Kaya Sights ·

Barbie: A Success and Failure for Feminism

Note: This review contains spoilers for Barbie (2023). Beneath its surface as a lighthearted and fun film, Barbie unexpectedly engages in a comical, self-aware dialogue on existentialism, consumerism, and patriarchy with its audience of young girls. Director Greta Gerwig redefines Mattel’s Barbie doll through this cinematic interpretation of one of the world’s most beloved toy…

Liem Kien Ting ·

Everything Everywhere All at Once: Resetting Life

Note: This review contains spoilers for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). Released in March last year, Everything Everywhere All At Once (abbreviated as EEAAO) follows the struggles of a Chinese-American family with sci-fi elements entwined in the myriad of alternate realities that protagonist Evelyn Quan Wang must face. Within this film, Evelyn is startled…

Kien-Ling Liem ·

BoJack Horseman: The Wound That Keeps Bleeding, pt. 2

Continued from Part 1.  Episode 11 of BoJack Horseman Season 5 is the crux of the titular protagonist’s hallucinations. Every metaphor and symbol utilized thus far explodes in this dramatic, eclectic, and strangely musical season finale. Diane kicks too hard at BoJack’s soft spot. BoJack’s denial of his own trauma and consequential actions causes him…

Ryan Wong ·

Hold The Girl: To Strut in Ghostly Shoes

“Oh my God. She’s done it again.” Like a wave pulling back into shore, this was the first thought I had at the end of my first listen to Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama’s sophomore record, Hold The Girl. Between her past releases and the five songs (“This Hell”, “Catch Me In The Air”, “Hold The…

Kien-Ling Liem ·

BoJack Horseman: The Wound That Keeps Bleeding, pt. 1

Airing in 2014 for a total of six seasons, BoJack Horseman is a wacky animation filled with everything from crude humor, substance abuse issues, political matters and even mental health awareness. With its serious undertones juxtaposed by quirky humour, BoJack is captivating to watch and has been one of my favourite shows to analyse as…

Kien-Ling Liem ·

Kill Team Kill!

Note: This essay contains spoilers for Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots, Volume 3, Episode 5. Upon its first release in 2019, Love, Death & Robots became known for its violent, gorey, sometimes comical and encapsulating animation, with its main attraction being its unique distribution. Each volume is filled with unrelated short stories, often taken from…

Oliver Dimitri ·

The Realism of Teen Trauma: A Review of HBO Max’s The Fallout

The latest HBO Max original is not the coming-of-age story you are expecting. Although there may have been many teen-targeted films and TV shows that portray characters dealing with trauma and PTSD, this film ultimately manages to show off a storyline and a leading character that does it so memorably, it could heighten anyone’s ability…

Ryan Wong ·

Canvas Forest Fire: On Laurel Hell, and the Price of Creative Dreams

On the last stop of her Be the Cowboy tour in September 2019, Japanese-American musician Mitski announced that the NYC performance would be her last “indefinitely.” Despite later clarifications that she would not be quitting music for good, it was revealed that she had, in fact, planned for the Central Park show to be her…

Kien-Ling Liem ·

The Arcanum of Arcane

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Arcane.  Spawned from the popular game universe of League of Legends, Arcane is a beautifully animated adult Netflix show depicting the complex relationship between two sisters, Vi (Violet) and Jinx (Powder). Produced by Fortiche and supervised by Riot Games, Arcane is a production that combines avid gamers with…

Liem Kien Ting ·

Games, Greed, and Graves

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Squid Game.  As of recently, the South Korean Netflix show Squid Game soared to fame, eventually becoming the site’s most watched series. The series illustrates a dystopia where debt-ridden people, desperate and shameless, clamber at the opportunity to score a 45.6 billion won prize (~$38 million) to rescue…