From a quiet start to cultural dominance, Beyoncé’s work over the last decade is groundbreaking. But it is also filled with questions and contradictions.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Pop culture
Displaying 21 - 40 of 61 articles
Trump lives by the maxim that you can get away with almost anything as long as you’re not boring. This doesn’t make him an outlier – he’s emblematic of our contemporary pop culture.
Despite the primacy of Christmas in American culture, the visibility of Hanukkah in pop culture reminds Jews that they have their own holiday in which they can take pride.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a cult classic, was a series with a diversity problem. News of a new season provides an opportunity for a different kind of storytelling.
Cybersecurity is an increasingly relevant concern in our society, but pop culture tells us virtually nothing useful about it.
Glover and hip-hop are reaching their apex at the same time, giving Glover an avenue to enter the ranks of creative geniuses. But does his race matter?
Mid-20th century pulp fiction was trashy, tasteless, exploitative and lurid. There’s a lot there to love. You might read pulp as a cultural Freudian slip, loony bulletins from the collective Id.
Johnny Hallyday was more than a music icon, he was a cultural symbol for the French lower and the middle classes. In his death he reconciled the country with the term popular culture.
Twin Peaks has just hit our streaming services, again, alongside reboots of the X-Files, Gilmore Girls, and more. But, despite our nostalgia, they’ll never revive the specific time they were born in.
YouTube is awash with videos on beauty and fashion, and young girls are avidly watching, creating powerful social media figures in the process.
Hopper’s brand of Americanism was a counterpoint to American optimism. Fifty years after his death, his legacy lives on.
Pakistani pulp fiction often portrays Hindu characters as evil demons and Muslims as heroes, an attempt to spread nationalist ideology.
Historically, pop culture has tended to depict transgender people as objects of comedy or monstrous freaks. But attitudes are changing, as a new novel featuring a transgender child shows.
The subtlety laced with satire that graced earlier shows has been replaced by a brash, carelessness. And Homer, while always loud-mouthed, is now positively abusive. After 28 seasons, is it time for The Simpsons’ creators to call it a day?
Eighties culture is big, from nostalgic TV dramas to tours by ageing pop stars. But it’s time for a clear-eyed assessment of the decade, which prized excess and economic rationalism along with synth pop and big hair.
From ‘Machiavellian female princes’ to warriors, assassins and prostitutes, the women of Westeros and Essos are a richly varied bunch. A new book examines their role in the series and explores its sexual politics.
Prince had ‘Purple Rain.’ Michael Jackson had ‘Thriller.’ And now Beyoncé has her own self-reflective masterpiece.
The psychological complexity of Shakespeare’s characters has rendered them timeless. Today, we see The Bard’s influence in shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘True Detective.’
Every time Las Vegas looks like it’s about to die, it demolishes itself and rebuilds as something bigger and better.
Decluttering, spearheaded by Marie Kondo and Japanese minimalist consumerism, has taken on quasi-spiritual connotations. What are we actually trying to get rid of when we throw out all our stuff?
Top contributors
-
Associate Professor of English and Writing, University of Newcastle
-
Co-director of The J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide
-
Conjoint Clinical Associate Professor, Deakin University School of Medicine and Specialist Pain Medicine Physician, Deakin University
-
Professor in U.S. Politics and U.S. Foreign Relations at the United States Studies Centre and in the Discipline of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney
-
Professor of Cultural Studies, Curtin University
-
Joanna Mendelssohn is a Friend of The Conversation.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
-
Fellow in Historical Studies, The University of Melbourne
-
Professor of Psychology, Professor of Music (rtd), University of Sydney
-
Professor in Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney University
-
Adjunct Associate Professor of Learning and Instruction, University at Buffalo
-
Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney
-
Reader in Computing & Social Responsibility, De Montfort University
-
Associate Professor of Popular Music, University of Sydney
-
Senior Curator of Australian and First Nations Art, National Gallery of Victoria, The University of Melbourne
-
Senior Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
