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Things To Know About Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)
Released in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is a significant film in the history of cinema. This psychological thriller made a lasting impact with its unique storytelling and innovative cinematic techniques.
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Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl: A Gay Love Story
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is a 1977 short story by Roald Dahl, and the title of the collection containing seven stories altogether: In 2023, Wes Anderson adapted several Roald Dahl stories for film. “Henry Sugar” was one of them. THE RESONANT IMAGERY OF “HENRY SUGAR”: MONEY SCRAMBLE If you’re a fan of Breaking […]
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The Turkey Season by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
A shy 14-year-old girl goes to work one winter at the nearby Turkey Barn, where she is introduced to the adult world for the first time. Looking back as an older woman, she interprets this time differently.
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Minorities always know more
Who doesn’t love a grand unifying theory? Today I present a unifying theory which describes infantilising discrimination towards minorities in all domains of human hierarchy:
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Transgender Jokes Which Are Actually Funny
So we’ve had decades and decades of jokes where trans people are the butt of the “joke”. This has extended to children’s media, where stories about gender transgression of any kind, but especially boys dressed forcibly as girls, have propped up the gender hierarchy by making it seem legitimately punishable to transgress. We’re in a […]
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Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat by Roald Dahl Short Story Analysis
“Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat” is a misogynist short story by British author Roald Dahl, and an excellent example of Hate Your Wife humour. You’ll find it in Dahl’s 1959 collection Kiss, Kiss. I call this story “Mean-spirited Gift of the Magi”. WHERE TO LISTEN You may be able to unearth the BBC dramatization […]
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Film Study: Finding Nemo Is Trans
Sure, I’ve never been the target audience for Finding Nemo. I was already an adult when the film came out in 2003. But even my own offspring didn’t enjoy it. Could Finding Nemo be the most boring and unimaginative of all the Disney Pixar feature-length animations? I won’t do a complete film study, because for […]
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Teaching Sex Ed With Film: Princess Cyd (2017)
Princess Cyd is a 2017 independent film written and directed by Stephen Cone. What I love about indie films, alongside the original plots and subversions of yawn-inducing blockbusters: I probably haven’t seen the actors in anything else. When an actor becomes a household name, that pulls me out of the story. I prefer not to know the actors.
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What does it mean to be human?
What does it mean to be human? Dancing, music, love, sex, cooking, other people… You’ll have heard these answers. Many are problematic. We’ll talk about ‘what makes us human’ and say it must be ‘language’ or ’empathy’ or ‘culture’ or ‘the capacity for thought’ or ‘the need for stories’ — I could go on. The […]
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Red Dress—1946 by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
Alice Munro isn’t known as a feminist writer, but she is. Alice Munro isn’t known as a queer writer, either, but she has always been a keen observer of humans, and in every small town, queerness exists. Alice Munro therefore wrote about queer experiences, probably without meaning to sometimes.
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The Remains Of The Day Film Study
The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro won the 1989 Booker Prize. Ishiguro was 35 years old at the time and this was his third novel. The book was adapted for film in 1993, starring Anthony Hopkins as Mr Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton.
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The Butler by Roald Dahl Short Story Analysis
“The Butler” is a lesser-known short story by Roald Dahl. Find it in Eight Further Tales of the Unexpected, included in The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl, first published 1992.
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The White Lotus: Meaning, Themes & Characterisation
The White Lotus (2021-) is an HBO anthology TV series created and directed by Mike White. Seasons one and two are each set in different places (Hawaii and Sicily respectively), but in the same chain of luxury hotels.
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Asexuality Reading List: Fiction
If you’re looking for aroace fiction, you should know about The Aroace Database. If you’re into fantasy or YAL you’ll be particularly well-served.
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What is a queer narrative?
The word queer meaning LGBTQIA+ was first a slur, then reclaimed, then it got hijacked in the 1990s. (Some) people stopped using it. Now it’s back. Again. But because gender, romantic and sexual minorities continue to experience bigotry, the words used to describe those identities will be under attack for as long as bigotry continues. […]
