The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
How Hollywood Fell Short for the Fall Guys
Stunt work doesn’t have its own category at the Oscars. Here’s why that should change.
A Raunchy Comedy About … Pregnancy?
Babes isn’t perfect, but its refreshing candor still feels like an R-rated public service.
No, No, No
Back to Black re-creates the tragedy of what happened to Amy Winehouse without trying to understand it.
The Cruel Social Experiment of Reality TV
The new Hulu film about an atrocious moment in ’90s television is shocking, but revelatory.
The Baby Reindeer Mess Was Inevitable
The hit Netflix show appeals to many of our worst instincts as viewers.
The Art of Survival
In living with cancer, Suleika Jaouad has learned to wrench meaning from our short time on Earth.
The Wild Blood Dynasty
What a little-known family reveals about the nation’s untamed spirit
25 Books to Get Lost in This Summer
The Atlantic’s writers and editors have chosen fiction and nonfiction to match all sorts of moods.
Conan O’Brien Keeps It Old-School
His true gift lies in his combination of an entertainer’s desperate desire to be liked and an antagonistic streak.
A Family Story About Colonialism and Its Aftereffects
Claire Messud tells a complicated and ambivalent tale about her French family’s history in Algeria.