A promotional image for Moon Over Harlem, 1939

How Film Ads Were Part of the Fight Against Segregation

In the Jim Crow era, Black film theaters were left out of the "first-run" distribution channels. Theater owners used creativity to attract their audiences.
Ghostface from Scream

We All “Scream” for the Metatextual

Do you like scary movies? How about movies that scare you while satirizing and paying homage to their genre?
Trinity from The Matrix, 1999

Trinity: Real Hero of The Matrix?

While Neo may be the One, he’s not the character who gets the action going in the first film—that’s Trinity.
An illustration depicting a face made out of circuits that dissolves into a cloud filled with screenshots of streaming television and movie title images

Are You Still Watching?

The work of cinema in the age of streaming services.
Daniel Craig in No Time to Die

Why James Bond Villains Prefer Post-Soviet Architecture

In No Time to Die, Bond blows up the villain’s post-Soviet missile silo—just as he does every other modernist building he encounters.
A Star Wars artwork

Is Star Wars Cultural Appropriation?

Orientalism is alive and well in the wildly popular franchise, argues one scholar.
A poster image for American Horror Story: Double Feature

The Very Human Appeal of American Horror Story

The late author Joanna Russ had insights about why horror speaks to ordinary experiences and emotions.
Robert Mitchum aiming gun over car in a scene from the film 'Farewell, My Lovely', 1975.

QAnon as Neo-Noir

The popular conspiracy theory has intriguing parallels with classic noir by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
The Killing of Sister George

Hollywood Goes to Its First Lesbian Bar and Can’t Stop Staring

The Killing of Sister George was the first Hollywood movie to depict a lesbian bar. Director Robert Aldrich was obsessed with its authenticity.
Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

How Has Hollywood Shaped the Presidency?

"Acting presidential" can mean fulfilling expectations that have been shaped by TV and the movies.