn more about who the First Wife is on screen, how she’s taking back control, and why being first might not always be such a bad thing in the end.

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Youngest Child Syndrome, Explained: The Hidden Downsides of Being The Last Born Sibling

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 22:31:00 -0000

Being the ‘baby’ of the family is usually seen as a major win, scoring you all of the attention and none of the consequences. But it turns out that being the youngest sibling isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. For all of the many positives that can come with being the youngest, there are also some surprising downsides that don’t get talked about nearly as often. So let’s take a deeper look at Youngest Child Syndrome in movies and tv versus real life to get a better understanding of the full reality – good and bad – of being the last born child.

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New Girl - Jess Day & Finding Confidence Without Changing Yourself

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 19:58:00 -0000

New Girl’s Jessica Day always quietly believed in herself, but over the course of the show we got to watch her find her own kind of strong, quirky confidence. It wasn’t always an easy road – while she never lost her positive demeanor for long, she definitely had to deal with her own fair share of ups and downs. But no matter how much the world tried to drag her down, she always found a way to come out on top and turn it into a great lesson for herself and her friends. So let’s take a look at Jess’s confidence journey and see what she has to teach us!

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The New Year's Eve Kiss Obsession, Explained

Sun, 29 Dec 2024 18:38:00 -0000

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The leadup to the new year is often filled with a range of emotions, from joy to dread, anticipation to full on anxiety. And there’s one New Year’s Eve tradition that can pull all of these emotions together at once – getting a kiss as the clock hits midnight. A superstition with a surprisingly long history, it’s become the way to greet each new year for many, but that doesn’t mean that things always go as planned… Let’s take a deeper look at the pressure to get the perfect midnight kiss, the variations that have arisen over time, how even securing that smooch doesn’t mean things will play out the way you had hoped, and how this tradition is changing today.

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The Cheating Creative Trope - When Art Imitates Infidelity...

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:27:00 -0000

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From writers to singers to actors and beyond, there’s long been a trope that creatives are so filled with passion and emotion that they just can’t help but spread their love around... Sometimes this takes place in acknowledged, consensually open relationships, but often it seems to come through cheating – cheating that they then often find ways to put into their art for all to see. Of course, people of all kinds can and do cheat, but artists have spearheaded this trope to some degree in the popular culture because they keep making art about them doing it. So… why do artists seem so obsessed with this rather destructive form of love (and telling us all about it?)

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Holiday Rom-Coms' Problem Isn't Being Formulaic, It's...

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 18:50:00 -0000

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❄️Romantic comedies set around the holidays have been criticized for being formulaic, but their big problem isn't that they replay beloved tropes, it's something deeper (that they have been actually working to fix! Kind of...)

Romantic comedies are a beloved genre any time of year, but they’ve got a particularly strong hold on the holidays. From classics like Love, Actually and The Holiday, to modern hits like The Merry Gentlemen and Hot Frosty, these movies are generally very formulaic escapism that promises the audience an amusing love story unfolding during the happiest time of the year. With that being said, even fans have started to notice and comment on how glaring some of the genre’s problems still are even today. So let’s take a closer look at how holiday rom-com’s longtime dedication to old-fashioned messages about gender roles and lack of representation held the genre back, and how it’s finally changing to meet the times and we’re getting even better, more enjoyable rom-coms as a result!

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Nightbitch, Explained: Motherhood is Wild

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 21:18:00 -0000

Go to http://ro.co/take to find out if you’re covered for free. || Nightbitch is a searing, painful portrait of motherhood – where the titular character just happens to lose herself so dramatically in parenthood that she winds up turning into a dog. It was a hit book in 2021 and has been adapted for the screen by Marielle Heller, with Amy Adams in the lead role. So, does the film live up to the gritty, surrealness of the book? And what does it really have to say about the experience of trying to hold onto your own individual personhood while being consumed by motherhood and societal expectations? (And could this finally be Amy Adam’s Oscar moment?!) Here’s our Take!

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Eye Color Symbolism in Movies & TV - What Each Color Means On Screen

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 15:00:00 -0000

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and on screen, from blue eyes to brown eyes to green eyes and beyond, the color that adorns those eyes can tell you a lot about the soul within. So, let’s take a deeper look at what each eye color has come to represent on screen, and how that’s changing!

Watch the visual episode here: https://youtu.be/6f9wpdNcoFY

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The Godfather & Succession: Times Change, Power Lust Doesn't

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 01:22:00 -0000

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The Godfather Part II was released fifty years ago – and in the half century since it and the first film debuted, they’ve influenced film and television in innumerable ways. This story of a mafia family, and one initially reluctant member’s blood-soaked ascendancy to the top of the empire has continued to draw in audiences with its sprawling, epic nature and deep intimacy and drama because at its core is a tale that remains relevant, even all these years later. One of its most compelling modern echoes is found in Succession – another story of a powerful scion in a changing world and the family members vying to take his place. Connecting these two threads across time allows us to really analyze the true danger that lurks in the dark heart of greed, and how it consumes everything and everyone in its path.

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Why Family Holidays Are So Chaotic (& The Secret To Surviving Them)

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 17:00:00 -0000

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Being around family can be a lot of fun, but… it can also be very chaotic. And what time of year does that chaos really start to heat up? The holiday season, of course! It's a feature of so many hilarious episodes of our favorite shows, from Friends to Modern Family to Blackish to Brooklyn Nine-Nine and beyond (and some very *stressful* ones, like The Bear and Heartstopper), to some of the most beloved holiday movies, like Home Alone, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and more! This on screen trope arose from a real life issue to many of us can relate to: when the family comes together, chaos ensues. Let’s take a closer look at the Holiday Family Chaos trope to unpack why, at its core, it’s actually surprisingly heartwarming and encouraging.

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Middle Child Syndrome: The Problem with Being Suck in the Middle...

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 02:50:00 -0000

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With siblings, there’s usually the responsible older child, the gets-away-with-everything younger child, and then… there’s the middle child. Born too late to be the first born and too early to be the baby of the family, middle children often get stuck in a kind of limbo – loved but… forgotten or ignored, no matter how much they might try to make themselves an equal part of the family. Being the middle child can lead to one becoming a bit of a black sheep, their outcast nature at home bleeding out into the rest of their life. Many middle children on screen are actually the geniuses of their families (a surprisingly pervasive subtrope!) And, even given all of their struggles in childhood, middle children can actually have a good shot at ending up the most well adjusted adults out of their siblings. It’s time to give middle children their moment in the spotlight – so let’s unpack this trope!

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Desperate Housewives: How Susan Became The Show's Accidental Villain... | Explained

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:10:00 -0000

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Susan Mayer was Desperate Housewives’ ‘anchor character’ – the everywoman who show creator Marc Cherry designed to be loveable and relatable. But although on paper Susan was inoffensive, there was something about her that audiences loved to hate. Over the course of eight seasons, the Housewives met with murder, fraud, bribery and so much more – so… what exactly was it about Susan, a seemingly innocent girl next door type, that made her the show’s unintentional villain for so many?

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Gilmore Girls & The Truth About Emily - Old Money, New Problems

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 19:03:00 -0000

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Gilmore Girls is of course the story of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore both figuring out how to grow up into the people they want to be – but there’s a third Gilmore woman who provides a very different perspective to the show with her own biting wit: matriarch Emily Gilmore. Emily was constantly at war with daughter Lorelai, over everything from major life decisions to the minutiae of her outfits. She is uptight and close-minded, the total antithesis of the fun and free Lorelai, and she can often come across as suffocating and even straight up mean. But, if we take a closer look, we can begin to better understand why Emily behaved the way she did, and why her evolution was actually just as important as Lorelai and Rory’s.

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The Penguin's Sofia: Saving Gotham or Becoming What She Hated Most? 💥 Season 1 Story Arc Analysis

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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The Penguin’s Sofia Gigante (formerly Falcone) is a departure from her comic book and animated film counterpart. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc gave the character depth and complexity, turning her into a more than worthy adversary for titular Oz Cobb. Both are strategic, observant, and know how to appeal to other peoples’ egos. Sofia sees people for who and what they are, and often isn’t afraid to confront hard truths head-on. Along with her controlling family, Oz knows this highly intelligent, chillingly calculated woman is usually right, prompting them to do whatever they can to minimize her power.

In this show about villains and criminals, LeFranc views Sofia as “the closest thing we have to a hero”, but also knows that she can be just as cruel and ruthless as her enemies and allies. So let’s take a look at Sofia’s evolution from mafia don’s daughter to empowered mob boss, and how she stayed true to herself despite many attempts to make her into someone else

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Movies Every Teen Girl Should Watch 🍿🤩

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 15:00:00 -0000

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🍿When you’re a teenager, every emotion is dialed up to a hundred, but fortunately, the teens aren’t alone! Enter teen movies, especially teen movies geared toward teenage girls – capturing so many of the issues and emotions that teen girls find themselves experiencing, including romance, comedy, angst, friendship, awkwardness, anxiety, and desperately wanting life to be a little less complicated (preferably with a happy ending!)

Let's take a look at three particularly iconic eras for teen movies and go through some of our favorite movies from each! (And we definitely couldn't fit *every* great movie into this video, so if we missed your fave let us know in the comments so we can make sure that it's in part 2!)

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Gen Z Are The New Millennials (But That Isn't A Bad Thing!) | Explained

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 20:31:00 -0000

There’s so much talk about how different generations are, about how we’re all constantly at war with one another… but, for as much as we may disagree about hair parts and sock heights, Millennials and Gen Z have actually come to have a lot in common. The next, younger generation coming in and taking over is par for the course because… that’s how the forward movement of time works; but, underneath the aesthetic differences between these generations, there are a lot of commonalities both in how they approach the world and how the world tries to bring them down. So what are some of these big similarities, and are there some actually useful lessons that Gen Z could take from Millennials’ struggles? Let’s take a closer look!

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Weeds' Nancy, Explained: What Actually Drove Her To Ruin Everything... 🤨

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 14:00:00 -0000

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Weeds’ Nancy Botwin began the show as a very sympathetic figure – newly widowed and left to figure out how to keep her family afloat while struggling with her own grief. But over the course of the show’s 8 seasons, a different, darker side of Nancy made itself more and more apparent. She remained entertaining to watch, but became harder and harder to side with. By leaning into her anti-hero nature, instead of pulling back and softening her edges, the show managed to create a portrait of a complex, messy woman and the more sinister sides of her personality that cause her to harm everyone around her in her quest for more. So, what does Nancy’s story really reveal about the reality of diving into the darkness to chase a high you can never really catch? Let’s take a deeper look.

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The X Files, Dana Scully & Skeptics Who Secretly Want To Believe 🛸

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 04:03:00 -0000

Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and book a top-rated doctor today. || Wondering what else is out there is a core part of the human experience – whether it’s taking a peek into a dark forest or looking out into the cosmos, we can’t help but imagine what we might be missing. And in this world of ghosts, cryptids, aliens, and all other sorts of phenomena, there’s a big emphasis on belief. This, of course, has led to a split: the true believers and the skeptics. But while skeptics are often thought of as wholly against accepting any sort of otherworldly phenomenon, when we look a little closer we often find that isn’t the case at all – they just want proof. And that drive to disprove, or maybe even possibly prove, these seemingly unexplainable things often means that some skeptics can’t help but get drawn into this world. So, what keeps pulling us skeptics in? And… could we even be the key to unlocking the truth about these kinds of mysteries?

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Gone Girl - Why Amy's Fury Still Resonates 10 Years Later

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:00:00 -0000

It’s been a decade since David Fincher’s adaptation of Gone Girl hit our screens and sent waves through society. Amy Dunne was villainous, vengeful, and… also kind of relatable. And while the story was grounded in its era, it’s in many ways even more relevant today. So let’s take a look back at the film, how its commentary on splits of the self, existing in the public eye, and the problem with the media all fit into our current world, and why Amy’s wrath still connects with audiences.

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Why Modern Teen Girls On Screen Are So Terrifying (& Powerful!) | Trope Explained

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:00:00 -0000

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From Wednesday to The Wilds to Euphoria to Stranger Things and beyond, the 2020s have already been filled with awesome Scary Teen Girls across the spectrum. Sometimes she's still a tyrant, or based on adult's fears of what teens are like, but no matter what, these modern portrayals have a new level of sensitivity and introspection, and have ramped up the horror to match the terrifying world these girls are up against. So join us in analyzing the newest crop of Scary Teen Girls in movies and TV to find out what makes their stories so impactful!

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Scary Teen Girls: Harnessing Her Rage to Reclaim Control In The 2000s & 2010s🔥🖤

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:00:00 -0000

In the 2000s & 2010s, the Terrifying Teen Girl - from Jennifer's Body's Jennifer to Mean Girls' Regina George to Thirteen's Tracy & Evie and beyond - started taking back her power in movies and tv by getting to tell her *own* story.

The teen girl had become a rather terrifying force in movies and tv at the end of the 20th century – adults just couldn’t understand what was going on with teens, and so this fearful, outsider perspective informed on screen portrayals. But as the 2000s and 2010s rolled around, the terrifying teen girl on screen began to enter a new, more powerful phase. These stories actually grappled with the harsh, conflicting realities that teen girls have to deal with (and many felt much more real because now they were actually written by people who had, y’know, actually experienced being a teen girl instead of just outside observers. From lack of control to oversexualization to the intricacies of war in Girl World, these teens were constantly being pushed to the edge – but they were always up for the challenge.

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Good for Her Horror: The Power of & Problem with the Trope, Explained

Sat, 26 Oct 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Good For Her has evolved from a hilarious Lucille Bluth quote-turned-meme into a powerful Horror and Thriller subgenre, initially focused around a few select films: The Witch, Midsommar, Us, The Invisible Man, Knives Out, Gone Girl, Ready or Not, and the Suspiria remake. But not everyone agrees on what *really* makes a good Good For Her film. So let's take a deeper look at the subgenre's origins, the different ways it's been defined, and the real reasons that we all love Good For Her stories so much!

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Fight Club Explained - Surprising Things It Still Gets Right About Modern Life

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Fight Club, David Fincher’s cult classic film starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, was released a quarter of a century ago. It’s deeply rooted in the end-of-the-millennium Gen X malaise of the era of its release, but it’s also managed – even through decades of misinterpretation and misreadings – to continue to feel connected to our current world and experiences. So looking back now, 25 years after it originally hit theaters, what lessons can we take from the Narrator and Tyler Durden about surviving in our modern day?

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Modern Family: Haley Was Secretly Way Smarter Than She Got Credit For

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 15:11:00 -0000

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Modern Family’s Haley Dunphy was seen in a rather negative light by those around her, as a beautiful but empty package. And, okay, sure, she might not have been the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but over the course of the show we got to see how her outlook on life actually helped not only her but everyone around her. Not just a shallow airhead, Haley had a lot of tenacity and confidence, which helped her keep moving forward even when things didn’t go her way. So let’s take a closer look at how Haley was actually right about so many things.

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Joker Folie a Deux’s Biggest Problem (Isn’t The Songs…) 🤔 Explained

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 22:47:00 -0000

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Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019's Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the titular mad clown and Lady Gaga as Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, has surprised viewers, but… not for great reasons. It’s all led to audiences having a lot of questions. Like, why is this a musical (and why did they try to hide that fact?!) And, who is this even for? Let’s take a deeper look to uncover the answers to these questions and more.

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Why Everyone Is So Afraid Of Teen Girls, Explained 🔥🐈‍⬛

Sun, 29 Sep 2024 15:10:00 -0000

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From Twin Peaks to Heathers to Teen Witch to Beetlejuice's Lydia Deetz to The Craft to Buffy and beyond, we're taking a look at the scary teen girl and... *why* she became so scary. There are certain characters who are iconic villains and monsters, but one scary figure in pop culture doesn’t outwardly appear so terrifying at all. She’s vengeful and ruthless, cold and cunning. She has the tactical prowess of a political mastermind and the calculating mind of a killer – and she does it all from behind a sweet, innocent facade. The teenage girl is at the heart of so many shows – and she’s only getting scarier. So when did Hollywood turn her so terrifying – and what’s driving the shift? In this three-part series, we’re going to take you on a trip into the history of the terrifying teen girl onscreen.

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Agatha All Along Explained: Analyzing Every Major Witchy Detail So Far 🔮🖤 Episodes 1 - 3 Breakdown

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:27:00 -0000

Let’s unpack Agatha All Along, what the new series tells us about the infamous mage and how it explores long held misconceptions about witches.

WandaVision was a huge hit that kept audiences coming back week after week – and one of the most talked about and shocking moments was the reveal that Wanda’s quirky sidekick neighbor wasn’t at all what she seemed. Now it’s Agatha’s turn in the spotlight in the new series Agatha All Along, where we’re finally getting the opportunity to learn more about Agatha’s past, and maybe even her future.

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Gossip Girl: How Dan Was Right About Everything (Unfortunately...)

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 22:03:00 -0000

Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and book a top-rated doctor today. | Gossip Girl’s Dan Humphrey made his way to the very top of the elite society of New York City’s Upper East Side. In the finale, it was revealed that this upward climb wasn’t just a fluke of fate and circumstance but all part of a twisted bid to help him cement his place in this elite world. If we ignore the parts of his story that don’t make a whole lot of sense (like all of the times he was surprised by his own Gossip Girl blasts…) we can see that while Dan was shady, he wasn’t really wrong about how the world works and what one has to do if they really want to break their way into those kinds of insular, exclusive social circles as an outsider. So, let’s take a deeper look at the pretty dark lessons we learn from Dan’s story.

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KAOS: How It Updated Ancient Myths for Our Modern Times & Ending Explained

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:27:00 -0000

Netflix's KAOS has become a huge hit by pulling some very old stories into the modern day: ancient Greek mythology. In this telling, some of the most recognizable names from the ancient legends are everyday people, and the Greek gods are still worshiped and revered. Whether you’re familiar with Greek mythology or not, KAOS is loaded with clever nods to the enduring stories that shape the trials and tribulations each character faces, while still creating a brand-new plot. Let’s dive into our Take on the Greek myths that inspired KAOS, how they were updated to fit our world, and, of course, that cliffhanger ending.

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The Perfect Couple Isn't What Anyone Expected (For Better & Worse...) | Analysis

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:00:00 -0000

The Perfect Couple was hyped as the next big murder mystery miniseries, and while it has pulled in viewers, it ended up being quite different from what many had expected. Starring Nicole Kidman, who has dominated the prestige drama mini- and limited series game for a while now; Meghann Fahy, who shot to stardom thanks to her turn on The White Lotus; and a number of other stars, it at first seemed like it was going to be another serious murder mystery, but… the show had other plans. So let’s dive in and unpack what’s led to such mixed reviews from viewers and explain what really happened in the ending!

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How Dramedies Broke The Emmy Awards, Explained

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 15:40:00 -0000

Category fraud has become a big topic of conversation around award shows nowadays (aka, "Wait, how is The Bear a comedy?!") Awards season is a great time to look back at all of our favorite films, shows, and performances of the last year – but every time the Emmy Awards in particular roll around and nominations are announced, there’s so much confusion about the seemingly random categories that some shows and actors are slotted into. So… what’s really going on here? Let’s take a closer look at the full Emmy process and the awards culture that drives it to figure out what’s really behind ‘category fraud’ and if there’s anything that can be done to fix it!

