1,116 
words
On a Sunday last May, while Minneapolis burned, my Yankee sweetheart and I indulged in a double helping of nostalgia. The engine that propelled us along this journey down memory lane was Blast from the Past, an American romantic comedy, now a little more than twenty years old, that celebrated the morals, manners, and milieux of an even earlier time and place, the America sacrificed on the altar of equality of opportunity in the annus mirabilis of 1965. (more…)
8,232 words
As an American, I find European theories about this country and its character intriguing (or amusing) — particularly those formed from intimate experience. Of course, such theories presuppose that there is and has been such a thing as “the American people,” or “ethny” from which to draw an assessment. I submit two, not quite antithetical, but competing European judgments about the United States. (more…)
2,409 words
The gay romance Brokeback Mountain was predicted to win Best Picture at the 2006 Oscars. Instead, the independent ensemble Crash won; Brokeback was allegedly too gay for the Oscars.
Critics have never gotten over the result. Crash is regularly considered the worst Oscar winner ever and the chattering class has turned the film into a punchline. (more…)
2,781 words
Within the field of literature, Jews have often complained about negative Jewish stereotypes. There is a Wikipedia page [1] dedicated to the subject, and scholars have dedicated much time to researching this phenomenon. For example, in his 2005 article “How Racist Was Oliver Twist?” novelist Norman Lebrecht actually counted (or relayed someone else’s count of) the number of times Charles Dickens referred to his Jewish villain Fagin in the first thirty-eight chapters of Oliver Twist as “the Jew.” It was 257. (more…)
2,458 words
There needs to be formal recognition of the genre of TV shows where the protagonists “walk the Earth.” The best explanation of these was given by Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) to his partner Vincent (John Travolta) in the film Pulp Fiction:
Jules: First, I’m going to deliver this case to Marsellus, then, basically, I’m just going to walk the Earth.
Adam Carolla
1,676 words
After hearing a recent rant by Adam Carolla – the one about how Los Angeles is turning into Mexico – I feel the need to address what I call the “Jock Right.” As we all know, people tend to cluster into ideological niches, and the Right is no different than any other collective body that shares broad goals. There’s the Alt Lite, the Gun Right, Men Going Their Own Way, the manosphere, white advocates, (more…)
4,678 words
Brenda Stevenson
The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender, and the Origins of the LA Riots
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
The Rodney King Riot is now more than two decades past. With such distance, it is possible to examine the riot and see what the long-term effects really were. (more…)
1,818 words
Blade Runner opened in movie theaters in the summer of 1982 just two weeks after Steven Spielberg’s more heralded E.T., which went on to become the all-time box office moneymaker. Blade Runner, with a $27.5 million budget, took in $27 million at the box office on its first run—hardly a smash—yet it proved its worth in the long run. Almost every science fiction film made since 1982 has been influenced by its production design, photography, and special effects. A new generation of fans has materialized and the film has spawned dozens of Websites on the Internet. (more…)