EVIL WOMAN

He would die for you.

by Andy Nowicki

When I composed my previous two analyses of the import of pop-song lyrics as expressions of Zeitgeist angst and/or establishment agitprop, my wife—who can be brutally frank when she wants to be—expressed a dubious attitude, not about my arguments, either with regard to REO Speedwagon’s repressed cuckold rage or Billy Joel’s grating condescension towards self-immolation-prone teens, but about my overall lack of topical relevance in devoting attention to either Speedwagon or Joel. Who, after all, knows about these songs in 2017, much less listens to them?

FIFTY SHADES OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

by Alex Fontana

"I know very well that these transgressions are not really transgressive, but are just artificial coloring serving to re-emphasize the grayness of social reality." 

Slavoj Zizek

I admit it, I caved. Curiosity peaked, and the phenomenon of "mommy porn" just would not go away, so I admit it: I watched Fifty Shades of Grey, and now I have to take a long, long shower, mostly for the tackiness and hammy acting, which I'm not sure will ever wash away.

I was not scandalized by the film; it was rather a tamed and unimaginative version of La Belle et la Bête. For the mature, emotionally stable adult, the film was a flop as a stimulant, neither appetizing sexually nor artistically; it was just a dud, hardly worthy of review. The dangerous and noteworthy thing about the film lies in its tipping point as a cultural phenomenon, and its influence on younger people or those with immature minds.