Introducing Our Visual Literacy Column, “Learning to Look”
Developing visual literacy skills unlocks a means of understanding and engaging with the world that cannot be replaced by any text.
Whatever Happened To The Male Movie Fan?
In the early days of the film industry, the fanzone was full of men and boys. Then the studios chased them all away.
In the Gutters of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
Gaiman’s stories echo with narratives from the Western canon, taken from folktales and communal memory, displaced into something that feels fresh.
Teaching Comics: A Syllabus
So you want to teach The Sandman? Or William Blake? Or Art Spiegelman’s Maus? A guide to using comics and graphic novels in the classroom.
The Rise and Fall of “True Crime” Radio Dramas
Depictions of poor, non-white victims and informants led working-class and rural listeners to turn against the genre.
Roger Ebert vs. Video Games
The film critic’s unconsidered observation about Doom touched off a firestorm that continues to burn for gamers and digital media critics.
Bugs Bunny Scholarship Is a Wascally Wesearch Wabbit Hole
In this edition of Research Rabbit Hole, we dig up scholarship about what one academic calls "the signifying rabbit."
The Scholars Charting Black Music’s Timeline: Earl Stewart and Michael Veal
Earl Stewart and Michael Veal explore African American music from the Civil War and the evolving sounds of the Black Atlantic.
History, Cosplay, and Comic-Con
Donning costumes in imitation and celebration of fictional characters has a long history that crosses genres, genders, and international boundaries.
Don’t Dress Your Whale in Galoshes
Free to Be... You and Me was meant to help rear a generation free of sexist stereotypes. Fifty years on, some of its well-intentioned messages are worn around the edges.