We are all playing a deadly game to survive
The hit Netflix series Squid Game is a serialized drama about contestants participating in a deadly series of challenges. In the same vein as works like Battle Royale (2000) and Alice in Borderland (2020), the players participate in childlike games for the chance at fortune. …
If the world ends tomorrow, it will not be because of all of us.
For as long as I can remember, movies have been telling me that the world was going to end. I saw it in disaster movies where the planet was wiped clean by storms and earthquakes. I witnessed it in alien invasion movies where cities and countries were leveled to the…
The platform continues to be a bastion for conservative conspiracy theories
There has been a narrative about the alternative video streaming platform Rumble that it's a place where conservatives spread misinformation and conspiracy theories. "Fact-Checked on Facebook and Twitter, Conservatives Switch Their Apps" goes one title for the New York Times. …
The indie game that leaves you left wondering if the developer is okay
Sometimes I stumble across a topic that I think will be perfect, only to start researching it and realizing that I have hit something far darker than I initially realized. …
Deconstructing the myth that you can push for change in the marketplace
If you spend enough time in any debate about the actions of corporations, a certain reply will almost always resurface: that you need to vote with your dollars. That we, as consumers, need to reflect our disappointment in the products and services that we buy by choosing something else. In…
How one animated short explains Disney’s problem with talking about power, change, and political revolution.
The sci-fi short Smash and Grab (2019) is not one of Disney’s most well-known works. …
Unpacking the presentation of Dissociative Identity Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the hit Disney flick.
Many elements in Disney’s Cruella (2021) shouldn’t work. It had to not only establish an empathetic backstory for the classic Disney villain and turn her into a likable anti-hero but create an entertaining enough plot for viewers to watch. It also had to center this villain while not offending the…
I can’t believe I have to stress this during a pandemic
We are in the middle of a god damn pandemic, and some landlords want us not to criticize them for denying their tenants housing. “Not all landlords are rolling in money,” writes Jacqueline A in a Medium article explaining why she is evicting her tenants. “Some are just normal individuals…
Revisiting the 2006 hit, and what it says about the state of work in America.
The movie The Devil Wears Prada lingers in the public consciousness, even fifteen years after it first aired in 2006. We still see Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly in memes, as people quote gifs of her oneliners, such as “You have no sense of fashion” or “By all means move at…
The rich would not be allowed into Star Trek’s utopia
The first time I considered that work could be different than it is today came from watching an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999). The protagonist, Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), was talking to his father, Joseph Sisko (Brock…
Alex Mell-Taylor
I write about pop culture and politics. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/opinionsalexhas Write for me: https://medium.com/after-the-storm
