Reading Time: 6 minutes The latest season of the television series Fargo has recently concluded, and it is a delight to watch—though given their challenging resonance in our current politics, “delight” may not be quite the word. I could wax lyrical about the superb acting from the likes of Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, and Jennifer Jason Leigh among others, […]
Film/TV
Exploring the world of film and television from a secular perspective.
Posted inCulture
How do we reckon with ‘Hegemony’ without imposing our own?
Reading Time: 14 minutes I’ll admit, it’s been tough to wrap up this season of Strange New Worlds, knowing that the ongoing writers and actors’ strikes all but guarantee a long delay before Season 3. Season 2 also ends on a cliffhanger, which makes not only the wait but also the write-up a bit more challenging. However, what really […]
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‘Good Omens’ season 2: Return of the ineffable husbands
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the new season of Neil Gaiman’s comedic fantasy, an angel and a devil have to save humanity, again—and sort out their own complicated relationship along the way.
Posted inFilm/TV
Singin’ in the ‘Subspace Rhapsody’: Music and the quest for harmony
Reading Time: 11 minutes Singin’ in the Rain (1952) was by no means the first musical, but one reason it remains among the most acclaimed is its express engagement with the role of sound and song in our lives. Maybe you only know the film by its iconic and titular “singing in the rain” scene, or maybe you remember […]
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Whose justice will emerge from ‘Under the Cloak of War’?
Reading Time: 13 minutes This week’s main episode of Strange New Worlds, which was moved up to accommodate the surprise early launch of a crossover episode on July 22, enters difficult territory. On the surface, “Under the Cloak of War” bears some resemblance to facets of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which grappled with Klingon-Federation peace and what […]
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How do we manage our myths around ‘Those Old Scientists’?
Reading Time: 10 minutes I’ll be blunt: I do not like Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated series set in the timeline for The Next Generation, and a crossover element in the first of this past week’s episodes of Strange New Worlds. When it comes to Trek comedy, the non-canon homage series The Orville is more my cup of […]
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How what’s ‘Lost in Translation’ can be found again in empathy
Reading Time: 12 minutes What defines a “Trek” story varies between Trekkies, but one abiding feature in many series is the role of trust among crew mates. In a 2019 essay for Uncanny Magazine, Nicasio Andres Reed explored what makes this trust extraordinary. Here’s the way the story often goes, in classic Trek like TNG, DS9, or Voyager: First, […]
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The ‘Charade’ of showing care in culturally sanctioned ways
Reading Time: 12 minutes When J.J. Abrams adapted Star Trek: The Original Series for a new era of cinema, he made choices that reflected a 21st century shift in representation: no, not by including people from more diverse backgrounds, but by reducing the acceptable parameters for onscreen masculinity in a franchise with a much more storied past. Gone, in […]
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Memory, forgetting, and choosing our better selves ‘Among the Lotus Eaters’
Reading Time: 12 minutes Ask and ye shall receive! Last week, when noting the structural approach taken in the first three episodes of Strange New Worlds Season 2, I expressed a hope for one focused on Erica Ortegas, while also noting that, as a foil character, she might best serve in an episode where she supports others. Lo and […]
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‘Arrows Activated’: The Duggars and the Joshua Generation
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Christian homeschool movement is part of a broader dominionist plan to conquer democracy in the name of Christian fundamentalism.