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.
The Magic of Old-Growth Forests
Photographing some of the oldest—and largest—living organisms on the planet
House of the Dragon Is Bolder, Nastier, and Harder to Watch
In Season 2, the show comes close to being great. But it keeps making the same mistake.
The Harlem Renaissance Was Bigger Than Harlem
How Black artists made modernism their own
Rachel Cusk’s Lonely Experiment
First she abandoned plot in her fiction; now characters must go.
The Most Influential Climate-Disaster Thriller of All Time
Twister captivated America and sparked a subgenre. Its director thought it could never be remade. Can Twisters conjure the energy of the original?
Bridgerton Faces the Limits of Romantic Fantasy
The result is a wittier, more biting show in Season 3.
When Anxiety Is Not a Superpower
Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has more emotions, and more blobs representing those emotions.
American Women Are at a Breaking Point
In the U.S., government support for families seems transgressive. It shouldn’t be.
An Ode to My Intact Dog
We should have done it, but—we didn’t.
Eight Books to Read If You’re in a Creative Slump
These books dispense practical advice on managing one’s ambitions—or describe the dread of writer’s block with precision and humor.