culture
By Sarah Arsalan, LLB Law The controversial New York Times op-ed left the online community perplexed, prompting film bros to purge their Letterboxd accounts of any film featuring jumpsuits and superheroes. In the wake of Martin Scorsese’s eyebrow-raising takedown of “superhero films,” labelling Marvel movies as mere “theme park”
culture
By Alina Edwards, BA Liberal Arts When we think of horror movies, we often think of films like Scream, Halloween, and The Exorcist—all movies that only feature white characters. However, Black writers, directors, and actors have been innovating the horror genre since day one, long before Get Out hit
culture
Indigo Lilburn-Quick, BA History and Politics 2019 was not a good year by all accounts: the world is on fire, Boris Johnson has control of the country and we are turbulently heading towards Brexit. But in amongst the chaos we can find moments of release. For me, when I want
culture
Hafsah Janjua, BA International Relations “Regret, Loyalty and Forgiveness are the three words that come to mind when I think of Mere Paas Tum Ho” Mere Paas Tum Ho (2019), a Pakistani romance drama aired on ARY TV, presents an addition to Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar’s portfolio of unconventional and ground-breaking
culture
Destiny Adeyemi, BA African studies The requirement of non-English prevents countries like Nigeria…from using and fluctuating between a variety of languages The Nigerian film ‘Lionheart’, was disqualified from the Academy Awards’ ‘Best International Feature Film’ category, on 5 November, for having too much dialogue in English. Lionheart, which is
culture
Rihab Attioui, MA Postcolonial Studies Rating: 3.9/5 From the over-saturated and over-decade long reign of the superhero genre emerges: ‘Joker’. Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker’ is a film that, for many die-hard fans, signals a long-awaited (and somewhat holier-than-thou) return to the niche sub-cultural status – where the genre supposedly belongs.
culture
Hana Qureshi, BA World Philosophies ‘Facing the Dragon’ is a documentary film – directed, filmed and produced by Sedika Mojadidi – which follows the stories of two women, Nilofar Ibrahami and Shakila Ebrhaimkhel. Their journeys face no shortage of obstacles as they grapple with the hardships of war, their family’s security
burning
By Azeem Rajulawalla, BA History Last week, Lee Chang-dong’s Burning was released. It had already made waves at the Cannes Film Festival where it was in competition for the Palme D’or, particularly for its surprising and tense ending, which ultimately leaves you with more questions than answers. It
Crazy Rich Asians
Glitzy, glamorous, and as glorious as the trailer claimed, this summer’s feel-good Crazy Rich Asians took the world by storm. The adaptation of Singaporean author Kevin Kwan’s book is an all-Asian romantic comedy à la Pride and Prejudice with a dash of Great Gatsby flair. The movie follows
culture
Je Suis Charlie: Controversies on Screen The Bertha Dochouse, resident at the Bloomsbury Curzon in The Brunswick, gave us the opportunity to review ‘Je Suis Charlie,’ a documentary looking at the events in Paris of January 2015. Lara El Kalamawy, BA Economics and Politics Directors Emmanuel Leconte and Daniel Leconte
culture
Racha Sobratee, BSc Economics SOAS students have collaborated to found a new online platform, Huraia, publishing articles discussing the wider MENA (Middle East North Africa) region. To celebrate the launch of Huraia, the JCR hosted a screening of a rough cut of a short documentary film, which will go on
culture
Micheil Page, BA Development Studies and Geography Of all the campaigns at SOAS, the Justice for Cleaners campaign is one of the most dedicated and well-known. Many of us at SOAS possibly cannot remember a day where we haven’t seen a poster for the campaign around the Student’s