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review: The Deepest Weird Girl Struggle | Movie Analysis & Ending Explained

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 23:21:00 -0000

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton and directed by Tim Burton, has become a huge box office smash (already pulling in more in its first weekend than the original film did in its entire box office run!) Like the original, this film deals with some pretty dark, depressing concepts – but does its desire to keep things more surface level and wacky serve the story or bring it down? Let’s take a closer look at what the film is really about to unpack its true message.

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What Movies, TV & Society Get Wrong About Introverts | Explained

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 17:19:00 -0000

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Introverts are often overlooked in a world that favors the extroverted. They’re taught it’s on them to counteract this, by speaking up and putting themselves out there. But introverts are much more complex than their stereotypes would suggest – the fact that they’re quiet doesn’t mean that they always have to be stuck on the sidelines. So…what exactly is an introvert, then? Have they been sorely misunderstood by society and Hollywood all this time? Let’s analyze all of that and more as we unpack the truth about introverts!

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Underconsumption Core: Sustainable Solution, Cosplaying Poverty, or Just… Normal?? | Explained

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 23:24:00 -0000

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Underconsumption core has been dominating TikTok feeds and wider conversations. But is it really a useful trend that signifies that we’re (finally) shifting away from hyper-consumerism as a society, or just another attempt by the well off to aestheticize poverty and avoid dealing with real issues? Let’s take a deeper look at this trend to unpack what’s really going on, and analyze whether it’s a solution or just creating another problem…

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The One Thing That Could Fix Emily In Paris | Sex and the City vs Emily in Paris, Explained

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 22:03:00 -0000

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Emily in Paris was brought to life by the same creative mind that brought us Sex and the City – and while the shows share a few general similarities, one of the biggest is that their central characters are… kind of annoying. But while Carrie Bradshaw became a beloved character despite (or, perhaps, even because of) her flaws, Emily Cooper hasn’t managed to work her way into audiences’ hearts in quite the same way… but why? What is it that sets Carrie apart from Emily? Let’s take a deeper look at that, plus analyze how the creative team has been trying to fix Emily in more recent seasons and how that is (and isn’t) working.

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Industry - Harper, Explained: Selling Your Soul To Win (When You're An Outsider)

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 21:24:00 -0000

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Industry is full of irreverent, power-hungry characters attempting to claw their way to the top of a London investment bank – and none is more engaging or divisive than Harper Stern. But her struggles – both internally and at work – stem from real, deeper issues. So what’s really going on with Harper? And is investing so much of herself into this world, at the expense of everything else, really worth the risk?

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Second Chance at Stardom: Actors' Biggest Comebacks Explained 🌟🏆

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 21:42:00 -0000

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Everyone loves a good comeback! From Josh Hartnett's to Jennifer Coolidge to Brendan Frasier to Winona Ryder and beyond, we love to watch beloved actors get a second chance in the spotlight. For stars, one of the biggest worries is hitting the height of stardom and then… fading away. While this might mean the end of some celebs careers, others are lucky enough to get the chance to stage a major comeback – and sometimes those comebacks are even better than their original runs. So what’s the secret behind comebacks that work versus those that don’t, and why do we love a good comeback story so much?

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Why Millennial Middle Age Already Feels More Youthful | Explained

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 15:14:00 -0000

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Millennials are finally starting to hit middle age (hard to believe, but it's true!) but are taking things in a new direction that *doesn't* mean giving up their youth. From Brat Summer to changing social trends, let's take a look at how millennials are looking back to find a way to move forward!

After decades of being decried as immature, overgrown children, millennials are finally hitting middle age. But instead of the stable mid-adulthood we’ve become accustomed to seeing in previous generations, millennials seem to be taking things in a rather different direction, embracing a second wave of young adulthood while also trying to figure out how to navigate the total instability of their lives and the world around them. This could be easy to write off as yet another refusal to grow up and be “real adults” – but the truth is that there’s a lot more going on under the surface, and it’s not all bad.

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Gossip Girl: Blair Waldorf Was Right (More Than She Gets Credit For)

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 13:38:00 -0000

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Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf is an iconic queen of mean and the Upper East Side. In her quest for power and control, she definitely made a lot of mistakes, but she actually got a lot more right than she gets credit for – both in her understanding of how her world really works and in the ways she had to learn to grow as a person. So let’s take a look back at Blair’s outlook on life and relationships, how she changed (or didn’t…,) and the most important lessons she can teach us.

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Commitment Phobia, Explained: Why So Many Movie & TV Characters Run from Love 💔🏃

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

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Some characters are obsessed with the idea of being in love, but then when they actually get it… they can’t seem to stop themselves from running in the opposite direction. Across film and television, so many characters are plagued by commitment issues that keep them from actually being able to settle in and enjoy the relationships they manage to get into. So, what is it that makes the idea of being in love so alluring, but the actual experience of it a lot more scary? Let’s take a closer look!

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Annoying Main Characters: Loveable, Relatable &... A Little Hateable 🤨❤️ | Trope Explained

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 15:55:00 -0000

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From The Bold Type's Jane to SATC's Carrie to Desperate Housewives' Susan to OITNB's Piper to HIMYM's Ted to... *so many* others, main characters are the ones that pull us into a show or movie, the eyes through which we experience the story, and sometimes, and much as we may love them… they’re really annoying. We’re not talking about real baddies here – but instead just the characters that are almost good people, but just seem to somehow make the worst choice at every turn. Sometimes we only really realize how annoying they were in hindsight, other times we’re yelling at the TV every episode. But there are actually a lot of different reasons that stories choose to have someone a little grating at the center of their narrative – and also some surprising reasons behind why we love to watch them so much, even when they drive us up the wall. So let’s take a deeper look at the Annoying Main Character Trope.

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The Struggle of Being the New Friend, Explained | Friends, HIMYM, & Beyond

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Friends' Phoebe Buffay and How I Met Your Mother's Robin Scherbatsky both encounter a particularly difficult quirk of friendship dynamics: being the New Friend in the group. Being the newest friend working your way into an already existing friend group can be difficult, and leave you feeling like no matter how well you’ve integrated into the group, they’ll always choose each other over you. Sometimes the New Friend is able to overcome this hurdle and truly become an equal friend with everyone else in the group, but others get left feeling like they’ll always be second best no matter what. So, let’s take a deeper look at this trope, how Friends' Phoebe Buffay and How I Met Your Mother's Robin Scherbatsky exemplify the good and bad side of the New Friend dilemma, and what it all tells us about the power of friendship.

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What Curly Hair Represents In Movies & TV (& How It's Changing) | Trope Explained

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Curly hair, like hair colors, is often used to represent something specific about a character on screen. Sometimes curly hair is a positive signifier – like of an untamable strength within a character – but for a long time curly hair was used as an indication that something about a character needed to be changed and, well, straightened out. In recent years, things have begun evolving as we’ve seen more and more characters come to love their hair (and themselves) as is, following on the back of real world movements to do the same. So let’s unpack the different tropes that have sprung up around curly hair on screen (good and bad) and how we’re finally bouncing past those into a much more positive, accepting place.

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Clueless: How Cher Was Totally Right About (Almost) Everything

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Clueless' Cher Horowitz at first might seem like just another character stuck in the 'dumb blonde' trope, but when we look closer, we realize that she was actually right about a lot of things! She definitely doesn't get everything right, but she is quite astute - and, importantly, willing to fight for what she wants (*and* admit when she's wrong.) So let's take a deeper look at the lessons Cher can teach us about life, love, and friendship!

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Legally Blonde: Elle Woods' Guide to Self Confidence 💅💁‍♀️

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

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Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods is an iconic beacon of optimism and thinking pink, and one of her defining characteristics is her confidence. It can often be hard to find confidence within ourselves when it seems like the whole world is trying to put us down, and Elle certainly has her own moments of wavering belief in herself. But no matter how many times she gets knocked down, she always figures out a way to get back up. And so she provides us a great guide on how to believe in ourselves, even when no one else does!

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Euphoria: What's Really Wrong With Nate Jacobs | Explained

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Euphoria’s Nate Jacobs at first seems like he has it all, so you’d think he’d be a pretty happy guy. But a happy guy Nate Jacobs most certainly is not. He’s a dangerous and spiteful presence, his anger and intensity fusing to form something much darker than your run of the mill teen meanness. So why is Nate so miserable – and so prone to taking his misery out on everyone else? Let’s take a deeper look at Nate’s story to analyze what’s really going on behind all of that anger – and what the true takeaway of his story really is.

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A Quiet Place Day One Explained & Review: Symbolism, Ending, & Meaning

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

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A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel to the original films, takes the quiet action out of the small town of the first two films and into one of the noisiest cities in the country. While Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn have been universally praised for their takes on their characters, audiences’ responses to the film as a whole have been quite a bit more split. So what works, and what doesn’t? And what is this film actually trying to say? Let’s analyze all of that and more!

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The Bikeriders Explained & Review: the Real Story, Love Triangle, Ending & Symbolism, Accents & More

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 14:00:00 -0000

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The Bikeriders, the new film starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy as members of a growing and splintering motorcycle club initially had a lot of buzz, but since its release, it's been getting some pretty mixed reviews because to some viewers, it feels like… nothing much really happens. The film is (very loosely) based on the real life story of a Chicago motorcycle club, and so many went in expecting a bit more action. And the movie has raised a lot of questions – how much of it, exactly, is true to life, what was made up, and… what’s up with those accents? Let’s unpack all of that, plus take a deeper look at what the film was actually trying to say. (No worries, no major spoilers for the film until the final chapter!)

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Gilmore Girls Lane Kim: The Rebel That Was Forced To Settle | Explained

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:48:00 -0000

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Gilmore Girls' resident rocker rebel Lane Kim ended up with one of the most disappointing outcomes in the series. While she began the show with a buzzing love for music and lust for personal freedom, as the show went on and her character was pushed further to the side, so much of what made her Lane was sanded away. In recent years, as more people have begun re-watching show on streaming, a wider conversation has opened up about Lane’s bummer of an ending and how she deserved so much better – or at least the chance to have tried to live the life she dreamed of. So let’s dive in and unpack what made Lane so great, why her story went off the rails, and why her ending feels so hollow (but maybe there is one positive aspect…)

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How I Met Your Mother: Everything Ted Got Wrong About Love

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 14:30:00 -0000

At this point, it’s no secret that How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby has a pretty delusional outlook on life – he’s the definition of a toxic Nice Guy and also not a great friend. But what is it, specifically, about his way of looking at the world (and the people in it) that was so wrong? And what can we learn from it, even if he didn’t? Let’s take a closer look at what Ted got wrong about life, love, and finding happiness.

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Movie & TV Vacations, Explained: 1% Luxury to Relatable Trips | Family Vacays, Solo Travel, & More

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 14:30:00 -0000

Vacations, from the super expensive & extravagant to totally relatable, feature in so many of our favorite movies & shows. Sometimes it’s a lot of fun just to watch some of our favorite, everyday characters go on some amazing – or hilariously not so amazing – vacations around the world. Just like our TikTok and Instagram feeds getting flooded with images and videos of influencers flitting around the globe, sometimes these onscreen vacations can give us a pretty unrealistic expectation of what an average vacation should look like – not to mention some pretty intense FOMO. So let’s take a deeper look at some iconic on screen vacations to unpack how they influence our own ideas of what our vacays should be – and sometimes remind us how important it is to just enjoy the ride, wherever you are.

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Sex and the City: Samantha & Charlotte's Surprising Similarities (Are So Important) | Explained

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 14:30:00 -0000

Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones and Charlotte York were set up to be complete opposites: Samantha the free-loving, up for anything hottie and Charlotte the romantic, repressed Park Ave princess. But when we take a deeper look at their stories, we actually start to see that surprisingly… they’re a lot alike. While they don’t always see eye to eye on the ‘right’ way to live one’s life, they do share some important similarities in the ways they go about getting what they want (and in how they grow over the course of the show.) The pair actually provide some really interesting insight into how – regardless of the boxes that society might try to put us in – we’re not actually that different from people we think are nothing like us, and how having those people in our lives can actually help us form a more accepting, multifaceted view of ourselves.

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The Bikeriders, Explained: the Real Life Story, the Ending, Those Accents & More

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:12:00 -0000

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The Bikeriders, the new film starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy as members of a growing and splintering motorcycle club initially had a lot of buzz, but since it’s release has been getting some pretty mixed reviews because to some viewers, it feels like… nothing much really happens. The film is (very loosely) based on the real life story of a Chicago motorcycle club, and so many went in expecting a bit more action. And the movie has raised a lot of questions – how much of it, exactly, is true to life, what was made up, and… what’s up with those accents? Let’s unpack all of that, plus take a deeper look at what the film was actually trying to say. (No worries, no major spoilers for the film until the final chapter!)

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Modern Family: How Gloria Was Right About Everything

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Modern Family’s Gloria Pritchett was initially discounted by pretty much everyone else on the show. They were so blinded by her more obvious qualities and the fact that they assumed she was a gold digger, that they couldn’t even see the amazing person inside that beautiful package. But it quickly became clear that she was the one with the best outlook on life. And not only did she use her smarts to create a good life for herself and her son, she also helped the others on the show grow and become better, happier people themselves. So let’s take a deeper look at how, in the end, Gloria was right about pretty much everything.

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House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra vs Alicent: Their Deeper Battle & Their Destined Doom | Explained

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 15:10:00 -0000

House of the Dragon's Rhaenyra and Alicent’s opposite personalities are the sun-and-moon gravitational pull that makes their relationship the heart of the show’s central conflict. Starting as each other’s closest companions, Rhaenyra and Alicent must contend with their own position in a patriarchal society that view women as merely vessels for male dominion. Let’s take a look at how each woman is shaped by their experiences with abusive men, desire, duty, and motherhood, which ultimately pits them against each other in a fearsome battle for the Iron Throne.

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Mean Girls: How Regina Was Right About Everything (Unfortunately...)

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Mean Girls’ Regina George is one of pop culture’s most iconic high school villains. Perhaps the worst thing about Regina is that what’s horrible about her is actually what’s… true. Regina was a menace because she understood some pretty dark fundamental truths about the world, and the fact that she was right about them underlines some major problems in society. So let’s take a deeper look at what Regina, unfortunately, got right in her outlook on life (and why it’s so important that society, like Regina, learns to change for the better.)

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Why Millennials Seem To Be Aging So Slowly | Explained

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Millennials (aka people born between 1981 and 1996) seem to be aging at a slower rate than previous generations… but no one agrees on why. Some say it’s because they’re just immature, dodging responsibilities and spending too much time on nostalgia. Others blame the rise of cosmetic procedures and the increased focus on looks in our social media focused world combined with the lack of access to the old school markers of “adulthood.” So let’s take a deeper look at this perceived collective youthfulness of millennials, and how cultural shifts have changed our image of adulthood.

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The Yoko Ono Trope, Explained: Why She's Hated | From Yoko to The Idea of You & More

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0000

The myth of Yoko Ono destroying The Beatles has persisted for decades. Anytime something goes wrong with a group of male musicians, there always seems to be a woman that catches the blame. In the years since Yoko was accused of ruining the biggest band of all time, many other women – in real life and on screen – have gotten caught up in the same trope of the evil woman who slides in and breaks up the otherwise happy group. But, of course, there’s always more to the story. So let’s take a deeper look at the true story of Yoko and The Beatles, why the trope has continued to be so pervasive, and how we’re finally starting to leave it in the past.

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Euphoria: How Maddy Was Right About Everything

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Euphoria’s Maddy Perez is the ultra confident queen bee of Euphoria High, and for two seasons the universe seemingly continually tries to destroy her sense of self. But Maddy has no problem fighting back against anyone or anything that tries to shake her confidence. Her story is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, and we can learn a surprising amount about staying true to yourself and not letting the hard times derail you from her refusal to give up. So let’s take a look back at Maddy’s outlook on life, loyalty, and confidence, and how in the end she was so right about pretty much everything.

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Hit Man & The Forced Flop Problem: Why Streamers Sabotage Their Own Films | Explained

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 20:19:00 -0000

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Hit Man seemed to have all of the makings of a hit summer movie: a rising star leading man, a magnetic lead actress, a beloved director, a successful festival run, and great reviews. Then it got bought by Netflix and… completely fell off the radar. It was released in a handful of theaters this past weekend and is set to begin streaming this upcoming weekend, but… had you even heard about it before clicking on this video? Why is it that this film, with all of its great elements and mix of romance and action and comedy – all the kinds of things people love seeing on screen seems to have completely had the wind taken out of its sails right when it’s meant to be taking off? The problem, it seems, isn’t with Hit Man at all, but rather is a much larger issue keeping good movies from actually being able to find their audience.

So let’s take a deeper look at Hit Man itself (including how much of it is actually based on the real life events of the story) and how the budding mid-budget movie renaissance could save Hollywood if studios would stop blocking their own bag. (And don’t worry, no major spoilers for the film!)

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Gilmore Girls: How Rory Was Wrong About Everything

Sun, 26 May 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Gilmore Girls’ Rory is a beloved Smart Girl icon, and was the kind of girl so many of the girls watching at home wanted to be when the show began airing. But, given that Gilmore Girls follows Rory as she evolves through young adulthood, it’s not surprising that she had to learn the hard way that some of her outlook on life was totally wrong along the way. That doesn’t make her a bad person – messing up is a big part of growing up – but it does give us an interesting opportunity to take a look back and analyze what specifically about her personality and choices caused those issues, and how they affected her story (for better and worse.) So, let’s take a deeper look at some of the things even super smart Rory got wrong about life, love, and becoming your own person – and how they ended up being important lessons for Rory and viewers.

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Movies & TV 's Unrealistic 30s Personal Finance: Expectations vs Reality | SATC, New Girl & More

Fri, 24 May 2024 15:30:00 -0000

Being in your 30s used to mean that your life, finances, and job felt stable -- but things are often quite different nowadays. Movies & TV love showing the more secure side of things, but in recent years we've begun to see more characters on screen working to survive their very unstable 30s. Sometimes the lives of characters on screen in their 30s on screen can feel hilariously out of reach, but thankfully in recent years we’ve also started to get many more films and shows that are willing to get honest about what it’s like to be in your 30s now (the good *and* the less than stellar…) So what do movies and tv get right and wrong about life and finances in your 30s today?

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Back To Black: Why The Controversial Amy Winehouse Biopic Doesn't Work | Explained

Tue, 21 May 2024 18:36:00 -0000

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Amy Winehouse was a one-in-a-generation talent plagued by inner demons and tabloid-splashed controversy, but who through it all brought a spark of life and joy to the world and filled the airwaves with her incomparable voice and witty lyrics. The new biopic of the star, Back to Black, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Marisa Abela was an opportunity to take a deeper examination of Amy’s inner life and her work, but instead seems mostly interested with a more surface level (and, in many cases, sanded down) look at the star’s life. So what did the film get right and wrong about Amy’s life and story? And why does it, in the end, totally fall flat as a biopic of such a larger than life, interesting person?

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Why Everyone On Screen Kind Of Has The Same Face Now | Explained

Sat, 11 May 2024 15:00:00 -0000

From always having to look picture perfect even during the literal apocalypse, to “smartphone face” – aka actors who just look too modern to fit into period settings, to the rise of plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures leading to so many people we see on screen starting to have nearly identical features, the effect of aesthetic trends has become more and more talked about in recent years. And while the expectation certainly isn’t that everything on screen has to be exactly true to real life all of the time – it is entertainment after all – it is interesting to take a deeper look at what drives these kinds of societal trends. The judgment is usually placed on the actresses themselves, but there is much more at play here. So let’s take a deeper look at the truth about these on screen trends, how they alter our viewing experiences, and can even affect how we see ourselves.

