Culture Vulture: Time to Leave La La Land
Review: “Fifty Shades” of the male gaze
Building bridges: Trans and Queer people of color speaker series presents spoken word poet Kai Davis
Class of 2018 hosts “Mary Potter” as annual junior show
Culture Vulture: Why don’t superhero films deserve awards?
Every award season, one genre of films is always missing: superhero films. Why don’t superhero films get prestigious awards like the Oscars? Not all superhero films deserve awards because, let’s be honest, not all of them are great pieces of storytelling or great acting, but there are enough that are.
PHOTO ESSAY: Project: Theatre presents The Student Body
Photo Essay: APAU hosts Black Coffee
Trump presidency inspires art community, despite possible funding cuts
What's on Your Playlist? with Relyn Myrthil '19
Culture Vulture: Celebrity Feminism
BY DEMETRIA OSEI-TUTU ’17
In these trying times when activism is prevalent and more important than ever, many wonder where celebrities stand on participating in movements. There are many celebrities who actively participate in activism and in social justice. They use their social media profiles to be vocal about the issues. Others do not. Can and should celebrities remain neutral when human rights are being violated?
“Hidden Figures” holds an empowering message that’s still relevant in 2017
BY MARIANA JARAMILLO ’20
"Hidden Figures" is a 2016 movie directed by Theodore Melfi and produced by the wonderful Pharrell Williams. It's the hidden story of the group of women, Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who contributed their genius to NASA during the Space Race. They had to overcome the hurdles of both blatant racism and sexism that were prevalent in their time. These three women not only had to deal with the already seemingly impossible task of putting a human in space, but also had to dismantle the racism that prevented them from doing their best.
C.A.U.S.E. hosts IceCapella
BY NAIEKA RAJ ’19
On Jan. 27, Creating Awareness and Unity for Social Equity hosted a jam called IceCapella featuring Mount Holyoke a cappella groups: Diversions, Milk & Cookies, Raag, The Nice Shoes and The Victory Eights. The event took place at Chapin Auditorium from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and was free to the public.
“Gilmore Girls” revival disappoints
BY LINDSEY MCGINNIS '18
Looking back over the past few years, you’ll struggle to find a single television revival that went well — so why were expectations so high for “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life”? And why were its fans so let down when Netflix released the four part series over Thanksgiving weekend? The answer is in the trailer.
Olympia and Moneta collaborate on cross-medium exhibit “No Texting”
BY NAIEKA RAJ '19
Olympia, an art collective for gender-marginalized artists that was founded a year ago by Ali Rossi ’16, collaborated with student-run literary magazine Moneta on Saturday, Dec. 3, to produce an art, sound and dance performance called “No Texting” in the second floor art studio in the auxiliary services building.
Review: “Moonlight”
BY MARIANA JARAMILLO ’20 AND SONYA ROBINSON ’20
“Moonlight,” a beautiful and heartbreaking story of a gay man growing up in 1980s Miami projects, will solidify Barry Jenkins’s name in cinematic history. Formerly known for his 2008 indie film “Medicine for Melancholy,” Jenkins has skillfully delivered the year’s most important coming of age movie. Split into three parts — Little, Chiron and Black — “Moonlight” grapples with the intersection of race, sexuality and class.
Review: “Doctor Strange” echoes fun spirit of classic superhero films
BY SONYA ROBINSON '20
If asked what my favorite comic book movie is, I would undoubtedly say 1989’s “Batman.” Featuring Michael Keaton in his first turn as the charming billionaire Bruce Wayne as well as Jack Nicholson’s iconic Joker, the movie is pure fun, a refreshing film compared to this age where superhero movies are often dark and gritty. I felt similarly refreshed after leaving the most recent Marvel vehicle “Doctor Strange.”
Culture Vulture: Jimmy Fallon
BY DEMETRIA OSEI-TUTU '17
As far as late night talk-show hosts go, Jimmy Fallon is something else. At first, he appears like a breath of fresh air. Games like the whisper challenge, wheel of freestyle and lip-sync battle (before it got big and became its own show on Spike) are fun and new — it’s safe to say that we hadn’t seen a late night host engage celebrities in that way before. And for a while that blinds you into thinking Jimmy Fallon is a great late night host when in actuality he is not.
Students explore both race and romance in “Intimate Apparel”
BY NAIEKA RAJ '19
The department of theater arts opened its fall season with Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel,” directed by Hampshire College professor Natalie Sowell. Set in 1905, the play explores themes of race, class and gender through the eyes of a New York City seamstress named Esther, played by Robyn Sutton-Fernandez ’17.
