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CW: witches, death
The Crucible, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Vampire Diaries, American Horror Story season three, at least a dozen documentaries and horror movies, an abundant amount of historical books, even video games are obsessed with one topic: the Salem witch trials. Until this year, I didn’t know as much as I would have liked to about the Salem Witch Trials. I didn’t realize how short the period in which the trials took place was or how they were fueled by repression. And now, having done the research and started The Crucible in class, I find there is so much to know about them outside this media, and I find it even more unsettling than witchy horror. Fair warning, much of this article will be American-centric because the Puritan community that perpetuated these trials was so important to founding America.
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Trigger Warning: Mentions of death and dying
Picture this: it’s a cold, dark, stormy night. You’ve gone on vacation to some cabin in the middle of nowhere, when all of a sudden you hear something creaking, scratching, coming closer. You reach for your phone, only to realize that you don’t get service all the way out here. Now it’s just you and whatever lies out there in the dark... Horror is the genre that makes people squirm, scream and sometimes cry. It’s full of jump scares and creepy monsters, a lot of gore, ghosts and paranormal creatures or even some impossible killer who never dies. It’s the stuff of nightmares, and the only reason anyone could possibly want anything to do with it is because of the adrenaline boost fear gives us right? It’s fun to be scared of something without having to face any of the real danger that fear implies.
Of course, safe fear isn’t the only thing horror can give us. Academia, Aesthetic and Classism9/29/2021 Academia as an aesthetic has seen a rise in popularity — especially in America — throughout recent years, although the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society certainly contributed to this increase. And while on the surface, academia is a lovely aesthetic (who doesn’t want to sit by the window while it’s raining, reading poems by Oscar Wilde, wearing tweed jackets and thick-framed sunglasses?) It is also steeped in classism that contributed to the historical imperialism of British society, and currently contributes to the divide in modern British society, setting most of the population at a disadvantage and is the basis for most discrimination and inequality that people in this country face, more so than in any other country.
Spoiler Warning for Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin
Content Warning: This article discusses murder and sexual assault, but not explicitly. The novel does not describe the assault in detail but uses vague flashbacks, however other themes are described explicitly like murder, blood, transphobic bullying(not excused by the narrative), and a suicide attempt. “We’re magic. I can feel it right now in the dark. We’re invisible when we need to be and then so firework-bright no one can look away. We’re patience and brilliance. We never forget. We never forgive.” — Jade Khanjara, Foul is Fair The Enchanting World of Studio Ghibli8/29/2021 Remember when as a kid, you looked out at the world, it seemed to be filled with wonders, and magic was always lurking somewhere around the corner. You were able to find joy in the simplest of things but not anymore. Now, as an adult, life seems so boring, and you barely even have time to slow down and enjoy life. And this is often reflected in the media we consume which is packed with grandiose and flashy elements to help us escape our boring lives.
I thought the class labeled public speaking would be a slightly lame echo chamber of advice I’d gotten almost all of my academic career. “Eye contact, stop fidgeting, be concise.” At most, I thought I’d make a friend or two. (Something, as a new student, I figured I could use.)
Instead, we spent the majority of the time doing slightly ridiculous improv exercises. They fixed my writer’s block and taught me more about writing tad presenting than I thought a long-winded collaborative story about polar bear empires and lizard people in the Bermuda Triangle could. Here’s why your next activity should be stupid improv with your writer friends or solo. Warning: Spoilers for the short film Shelter
Often I have spent hours watching movies or series only to be left feeling disappointed when they did not leave up to my expectations. And then I stumbled upon a short film called Shelter. I was never really a big fan of short films, but this short film deeply moved me in a way that I never thought was possible, in a way that many longer series have failed. Trigger warning for mentions of death, HIV/AIDS, homophobia
Contains spoilers!! RENT is not a rarity in the musical theatre world. It’s one of the longest-running shows on Broadway and I’m envious of anyone who’s seen it with the original cast. It’s easy to say that it’s just a sad play where everyone dies from AIDS, but to do so is to do a disservice to everyone who’s very real lives are mirrored in the musical. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Hadestown the musical.
You could say I was a musical theater nerd in high school. My phase started with Hamilton and lasted a good few years before I just didn’t have time for musicals anymore. I enrolled in college, I found new things to enjoy. I found it hard to get into new musicals, until Hadestown came along. Hadestown is a retelling of the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Other notable characters are Hermes, Hades, and Persephone. The musical's sound is folk and jazzy, and its tone swings high to low as the story unfolds. Located in the Walter Kerr Theater, one of the most memorable things about the musical is its custom stage. The actors stand on a round stage with three concentric rings, the centric one able to be raised and lowered far below the stage. This function is first revealed when Hades comes to take Persephone to the Underworld, or Hadestown. Categories
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