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The O.C. - Seth Cohen Was Wrong About Everything (& That's Okay) | Explained

Thu, 09 May 2024 15:00:00 -0000

The O.C.’s Seth Cohen is an iconic heartthrob of the early 2000s. He was cute and awkward and always had a hilarious quip ready to go. But as the show celebrates the 20th anniversary of the end of its mega-hit first season, we can look back and realize that Seth was actually… wrong about a lot. His mindset hindered him in so many ways – but many of his faults were also what made him so relatable to many at the time. So let’s take a look back at Seth Cohen, what he got wrong about life, and why his growth was so important for him and us.

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The Hot One Trope, Explained: Why She's Chosen | Friends & Beyond

Tue, 07 May 2024 19:28:00 -0000

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Friends' Rachel Green, Monica Geller, and Phoebe Buffay are all beautiful – but the show singled out only one as *the* "hot one". For a long time, there was a trend on screen where, within any group of female friends – regardless of what any of them looked like – one was always upheld as the hot friend (pretty much always because she was the main love object of the story.) But this trope split off from other ‘hot girl’ tropes for one key reason: her friendships. So where did the ‘hot one’ trope even come from, and how did Rachel (with the help of Monica and Phoebe) change it for the better? (And have we *finally* gotten rid of it altogether?) Let’s take a deeper look at the ‘hot one’ trope!

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Seinfeld's Elaine Benes: Morally Grey, Majorly Hilarious | Explained

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 16:24:00 -0000

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Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes is one of the most iconic and hilarious characters of the 90s – played by the comedy legend, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She stood out for being the only woman of the friend group, but also because she was (at least at first) also less cynical than her friends. Her confidence and unapologetic attitude were refreshing and radical, and her character opened the door for so many of our faves that followed after. So let’s turn back the clock and analyze what made Elaine so different, why she became such an iconic and beloved character, and how, even if she wasn’t always a great person, she still managed to be a new kind of role model.

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How Toxic Productivity Took Over Our Entire Lives

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 16:43:00 -0000

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Workaholism and hustle culture are certainly nothing new, but now it’s not just about being efficient at work, but reworking *every aspect* of your entire life to be “productive.” There’s a pervasive feeling that nothing in life is worthwhile if it doesn’t count as being productive – but productive pretty much always boils down to financially lucrative. In a world where making ends meet feels harder than ever, we’ve all been pushed into framing our lives around chasing capital and “maximizing our profits” like we’re over-the-top venture capitalists and not just… people trying to live our human lives. So let’s take a look at this modern streak of ‘toxic productivity’, the media and pop culture it evolved out of, and how we can best try to combat it and take back our hobbies and peace of mind.

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Analyzing 3 Body Problem's Deeper Symbolism

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 22:11:00 -0000

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Netflix’s new hit adaptation 3 Body Problem is filled with symbolism, but what does it all really mean? The book on which the show is based is famous for leaning hard into the science aspect of sci-fi, creating an engaging but incredibly dense work. The Netflix series streamlines some of the story’s more confusing aspects, but it still takes us on a wild ride and leaves us with more questions than answers. The show uses a lot of symbolism to help get across its major themes, and unpacking these can help us understand the story on a deeper level. So let’s break down some of the show’s most important symbols to get a better grasp of what the story is really trying to tell us.

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"Content Creator" Finances Onscreen v Real Life, and the Real Costs of the Career

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0000

From shows like Emily in Paris and You to movies like Not Okay and Ingrid Goes West, influencers and content creators of all kinds have begun popping up more and more as they become a larger part of our everyday lives. And just like their real-life counterparts, these on-screen influencers can give us some pretty unrealistic ideas about what it’s like to be a full time content creator. But sometimes they give us a more realistic, deeper look into the darker side of influencing that social media stars often try to hide… So, let’s look at what the media constantly gets wrong about these careers and their associated finances, the ways all creators are portrayed as uber-wealthy, and why they still get so much hate.

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Movies & TV's Most Unrealistic Job Salaries: Writers, Teachers, Lawyers, & more

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0000

So many film and tv characters have jobs that seem to be almost no work and all pay, pretty much the exact opposite of how things are in their careers in real life. From freelance writers somehow managing to live the high life, to public school teachers who seem to be financially secure and have so much free time, to lawyers who spend more time enjoying their lavish lifestyle than putting in the billable hours to afford it, salaries that don't line up with real world are part of the fun of movies and tv, but can also give people some pretty unrealistic ideas of what those jobs are really like.

So lets dig into some of our favorite shows, like Sex and the City, New Girl, Suits, Friends, and more to unpack some of the more unrealistic salaries on screen, plus we'll take a look at some other shows we love that actually seem to be getting things right like Insecure and Abbott Elementary!

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Movies & TV's Most Unrealistic Grand Gestures: Dates, Proposals, $$$ Gifts, & more

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0000

The Romantic Grand Gesture is one major romance trope that film and TV just can't get enough of. From filling a room with candles or bouquets of flowers to orchestrating a flash mob proposal, there are some wild romantic gestures in media that are so unrealistic they’re almost laughable, but... we love them nonetheless! Let’s take a minute to zoom out and take a look at all sides of this trope, unpack some of the most ridiculous dates and grand gestures in film and TV, who gets to experience them, and why this trope often conveys the wrong message about love.

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The Horse Girl Trend, Explained

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0000

From real life Horse Girls like Bella Hadid and TikTok #HorseGirls to book and tv icons like The Saddle Club, Horse Girls are everywhere. It's long been a trope both on screen and in real life – you probably knew a Horse Girl growing up, or maybe you were the Horse Girl. The trope often splits in two directions: the bratty rich-girl equestrian and the tough and free spirited outcast true horse girl. Both types usually end up getting mocked, though for different reasons. And they both have important lessons to teach all of us, even if we don’t know the first thing about horses. So saddle up and let’s jump into this trope!

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Bradley Cooper's Failed Oscar Run & The Reason For Awards "Desperation"

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:14:00 -0000

Bradley Cooper spent years perfecting his performance (plus writing and directing) in hopes of securing an Oscar for Maestro, but instead, his performance was seemingly overshadowed by his "desperation" to win, and the Oscar for Best Actor instead went to quiet frontrunner Cillian Murphy.

Cooper’s Oscar’s journey actually highlights an interesting conundrum for Hollywood actors: it is very much a part of their job to go out on the awards trail and try to convince everyone that their film – and they specifically – deserve to be rewarded. But, if they get a little too overzealous, it can lead to some pretty intense backlash. (There’s also the flipside that if they don’t promote themselves enough they can essentially get forgotten, passed over again and again even though everyone knows they’re incredibly talented.)

Let's take a look at *why* Bradley got hit with so much backlash, plus take a deeper look at the overall mystery of what it really takes to run an Oscars campaign (and why it’s kind of started turning people off of the Oscars all together...)

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Why Rich Kids On Screen Are Always Miserable

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0000

'Poor Little Rich Kids' like Succession's Kendall, Shiv, and Roman and Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf seem to have everything, and yet… they’re still miserable. Hearing the old adage “money can’t buy happiness” can be grating, especially in financial times like these – but there is a kernel of truth in it. So to get a better understanding of this trope and why it keeps popping up on screen, let’s take a closer look at the Poor Little Rich Kid in film and television: the important truths the trope can expose, the places it falls flat, and why (no matter how much we might love the characters) it’s still often hard for us to sympathize with them.

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Movies & TV’s Most Unrealistic Personal Finances: Friends, SATC, Emily in Paris, & more

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Film and TV love to show partly-relatable, partly-aspirational lifestyles that… actually don’t make a whole lot of sense when you really think about them. Of course, we’re not always watching movies and shows just to see real life, and it can sometimes work well when media choses to let go of realism a little bit to have more fun. But this can also lead to some pretty unrealistic ideas about life and money… So let’s take a look at some of the most nonsensical finances in media, from Friends to Sex and the City to Emily in Paris and beyond, why we’re influenced by them, and how we can enjoy our favorite shows without comparing ourselves to the fantastical examples on screen. Plus, we'll explore some shows like Broad City that are much more realistic in their portrayals of personal finances.

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Capote vs The Swans: Scandal, Lies, And Secrets... But What Was True? | Feud, Explained

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 21:41:00 -0000

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Feud: Capote vs The Swans follows the downfall of arguably the most famous American mid-century writer, Truman Capote. His best seller In Cold Blood catapulted him to stardom, and with his natural magnetism and inclination for spectacle catapulted him into the closest inner circles of New York City’s elite, where he befriended a number of very powerful society women, who he referred to as his Swans. However, everything changed for Capote after he published a scathing excerpt about his friends in Esquire Magazine – which got him exiled from high society and sent him spiraling.

While these women were very much real, how much does Feud rely on facts and where does the show, and Capote, bend the truth for dramatic effect? Let’s take a look at how the show has portrayed the Swans so far in the first half of the season compared to their real stories to figure out how much fact is woven into the show’s fiction.

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Dune: Part 2 and Paul's Dark Turn, Explained

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:06:00 -0000

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Dune: Part 2, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and a host of other stars, has become a huge hit – crossing $80 million in only its first weekend at the box office. It’s no surprise that people love the second installment in Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel given how much we all loved the first one. But Paul Atreides’ story is a lot darker than most Chosen One characters we see get the big screen treatment. So how has Paul changed in part two, and what does that mean for what’s to come in his story? (And how might audience reactions cause a bit of a problem?) Let’s dive in!

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The Office: Review Every Amazing, Ordinary Season With Us | Extended Take

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 23:04:00 -0000

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The Office is a beautifully crafted comedy that manages to bring the laughs, tug on our heart strings, and make us appreciate the magic of or everyday, ordinary lives. Over it's 9 seasons, we watched the characters stumble and grow, rooting for them all the way (well, most of them...) So join us in taking an extended look back at every season to highlight all of the things that made the show so great, and that have catapulted it to comfort show classic status!

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30 Rock Why Jenna Is An Unhinged, Relatable Icon

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

30 Rock’s Jenna Maroney still managed to stand out in a sea of hilarious characters. She was unbelievably vain, shallow, manipulative, unstable, thin-skinned… but instead of being annoying and unlikable, she became one of the most entertaining, iconic characters of modern television. So, how did Jenna manage to capture that ‘beloved star’ status that she was so desperate for on the show in real life? Let’s take a deeper look at Jenna’s character arc, the way she perfectly embodied all of the wild pressures that the industry puts on aging actresses, and how such an outlandish character managed to be so oddly relatable.

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The Mean, Hot Mom Problem On Screen, Explained

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Moms can be many things, but on screen if they’re hot they also often happen to be kind of evil – or, if not outright evil, still pretty bad. From The Graduate's Mrs. Robinson and Mad Men's Betty Draper to The O.C.'s Julie Cooper and Regina's Mom in Mean Girls and beyond, this trope pops up all over film and television. Thankfully this is finally starting to change as more modern shows and films have started tackling this trope head on, but it still hasn’t totally gone away. So let’s take a deeper look at why media was so afraid of hot moms, the problematic sub-trope that often pops up, and the iconic characters like Married with Children's Peggy Bundy and Modern Family's Gloria Delgado-Pritchett that started flipping the script.

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Big Bang Theory: Why Bernadette Was The Meanest And Nicest Character

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 20:53:00 -0000

The Big Bang Theory’s Bernadette's (Melissa Rauch) tiny stature and high pitched voice might make her seem unthreatening at first, but one wrong move and you’ll quickly learn that she's not afraid of anyone or anything. But, instead of making her hated, her willingness to stand up for herself and speak her mind actually made her beloved – both on the show and in real life. So let’s take a deeper look at how Bernadette’s attitude was born out of her Oldest Child Syndrome, and how she learned to use her "mean girl" powers for good.

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Paris Geller: from Villain to Smart Girl Icon | Gilmore Girls

Sun, 11 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Gilmore Girls’ Paris Geller is many things: hyper-intelligent, laser focused, extremely intense… but she became a beloved character because as the show went on we got to peel back the layers and see Paris as less of a looming threat and more as a real person. While things always seemed to turn out great for Rory Gilmore no matter what (at least for a while), Paris was hit with some big setbacks that caused her to have to rethink her life plan. Join us in taking a deeper look at what made Paris' story so interesting and how she became such an iconic character (and why she deserved all of the praise Rory got for being The Smart Girl.)

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The O.C.'s Marissa Cooper: The Darkness Behind The Beauty

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

At first glance, The O.C.’s Marissa Cooper might seem like the epitome of the ‘poor little rich girl’ trope – she’s gorgeous, lives in a mansion in southern California, and never seems to be having a good time. But the show gave us a chance to see beyond the outer facade of Marissa’s seemingly-perfect life and into the darkness hiding beneath that beautiful surface. Marissa was a complex young woman trying to figure out who she really was in a world that was intent on telling her who she had to be. Let’s take a deeper look at Marissa’s attempts to break out of her gilded cage, find real connections, and grow.

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The Love Bomber Trope: Rom-Com Dream to Total Nightmare

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 19:54:00 -0000

Love bombing has been a huge topic of conversation in recent years, and if we take a closer look, we might start to notice that the TV and movie characters who we thought were so lovable and charming are actually doing this too – from self-identified “nice guys” like How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby to full on bad guys like Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl and Joe Goldberg from You. But what is love bombing, what are the signs, how does it tie into narcissism, and why is this trope in so many TV shows and movies?

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The Curse: That Crazy Ending Explained, and Nathan Fielder's Version of "Reality" TV

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Nathan Fielder uses his brand of awkward, uncomfortable humor (and a hint of darkness) to flip the script on contemporary TV’s obsession with reality. From creating cringe comedy that’s achieved cult status on his shows Nathan For You and The Rehearsal to his latest hyper-real horror show with Benny Safdie, The Curse, he shines a light back on the audience, making us reflect on the less pleasant parts of human nature. That might be our awkwardness or our selfishness; or, in the Curse specifically, our obsession with looking at the lives of other people. So what is Fielder really trying to tell us about the world and ourselves? And why has he decided to do it in such a weird way? Let’s take a closer look at Nathan Fielder’s special brand of unreality.

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Boy Meets World's Angela: The Sad Story of the 90s Teen Icon

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Boy Meets World's Angela Moore (Trina McGee) quickly became one of the most influential Black teen sitcom characters of the 1990s when she joined the cast in season 5 and became one half of the show's best power couple with on-again-off-again boyfriend Shawn Hunter. But as beloved as she was, she still ran into a number of problems both on screen and behind the scenes. So let’s take a deeper look at this groundbreaking character, her lasting legacy, and why so many fans still believe she deserved better.

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Annoying Overachiever Trope: Obnoxious, Ambitious Perfectionists (& Why We Love Them)

Sat, 03 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Annoying overachievers seem to somehow be doing everything, perfectly, all of the time which, while great for their resume, can get a little old for the more “average” people around them. But while they might make being perfect look easy, oftentimes a peek below the surface shows us that there are complex motivations that drive these ambitious figures. So let’s take a look at what’s really motivating this drive to be the best at everything and how this attitude can actually hold these perfectionists back from reaching their true potential (plus we’ll break down the weird double standard that is the reason these characters are so often women.)

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Gilmore Girls: A Coffee-Fueled Recap of Every Season

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 17:53:00 -0000

Gilmore Girls, the early 2000s hit following Lorelai, Rory, and their town full of quirky friends, is one of our favorite shows. We've done several videos digging into specific aspects of the show, but today we're taking a look back at the whole thing. So whether you're a long time fan who wants to enjoy a bit of nostalgia or someone who's never watched the show but always wondered what it was about, join us on this trip down memory lane through all seven seasons and the revival!

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Poor Things, Explained: Empowering or Exploitative?

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 17:56:00 -0000

Poor Things, the new Yorgos Lanthimos film starring Emma Stone, has been racking up nominations and wins on this year’s award circuit. But it also sparked a bit of controversy thanks to one major feature of its plot… So what is the film actually about, and is it empowering or exploitative? Here’s what you need to know about Poor Things, those scenes, and the message the film is trying to convey!

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How Sheldon Became The Heart Of Big Bang Theory

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:15:00 -0000

The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper is definitely a smart guy, but there were still some things he had to learn to have a happy life filled with strong connections. Let’s take a deeper look at Sheldon’s story and why his personal growth was such an important part of the show.

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Best of 2023: Our Favorite Films & Shows, Performances, Underrated Releases, & More!

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 16:00:00 -0000

We’ve pulled together some of our favorite releases from this year across film and TV! This is definitely not an exhaustive list, but we wanted to share some things we loved this year with you (and hope that you'll share your favorites with us, too!) We’ve split them into ten categories, from the best performances, to the best zany comedies, to the shows that got canceled way too soon, and more. So no matter what you’re looking for, we’ve got something for you!

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Modern Family’s Alex: The Dark Side of Being the Smart Girl

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 16:20:00 -0000

Let’s unpack Alex Dunphy's life as the Smart Girl, what actually caused her problems, and how she overcame them (plus the real reason she and Haley were always fighting.)

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Inside The Hollywood Method Acting Backlash

Sat, 09 Dec 2023 16:00:00 -0000

After being heralded for decades, method acting has in recent years begun receiving a lot of backlash .So what’s really behind this turn?

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Niles Crane: The Moments That Prove He Was The Funniest (& Best) Character

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Frasier might have been the titular character of the hit sitcom, but Niles was clearly the star of the show. Let’s take a look at what made him so hilarious (and lowkey relatable) and unpack why he provided such an important balance to the show!

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Netflix vs Carl Rinsch: The Mystery of the Missing Show | Controversy Explained

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 16:00:00 -0000

How did some basically unknown director allegedly scam Netflix for over $50 million dollars? And why is Keanu Reeves involved?!

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The Gilded Age: Yes It’s Boring, Yes We Love It Anyways

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

HBO’s The Gilded Age initially got off to a pretty rocky start, but even with all of its faults, there was just something about the show that kept viewers coming back. So what is the show's true magic?

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Saltburn, Explained: Does The Ending Ruin The Film?

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Saltburn, the new film from writer-director Emerald Fennell, was initially hailed as a shocking eat-the-rich psychological thriller, but upon its release, audiences have found that while it’s definitely a fun ride, it ends up lacking much of the promised bite.

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How A24 Built Its Own Fandom & Saved Indie Film

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 16:10:00 -0000

A24 has become known for producing deep, introspective indie films that feel different from Hollywood’s usual fare. What's their secret?

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The Crown on Diana's Final Weeks & Her Tragic End | Season 6 Part 1

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

In the first four episodes of The Crown season 6, the show paints a touching, insightful picture of the weeks leading up to Diana's passing. So let's analyze this portrayal of her relationship with Dodi and the loss the world felt at large.

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May December: Analyzing A Shocking True Story & Problematic Trope | Controversy Explained

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

How close are May December's portrayals to the real Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau? Let’s unpack the true story behind the film, and what the film's really trying to say.

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Sex and The City, A Total Analysis | Total Take

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Why exactly was Sex and The City so different from what came before, and why did it have the impact it did?

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The Blue-Eyed Girl Trope: What Blue Eyes Really Symbolize

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Whether she's a sweet innocent or an alluring vixen, let's take a deeper look at the blue-eyed girl, analyze her two main types, and explore what really drives the blue eye obsession.

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Our Flag Means Death Season 2, Unpacked: Why It Resonates Deeply

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

We’re unpacking the show’s deeper messages, taking a look at why the show works so well, and exploring where a possible season 3 could take our favorite pirates!

