Now displayed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frederic Leighton’s 1895 oil painting Flaming June orbits an unconscious female subject. Against the painting’s calculated — almost architectural — composure, this image of female repose becomes a charged site where sex and sexual desire are insistently inscribed. Leighton choreographs the woman’s body into a carefully… Continue reading The trouble with Sleeping Beauty — desire, desirability and the unconscious female body
Book adaptations have always divided opinion, especially with texts as well-loved and hotly debated as Emily Brontë’s masterpiece, Wuthering Heights. Over the years the classic tale of the tempestuous relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine has seen countless film, TV and theatre incarnations, and has even been immortalised in song by the inimitable Kate Bush. Unsurprisingly,… Continue reading Emily Brontë’s Gothic masterpiece — why the Emerald Fennell adaptation fails to capture the heart of the moors
Social media consumes us all. Connecting feels easier than ever, with everyone being accessible at the tap of a button. However, its effects on consumers are undeniable; it commodifies social interaction, rewires our brains and ultimately disconnects its users from their loved ones. In an age of ai-dominated, algorithmic content, the concept of effortless interaction… Continue reading Social media — an artificial connection to the world
Cinematographers and film lovers alike seem to have developed a gothic appetite. Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, Frankenstein, gained quite a lot of friction online and has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. The movie seems to be a part of a wider cinematographical tendency which leans towards the… Continue reading The return of the Gothic — a negotiation of humanity
“Art is free, shameless, irresponsible: the movement is intense, almost feverish; it resembles, it seems to me, a snakeskin full of ants… filled with meddlesome life” (Bergman, The Snakeskin). Travelling to an island in the Swedish archipelago from Stockholm Central Station requires a train and two buses. Or a train, a ferry and a bus.… Continue reading I want to go on like this — Sommaren with Monika by Ingmar Bergman
After World War I, Yugoslav artists and intellectuals pursued a clear cultural objective — to assert their place within European modernity as equals, not as latecomers. Their response was neither imitation of the existing European art nor quiet assimilation. Instead, they entered the cultural arena with the conviction that they already belonged there. Through publishing,… Continue reading The Yugoslav avant-garde legacy in European contemporary art
As early as the 14th Century, a woman exhibiting signs of sexual confidence, prosperity or self-expression was deemed inherently evil. An excerpt from 1486’s Malleus Maleficarum — perhaps the most notorious “witch hunter’s manual” — reads: “All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable… What else is a woman but a foe… Continue reading She’s a witch — influential women, mysticism and reversing misogynistic narratives in music
The alluring title of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique serves as a successful façade for the book’s rather morose themes. 15 years following her graduation from the all-female Smith College, Friedan constructed a questionnaire for her classmates — now all wives and mothers, but once equally academics. Despite the domestic reverie that had been portrayed… Continue reading What would Betty Friedan make of the 21st-century tradwife?
Since I’m fairly new to Berlin, I start each month by browsing through the holy trinity — The Berliner, Visit Berlin Blog and Berlin.de (the official website of Berlin), looking for events, festivals and exhibitions that I may wish to attend. Given that the month of February is largely defined by Valentine’s Day, this month’s… Continue reading Gallery Looks — exhibition at the Gemäldegalerie
From CEOs basking in their wealth while their employees drown in overtime, to conspiracy theorists turned serial killers, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia shines a spotlight on the ugly side of humanity. If an alien were to come to Earth and watch it, there’s a high chance they’d be on the next spaceship home. “Bugonia” was an… Continue reading Bugonia review — Lanthimos’s latest film asks, is humanity a bubble?
