Prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn as she appears in Swan Lake, 1951

Odette vs. Odile: A Tale of Two (but Not Opposing) Swans

The distinction between the leading female characters of Swan Lake—the swan princess and her “black” counterpart—initially wasn’t so sharp.
Fisherman on the bank of a river, Ancient Greece.

Fish Addiction: An Ancient Greek Paranoia

An obsession with eating fish mapped onto all sorts of social anxieties, from gluttony and gambling problems to wasteful spending and licentiousness.
"Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid." Illustration for Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies by Jessie Wilcox Smith, ca. 1916

Man of Science, Man of God

In The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley parodied the dogmatic belief held by many in Victorian England that faith and reason are incompatible.
Poet Johnathan McClain reads his poetry at the Bowery Poetry Club December 6, 2002 in New York City.

The Legacy and Power of Performance Poetry: A Reading List

MTV might take credit for getting spoken word on the pop cultural radar, but it’s a tradition that spans millennia and continents.
The Undertaker and ECW Champion Kane stand in the ring as the look down to Bam Neely, Chavo Guerrero, and The Great Khali during WWE Smackdown at Acer Arena on June 15, 2008 in Sydney, Australia.

Real Fake/Fake Real: Pro-Wrestling’s Kayfabe Conundrum

An anthropologist takes on pro-wrestling at the intersection of gig-economy precariousness and post-truth politics.

“Let it Go” and “Defying Gravity”: Queer Anthems in Lockstep

The leading songs from Wicked and Frozen emphasize the importance of self-determination and being true to oneself.
Arthur Miller, 1965

Arthur Miller, Comedian

Yep. The author of Death of a Salesman and The Crucible wrote comedies as well. Funny ones.
The Whitman Sisters

The Wonderfully Complex Whitman Sisters

A popular act on the Black vaudeville circuit, the Whitman Sisters relied on a reputation for strong morals while challenging racial and gender codes.
The Opera scene from Final Fantasy VI

Why Are Video Games So Fond of Opera?

Video games have a long history of using musical excerpts from opera and classical music, but some creators take the in-game operatic sequence even further.
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, 1965

Bob Dylan and the Creative Leap That Transformed Modern Music

In 1964, Dylan decided that he wanted to make a different kind of music.