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How Indie Films Are Fixing Hollywood’s Intimacy Problem

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

After seemingly falling out of fashion for a while, it looks like sex scenes are making a comeback in one arena: prestige indie films. So what’s really going on here, and what does it mean for films (and audiences?)

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Justin Timberlake: What Britney Revealed + The Era That Shaped Him

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Why are people really mad at Justin Timberlake now post-Britney book release, and where do these changing attitudes fit into the larger societal shifts we’ve seen since the early 2000s?

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Gen V Recap: Character Arcs, Story Breakdown & The Boys Connections

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Let’s break down how Gen V flips Gen Z tropes, unpack all of those shocking twists, take a deeper look at what everyone’s pain secretly represents, and explore what those surprise cameos could mean for The Boys Season 4!

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The Actor-preneur: Why It’s The New Actor Career Path

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 15:00:00 -0000

From Margot Robbie starting a production company to Ryan Reynolds becoming incredibly wealthy by hawking… well, a little bit of everything ,let’s take a dive into the world of the “actor-preneur” and unpack what’s really driving this trend.

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Matthew Perry: Friends, His Brutally Honest Memoir & True Legacy

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Matthew Perry was most well known for his iconic turn as Chandler Bing on Friends, but his real life was of course much more complex, and unfortunately much darker, than the sitcom character he became synonymous with.

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Female Horror Victim Tropes: The 5 Types We Can’t Escape

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

While horror films are rife with peril of all kinds, one dark thread is the brutality with which female victims are slain. The female victims usually fall into one of five categories, so let’s unpack each one and take a look at what they really represent.

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The Momager & Almond Mom Evolved From This Dark Trope

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

What drives the stage mom to push her kid towards fame, even at their own expense? And why does she seem to keep evolving with the times, but never in a way that’s better for kids?

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Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Explained + What Was Really True

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

While Killers of the Flower Moon might seem far from Scorsese’s usual fare, if we look closer, we see that his dark cinematic cannon actually prepared him to bring this story to the big screen in a number of surprising ways.

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Frasier: Why The Sequel Is Dividing Viewers (Is it Any Good?)

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Today, we’re taking a look at the new Frasier reboot so far, why it’s caused such a split in opinions, and unpacking if it really has a chance of holding a candle to the original.

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Succession’s Logan Roy: Inside A Media Mogul’s Psyche

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

In the world of Succession, Logan Roy was a larger-than-life captain of industry that clawed his way to the top with no remorse and reveled in keeping an iron grip on that power until the very end. So how did Logan grow beyond this initial sprout of real world connection and develop into one of the most iconic antiheroes of the modern era?

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The Difficult Woman Trope: How The Label Evolved & Why It Sticks

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

When a man puts himself first, without worrying about what society thinks, he’s an aspirational character. But give those same attributes to a woman, and she becomes difficult.

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The Full Time Child Trend: A Strange New Career Path for Millennials & Gen Z

Sun, 15 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The job market, like so many things nowadays, is total chaos. But some young people have found a surprising solution: getting paid to be… stay at home children.

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Weird Girl Takeover: Why Everyone’s Embracing Their Kooky Side

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The “weird girl” used to be the black sheep of society on screen and in real life, but in recent years she’s started taking center stage.

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The Sopranos’ Carmela: How The Anti-Hero Wife Hides Her True Self

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

We’re fascinated with Carmela Soprano. So today, we’re peeling back her many layers to reveal the truth that lies underneath.

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A Total Analysis | Total Take

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of those movies that stays in your head - which is fitting for a film that comes out vehemently against the virtues of forgetting. So what exactly makes this film as memorable to viewers as Clem and Joel are to each other, compared to plenty of other stories that faded from consciousness?

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Mean Girls, A Total Analysis | Total Take

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Mean Girls has solidified its place as one of the most iconic teen comedies of all time – but what is it about this movie that makes it so enduring?

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Trinity’s Motherly Dilemma: The Most Radical Plot in The Matrix Resurrections

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Trinity, in order to leave the Matrix again, has to abandon her three children. So what does Trinity’s choice, and the fact that she was trapped with this choice to begin with, tell us about what it means to be a woman in society?

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The Bridezilla Trope: Why Brides Get Labeled “Difficult”

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The Bridezilla is everywhere on screen, throwing tantrums and making threats – she’s posited as the exemplification of everything bad about brides to be. But if we look just a little bit closer, much of her rage starts to make a lot of sense.

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The Boho Woman Trope: From Quirky Sidekick To Beloved Icon

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Boho Woman, Hippie Chick, Earth Mama, Granola Girl – this character type has been popping up in our favorite movies and shows for decades. Carefree and quirky, she's gone from a kooky sidekick to a beloved character type by dancing to the beat of her own drum. Here’s our Take on where the Boho Woman came from, who she really is, and how she found her own place in the spotlight.

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The Wire’s Bunny Colvin & His Quest to Disrupt The System

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The Wire’s Howard “Bunny” Colvin represents the force for positive community change – like very few others in this ecosystem, he tries to “F with the program”. So what can we learn from Bunny and his dogged drive to make things better – is it even worth it, or possible?

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Jimmy Fallon & The Downfall of Toxic Media Workplaces | Controversy Explained

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Jimmy Fallon is the latest seemingly-nice media figure to be outed as a terrible boss. So what allegedly went down, and why does it seem like so many dream media jobs are actually nightmares?

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Parks and Recreation’s Jerry: The Most Disrespected Sitcom Character... Ever?

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Parks and Recreation is celebrated as a relentlessly optimistic, kindness-centered show, but that’s not how it treats one of its main characters: poor Jerry Gergich. Here’s our take on why the persecution of Jerry is one thing that hasn’t aged so well about Parks and Recreation, and if it secretly revealed a flaw in the show’s attitude.

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The Cult of Greta Gerwig: Barbie, Little Women & More | Director Profile

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Don't miss our new on what makes a Greta Gerwig movie a Greta Gerwig movie, why many people connect so deeply with her characters, & fandom's surprising impact on her career.

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How Barbie Found Power in Being “Ordinary” | FEMINISM

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Barbie has struck the hearts of movie goers, and women in particular, worldwide. But why? What do the film’s themes say about being a real, "ordinary" woman?

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The Sopranos’ Adriana: Why Her Story is The Darkest In The Show

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:00:00 -0000

The Sopranos’ Adriana La Cerva was beautiful, smart and an early 2000s fashion icon - but above all else, she's remembered for her tragic story. So what is it about her that we love – and that in turn, makes her the perfect tragic character?

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The Secret To Elemental's Major Comeback

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

When Pixar’s Elemental premiered, it was branded a total flop. But then, somehow, everything seemed to turn around... So what’s the truth about Elemental – is it a boring misfire or a heartwarming success? (& What even went wrong to begin with?!)

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The Bear: Creating Chaos & Building Tension Through Sound

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 17:00:00 -0000

The Bear delivers a masterful Season 2, and if you look (and listen) closer, a big part of what makes it work so well has to do with what we’re hearing. Here's our take on the skillful way the show uses this technique of overlapping dialogue (and noise in general) and how it serves the narrative.

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Every Reason Friends’ Phoebe Would Have Made an Awesome Mom

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Many of the qualities that made Phoebe Buffay the best Friend would have also made her a great mom - so maybe her shift to wanting to be a soccer mom in the later seasons wasn't really so surprising after all!

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Selena Gomez & Mabel Mora: Their Secret Connection | Only Murders In The Building

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Mabel Mora is the glue that holds the OMITB podcast together, and Selena Gomez does the same for the show itself! Here’s our Take on Mabel, how Selena brought her to life, and the way they’re more alike than you might have realized.

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The Real Princess Diana: Parts Of Her Story You Didn’t Know

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Princess Diana was one of the most well known people of the 20th century, but there's still an air of mystery around her life. So today we're taking a deep dive into her story to get a better understand of the People's Princess!

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And Just Like That: Season 2 Finale, Samantha’s Return, & Finding Sex and the City’s Magic

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Here’s our take on And Just Like That’s season two finale, what worked and what missed the mark, and that Samantha Jones cameo.

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The Suits Resurgence: Analyzing Meghan Markle’s Paralegal Bombshell Rachel Zane

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Suits has become the surprise hit of the summer, so we're taking a deep dive into one of the characters that make the show so bingeable: Rachel Zane!

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The Blind Side v. Reality: How the Film Twisted the Narrative | Controversy Explained

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Michael Oher's recent revelation that the family he thought had adopted him actually placed him under a conservatorship has ignited a number of important conversations. Here's our rundown of the case & how it fits into the larger conversations about guardianships.

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And Just Like That's 'New Samantha' - Why It Does & Doesn't Work

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

SATC reboot And Just Like That has been struggling to replicate Samantha Jones' special spark. So here are the characters that come the closest to filling her stilettos and the one that might actually have a chance at bringing the sparkle back to the show.

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Rihanna’s Hybrid Working Mom Model: New Era, New Goals

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Is Rihanna the ultimate example of the changing face of modern motherhood? She can surprisingly teach us a lot about what it means to create your own path as a working mom today.

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Depp v Heard, Today: How Opinions Majorly Shifted Since The Trial

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Despite recent wins for women in high-profile court cases, the new Netflix Depp v. Heard trial Netflix documentary makes it clear that society hasn’t totally moved on from treating the case as one-sided tabloid fodder. Here’s our take on the aftermath of the media circus, the myth of the “perfect” victim, and how more recent cases are paving a way forward for victims.

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Mickey’s Zany History & Disney’s Crucial Copyright Battle, Explained

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Today we're taking a look at cultural icon Mickey Mouse's weird & fascinating history, his lasting legacy, & the truth about his rumored entry into the public domain & retirement.

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The Wizard of Oz’s Bizarre History & Crazy Adaptations

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

The Wizard of Oz's Dorothy and her friends journeying to the Land of Oz has been adapted into countless sequels, spinoffs, stage musicals, animated specials, and tv series. So what is it about this story that continues to capture the public imagnation?

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Dead Reckoning: Why Beating Sequel Fatigue Was An Impossible Mission

Sun, 13 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning has made over $500 million at the box office... and yet is still considered a major *underperformer*. So what went wrong? And what does this film getting outpaced by Barbenheimer mean for Hollywood going forward?

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The B**** Incognito Trope: Mean Girls Who Fake Nice

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

She’s beautiful, charming, and sweet as pie… or, at least, that’s what she wants you to think. Whether she’s a Queen Bee we love to hate, a comedic obstacle, or a full on villain, there’s just something about her that keeps movies and shows coming back to the trope.

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Did Friends Ever Jump The Shark? - Most Controversial Plotlines

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Friends is a cultural icon, but even its most ardent fans can agree that along with all of the great moments, the show has also had some duds... but did it ever truly Jump the Shark?

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And Just Like That Finally Understands What It Should Be

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

And Just Like That has been a disappointment to Sex and the City fans since the beginning, but as it nears a second finale… is the show finally starting to get its magic back?!

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Online Generations: How When We First Logged On Shaped Us

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

In all of the discourse about the difference between generations, people have kind of let out the effect of 'online generations' - that is, the era in which you became a regular user of the internet. Today we're taking a quick look at how *when* we hopped online also had a huge part in shaping us.

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How The Graduate’s Quarter-Life Crisis Lasted Decades Onscreen

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The Graduate didn’t invent the quarter-life crisis, but it might have been the first movie to really dramatize it. It also laid the groundwork for some of our favorite more recent quarterlife crisis films!

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Barbie's Hidden Easter Eggs & Margot Robbie's Best Barbie Looks

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Barbie had so many great easter eggs and references, both in the film itself *and* the press tour before hand! So today we're taking a look at all of the best Barbie references.

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Bromances Are Back On Top: Behind The Trope's Resurgence

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 13:23:03 -0000

Bromance movies exploded in the early 2000s, and then kind of disappeared for a while... Today we're looking at the evolution of male friendships onscreen, and why it’s so valuable for men to feel secure in their bromances!

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The Amnesia Trope: When Hollywood Gets It Right and SO Wrong

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Amnesia is often used as a plot device on screen, but memory loss in real life often looks quite different from what we see in movies & shows. So what are the real thematic reasons filmmakers keep returning to their Hollywood vision of amnesia?

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The Snow White Controversy, Explained: How Hollywood Gets In Its Own Way

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Here's the true scoop on the live-action Snow White casting debacle. Plus, how can Hollywood toe the tumultuous cultural line without overcorrecting in either direction?

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Barbie: How Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie & Co. Saved Barbie From Being Boxed In

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Barbie is the Blockbuster of the summer, and everyone's loving it! But the creative team did run into one obstacle when trying to make the movie of their dreams - so what *really* caused the problem, & how did they do their best to overcome it?

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Oppenheimer, Explained: The Devastating Ending + What Was Really True

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic Oppenheimer has managed to turn what would normally just be cinema-lover Oscar-bait into a huge summer blockbuster. But how much of the film is actually true, and what did that ending really mean?

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Jayne Mansfield’s True Story: More Than Just a Tragic Bombshell

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Jayne Mansfield might be best known as Hollywood’s attempt at a Marilyn Monroe replacement, who also met a tragic end – but there’s a lot more to her story! So here are some interesting things you might not have known about Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield.

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Policing Women’s Clothing Needs To Stop | FEMINISM

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Have we really made it to a place where women are free to wear whatever they want, whenever they want? Don't miss our take on the history of fashion shaming, the strides women have made to escape it, and how we’re finally starting to see the light on the other side.

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The Idol’s Original Version We Never Got To See

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

We've already covered everything that went wrong with The Idol, so today we're diving into what the show could have been (and how it could maybe turn things around in the 2nd season...)

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How "And Just Like That" Lost Sex and the City's Magic

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Season one of And Just Like That proved to be… pretty lackluster. And now it seems that even the second season won’t be able to recapture the magic of the original series. So why has the reboot been so unable to reproduce what we all loved so much about the original show?

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Stranger Things' Queer Themes: Chosen Family, Community and Shame

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Stranger Things has been immensely popular ever since its debut, its themes have especially resonated with queer audiences. Today we're taking a look at all of the underlying queer elements at play within the show.

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Why Grey’s Anatomy’s George Isn’t The “Nice Guy” You Remember

Sat, 15 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

George O’Malley often complained about being a maligned underdog, but… was the world really out to get him, or was it mostly all in his head?

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Dark Truths of Reality TV Controversies: Exploitation for Entertainment

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Reality TV practically runs on controversy, and as “scripted” as reality TV can be, it still illuminates something about human nature... Don't miss our new video on reality TV’s biggest controversies, & what they can teach us about both reality TV as a whole & the world beyond the cameras.

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Better Call Saul's Kim Wexler: Always Good, Even When She's Bad

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Kim Wexler quickly became a fan favorite on Better Call Saul. So, who is Kim, and what makes her so intriguing?

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The Feminism of Hyper Femininity - More Than a Style

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Modern hyperfemininity isn't just a fad, it's a movement. It aims to be a more nuanced & intentional brand of Girl Power that celebrates traditionally feminine characteristics as strengths, while being more inclusive and forward thinking.

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How Hollywood Got Less Sexy and More Violent

Sat, 08 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

American movie culture and rating systems are pretty squeamish about sex onscreen – so why do we readily accept graphic violence? Don't miss our take on the sex and violence paradox, and what it says about our culture that we hold one to a higher account than the other.

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The Idol: Why HBO's Scandalous Show was Shockingly... Boring

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

The Idol was initially hyped up as a scandalous, dark, and erotic new must-see from director Sam Levinson and musician The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) but it turned out to mostly just be… a boring mess. So what went wrong? (And did anything go right?)

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The Ingenue Trope: Innocent, Naive and On Her Way Out

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 17:00:00 -0000

With her youthful charm and naivete, the ingénue is a long-time Hollywood staple… but in recent years, she seems to be disappearing. So is this trope really on the way out because it no longer works in the modern day, or is it just changing with the times?

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The Rise of Content House Cults: YouTube's Dangerous Influencers

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Are viral content houses a new type of cult? Today we're looking at the dark truths behind the internet’s most viral content houses.

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The Older Woman-Younger Man Pairing: An Acceptable Age Gap Relationship?

Sat, 01 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

It's becoming less taboo and more normalized, but there are still a lot of obstacles to the older woman-younger man pairing... Here’s our take on the rise of the older woman younger man relationship, what it offers, and what it tells us about romance in the 21st century.

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Black Mirror Season 6, Explained: What Worked, What Didn't and What's Next

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Here’s our take on the ups and downs of Black Mirror’s sixth season, and what its notable shift in storytelling says about the future of the series as we know it.

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And Just Like That’s Fashion-Forward Season 2 - Returning To Its Roots

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Here’s our take on how the fashion of the first episodes of Season two of And Just Like That reflects the characters’ emotional journeys, including Carrie getting her groove back, through fashion.

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How Sitcom Wives Shook Up Family Dynamics In Every Era

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The sitcom wife has been portrayed as many stereotypes, from a nagging nay-sayer to a stern and strict wet blanket to a trophy wife. But with societal norms shifting over the years, it’s led to more creative freedom in the depiction of a wife on television.

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Inside Rita Hayworth’s Tumultuous Rise to Fame: What You Didn't Know

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Rita Hayworth is one of Old Hollywood’s greatest stars, but while her roles have remained iconic, many important facts about her life have been forgotten. Join us in a deep dive on Rita's often less-than-glamorous real life story.

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Sex and the City: If Samantha Was the Star…

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Samantha Jones was one of the best parts of Sex and the City, and we all can’t help but wonder... what if Samantha had been the star of the original show?

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Essential Reality TV Tropes: Analyzing How TV Built Its Own "Reality"

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

In the past 30 years, reality tv has become its own genre, filled with its own cliches & character types. The best reality TV is made from the same ingredients, from the lies to the villains to the drama. Today we're breaking down the most essential tropes & characters in reality TV.

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How Modern Family’s Phil Made The “Uncool Dad” Trope Pretty Cool

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Modern Family's Phil Dunphy may not be cool, but he is a cool dad. Here are Phil's seven lessons on how to ace parenting.

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Black Mirror, Joan Is Awful Explained - Did Netflix Just Admit It Sucks?

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 18:53:59 -0000

Black Mirror's “Joan Is Awful” suggests Netflix’s style of content is making people today… kind of miserable. So, how, exactly?

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Goodbye "Friend Zone," Hello Platonic BFFS

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

It seems like we’re finally moving out of the “friend zone” tropes of the past and seeing more positive platonic relationships between men and women on screen.

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The Most Unrealistic Things About Portrayals of Work Onscreen

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

What are the worst and weirdest movie and TV tropes about careers? Here are the most commonly misrepresented professions in TV and movies – and why they’re so off-base.

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Succession’s Real Inspirations: What’s the Same and Different

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Succession has a knack for finding Shakespearean drama & dark hilarity in an honest reflection of today’s billionaires & media ecosystems. But how much of it is directly inspired by specific facts?

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Euphoria’s Jules: More Than a Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Jules Vaughn is just one of the many magnetic characters in HBO’s Euphoria – so why does everyone seem to be obsessed with her?

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Ted Lasso’s Disappointing Downfall: How The Series Jumped The Shark

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Did Ted Lasso lose its way? And is the problem that it changed... or we did?

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Barry, Ending Explained: The Misguided Quest for a Legacy

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Barry’s harrowing final season was a bleak genre-defying story that was ultimately about how the stories we tell ourselves matter.

