End of Discussion By Soraya Roberts Feature There’s no such thing as a 140-character exegesis: the (non)-discourse around “Joker” is the latest to prove that social media is designed for emotion, not dialogue.
Grow Up By Soraya Roberts Feature Being an adult at the end of the world means listening to children tell the truths grown-ups refuse to actually hear.
Cahiers du Post-Cinéma By Soraya Roberts Feature The movie theater was once a kind of lay church, with festivals like TIFF serving as annual religious holidays — until new houses of worship opened online.
The Myth of Making It By Soraya Roberts Feature If the most financially and critically successful artists don’t feel successful, maybe there’s something wrong with how we think about success.
White Looks By Soraya Roberts Feature Should white critics cover black culture? Only if they’re able to own their whiteness.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor: An Anti-Hate Pop Culture Syllabus By Soraya Roberts Feature Media and entertainment grounded in empathy are a critical part of a saner culture — and we can all help by actively producing, seeking, and supporting it.
Death Proof By Soraya Roberts Feature With ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,’ Quentin Tarantino slakes his thirst for nostalgia while he plays god with another piece of history.
This (Wo)Man’s Work By Soraya Roberts Feature When men devalue the labor of women like Andrea Arnold and overvalue the work of even problematic men, it’s a triple whammy that diminishes the individual woman, women in general, and the overall quality of culture.
If I Made $4 a Word, This Article Would Be Worth $10,000 By Soraya Roberts Feature Journalism’s one percent would rather make up a fake feud than address the reality of the industry’s pay disparity, which benefits them and no one else.
‘Women Created Our Worlds:’ Native Art Reclaims Its Power By Soraya Roberts Feature There’s a direct line from missing and murdered indigenous women to the repression of Native women’s contributions to art and culture, but those long-silenced voices are now making themselves heard.
The View From 5-Foot-3 (and a Half) By Soraya Roberts Feature Maybe we can’t transcend height, but can we transcend the internalized misogyny that causes us to limit ourselves and judge other women?
Fashions Fade, But Fleabag Is Forever By Soraya Roberts Feature The jumpsuit is great, but it won’t get you a hot priest or a BAFTA — you’re not Fleabag (or Phoebe Waller-Bridge).
The Artificial Intelligence of the Public Intellectual By Soraya Roberts Feature Today’s public intellectuals have their own version of the American Dream, where one person, on their own, can achieve anything — including being the smartest person in the room.
The Erotic Thriller’s Little Death By Soraya Roberts Feature What/If references the celebrated steamy genre of the 80s and 90s, but lacks its guts. Why can’t any of the new neo-noirs go all the way?
Falling Stars: On Taking Down Our Celebrity Icons By Soraya Roberts Feature Celebrities act as a symbol of capitalism. When we question it, we question them too.
After a Fashion By Soraya Roberts Feature Trying so hard to set trends for the future, fashion’s institutions can’t stop stumbling over the past (and the present).
Critics: Endgame By Soraya Roberts Feature If there’s no earth, there’s no art. How do you engage in cultural criticism at the end of the world?
None of the President’s Men By Soraya Roberts Feature Journalism now is a lot more fear and insecurity and a lot less corduroy and Robert Redford, but you’d never know it from what is projected.
For the Thirsty Girl By Soraya Roberts Feature Thirst used to be desperation, now it’s aspiration. And men are finding it hard to quench.
On Flooding: Drowning the Culture in Sameness By Soraya Roberts Feature Flooding (v.): Unleashing a mass torrent of the same stories by the same storytellers at the same time, making it almost impossible for anyone but the same select few to rise to the surface.
How the Shock Jock Became the Outrage Jock By Soraya Roberts Feature What’s the difference between Howard Stern and Tucker Carlson? There isn’t really one.
True Crime and the Trash Balance By Soraya Roberts Feature True crime has a reputation for being trashy, but a recent renaissance has it tipping into advocacy.
Hollywood and the New Female Grotesque By Soraya Roberts Feature Actresses are being lauded for pushing their supposed undesirability to the extreme, and it’s redefining how we see women.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from John Lanchester, Bethany Barnes, Stephen Kearse, Warren Ellis, and Soraya Roberts.
