HBO’s The Last of Us: With humans like this, who needs zombies?
This zombie apocalypse drama marks something of a new high-water mark for savage violence and self-assured misanthropy in the entertainment industry.
Ed Hightower•
What filmmaker Ken Loach makes of The Spirit of ’45
Loach’s conception of the working class is closely bound up with the nationalist straitjacket imposed for so many decades by the Labour and trade union bureaucracy.
Stefan Steinberg•
Lawsuit over Vermont Law School murals depicting slavery lands in Court of Appeals
Kerson’s mural, comprising two 8’×24’ panels titled Vermont, the Underground Railroad and Vermont and the Fugitive Slave, is significant from a historical, political and artistic perspective.
Julian James•
Tens of thousands of jobs lost in film, performing arts in the US due to pandemic
Why should the US ruling elite blink at the permanent damage done to artists and cultural life?
David Walsh•
Joanne Laurier•
Fred Mazelis•
Bernd Reinhardt•
Kevin Reed•
David Walsh•
HBO’s The Last of Us: With humans like this, who needs zombies?
This zombie apocalypse drama marks something of a new high-water mark for savage violence and self-assured misanthropy in the entertainment industry.
Ed Hightower•
Saturday Night Live production workers authorize strike
The freelance editors responsible for creating the show’s pre-recorded segments have never been on strike.
Joshua Rodriguez•
The White Lotus Seasons 1 and 2: Satirizing the wealthy and privileged
Season two revisits many of the same concerns as the first season, tackling how money affects relationships of all types.
James Martin•
HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season Eleven in light of the events of 2022
As with previous seasons of Curb, the eleventh contained some comic and satirical elements. However, the events of the past year, especially the war in Ukraine, need to be taken into account when evaluating the series and the social milieu.
Ed Hightower•
Robert Campion•
James Martin•
Joanne Laurier•
Emma Arceneaux•
David Walsh•
What filmmaker Ken Loach makes of The Spirit of ’45
Loach’s conception of the working class is closely bound up with the nationalist straitjacket imposed for so many decades by the Labour and trade union bureaucracy.
Stefan Steinberg•
Damien Chazelle’s Babylon: Disoriented and confused
The film deserves at least a brief comment, as it purports both to be an account of the transition from cinema’s silent era to sound film and to expose “the real truth” about Hollywood.
Joanne Laurier•
The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
My Father the Guest Worker, I, Your Mother and Oyoyo: Three documentaries about immigrants in former East and West Germany
Several older films featured at this year’s Berlinale film provided real insight into the plight of immigrants in the 1970s and 1980s.
Bernd Reinhardt•
My Lost Country: The fate of Iraqi culture and society
A piece of autobiography and a tribute to the filmmaker’s theater director father, the work is intended, above all, as “an act of resistance” against the imperialist devastation of Iraqi culture and society.
David Walsh•
David Walsh•
David Walsh•
Joanne Laurier•
Stefan Steinberg•
Verena Nees•
Arbitrator orders Metropolitan Opera to pay soprano Anna Netrebko $200,000 after breaking contract
The ruling exposes general manager Peter Gelb’s complicity in propaganda for the proxy war against Russia.
Fred Mazelis•
Musicians, actors, artists sign petition demanding Roger Waters be allowed to perform in Frankfurt
The campaign defends Waters’ criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as “part of his long-term advocacy on behalf of human rights across the globe.”
Kevin Reed•
“All I see is dollar signs”
The Grammys, the Super Bowl and the crisis in popular music
An artistic medium with its share of creativity and insight into daily life has all too often become a stew of ugliness, bombast, money-worship and backwardness.
Erik Schreiber•
Fort Wayne Philharmonic to resume concerts following bitter three-month strike
While beating back management demands to cut the number of full time musicians, wages will remain mired at essentially poverty levels.
Shannon Jones•
Kevin Reed•
Matt Rigel•
Nick Barrickman•
James McDonald•
Our reporter•
Publisher agrees to an uncensored edition of Roald Dahl’s books, but not before PEN America exposes its own hypocrisy
Puffin has announced it will publish another edition of Dahl’s books without changes, but not before the writers' advocacy group, PEN America, exposed itself as a phony opponent of censorship, given that it is a purveyor of Ukraine war propaganda and anti-Russian chauvinism.
Sandy English•
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague—A portrait of a 17th century lockdown
Drawing on original historical records, Geraldine Brooks has written an absorbing account of how a small village tried to combat the bubonic plague in 17th century England.
Margaret Rees•
Novelist Russell Banks (1940-2023): “Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is.”
The American writer Russell Banks, who wrote about the lives of working-class people and historical figures such as John Brown, died on January 3 at the age of 82.
Sandy English•
The Best American Short Stories 2022
With a couple of exceptions, the editor has chosen stories that in their form, language and examination of thematic ideas are highly accomplished, even if the collection as a whole bumps its head against certain objective limits.
James McDonald•
Tom Mackaman•
Carola Kleinert, Verena Nees•
Margaret Rees•
James McDonald•
Ela Maartens, Verena Nees•
Roger Stahl discusses Theaters of War: How the Pentagon and CIA Took Hollywood with WSWS
Department of Defense interventions into American entertainment media is to “get people acclimated to the presence of military personnel, military bases, military operations, and weapons… normalizing the presence of the military in almost every aspect of life.”
Richard Phillips•
An interview with Nadav Lapid, director of Ahed’s Knee: “One of the characteristics of sick societies … is that they don’t give you any good choices”
The WSWS recently spoke to filmmaker Nadav Lapid, director of Ahed’s Knee, on a video call.
David Walsh•
An interview with Bryan Wizemann, writer-director of You Mean Everything to Me: “There’s another ‘underserved’ population … and that’s people without money”
Wizemann’s You Mean Everything to Me follows a young woman, Cassandra (Morgan Saylor), who, faced with homelessness, comes under the spell of a local DJ, Nathan (Ben Rosenfield).
David Walsh•
Sri Lankan poet Ahnaf Jazeem jailed under anti-terror laws speaks with the WSWS
The notorious Counter Terrorism and Investigation Department arrested Jazeem in May 2020, claiming that his poetry promoted extremism and falsely accused him of teaching extremism to his students.
Vimukthi Vidarshana and Shree Haran•
Richard Phillips•
David Walsh•
Frank Anderson•
David Walsh•
David Walsh•
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