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The Wide-Eyed Girl Trope: How Baby Faces Lure Us In

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 03:00:00 -0000

You may have noticed a look being celebrated among many female characters and actors in movies and TV––the “wide-eyed girl” look. And it’s not just you; people have been doting on the look for ages. I

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The Wire’s Marlo: An Iconic Villain with a Terrifying Message

Tue, 30 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Looking back on The Wire now, we can see how Marlo Stanfield’s ability to make a very bad state of affairs even worse conveys an important, timeless message: just because things feel like they can’t get worse, doesn’t mean that’s true.

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Anna Nicole Smith’s True Story & Why The Netflix Doc Failed Her

Sat, 27 May 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Anna Nicole Smith is getting the Marilyn and Pamela treatment – the once-vilified voluptuous blonde is now getting reframed to embody the 'glamorous yet tragic' arc. But, why do we keep repeating this tragic revolution, and is there any lesson in Anna Nicole's story about how to stop the deja vu?

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Queen Charlotte: What's Fiction & What's Surprisingly True

Thu, 25 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Netflix’s Bridgerton and spin-off Queen Charlotte blend of fact and fiction to tell an engaging story about then and now... So what’s the real history behind the fascinating Queen Charlotte and how does it line up with the series?

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Succession’s Pre-Finale Recap: Kendall v. Shiv and Roman’s Fall

Tue, 23 May 2023 14:00:00 -0000

Succession's final showdown is coming into sight: it’s Kendall versus Shiv for the crown, while Roman completes his spectacular self-destructive fall.

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The Little Mermaid Remake vs Classic: Most Important Differences, Explained

Mon, 22 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

How many differences have you caught between the 1989 Disney animated The Little Mermaid and the modern live action remake? Today we're taking a closer look at the details to see what’s different between these two stories of Ariel.

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TV and Movies Are Too DARK - Why Is this Happening?

Sat, 20 May 2023 15:00:00 -0000

No, it’s not just you. TV and movies are getting darker. So…why?

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Nepo Boyfriends and Girlfriends: The Latest Hollywood Rage Trend

Thu, 18 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Nepotism doesn’t always flow from parent to child – there are nepo parents, nepo partners, even nepo friends. While we’re quick to point out nepotism, are we forgetting about the importance of collaboration, & the inspiration that creators derive from their close ones?

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Unforgiven’s Legacy and the Evolution Of The Western | CINEMA CLASSICS

Wed, 17 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

At first, Unforgiven might just look like another old-school Western, but it also challenges the genre of the Western and the black-and-white idea of a Western hero. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve probably seen modern neo-Westerns that stand on the shoulders of the revival this movie kicked off.

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Why Rich People Dress Broke And Broke People Dress Rich

Tue, 16 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Fashion today is veering in one of two directions: on one end of the spectrum is "hobocore," and on the other is the "old money" aesthetic. Here’s why these class-crossing fashion trends are so in right now, what their histories are, and their biggest problems.

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Why Everyone's So Obsessed With #Scandoval | CONTROVERSIES

Sun, 14 May 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Scandoval: It’s got fan theories. It’s got lawsuits. It’s got brawls. And it’s got everyone’s attention. What makes this Vanderpump Rules scandal different from the endless reality tv gossip flooding social media?

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Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra: Conspiracy Docuseries and The Decline of “Truth”

Sat, 13 May 2023 15:00:00 -0000

In our post-truth age, have conspiracy theories got more power than ever? Here’s our take on the current climate of conspiracy theories, how the lines between fact and fiction have become more blurred than ever, and the danger of living in a culture where trust is hard to come by.

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How Daniel Radcliffe Grew Out of Harry Potter And Into A Weird, Engaging Star

Thu, 11 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Daniel Radcliffe has pretty much defied all expectations people had for him as a child star. He's grown into a mature dad and respected actor by embracing his weird side.

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Harry & Meghan: From Heroes to Villains - What’s Next?

Tue, 09 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

In the aftermath of the Coronation, do Harry and Meghan need to repair their relationship with the Royals, go full Hollywood, or take an Entrepreneur route?

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The MCU’s Dark Truths: Have Marvel’s Secrets Caused Its Downfall?

Sat, 06 May 2023 15:00:00 -0000

For nearly two decades the seemingly invincible MCU has dominated the cinematic release schedule, but some cracks are showing in their audience response... So what's really going on?

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Celebrities Are Trying to Get More Private, Here's How

Thu, 04 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Are our standards for celebrity-privacy that low, that we’re shocked if a celebrity has *anything* in their life they're not broadcasting to the paparazzi? Today we’re so primed to expect famous people to share everything, we get blindsided when they still have secrets. But a striking celebrity “trend” today is the subtle clawing back of privacy.

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Dune: Part Two’s Trailer Reveals Paul Atreides’ Tragic Turn

Wed, 03 May 2023 16:58:18 -0000

Has splitting Dune into two parts potentially confused the message of the sci-fi epic? Paul Atreides checks many of the boxes of the noble protagonist chosen to lead. But some of Paul’s prescient visions of the future hint at future disaster. So what’s the effect of director Denis Villeneuve dividing this narrative in two, and what hints do we get about what’s to come from the trailer?

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Succession’s Kendall - How The “Tribute Band” Bro is So Close To Winning

Tue, 02 May 2023 17:00:00 -0000

The final season of Succession is the ultimate test for Kendall Roy: now that his father is finally out of the picture, can he become the killer his father doubted he could be?

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Twilight's Suckiest Messages: This romance is worse than you remember | TOXIC TAKEAWAYS

Sat, 29 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Was Twilight really the fairytale many took it for? And what views on love and relationship did Twilight actually teach its fans?

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Emily Ratajkowski’s Radical Evolution: The Struggle To Be Taken Seriously

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Our take on Emily Ratajkowski, how she evolved from being "the Blurred Lines girl" into an inspirational icon, reminding us that only we should get to define ourselves, and that there’s power in examining the countless assumptions we take for granted about our bodies and how we exist in the world.

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Celebrity Dinner Party: What Food Reveals About These Stars

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Food-focused celeb interviews show a different side to celebrities than the more formal press junkets of years past. Today we're looking at how this niche content has blown up online, & what it's shown us about our favorite celebs

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Do WAGs Take Up Too Much Space In Sports? (Why Some People Hate Them)

Sun, 23 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

There’s something about WAGs that just gets people annoyed. But is this all a way of demanding that women in the public eye be a little… quieter, and not get too dominant in sports?

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Catherine, Princess of Wales: From Public Enemy To Queen-In-Waiting

Sat, 22 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

These days Kate Middleton seems to be constantly plagued by rumors and scandalous news stories - so who’s really behind it all?

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Romy & Michelle: Why We Still Relate To Them Today

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion was ahead of it's time - it managed to anticipate many of the anxieties about status& self-image that drive people in the age of social media (despite being released at a time when most people were still going on the internet through AOL)

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How Society Invented the AGING CRISIS (& How To Break Free)

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Our culture spends a lot of time fearing aging, trying to hide all signs of it, even attempting to eliminate it all together – but what if we stopped assuming it's all bad? If we face our fears, then the joys of getting older can come to the surface.

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Succession’s Endgame: The Winner is...

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 15:21:04 -0000

Succession is finally closing in on answering the question that's been on everyone's minds since episode one: which of Logan Roy's children (or other inner circle members) will truly have what it takes to seize power?

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AI Actors: The Ethical Dilemma of Bringing Dead Stars Back

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

We are firmly in the era of artificial intelligence, which means we have technology to digitally resurrect dead artists for new projects – but does that mean we should?

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Royal Wombs: The Obsession With Royal Fertility

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

We may think questions of bloodlines and royal heirs seem archaic, but these concerns have greatly shaped the lives of royal modern women, too. From Princess Diana in the 80s, to Kate allegedly having to take a fertility test pre-marriage, to Megan's revelations about the Firm's interest in her pregnancy.

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Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn: The End Of One Era, The Start Of Another?

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

It looks like Taylor Swift & Joe Alwyn are over after 6 years together... So what does this mean for Taylor’s eras – and the new era of her personal life that she’s embarking on?

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What ruined the concert experience (And can we fix it?)

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Fans and artists alike are speaking out about a troubling shift in concert culture, from the nearly-impossible-to-get tickets, to seas of phone screens, to heckling, to... just nearly everything about the concert going experience getting worse. Why did this happen, and how can we turn things around?

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Body Typing: Why We’re Still So Obsessed With Labels

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

There’s no scientific proof that your body type says anything about you as a person – but this idea is back in the zeitgeist with the reemergence of Kibbe, and body typing has blown up into a surprising modern craze. So is there anything to body typing – and why are we so willing to believe there must be?

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How Today’s Onscreen Elites Prove Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness

Sat, 08 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Everywhere we turn, we’re seeing unhappy rich characters. Even though today we’re pushed constantly to lust after having money in our culture, it seems that at the end of the day lots of money still turn you into a bad or miserable person...

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Princesscore: The Fun Aesthetic vs. The Dark Reality

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Over the past few years, real life Princess fairytales have been exposed in the press as apparently pretty nightmarish realities. So why does princesscore persist, for today’s adults and new generations?

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Anya Taylor Joy - How She Keeps Us Guessing | SCREEN ICONS

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Anya Taylor Joy is THE alternative it girl. Anya intrigues us because it feels like we don’t know her - unlike some of her other peers who we’ve seen grow up on screen, it feels like Anya started her career suddenly, already fully formed. So how does this unknowability elevate her work on screen?

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Social Media Dysmorphia: Beauty Filters Are Rewiring Our Brains

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Social media apps make it easier than ever to filter, contour, smooth and shape our selfies into something completely different from what we actually look like, and this is leading to a big problem: Selfie Dysmorphia.

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The Modern “FEMCEL”: Who She Really Is and What She Desires

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

The term "incel" was first coined by a woman in 1997, but has been hijacked by men who promote misogyny and blame women and feminism for their struggles. This lead to a new term emerging: femcel. But what makes a femcel unique and different from the stereotypical male incel?

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Why Handsome Hollywood Clones Are Taking Over Cinema

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Between the Chrises, the Ryans, and all of the square-jawed, dark-haired guys on Ryan Murphy's shows, it’s getting harder and harder to tell movie stars apart... So, why is this happening & what do these types really represent?

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Gwyneth Paltrow’s Trial: The Wackiest Moments from Rich People Court

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 17:07:06 -0000

Gwyneth Paltrow’s ongoing trial is a deliciously ridiculous combination of wealth, celebrity and courtroom drama. Here's a rundown on the case & our take on why everyone's so obsessed.

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Hailey Bieber: The Face of Gen Z’s Anti-Aging Crisis

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Hailey Bieber’s rise in the skincare community has coincided with a crisis of the younger generation fearing aging at ever-earlier points. So is Hailey really that into health and skincare, or is her glow only skin deep and she’s just taking advantage of a market and generation already trending that way?

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How I Met Your Mother's Marshall - The Truth About Being The "Good One"

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

On HIMYM, Marshall seems like the perfect man... But, upon further inspection, he seems to be just as self-serving and morally limited as the rest of the cast, and he displays the show's inherently limited moral outlook.

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Why Hollywood Can’t Ignore Its Consent Problem Any Longer

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Sex is out at the movies, and family-friendly superheroes are in. That’s partly because sex no longer sells, but also because the way audiences feel about movie intimacy has changed, too. Here’s our take on how consent plays into how we view intimacy onscreen – and whether Hollywood needs to start censoring again.

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How Olivia Wilde Became the Internet’s Dream Villain

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Olivia Wilde had a wild past couple of years and still gets *a lot* of hate online. But how did Olivia Wilde become the Internet’s Most Hated Woman in the first place – and are there any darker agendas at play?

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What Chris Rock’s “Selective Outrage” Says About Today’s Rage Culture

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Here’s our take on Chris Rock’s attack on outrage culture, what he gets right and wrong, and whether becoming more conscious of this outrage cycle can break us out of today’s tired back-and-forth culture-war conversations.

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Plastic Surgery Regrets: How Stars Shape Dangerous Fads

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

The plastic surgery business is booming, and more people than ever making body modifications that they regret but that are impossible to reverse. Can create a culture that allows people the freedom to choose what they do with their body, without making them anxious about the body they’ve been born with?

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The Royal Family’s “Other Women”: A Brief History of Affairs

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Is Prince William’s Royal Affair actually real – or could it be totally invented by gossip and the media? The history of the Royal Family is full of juicy affairs and beloved mistresses, so the press is highly aware of how magnetically we’re drawn to this story arc of the royal “other woman.”

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Endless Summer Vacation: Miley Cyrus’ “Personal” Era, Explained

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 18:54:26 -0000

Miley Cyrus is the queen of reinventing herself - and with her new era, it looks like Miley has found her most honest form yet. Our take on the hidden messages of Endless Summer Vacation, the new “Miley era,” and why it pays to drop genres and personas to get personal.

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Selena Gomez: The Queen of Kindness… And Drama

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 18:52:18 -0000

Selena Gomez: queen of kindness... and controversy? Today we're looking at why, despite her best efforts, Selena keeps finding herself embroiled in controversy after controversy.

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Succession’s Shiv - The Real “Woman Problem" in Business

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Succession does a great job of dealing with not just how the “woman” dynamics realistically play out around Shiv, but also how they’ve shaped her psychologically. Shiv has been molded into an arrogant-yet-insecure Girlboss who not only doesn’t help other women but often weaponizes feminism in service of her family.

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Yellowjackets Ending Explained: S1 Character Arcs + S2 Teasers

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

Don't miss our Take on the hidden significance behind Yellowjackets season one’s most poignant reveals.

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Elvis: What Baz Luhrmann Left Out… and Why

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 15:00:00 -0000

Biopics aren’t always the truth, but they are versions of the truth. With Elvis, we are hearing the King’s story through the voice of a classic unreliable narrator. So, what was left out… and more importantly, why?

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The Banshees of Inisherin, Explained - What Those Fingers Really Mean

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Why do friendships break down – and once a conflict starts, can it ever really be over? The Banshees of Inisherin takes on these questions on both the personal and the political level...

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Friends' Rachel & Her Sisters: What’s Really Driving Their Problems

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Rachel’s sisters on Friends are unimpressive human beings – so what was it about Rachel that let her escape their spoiled, stunted adulthood?

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Andrew Tate’s Empire Proves the Toxic Male is Thriving

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Andrew Tate’s rise to fame has been rapid, but how did someone with such openly misogynistic views build up such a devoted following in a short space of time?

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Leonardo DiCaprio & The Decline of The ’90s Heartthrob

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Do young women still have a thing for Leonardo DiCaprio? Leo remains forever etched in our collective memory as the archetypal 90s heartthrob. But has our culture largely moved on from that 90s male ideal he’s clinging to?

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Why Today’s Content Creators Get So Much Hate

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Content creators are some of the most famous, influential, and popular people in our culture… so why don’t they get the same amount of respect as other creatives?

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The Stay-at-Home vs Working Mom Binary Has Stopped Making Sense

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 13:40:58 -0000

The stay-at-home versus the working mom. For too long women have been pigeonholed into these caricature-ish, loaded ideas of identity that prioritize capital and a social order over humanity and nuance.

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Austin Butler and Why Women Don't Get to be "Method" Actors

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 17:58:07 -0000

Sure, Austin Butler has been mocked on social media for retaining Elvis' drawl for years after filming wrapped... but he's also still getting awards & puff piece after puff piece. The fact that woman could never get away with this style of method acting exposes a bigger double standard in Hollywood.

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How We Fail to Count Women: The Female Information Gap | FEMINISM

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 15:35:07 -0000

Gender gaps – we see them across the world, in almost every industry and aspect of our lives. But did you know that there’s a gap between men and women in information itself?

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Why Sex No Longer Sells in Hollywood

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 15:34:27 -0000

They say that ‘sex sells’, but if that’s true, why has it practically disappeared from modern Hollywood filmmaking?

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Why Your Favorite Show is Getting Canceled Soon

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The streaming revolution has given audiences immediate access to a larger catalog of shows than ever before, but what good is that if they keep getting canceled midway through narrative arcs?

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The Toxic Male: Why We’ll Never Really Escape Him

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The era of outrage over toxic masculinity is truly dead – and Hollywood and social media have doubled down to put the toxic male back on top and at the center of our stories.

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The “Industry Plant” Problem: Harry Styles is not the only one | SCREEN ICONS

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 17:54:55 -0000

Ever since going solo post-One Direction, Harry has been on a mission to establish himself as a unique, creative voice. But has he done enough to really stand out as an original artist? And how does he fit into the larger conversation of the problem with industry plants and how hard it is for original artistic voices to break through?

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Prince Harry’s Spare: What He’s Really Looking For | ROYALS

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 17:54:03 -0000

Between Prince Harry's book Spare, the Netflix docuseries, and countless interviews, it feels like we finally got an inside look at the Duke of Sussex’s private life... so why does it still feel so unclear what Prince Harry really wants?

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You S4, Explained: Everything you need to know... so far

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 16:07:31 -0000

Don't miss our new video on the first half of You's fourth season, how Joe’s new European surroundings becomes its sharpest-ever critique of class, and how the show keeps getting us to empathize with this serial killer.

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Couples Therapy's Growing Problem: Weaponized Therapy-Speak

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:10:53 -0000

Couples therapy is on the rise – and that’s mostly a good thing. But is there a darker side of those seemingly good intentions that may be hiding something not-so-good?

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Star-Crossed Lovers: Why Their Stories Must End Tragically

Sun, 12 Feb 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Some of the best love stories of all time are tales of star-crossed lovers... is part of the reason we are so drawn to these stories is because there is something cathartic about seeing when things don’t work out?

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How Magic Mike Complicated the Male Bombshell | Last Dance

Sat, 11 Feb 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Seductive, sensual and scintillating, Channing Tatum’s titular character, Magic Mike, is the epitome of the modern male sex symbol… so what’s the legacy and impact of the Magic Mike trilogy, as it finishes up with Magic Mike’s Last Dance?

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Why Young Celebs Look Old and Old Celebs Look Young

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Older celebrities are looking younger, younger celebrities are looking older…it seems like no one wants to actually look their own age. In our heavily filtered, face-tuned world, are we all in danger of trying to reach for some idea of perfection that forces everyone to turn away from their natural looks?

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Sex Work Onscreen: Old Tropes & Stigmas That Are Dying

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Sex work is slowly being de-stigmatized with more nuanced on-screen depictions that show what the reality of the industry is like — and it’s about time.

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How Millennials Outgrew These Tired Tropes

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:03:49 -0000

Millennials in the real world are full-fledged adults now, so why does millennial representation on screen often feel like a caricature rather than the real thing?

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Wakanda Forever: Shuri's Amazing Transformation

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:03:41 -0000

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Shuri's evolution shows us the power of grief as her losses compound, one on top of another, and she’s forced to make a choice between what will feel good and what will be good.

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Prince Harry’s Spare: The Conflicting Way He Paints Meghan

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0000

With Prince Harry’s autobiography, Spare, we’re finally getting a look at their relationship from the inside... So does Harry’s loving account of Meghan humanize her more, or does it inadvertently throw fuel on the fire thanks to feeling like it has an agenda?

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The Nepo Baby Rage Trend: It's All Worse Than You Thought

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

These days, it seems like the only thing more common than nepotism babies, is people hating nepotism babies. In today's video we're looking at why the nepo baby rage is so intense this time around, and how the nepotism plaguing Hollywood is a symptom of a much larger issue.

