Noah Berlatsky

Last year there was much excitement at the announcement that Lupita Nyong'o was going to play a major role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens — the first Black woman to star in the franchise.

Who is memorialized in death has everything to do with race, class . . . and who you were in life.

For a second, it looked like the rabid hordes of gamergaters would be joined by metalheads. But #metalgate was never meant to be.

Art without politics actually results in a sweeping Puritanism. For art to have power, it needs to engage with power, with politics.

As a white woman, Swift can afford to celebrate carelessness. Beyoncé, though, knows that even her casualness has to be perfect.

Did the classic Adam West Batman show strike a blow (Kerwhap!) for feminism?

The surface text of the film is that you can't trust some guys. The (barely) subtext is that you can't trust any guys.

The cover for A-Force is a combination of tired trope and deodorant ad. Female empowerment can do so much better.

Scientists are hotly debating whether we should send messages into space. Perhaps they should consult Octavia Butler for some wisdom...

"The look on Miley's face during Nicki Minaj's savage, expletive-laden rant says it all," Salon tweeted the day after the VMAs. Less than 140 characters, but still enough to link a black woman to a longstanding racial slur.