“Storied” Articles

Shang-Chi’s actualization into an MCU superhero gives us a hero who comes from a culture that is more we-focused than me-focused, and I see that as a good thing.

What I discovered in My Last Name is a story that has continued to help me process not just the grief and disillusionment of these last several months, but diagnose some of our current cultural ills, as well. 

In her stand-alone film, Black Widow steps out of the shadows of an overly sexified characterization and becomes elevated.

With Bridgerton, viewers show up for an uncharacteristically steamy Regency romance that delivers on the tropes but also delivers a thoughtful exploration of female agency in male-dominated Regency England.

As the months of the pandemic translated into far more hours spent inside and online than outside and in person, I have seen more ugliness—more meanness—in this world than ever before.

We don’t do “once upon a time,” and we don’t get to ask for a fairy godmother to save us; in America, we save ourselves. 

If a character or a story is the Ship of Theseus, how much needs to be reshot, re-edited, cut, arranged, and composed before the original story no longer exists? 

Stories aren’t “Christian” or “not Christian.” They either tell the truth or they don’t.

What is the thematic consistency that binds together all the stories of the MCU?

What James Herriot did as a vet—and what he does as a storyteller—he shows us the healing nature of healing nature.

WW84 asks us to confront the truth that while we have some desires that are good, even good desires can become dangerously disordered.

Power is no thing to love, only to bear with, as Tolkien teaches us.

The female experience in life very frequently feels like that of a queen on a chessboard, especially when we get into traditionally male-dominated spaces.

The thing about lies is that eventually they have to give out. No matter how badly liars want truth to be relative—it isn’t.

What I love about the creation and inclusion of the Enola character is how much she makes sense in the Holmes family and how much she adds to the ethos of the story. 

In a time when winning has become the ultimate morality, and the struggle to gain and maintain power has turned otherwise absolute standards of goodness into subjective opinion in the eyes of so many, we all need more of what Ted Lasso is dishing out.