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Infidelity Onscreen: Why We Just Love Watching Cheaters

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Infidelity is one of the most traumatic, heartbreaking experiences someone in a romantic partnership can go through, so why does it often get glamorized on screen?

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The Modern Feminist is a GIRL'S GIRL | FEMINISM

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 16:00:00 -0000

The “Girls’ Girl”: She believes in uplifting other women, has a strong group of girlfriends, and always abides by the girl code. And her modern version is a reaction to our current feminism in crisis.

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Why Megan Thee Stallion’s Win is Huge For Hip-Hop

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:00:00 -0000

What’s happened to Megan Thee Stallion has exposed another layer of deep-seeded misogyny within our culture and serves as an indictment of how women in rap and hip-hop are treated as a whole.

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The Fashionista Trope - Why She’s So Perfectly Terrible

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 13:00:00 -0000

The fashionista: Vapid and cruel, but oh-so beautifully dressed, they're one of film’s most reviled characters. But what's beneath that perfect veneer?

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Why "Perfect-on-Paper" Love Interests Always Come Second

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 13:00:00 -0000

That love interest that *seems* like the perfect choice, but just isn't *the one*... What exactly makes for a perfect-on-paper love interest, and how do these qualities differ between the male and female versions of those characters?

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The Last of Us Ep 1: Does It Live Up to the Game?

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 13:00:00 -0000

The Last of Us is one of the most beloved video game franchises of all time, and it's HBO series might just be the first great video game adaptation. Here's how TLoU is breaking the adaptation curse.

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The Dangers of Making Infamous People TV Antiheroes

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Everyone loves a story with a juicy villain—but what happens when those compelling, cinematic monsters are based on real people?

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The White Lotus Symbolism & Ending: What You Missed

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The White Lotus season 2 had *so much* going on - here's our take on which characters came out of their stay at The White Lotus as winners, and how the show gave us all the clues to its ultimate ending along the way.

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The "Good" Ol' Days: Romanticizing an Era That Didn’t Exist

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Cinema loves reliving the so-called 'good old days' – but the reality is that the time period wasn’t good for everyone. Click to watch our take on why we should stop looking through the rearview with rose tinted glasses.

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Revenge Stories: Satisfying or Problematic?

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 16:00:00 -0000

We love seeing revenge played out on screen, but do revenge narratives that celebrate the vindictive anti-hero enact an unhealthy fantasy that we should be trying to get away from?

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Why People Are Turning Away From Harry and Meghan | ROYALS

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

By trying to set the record straight and elicit some sympathy, have Prince Harry and Megan Markle damaged what people liked about them in the first place?

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Your Honor, Season 1 Explained & What To Expect in S2 | SHOWTIME

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

SHOWTIME's Your Honor season 1 was full of twists and turns, secrecy and revenge... and now the dangerous cycle is set to continue in season 2! Click to check out our new video unpacking season 1 and sharing our favorite theories about season 2.

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Tarot, Astrology, Crystals - Spirituality is replacing religion

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 16:00:00 -0000

Tarot readings, healing crystals, witchcraft, and astrology… spirituality definitely seems to be on the rise both online & irl. But is it just for the aesthetics? Or does it reflect how, even as traditional religion declines, new generations still need to find frameworks that make sense of our troubled times?

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The Hot Mess - Why we love a chaotic heroine | TROPES

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The "Hot Mess" has been the queen of the female-led sitcom (and sad-com) for two decades now, but is it time to move on from her as the main representation of young-ish female protagonists onscreen?

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Women Everywhere Are Reaching Their Breaking Point

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Worldwide there are increasingly more attacks on women’s liberties and lives. Here’s our take on how the global war on women has reached a breaking point – and how we can fight back by learning from other women in similar positions around the world.

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How "Toxic" Discourse Can Do More Harm Than Good

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Is it time to retire the word “toxic”? It’s beginning to feel like the word is losing its meaning. If everything is toxic, then nothing is...

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The Dirtbag is the New Sex Symbol - And We’re Here for It

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

For leading men on screen, it looks like the alpha male is out and the dirtbag is in. Click to watch our video on the rise of the dirtbag, and why it’s the perfect moment for men to embrace their rough edges, and show us a more chaotic side of themselves.

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Death of the Movie Star - What It Means for Hollywood’s Future

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Hollywood is still full of A-listers, but the true movie star is dying out. But is this because the business has changed, or because actors have changed?

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The Fab 4: Why 4-Person Shows Work So Well

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The four-person ensemble creates a particular screen magic audiences love, especially on TV. So what is it that's so special about the Fab 4 set up?

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You’ve Got Mail - In Defense of Joe's "Toxic" Traits

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 16:00:00 -0000

Tom Hanks’ Joe Fox makes some questionable choices in You’ve Got Mail, but Joe’s duplicity gets at the ultimate message of the film – which is that a lot of us are actually living double lives, often without realizing it. Is Joe not actually as toxic as we thought?

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How Prince Charming Became a One-Note Joke | TROPES

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

It’s safe to say that the fairy tale princess archetype has been reclaimed, now a far cry from the stereotypical damsel in distress, waiting for her prince. But what about Prince Charming himself? Has he been updated?

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The Ugly Pretty Girl: It’s the Stories That Need a Makeover | TROPES

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

In 2022, ideas of beauty and self-acceptance feel far more fluid than ever. So does the old-school “ugly-pretty girl” story even work in today’s context?

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Gen Z Brought Twee Back and It’s Here to Stay

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 14:41:47 -0000

The "adorkable" trend is back, but Gen Z's new version of twee is a lot less smug and more unfiltered – striving to embrace the DIY creativity in a realer way.

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How Kristen Stewart Became an Icon of Authenticity

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 16:00:00 -0000

How did Kristen Stewart go from child actress to Twilight superstar to indie darling? Above all, by owning her authentic self, no matter what anyone thinks. Click to watch our new video on how Kristen became an icon through her non-conformity & authenticity.

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Disappearing Content: Media is still getting wiped today

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

When content gets removed from the internet and streaming services…where does it go? And should we be worried about the future of shows that have only ever existed online?

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The Millennial Mom - A New Brand of Anxious Parenting

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Both on screen & in real life, the millennial mom is a master of juggling, up on all the trends, and totally exhausted – expected to be a superwoman as the bare minimum.

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House of the Dragon: Rhaenyra, Her Own Worst Enemy

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 16:00:00 -0000

How did Rhaenyra Targaryen go from the sweet, timid girl we met in episode one to a woman willing to burn down the entirety of Westeros to settle a grudge against her former best friend?

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Gen Z Dating: Not the Puriteens They're Made Out to Be

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 16:00:00 -0000

Gen Z’s dating priorities may be different, but are they really the "puriteens" they’re made out to be?

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The Crown S5 Explained, The Institution vs It’s People | ROYALS

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The Crown S5 has faced a lot of criticism for being too soft on the Royals. The Crown invites us to blame the system in order to sympathize with the rich elites caught in its crossfire, and asks if we need a Monarchy at all if it does more harm than good, even for those who are meant to benefit most from it?

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Drew Barrymore - Troubled Child Star to Memeable Queen

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

In our new video, we're taking a look at how Drew Barrymore beat the curse of the child star, and why it’s so satisfying for us to watch her succeed.

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The Childfree Woman Trope Needs a SERIOUS Update

Sun, 04 Dec 2022 16:00:00 -0000

On screen, motherhood is still depicted as the idealized end goal for all women, to the point where depictions of childfree women often feel reductive or even vilified. Watch our take on the childfree woman, why she desperately needs an upgrade to reflect society’s changing attitude towards the decision to not be a parent.

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Female Friendship Stories Are FINALLY Taking Over

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 16:00:00 -0000

The new generation of female BFFs onscreen are finally dispensing with so many bad cliches and showcasing how having a true friend makes everything in life better.

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Why “Female Entertainment” Still Gets Written Off

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Why is there still so much shame and belittlement directed towards popular female media?

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Why Today’s Content is Suffering a Quality Crisis

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

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What’s Really Behind Elon Musk’s Twitter Chaos

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 19:01:20 -0000

Elon Musk’s purchase and redesign of Twitter – a place that was once a public forum for underdogs to question those in power – could be its ultimate downfall.

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How the Boomer Myth Shaped the World, and Then Fell Apart

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 16:00:00 -0000

Here’s our take on the way boomers mythologized themselves, the stories they left out along the way, and how they’re more similar to their Gen X and millennial children than anyone might expect.

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What Makes the Trophy Wife Such a Prize

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Who is the trophy wife, really? How do the qualities that make her a prize shift over time, and what does her evolution says about “ideal” womanhood?

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The “End” of Cancel Culture - Why We Need a Better System

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 16:00:00 -0000

In our new video, we're looking at who gets canceled, who doesn’t, and why there needs to be a better system for holding people accountable for their actions, while still allowing for second chances in our culture.

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Will These Controversies Finally Bring The Royals Down?

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 16:00:00 -0000

The British Monarchy has always had a dark side – but in recent years a lot of the public has been willing to ignore that out of a deeply-rooted respect for Queen Elizabeth II. So, with their matriarch gone, how long can the rest of the family go without a scandal they can’t come back from?

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Derry Girls’ Michelle - Rise of a Brash & Rowdy Alpha

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

On Derry Girls, while Erin, Orla, and Clare are all some shade of meek, nervous, or unusual, the leader of their pack Michelle acts like she’s got it all figured out, and can’t wait for adulthood to start – but how real is that act?

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Doomerism Isn’t Helping Us Cope. So Why Can’t We Stop?

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Our take on Doomerism, its impact on Gen Z and mental health, and how – even if there’s a lot that is bad right now – there’s also a better way to deal.

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The Notebook - Madly In Love, But Toxic As Hell | Mixed Messages

Sun, 13 Nov 2022 16:00:00 -0000

What made The Notebook the romance movie of the early 2000s, and how much of it actually holds up?

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"Coastal Grandma" - Why Gen Z wants to skip adulthood

Sat, 12 Nov 2022 16:00:00 -0000

After a few years of exceptional uncertainty, does the rise of the coastal grandmother aesthetic prove that above everything, gen-z just wants to slow down?

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TikTok is the new Gen Z search engine. Are they in trouble?

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

A study from Google found that nearly 40% of gen-z use TikTok as their primary search engine... How worried should we be that gen-z is using TikTok to search for facts?

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There Are Too Many "Annoying Liberals" Onscreen

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Why are liberal film and TV characters always so annoying? Here’s our take on why movies and TV try to present themselves as being in the reasonable middle—by punching at anyone trying to make a change.

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Why The Crown Season 5 REALLY has the Royals so angry

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 16:00:00 -0000

The Crown season 5 is dredging up one of the darkest times for the royals’ reputation, the 1990s. So what exactly are the royals worried about? We're breaking down the controversy surrounding the show.

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The “Wife Guy” Downfall - He Was Too Good to Be True

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Culture is coming for the “wife guy” – because can anyone who’s that performative about simply having a wife really be trusted?

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Daddy Issues Onscreen - Why Our Culture Mocks Abandonment

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Why are daddy issues mocked or fetishized, when they’re a byword for absent, neglectful, or dysfunctional parenting?

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Female Body Horror - Today's Terror of Not Owning Your Body

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

It can sometimes be hard to put words to the fear of losing the right to control your own body – but horror movies have been putting those fears on screen for decades. The female body horror genre is all about the terrifying idea that a woman’s body does not belong to her.

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Rings of Power, Ending Explained - The Deeper Meaning of Those Reveals

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 14:12:47 -0000

The Rings of Power Finale had some big reveals, which all underlined the biggest takeaway of the story: that it can be difficult to tell the light from the dark. So how did all this come together and where did the first season leave us?

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The Vamp Trope - Everything a Woman "Shouldn't" Be

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 14:12:00 -0000

Gorgeous, heartless, and almost supernatural - the Vamp is as evil as she is beautiful and one of culture’s most alluring villains. The Vamp embodies exaggerated versions of all the things women are told they can’t be, and eventually, she’s punished for it.

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How Wednesday Addams Became a Modern Weird Icon

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Wednesday Addams, the sick, subversive, unfailingly cool and composed daughter of Gomez and Morticia is a powerful and extremely important character for us to look to right now.

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Why Passing The Bechdel Test Isn't Enough

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Is female representation in film and TV actually getting any better? Did the Me-Too era resurgence of interest and attention around the Bechdel Test and female representation make a difference in what we’ve seen since?

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How House of the Dragon “Fixed” Game of Thrones

Sun, 23 Oct 2022 15:00:00 -0000

It’s time to ask: how does House of the Dragon stack up against the original Game of Thrones?

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Euphoria's Maddy - A New Kind of "Mean Girl"

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Maddy Perez is the Queen Bee of Euphoria High, but unlike the other on screen mean girls we’re used to, she has something special: a heart.

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Bridget Jones's Insecurity - Why Women Hate Themselves

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Bridget Jones is smart, successful, and... deeply insecure. *Why* does Bridget have such low self-esteem?

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Why Quiet Quitting is a Good Sign - The Future of American Work Culture

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 15:00:00 -0000

"Quiet Quitting" itself is probably overblown and not enough of a solution to our collective burnout, but this craze does signal an opportunity to, as a culture, find a more enlightened understanding of the role work should take in our lives.

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How Glee’s Santana Went From Villain to Icon

Sat, 15 Oct 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Was charismatic mean girl and queer icon Santana Lopez ever really a villain, or a secret hero all along?

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Elizabeth Olsen’s Mixed Feelings on Marvel - Has it Blessed or Cursed Her?

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Has the Marvel Cinematic Universe held Elizabeth Olsen back?

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How This Became the Sad Girl Era

Sat, 08 Oct 2022 15:00:00 -0000

The sad girl is having a moment. And her sadness isn’t a heavily politicized rage; it’s an internalized burden — a directionless angst that’s being filtered through music, film and literature.

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The Royals’ Future Is Looking Messy

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:03:35 -0000

The British Monarchy is facing a long-dreaded question: what is the future of the Royals in the public’s eyes and hearts?

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The "Death" of Feminism - Why We Need a New Vision

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Is feminism going out of fashion? And is it possible to channel all of the recent setbacks to reignite our passion for women’s rights with a more meaningful feminist framework for our times?

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Mean Girls' Cady - What Peer Pressure Does to a Girl

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 14:59:28 -0000

Cady Heron’s journey in Mean Girls showcases how *seductive* peer pressure can feel, and in the end illustrates that adolescence is about figuring out who you are, not who other people think you should be.

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The Socialite - A "Heroine" We Love to Hate-Watch

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Drama ostensibly comes from problems and obstacles—so why do we love watching people who seemingly have none? Here’s our take on our love-hate affair with the socialite and whether the voyeurism of watching her is really hate or rooting for her.

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The Dangers of Making Everyone Too Pretty for Screen

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 16:56:50 -0000

Is it a problem that Hollywood’s stars are too beautiful – especially when they’re playing real people?

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How Modern Family Ruined Haley’s Story Arc

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

For most of the Modern Family's run, Hayley was pigeonholed as the pretty, dumb, popular character – but did the show let her down by not letting her be more?

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The Devil Wears Prada - How Andy Predicted the Girlboss Era

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

What would it cost to buy your soul? In The Devil Wears Prada, Andy gets the kind of opportunity people dream of. But in order to benefit from it, she needs to give up part of herself...

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Red Herring Male Love Interests - He's Not The One!

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 15:00:00 -0000

There are five main types of red herring male love interests – and each represents a particular type of guy to be wary of, with a good reason: he’s not Mr. Right.

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Who Will Gen Alpha Be? - How They'll Become Empowered

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

We’ve all been watching the rise of Gen Z as they replace millennials to dictate the rules of today’s cultural capital – but what comes next? It won’t be long before members of Gen Alpha are driving youth culture and popular media.

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Gossip Girl - Serena and the Nice Rich Girl Fantasy

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Why is everyone on Gossip Girl so obsessed with Serena, and is her “nice rich girl” persona just an act?Gossip Girl encourages us to strive to be rich and gorgeous like Serena, while it reminds us there’s no way we’ll ever truly be like her.

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Marilyn Monroe's Mythic Femininity - Why The Blonde Was Always More Than An Icon

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 15:00:00 -0000

When does a person stop being a person and become a symbol? Marilyn Monroe as an idea has taken on a meaning all its own—the blonde bombshell, and the ultimate embodiment of a certain type of mythic femininity.

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The Con Artist Trope - Why Lying Doesn’t Matter Today

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

The Con artist is all over today’s film and TV – so are we supposed to be appalled by this figure, or are we actually… impressed?

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The Biggest Hollywood Clichés - What’s Really Behind Them

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

So often stories resort to lazy, easy shortcuts we’ve seen a million times before. When are they effective or timeless, and when is this just a boring lack of imagination?

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Succession - The Strange Tragedy of Roman Roy

Sat, 10 Sep 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Roman Roy is an exhibitionist, but his kinkiness doesn’t just make him a memorable treat of a character. His particular perversities outline the Roy family’s psychological pitfalls.

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Sydney Sweeney - The Serious Sex Symbol for Gen Z

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Sydney Sweeney is putting a Gen Z stamp on the sex symbol. Here's our Take on how Sydney has deconstructed and rebuilt the sex symbol in a more serious way:

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How We Overcorrected the Damsel in Distress Trope

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

The damsel in distress character has fallen majorly out of fashion – and for good reason – but have we overcorrected against her?

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The Bad Female Leader - Why Film and TV are Obsessed With Her

Sat, 03 Sep 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Why is Hollywood so against women being in charge?

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Nepo Babies are the symbol of our broken meritocracy

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Nepo babies are everywhere in entertainment these days – from Maude Apatow to Dakota Johnson to Nicolas Cage, one of your favorite actors is probably related to the Hollywood elite. So what do these stars really say about inequality in entertainment, and in America more broadly?

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Girls' Hannah - Why the millennial antihero was so hated

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Hannah on Girls was widely deemed one of the most annoying TV characters of the 2010s, but was she just misunderstood?

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The "Dead Girl" Story - Why It's Dangerous to Simplify Her

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 15:00:00 -0000

So many stories center around the mystery of a beautiful dead girl who is often flattened into a symbol and treated as a mystery to be solved. Here’s our take on the dead girl story, and the loss she really represents in our culture:

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Beyoncé v Kelis - Who's Right, and The Bigger Problem with The Music Industry

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Beyonce may have quietly removed a portion of her song Energy that interpolated Kelis’ Milkshake… but did she do anything wrong in the first place? Here’s our take on the drama, where the line is drawn, and why maybe even if you don’t legally deserve a credit, maybe you still deserve respect.

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How Freaks and Geeks gets youth culture right then - and now

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Freaks and Geeks taps into 80s nostalgia (from a late 90s perspective) – but in a genuine, complex way. The show got youth culture right - and it still resonates now.

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How Barbiecore Turned Feminism Hot Pink

Sat, 20 Aug 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Barbiecore is the fashion trend of the moment, but the fun act of reclaiming this hot pink femininity can still be so fraught with controversy, debate and criticism.

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The "Rich Guy" Lie - Why Tinder Swindlers and Romance Cons Work

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Why do women often fall for the rich guy – even when there are a lot of red flags he’s a total fraud? It’s not fair to blame these victims or sim ply assume they’re shallow and materialistic when there’s a much bigger cultural problem at play here.

