Barbie & Dragons: On the Subversion of Play

A child aimlessly moves their toy train in circles, oblivious to the realities of transportation. In play, the models move Continue reading →

Salò, or the 120 Days of Corona

Beyond its blatant depravity, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), feels like a bad omen of contemporary society. Continue reading →

Semiotics of the End: Boredom at the End of the World

Dreams about the end of the world are not, perhaps, anymore the fruits of despair and fear alone. They are Continue reading →

Jonas Mekas’s Cinematic You

This was where the wind blew meI saw youI recorded youI’m not sure I ever understood youI’m just a passerbyFrom Continue reading →

Mad(e) Men: Historicism and History as Told Through Period Drama and TV

In the medium of the movies (what used to be short for moving pictures) there is something called an establishing Continue reading →

Transcendental Cinema: When the Camera Turns Upon Itself

This essay is intended as a series of case studies following the ideas I presented on the “Quixote Sub Specie Continue reading →

On Certainty and Mad Max

“At the end of the world,” our eponymous hero growls in the prologue of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Continue reading →

Paranoia in Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly

paranoia /ˌparəˈnɔɪə/ noun a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked into an Continue reading →