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The Manifesting Trend - When it's a lie and when it can work

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Manifesting is everywhere these days, especially in the cultural collective of gen z. But today’s mainstream resurgence of manifesting also hints at a larger feeling of powerlessness in the face of bigger, systemic problems out of our control.

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How Clueless's iconic fashion actually told the story

Sat, 13 Aug 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Did you ever think about the meaning behind Cher Horowitz’s most memorable looks in Clueless? Are all those perfectly curated clothes an expression of power – or are they actually hiding a teenage girl who feels powerless?

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The Daddy’s Girl Trope - Why Our Culture Fetishizes Her

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 16:53:45 -0000

The daddy's girl onscreen is an idealized – but stunted– version of femininity, who is seen through the rose-colored glasses of a father who never wants her to grow up. Here’s our take on the daddy’s girl, and what happens if she doesn’t outgrow seeing her dad as the greatest guy in the world.

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Rebel Wilson and the Dark History of Forced Outings

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Rebel Wilson’s attempted outing at the hands of an Australian newspaper was a shocking and revealing window into our current moment. Here’s our take on why it might prove we’re finally moving on from the shocking history of tabloids targeting LGBT people for profitable scoops.

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Cassie’s Euphoria Season 2 looks and their hidden meanings

Sat, 06 Aug 2022 15:00:00 -0000

In season 2 of Euphoria, Cassie goes through some major changes, and so does her style. So what’s the secret emotional meaning underneath each of Cassie’s looks?

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Why Gen Z is already burning out (and how to cope)

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Gen Z is just getting started with adult life. So what does it say if the youngest adults are feeling burnt out already – and will the kids be alright?

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Stars' Second Chapters - Why They Give Us Hope

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 17:00:00 -0000

So often we’re led to believe that, after a certain age, people are just stuck with their lot in life, however bad the job or relationship is. But the celebrity-starting-over trend is here to give us hope!

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How Fight Club Predicted Today

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Fight Club has long been a cult classic, and today Tyler’s complaints about the spiritual costs of turning ourselves into consumers instead of people feel more prophetic than ever – so do any of his solutions make any sense, too?

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How the Manipulative Victim Trope Shaped the Depp-Heard Trial

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Stories about women being deceptive or manipulative have been embedded in our culture for millennia, dating all the way back to Adam and Eve. Here’s our take on how narratives around the Depp-Heard trial draw on the tropes of the perfect victim and the devious manipulative woman, and how both of these fictional ideas fuel dangerous societal misogyny.

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The It Girl - What Makes Her "It" In Every Era

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:48:14 -0000

The “It” girl represents something indefinable — a quality, charisma, or spark that makes her stand out and captures something of her time. So what truly makes a generation’s It Girl?

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House of The Dragon - A Targaryen Deep Dive and What We Know So Far

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:40:42 -0000

Three years after the end of Game of Thrones, we’re heading back to Westeros. But what can we expect from HBO’s upcoming House of the Dragon?

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The Cougar Trope - Why this joke is outdated

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 16:57:40 -0000

The Cougar used to be a punchline, but has the joke of an older woman preying on younger men stopped being funny? And was it ever?

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Donnie Darko - What's the Meaning of Life?

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 16:57:49 -0000

For all its confusion and ambiguity and humanoid rabbits, what major takeaways did Donnie Darko leave us with?

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The Handmaid's Tale - What's Come True and What Hasn't (Yet)

Sat, 16 Jul 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Is America truly becoming Gilead? How much of The Handmaid’s Tale’s terrifying fiction has already come to pass? Maybe more than you’d think.

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Euphoria Rue - A modern portrait of the addict

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 17:00:00 -0000

What is it about Euphoria’s portrait of Rue and her addiction that feels so honest?

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The Elder Millennial - A generation lost in time

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 17:00:00 -0000

As quickly as they arrived, it seems like millennials might be over. So where is the Elder Millennial today – and will they be okay?

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Stranger Things Season 4’s deeper meaning, explained - Why it’s better than ever

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 16:59:35 -0000

Stranger Things’ epic fourth season hits close to home: unlike in the previous two seasons, the threat feels personal. So what did season 4 really mean?

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Celebs don't age anymore. Is that bad for the rest of us?

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Aging is an unavoidable part of life - or at least it used to be. But this doesn’t seem to be true for today’s celebrities. Here's our take on the mixed messages that today’s never-aging celebrities send us about how (and whether) it's okay to get older.

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Teen stories onscreen are all so risqué. How true are they?

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Teens on screens big and small are having some wild times. But is the risque teen trope an accurate depiction of what teenage life is like (now or ever)? Or is it an adult’s imagination of what kids today are up to?

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The Single Lady - Why single life is in fashion

Sat, 02 Jul 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Are we finally moving into a new age where the single lady is aspirational? While she may still have her challenges, the single lady has come a long way from being shunned, to being celebrated.

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How Millie Bobby Brown overcame the child star curse in Stranger Things’ digital age

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Millie Bobby Brown is breaking free of the child star curse with poise and confidence – and exposing a lot of what’s pretty shocking in today’s culture along the way.

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Fifty Shades’ Toxic Takeaways - What’s Not Hot About The Trilogy

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

What are the messages the Fifty Shades trilogy leaves us with – and are any of them actually useful in real romances, or should we pretty much view this story as a cautionary tale?

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How Workplace Dystopias Represent Our Toxic Jobs Onscreen

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 15:00:00 -0000

The workplace sitcom has given way to widespread workplace dystopia and how it reflects our angst that the nature of work today is not just soul-crushingly meaningless but actively wrong.

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Margot Robbie’s Barbie - How The Doll Became Feminist

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 16:48:25 -0000

Who is the real Barbie, and who is she for? Here’s our take on how Barbie has managed to remain relevant and iconic for so long, and the essence of this character that’s persisted across her series of changing models.

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What Daria says about the 90s (and today)

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Daria made it cool to be a wry and cynical loner and was the picture-perfect example of ‘90s alienation. Years later, Daria still resonates with anyone who’s ever questioned whether the problem is you or the system you’re living in.

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How the "Diva" label went from insulting to iconic

Sat, 18 Jun 2022 15:00:00 -0000

The term is often thrown around as an insult, but the diva is a figure of self-created power many of us can take inspiration from. Here’s our Take on why the diva has become an icon to so many people.

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Everything Everywhere All At Once - Every Symbol Explained

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

True to its name, Everything Everywhere All At Once has a lot going on. What’s the deeper symbolism?

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Who's the real Jennifer Aniston?

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Jennifer Aniston was the archetypal girl next door of the 90s – but has that label limited her career, and did it ever actually represent who she really was?

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The Brainy Brunette Trope - Why people think she’s smarter

Sat, 11 Jun 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Bookish, quiet, intelligent… and brown haired? The brainy brunette is embedded in our culture, but why do we correlate female smarts with hair color?

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Riverdale's Jughead is the ultimate indie jerkboy

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Riverdale's Jughead Jones is part of a longer tradition of obnoxious, indie guys in movies and TV who serve to make the rest of the cast look good by comparison, and give us someone we love to hate.

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Sex and The City - What each lady tells you about yourself

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Are you a Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, or Miranda? For years, Sex and the City viewers have used this question as a kind of sorting hat or personality quiz. Each woman feels so real, distinct, and clearly defined – so we can easily see ourselves in them. So, which one are you – and what can we learn from each of the ladies?

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Closeted Bullies are all over our screens. How real is this trope?

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 15:00:00 -0000

The "closeted homophobe" trope dominates pop culture today, from Power of the Dog to Sex Education. So why is this tired cliche still so easy to spot?

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What's So Great About Abbott Elementary

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Abbott Elementary has become an unlikely hit and critical darling. So what makes it so fresh, and popular? The characters are endearing and place in a setting that’s, above all, realistic.

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Bridgerton Season 3 - Big Theories and Predictions

Tue, 31 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Bridgerton will be back for a third round of perfect couples, pastel frocks and lots of flirting – here’s what we know, what we don’t, and our Take on what might be in store for our favorite Georgian beaus!

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The Depp-Heard Trial is an ugly, scary trial by social media

Sat, 28 May 2022 15:00:00 -0000

The court case between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is messy, complicated, and full of mixed evidence for and against each person – so why has so much of the online response rushed to assume his innocence and her guilt?

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Dune, Ending Explained - Why Paul is a Tragic Hero

Tue, 24 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Like an ancient Greek tragic hero, Dune's Paul Atreides has options to avoid his inevitable downfall, but instead leans into his fatal flaws – his desires for power and revenge, thus becoming all of the things he's afraid of.

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Romantic stories are full of red flags. Why do we love them?

Sat, 21 May 2022 15:05:00 -0000

Dating red flags persistently get romanticized in modern media – but they should probably send you running for the hills IRL.

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How the Tech Villain Became Today’s Most Hated Bad Guy

Thu, 19 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Tech villains on screen are nearly as old as film itself, but the trope is surging today – reflecting the non-stop stories of tech companies behaving badly.

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Modern Family’s Claire is the Perfect "Husband-Wife"

Tue, 17 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Modern Family’s Claire Dunphy refuses to remain boxed in by prescriptive and restrictive roles, making her the model for the husband-wife.

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Age Gap Relationships Onscreen - Why They Bother Us

Sat, 14 May 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Age gap relationships make us uncomfortable, but where exactly is the line – and can they ever be a good thing? Right now, these relationships are being explored a lot in culture, for good and for bad.

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The Bookworm Princess Hero - Beauty and The Beast's Belle

Thu, 12 May 2022 17:04:10 -0000

Belle is the ultimate bookworm hero princess. Her skills like empathy, insight, and knowledge aren’t as flashy as princess-type characters with superpowers or fierce warrior skills. But Belle’s model of heroine is an important one that we probably need more than ever.

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The Tragedy of Will Smith - What Made Him Snap

Tue, 10 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Will Smith has been a pillar in Hollywood for decades – until his decision to slap Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars seemingly toppled his carefully-built reputation overnight. So what happened inside Will Smith’s mind in that moment?

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The Quarter-Life Crisis Is More Stressful Than Ever

Sat, 07 May 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Quarter-life stories onscreen make us see that recognizing this crisis can be an impetus to go out and get what you want from your life at exactly the right time. Because in your twenties you have so much more of life left to live.

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Parks and Recreation - Why Everyone Loves Ron Swanson

Thu, 05 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Parks and Rec's Ron Swanson is a mix of three key myths that underpin our culture: the manly man, the authentic libertarian, and the wise elder. This vintage superhero teaches us how to feel hopeful about the world, even when we don't all agree.

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How Pamela Anderson is Reclaiming Her Bombshell Narrative

Tue, 03 May 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Pamela Anderson has long been defined by her infamous sex tape. Now, with an upcoming official Pamela Anderson documentary, it looks like Pam is finally aiming to retake control of her narrative, her way.

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Why Bruce Willis (And His Career) Deserve Respect

Sat, 30 Apr 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Bruce Willis is more than an action hero, and as he ushered in a new kind of movie star, he cemented his place as one of the most influential actors of his era. So how did he do it?

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The Antihero Problem - What They All Fear

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Most antiheroes repeat the same mistakes in their lives and commit monstrous acts as they pass their emotional trauma on to future generations. But why?

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Bridgerton Season 2 - Why We Love Enemies-to-Lovers Arcs

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

In Season 2 of Bridgerton, Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma are star crossed lovers, but rather than being thwarted by external forces, it’s their internal hostility to one another that gets in the way of their obvious desire.

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The Other Woman Trope - Demystifying The Villain

Sat, 23 Apr 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The "Other Woman" is a threat to the family unit, always wants what she can't have, and is seemingly motivated to 'steal' a married man. Despite attempts to humanize her, The Other Woman remains a powerful, often hated taboo.

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The “Real” Jennifer Lawrence - Cool Girl or Serious Star?

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Who is Jennifer Lawrence, really – the cool girl who can hang with the guys she long acted like in public appearances, or the steely, resilient and deep heroine she’s often played onscreen?

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The Kanye-Kim-Pete Feud - How It Mirrors Back to Us

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

The surreally intimate and disturbing Kim-Kanye-Pete feud, as well as celebrity drama as a whole, reveal a lot about the state of social media and fame today.

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The Heather Trope - Why We’re So Obsessed with Her

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 15:00:00 -0000

The Heather is popular, coveted, and mean. But she's also often unhappy and voiceless. So what can we learn about pop culture’s most mysterious, and most misunderstood archetype?

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The Buff Clown Trope - A New Masculine Ideal

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

The Buff Clown has become one of today’s masculine ideals that seems to dominate blockbuster movies, and he’s often used to skewer stereotypes of toxic masculinity and ridiculous egotism. So who is this new Hollywood hero?

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How I Met Your Mother - Lily, The Perfect Family Woman

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

How I Met Your Mothers' Lily often has her professional and personal goals sidelined. She serves as the show's ultimate "domestic goddess," modeling true, long-term romance with her own kind of assertiveness.

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Cruel Intentions - Kathryn, A Misunderstood Villain

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 15:00:00 -0000

At its core, Cruel Intentions is about elite society, and the emotional reality of kids who grow up in a rich but loveless environment and then go on to perpetuate cruelty in the greater world. So is Kathryn's rage justifiable?

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The Special Girl Trope - Moving Beyond a Male Creation

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

If the "Special Girl" onscreen is given her status by a guy, then surely her specialness can be taken away as quickly as it’s bestowed. So beyond loving the special girl, what really makes her more deeply special?

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Euphoria's Cassie - Why Women Like Her Are Still Judged

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0000

In season 2 of Euphoria, Cassie goes bananas. Her arc has a lot to say about self-esteem, sexuality and the “slut” trope in today’s world.

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Everything That Went Wrong with the Oscars 2022

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 16:00:00 -0000

In 2022, it’s harder than ever to know what the Oscars are supposed to be. If the “slap” is the main thing we’ll remember about the 2022 Oscars, what does that say about any deeper value the Academy Awards even still hold in our zeitgeist and cultural conversation?

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The Tall Girlfriend and Short Boyfriend - Ending The Bias

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Coverage of Zendaya and Tom Holland's relationship often centers on the Tall GF/Short BF debate. What’s the real reason behind the media’s fixation over just a couple of inches – and why is a shorter man dating a taller woman even a story at all?

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The 30 Crisis - Adulting When Adulthood's Unattainable

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

What’s expected by the time we turn 30 has changed drastically over the last decades, leading to the new 30-crisis, as seen in titles like tick, tick... BOOM!, Inside, Starstruck and The Worst Person In The World.

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The Power of The Dog, Ending Explained - The Meaning of The Dog

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

The Power of the Dog is ultimately a story about how toxic masculinity is a corrosive force that destroys people from the inside, and so the movie’s title refers to those dark, secret selves we fear.

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West Side Story - All The Differences Between The Films

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

While 1961’s West Side Story is a tragic love story with a laser focus on the Romeo and Juliet romance between Tony and Maria, Stephen Spielberg’s 2021 update is a wider story about the bigger forces in society that contribute to hate.

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How I Met Your Mother - Why Dating Rules Don't Work

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

On How I Met Your Mother, Barney's "rules of dating" reflect our “laws” about how to act on a hook-up, who’s an acceptable match, and how a potential partner’s behaviors should be interpreted. But real love demands throwing out the rulebook.

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Modern Family’s Gloria - A New Second Wife Playbook

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Modern Family's Gloria Pritchett tore up the "second wife" playbook, proved those caricatures aren’t all real, and gave us hope that sometimes you really can get it right the second time around.

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The Celebrity + “Normo” Romance Boom - Normal is the New Fairytale

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Celebrities - they’re just like us! Or that’s what we like to believe, and nothing sells that story better than when celebrities get together with “normos”.

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Why Game of Thrones Already Feels Dated

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Game Of Thrones rushed toward a finale that left a confusing and disappointing legacy. So, are we ready yet to talk about the show again - and can it ever regain that place in our hearts?

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The “Cheugy” Problem - Why No One Can Keep Up with Trends

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 16:00:00 -0000

When does something stop being trendy, and start being "cheugy" – and is it time to just stop trying ever to be “up to date”?

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Licorice Pizza and Love in Paul Thomas Anderson's Films

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Paul Thomas Anderson's films present a portrait of love that entails accepting the good, the bad, and the ugly in another person – seeing all your partner's flaws and adoring them anyway.

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The Disposable Black Love Interest - A Tokenistic Cliché

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 18:00:00 -0000

We can spot the “Disposable Black Love Interest” character almost instantly: they’re the fleeting guest star, presented as great in theory, yet we know the main character’s not actually going to end up with them.

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How Euphoria Visualizes Feelings

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 18:00:00 -0000

When you’re a teenager everything can feel overwhelming and intense. Euphoria takes this to an extreme, communicating "emotional realism" through cinematic techniques.

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The Material Girl Trend - Buying Your Way to Empowerment

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The Material Girl TikTok Trend can be viewed as an inclusive rallying cry for marginalized people and increasingly disenfranchised youth to declare and flaunt their fabulousness, however much material wealth they have (or don’t...).

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Unreliable Narrators - Why We Love To Be Lied To

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Unreliable narrators of books, film, and TV often explore mental illness, the fickle nature of memory, and revisionist bias. And these days, it’s gotten harder and harder to trust the narrator of any story, fictional or not. This is the unreliable narrator, explained... Or is it?

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How Margot Robbie Escaped The “Bombshell Trap”

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 17:00:00 -0000

Margot Robbie has always managed to bring something extra to her "bombshell" roles, but she became a master of her own destiny and widened the range of roles available to her by developing not just as an actor but as a producer.

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Inventing Anna - American Dream Gone Haywire

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Anna Delvey embodies the 21st century American dream gone haywire in a “fake it 'till you make it” world that treats image as reality. So what lessons can we take from her playbook on how to hustle?

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That Girl: Turning Self-Care Into a Job

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

While "That Girl's" lifestyle promises shortcuts toward fulfillment, does it actually create more work, and raise expectations for women yet higher?

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The Imperfect Mom Onscreen - Why She Deserves to Have a Self

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:00:00 -0000

The Imperfect Mother is so jarring because she doesn’t fall in line with our culture’s assumption that a good mother must be selfless. The controversy around this figure reveals we haven’t come as far as we might think.

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Bennifer - The One Who Didn't Get Away

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Why are we even more enthralled by Bennifer’s second go-round than their first one? In part, it’s because we’re fascinated by the concept of “the one that got away.”

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Pam & Tommy - Our Obsession with the Barbie-Bad Boy Romance

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The upcoming release of the Pam & Tommy miniseries coincides perfectly with the resurgence of interest in Barbie-&-the-Bad-Boy pairings to reexamine the couple’s cultural significance, as well as the most infamous part of their story - the leaked sex tape.

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How I Met Your Father - Why We Crave Comfort TV

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

How I Met Your Father understands that today, the totally uncynical rom-com sitcom is a rare, if not extinct, relic – but that struggle to keep believing in love is still real if not far more dire.

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The Matrix Ending Explained: A Guide to Freeing Your Mind

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The Matrix is far more than a sci-fi action classic - it's a practical guide to freeing your mind and fulfilling your potential, to becoming "The One" yourself. The Wachowskis ground-breaker - now celebrating its 20th anniversary - shows us how to follow the 7 steps of Neo's journey to Enlightenment.

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And Just Like That - What It Got Wrong (And What It Did Right)

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

While And Just Like That faltered early on, it ultimately got its groove back, and left us with the classic Sex And The City takeaway that it’s the ever-evolving relationship you have with yourself that matters most.

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Pam Beesly - The Perils of Being Normal

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Pam Beesly is the "normal" one in The Office. Is that actually a good thing? Here's our take and find out how being normal is both the strength and the downfall of our favorite "Girl Next Desk."

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How I Met Your Mother - The Mother Deserved Better

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

How I Met Your Mother's Tracy was the perfect love interest viewers spent 9 seasons waiting for... and then the finale undercut the romantic ideals at the show's core and underestimated it's audience by treating the Mother as disposable.

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The Little Mermaid as a Queer Allegory, Explained

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 16:00:00 -0000

Is The Little Mermaid actually a story about realizing you’re queer and the world you’ve grown up in can’t accept you as you really are? If it is - it suggests that there's a lot of pain, sacrifice, and compromise ahead of anyone who wishes to come out.

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The Smart Girl Trope, Explained

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

She's a Smart Girl, and it's never been cooler to be one, to be proud of what you know and what you can achieve. So how has this archetype evolved, and what does it really mean to be a smart girl today?

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The Rise of The “Cool Mom” 2.0 Today

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The unexpected life of the new Cool Mom both onscreen & in real life is defined by enlightened parenting philosophies, mom hacks, & venting sessions over wine with other Cool Moms. But can she really exist?

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Clueless - Cher, Master of the Argument

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0000

How do you win an argument? Learn from the master of rhetoric: Cher Horowitz, star of Clueless. The Alicia Silverstone character may be remembered as a 90s fashion icon, but she's in fact most impressive for the debate skills she puts to use in all aspects of her life. She teaches us a few things about how to make our case so that people will listen.

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The "Disabled Villain" Trope Is Medieval - Why Is It Still Here?

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 20:00:00 -0000

While strides are being made around disability representation on screen, disabled characters are still often reduced to monsters, bridges to the supernatural, or bad guys.

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Sex and the City - Why Carrie Should Have Chosen Aiden

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 16:00:00 -0000

In Sex and The City, growing old with Aidan would have made more sense for Carrie if marriage was what she truly wanted – but secretly, it seems like she really prefers to be alone.

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The "Dyed Hair" Girl - How She Stopped Being Edgy

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Dyed hair was once a visual shorthand to convey a character’s “edginess” or "alternativeness.” It even came across to some as scary, unsettling, a threatening challenge to the social status quo. Today, though, it's almost the norm. So what changed?

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Don't Look Up's Real Message and Ending, Explained

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Don’t Look Up is an eerily accurate echo of how we continue to mine our world for non-renewable resources instead of investing in green energy, even though burning fossil fuels is explicitly causing our downfall.

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The Pretty Girl Trope - The Pitfalls of "Pretty Privilege"

Sat, 22 Jan 2022 16:00:00 -0000

We’re told to worship (or try to be) the "Pretty Girl," but that pursuit can erode a deeper sense of self. When people see you as the "Pretty Girl" type, they’re really seeing preconceived, culturally entrenched notions of what your beauty represents.

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Gossip Girl - Why Chuck and Blair Deserve Each Other

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Much of Gossip Girl focuses on Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf’s endlessly destructive love affair. Why are viewers so compelled by their toxic love, and why does it make so much sense that they end up together?

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Tangled - How Girls Get Gaslit

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

In Tangled, Rapunzel’s mental imprisonment and her desire to take the agency to see the world herself speak generally to how young girls need to free themselves from damaging longstanding cultural myths.

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Friends’ Emily - The Tragedy of the Runner-Up Love Interest

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Friends' Emily is the Runner-Up Love Interest, a character who serves as a transition to the show's one true pairing. Let's take a look at what we can learn from her side of this story.

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The Pandemic Onscreen - How Film & TV Does Covid

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 16:00:00 -0000

How much do we want to see the Covid-19 pandemic reflected in our Films and TV shows – should stories be helping us process, or just letting us enjoy a much-needed escape?

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How the Madonna-Whore Complex Still Reigns

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Many of the labels we still put on women - good girls and bad girls, wifeys and femme fatales – come from Madonna-Whore dichotomy. Here’s how to spot these archetypes on-screen.

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Why Ted is the Villain of How I Met Your Mother

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Is How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby the good guy he claims to be? Or is his romantic journey more self indulgent and sometimes sinister than he claims it is? What if he's the bad guy?

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Bridesmaids: Why Helen Has No Friends

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 16:00:00 -0000

Helen is that woman you hate -- but also want to be. What's the problem of the Bridesmaids antagonist? Why is she incapable of getting what she really wants: friends?

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The Matrix 4, Ending Explained - "Fixing" Trinity Syndrome

Sat, 08 Jan 2022 16:00:00 -0000

The Matrix Resurrections is an interrogation of the original film and its legacy, asking whether anything has improved as a result of the Matrix’s message to free your mind, or if the mind-control in our actual world has just gotten worse.

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The Pick Me Girl - Reflecting Our Insecurities Back to Us

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Today's "Pick Me Girl" often manifests like the traditional "Good Girl Wifey” who judges single women. She can can even be an antifeminist who disavows women’s rights. But she is truly defined by her lack of time or respect for other women.

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Janet Jackson, Taking Back Control

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Janet Jackson's early music tackled the body insecurities she’d dealt with throughout her early life as a child performer. Now, she's taking back control once again with her own 2022 documentary. So let's celebrate her legacy of centering female bodily agency in pop.

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The Girlboss Villain Is Everywhere - It's Enough Now

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The Girlboss Villain is everywhere -- but are these stories about toxic female bosses incisive capitalist critiques, or are they actually kind of misogynistic, suggesting their desire for power is unwomanly or unnatural?

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Grey’s Anatomy - Why McDreamy Isn’t That Dreamy

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The less dreamy traits of Grey's Anatomy's Derek Shepherd have been the topic of discussion since the seemingly charming doctor was written out of the show. So what can we learn from his lack of growth?

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Why We Need Classic Movies (And How To Save Them)

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Classic cinema is rapidly declining in popularity, largely because streaming services prioritize only the newest content. As a result, viewers are actually losing the ability to engage with the language of older movies. So how can we save dying classic cinema?

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How Phoebe and Mike Redefined "Settling"

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Friends’ Phoebe Buffay is quirky, unique, and has lived an interesting life, while by comparison, Mike Hannigan is... kind of bland. So did Phoebe actually settle or did they find the key to happy ever after?

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Succession Season 3 - The Secret to Winning ‘the Game’

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The Season 3 finale of Succession leaves us with some key takeaways about the nature of power: so much of it stems from others believing you have it, and that it’s not just about winning the stated game, but setting the terms of winning -- making up the rules and defining what power itself even is.

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And Just Like That - How Sex and the City Changed

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 16:00:00 -0000

In the premiere episodes of revival series And Just Like That, Sex and the City catches up with its characters to show us what it's like for women to grow older, though it remains to be seen if ladies can resurrect the seemingly joyless, sexless city that was once theirs.

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The Office - In Defense of Toby

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Since The Office ended, theories on Toby have proliferated, with many even finding a bunch of clues that he’s the true Scranton Strangler. But Toby doesn’t deserve the hate, so why is he such a punching bag?

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Legally Blonde and the History of the “Dumb Blonde”

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

A key mission of Legally Blonde's Elle Woods is fighting the bias against blondes -- in particular, the "dumb blonde" stereotype. But where does this stereotype come from? Let's all dig into the roots of the assumptions about blondes and find out what's really behind them.

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Forrest Gump: The Myth of America

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The story of Forrest Gump is a myth of 20th-century America. Like any good myth, it filters historical facts through allegory, creating a symbolic journey that helps us make sense of a complicated era. So, what does Forrest Gump has to say about us -- and our national identity?

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The Good Girl Trope - Why Women Can't Win

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The good girl of film and tv plays by the rules. She's nice, polite, and probably a straight A student. Yet this perfect-seeming facade can mask her darker struggles, even from herself.

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Pete Davidson, Heartthrob - Why the “Hotness Gap” is BS

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Media coverage of Pete Davidson suggests a society that’s still as obsessed as ever with conventional female beauty and a “hotness gap” between the men and women in celebrity couples. But Pete's attractiveness is actually pretty obvious, and the coverage of his relationships needs to calm down and catch up with the times.

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The "Mean Girl" Trio - Three Types of Bad Female Rulers

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Variations on the terrible trio, like The Plastics and the Unholy Trinity, have long dominated cinema’s and TV’s fictional high school hallways. So what is it about this rule of three and these particular recurring character types that add up to the perfect recipe for high-school popularity and oppression?

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The Dragon Lady Trope - Reclaiming Her Power

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

East Asian women onscreen have long been haunted by the figure of the Dragon Lady: a violent seductress who will do anything to achieve her goals. At the same time, the dragon lady is unapologetically driven, ultra-assertive, and has agency.

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The Weird Girl Trope, Explained

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

She's a Weird Girl, the black sheep of all female character tropes. Why do people misunderstand her, or are even scared of her? What secret powers does the weird girl have?

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The Office's Andy - Privilege Can't Buy Happiness

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Privileged and miserably insecure Andy Bernard is The Office's cautionary tale about the limits of what wealth can (or rather can't) do for you. Many Office fans found Andy’s arc disappointing, but his choices eventually proved how many who grow up in toxic, status-obsessed environments often don’t transcend their learned behaviors.

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The Housewife Onscreen, Start Valuing Her More

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 16:00:00 -0000

In capitalist terms, housewives as a group are highly influential, shaping everything from department-store stock to global politics. But whether she’s framed as an object of envy or pity, the housewife figure is routinely disrespected in our culture.

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How I Met Your Mother's Controversial Ending, Explained

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

How I Met Your Mother's ending has never sat right with fans. Why is this conclusion regarded with such infamy? Should Ted and Robin have gotten together? Did the Mother live up to your expectations? Let's take a look at what doesn't work about the How I Met Your Mother series finale.

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All the Metaphors in The Matrix, Explained

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The evolving discussion over symbolism in The Matrix is a testament to how much meaning the film holds for audiences. So which interpretations offer the most insight, and what does the Matrix teach us about the fundamental nature of art?

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Stop Talking About If Female Characters Are “Likable”

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Why are we still talking about whether or not female characters are likable? Historically, female characters have been over-defined by how much a male viewpoint character likes, or indeed, doesn’t like them -- creating a gendered bias of likability.

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The “Victim” Onscreen and How She’s Been Misrepresented

Sat, 27 Nov 2021 16:00:00 -0000

The female victim-survivor binary of film & tv has produced both hapless "victim" characters and unrealistic "survivor" heroes -- so it's time we truly listen as the person who lived through hell tells her complicated story herself.

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The Nice Guy Trope, Explained

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

He's not like the other guys. He's a NICE guy -- but wait, is he really that nice? What's behind his sweet, romantic act? In this episode, we take on the Nice Guy archetype and figure out what he represents in our world today.

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The Devil Wears Prada: Miranda Priestly - A Defense of Perfectionism

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Is Miranda Priestly actually "the devil" in The Devil Wears Prada? Her pursuit of excellence actually makes her a role model for working women, and we can all use a touch of Miranda in our professional lives -- that is, of course, if you’re willing to pay the price of perfectionism.

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Clickbait’s Crazy Ending, Explained - The Clickbaiting of Film & TV

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Netflix's Clickbait uses the same kinds of techniques as internet clickbait to keep us pressing “next episode”: focusing on sensational, violent spectacle; raising tantalizing questions that it delays answering, and ending episodes with cliffhangers that tease a big reveal, only to send us down a lot of false paths.

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The Antihero’s Wife - Home Is Where The Crime Is

Sat, 20 Nov 2021 16:00:00 -0000

The anti hero’s wife enables him to self-identify as a ‘family man,’ but they also serve to highlight that -- however much these men claim that their wrongdoing is separate from their pure family home -- it’s impossible to cleanly close the door on dirty business and retreat into the realm of pure domesticity.

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The Office: Why Michael Scott is Actually the World’s Best Boss

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

The mug speaks the truth: The Office’s Michael Scott (Steve Carell) IS the world’s best boss.

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The "Quirky Black Character" - How Black Creators Challenge Stereotypes

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

More than ever today, the Quirky Black Character is becoming a well-rounded protagonist in a Black-created story -- expressed not just as a personality, but through an individual or downright weird worldview that shapes the whole texture of the narrative.

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Mean Girls: Regina George, The Psychology of a Dictator

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Did you know Regina George (Rachel McAdams) actually tells us a lot about how dictatorships work? Listen to our take and find out more about this iconic character and her North Shore High “regime.”

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Ted Lasso on Today's Toxic Positivity - Season 2 Ending Explained

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0000

Ted Lasso’s relentless optimism won us all over in season one. But by season two, Ted’s refusal to look anywhere but on the sunny side of things is looking less and less healthy. So what really went wrong with Nate, and how can you achieve a “Light Side” that’s based on a genuine, rock-solid foundation?

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The Cool Girl Trope, Explained

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 20:08:46 -0000

She’s not like other girls. She’s a COOL girl. But does this fun, junk food-loving hottie actually exist? And what’s behind this myth? In this episode, we take on how the Cool Girl has evolved onscreen and what she represents in our culture.

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The Take

In the Mood for Love, A Cinematic Analysis | Total Take

Six Feet Under: the Best Kept Secret of TV's Golden Age? | A Cinematic Analysis

Titanic, A Cinematic Analysis: Why A Romance-Adventure Became the Biggest Movie of All Time

Nicecore, Explained: The Cultural Power of Hopeful Movies and TV

Arrival, Still Brilliant 10 Years Later | A Cinematic Analysis

Analyzing The Cinematic World of Her - Why It Feels Even More Relevant Now | Total Take

Euphoria, A Total Analysis | Visual Storytelling, Writing, Symbolism & More

Marty Supreme, Explained - Story, Symbolism, Ending & More

What Deepfakes Reveal About Control, Consent, and Identity

After The Hunt: Provocative or Pointless?

The Heated Rivalry Phenomenon Explained in Under 15 Minutes

Friends: The Truth About Rachel's Life, Money & Friendships Then vs Now

The *Real* Reasons AI Slop & The Blandness Epidemic Have Totally Taken Over Media, Explained

The Rich Girl Plot Armor Problem , Explained | Trope Analysis

Wicked For Good, Explained: Why Its So Polarizing, Why They Changed The Ending & More

Stranger Things Season Five, Volume One, Explained

One Battle After Another: Ending Explained, Symbolism You Missed, That One Controversy & More

Why We Can’t Have A Modern Carrie Bradshaw...

Bugonia: Symbolism, Ending & Deeper Meaning Explained

Are Parasocial Relationships Making Us Miserable, On Screen & In Real Life?

Wednesday Addams: The Perfect Modern Weird Girl Icon Becomes The Main Character

The Danger of Making Oversharing Your Whole Career | from SATC to Girls to TikTok & Beyond

What Really Went Wrong With TRON: Ares, Explained

Aura Farming: The Truth About Cultivating Cool, Explained

The Summer I Turned Pretty: Belly's Real Problem, Explained

How K-Dramas Used Classic Movie Magic To Create A Modern Media Empire

Parks & Recreation: April Ludgate, The Secretly Optimistic Cynic

Can We Trust *Anyone* We Meet Online Anymore? From The High School Catfish to Fake Digital Identities & Beyond...

Abbott Elementary's Principal Ava: The Good Side of Narcissism(?!)

The KPop Demon Hunters Phenomenon, Explained | Story, Symbolism & Ending Analysis

Samantha Would Have Saved Sex and the City Reboot And Just Like That

"Immortality Tech" Is Coming, But... Do We Really Want To Live Forever?

The Truth About Being "Too Much" | Trope, Explained

And Just Like That... A Terrible Ending To Sex and the City's Reboot

The True Terror of Weapons | Movie Review, Symbolism & Ending Explained

The Financial Reason Behind Why It's So Hard To Make Adult Friends, Explained

Rachel, Penny & The "Sitcom Hot Blonde Trap", Explained | Friends & The Big Bang Theory

The "Gen Z Stare" Controversy, Explained

The Struggling Artist Trope, Explained: Why Movies & TV Equate Creativity with Suffering

The Sabrina Carpenter & Sydney Sweeney Controversies, Explained

Why Superman 2025 Actually Works

Our Shifting Perception of Color, Color Blindness & The TikTok Couch, Explained

Why Rich People Are Labeled Geniuses (Even When They Fail) | Mountainhead, OceanGate Titan, & Beyond

Why Looking for a Job Is Miserable Now (But So Is Having One...) | Explained

How A Character That Wasn't Supposed To Exist Made The Show Work | The O.C.'s Summer Roberts

Modern Family: Cameron Was Right About Everything (Almost...)

Sinners Can Save Hollywood (If They Let It...)

The Lilo & Stitch Ending Change Controversy, Explained

The Truth About the Lopsided Love Trope, Explained

Is Covert Narcissism Killing Critical Thinking?

Thunberbolts, Explained: When The Biggest Battle Is In Our Minds

Did The Internet & Dating Apps Really Ruin Dating?

Sinners, Explained | Music, Symbolism, & Ending Analys

Why A Minecraft Movie *Didn't* Flop - How It Beat The Odds

Desperate Housewives Edie: an Underrated Icon Ahead of Her Time? | Explained

Unpacking The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 (Episodes 1 - 3) | Explained

The (Actual) Snow White Problem, Explained

The People Pleaser Problem: Why They're Miserable (But Helpers Aren't!)

HIMYM: The Truth About Lily & Ted's Big Fight (& Surviving Major Friendship Breakdowns!)

Shows You Need to Watch If You Love Sex and the City | Liked That? Watch This!

This Movie Could Have Been Great, But... | The Electric State Review & Ending Explained

In Defense of Community's Britta (She's Actually *Not* The Worst!)

The Oscars' Best Actress Sexualization Controversy, Explained

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Explained

Kendrick Lamar & The Art of Being A Strategic Hater

The Emilia Perez Backlash, Explained

Anora, Explained: The Controversy & What the Movie is Really About

Why The TikTok Ban Does Actually Matter (Even If You Don't Like TikTok)

The Real Tragedy of First Wife Syndrome (& The Surprising Bright Side) Explained

Youngest Child Syndrome, Explained: The Hidden Downsides of Being The Last Born Sibling

New Girl - Jess Day & Finding Confidence *Without* Changing Yourself

The New Year's Eve Kiss Obsession, Explained

The Cheating Creative Trope - When Art Imitates Infidelity...

Holiday Rom-Coms' Problem Isn't Being Formulaic, It's...

Nightbitch, Explained: Motherhood is Wild

Eye Color Symbolism in Movies & TV - What Each Color Means On Screen

The Godfather & Succession: Times Change, Power Lust Doesn't

Why Family Holidays Are *So Chaotic* (& The Secret To Surviving Them)

Middle Child Syndrome: The Problem with Being Suck in the Middle...

The Real Reasons AI Slop & The Blandness Epidemic Have Totally Taken Over Media, Explained

Can We Trust Anyone We Meet Online Anymore? From The High School Catfish to Fake Digital Identities & Beyond...

Why A Minecraft Movie Didn't Flop - How It Beat The Odds

In Defense of Community's Britta (She's Actually Not The Worst!)

New Girl - Jess Day & Finding Confidence Without Changing Yourself

Why Family Holidays Are So Chaotic (& The Secret To Surviving Them)

Why Modern Teen Girls On Screen Are So Terrifying (& Powerful!) | Trope Explained

Joker Folie a Deux’s Biggest Problem (Isn’t The Songs…) 🤔 Explained