Entertainment, Media and Mental Health: The Influence of Social Media
This is the third part of a three-part series examining the connection between our entertainment/media culture and mental health, the latter of which is a growing problem for America’s youth. Last week, Paul Asay unpacked the ways that movies and TV depict characters struggling with mental illness. This week, we focus on what researchers are […]
Culture Clips: What Do You Do With Your Phone at Night?
You’ve finished your day’s tasks. Maybe you’ve relaxed a bit. Your eyes are getting heavy, and it’s time for bed. What do you do with your phone? It’s a peculiarly contemporary question, really. Before the advent of smartphones (and, to a lesser extent, texting) you’d probably only think to keep your phone nearby if you […]
Game of … Critics?
To paraphrase something Bruce Banner once said, “Don’t make the fans angry. You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry.” Since the advent of social media, fans have increasingly had an online outlet to express their euphoria in glorious, crowd-pleasing moments—and to vent their white-hot, dragon-fire rage when their beloved franchises veer in directions they deem […]
A Plugged In Conversation With UglyDolls Director Kelly Asbury
We live in a world that says what matters most is looking good on the outside. But in his new animated movie UglyDolls, veteran director Kelly Asbury (Smurfs: The Lost Village, Shrek 2, Gnomeo & Juliet) helps viewers remember that it really is what’s inside that counts. I recently had a chance to talk to […]
Culture Clips: The Surprisingly Long History of Spoilers
Ah, spoilers. Fans of hit franchises and movies with twists hate ’em. And in the internet-connected age in which we live, avoiding them—whether we’re talking about a hit movie like Avengers: Endgame or a hit TV show like HBO’s Game of Thrones—is harder than ever. (Though, that said, The Verge has offered this handy guide […]
A Plugged In Conversation with Television Advocate Tim Winter
Few inventions have reshaped culture the way television has. Since its mainstream emergence in the 1950s, television has both reflected cultural values and reinforced them, too. Since 1995, the Parents Television Council has sought to equip parents with information they need to better understand this medium’s influence, especially on children. The PTC has played strong […]
Culture Clips: Endgame’s Epic Entry
Endings are hard. They’re hard to write. Hard to film. Hard to watch. (Just ask the creators of Lost, for example.) That’s because the more beloved a fictional set of characters is, the more investment we have in them. The more we have at stake. Which brings us to Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of 11 […]
What Is Real?’ Reflections on The Matrix 20 Years Later
Hundreds of new movies come and go each year. Some have theatrical debuts. Some stream online or are released direct to video. All feature stories that someone, somewhere, thought were interesting enough to warrant the trouble of making them. Most of these movies vanish, metaphorically speaking, into our cultural memory. Functionally forgotten, as if they’d […]
A Conversation with Breakthrough Producer DeVon Franklin
At Plugged In, we spend a lot of time talking about the themes and content in the movies we review. But occasionally, we also get a peek behind the curtain at what goes into making some of those films, too. Today we’re talking to producer, author and motivational speaker DeVon Franklin about the latest film […]
Lions, Elephants, Genies, Witches and Jedi, oh My!
Didja see it? The new (and first full-length) trailer for Disney’s remake of The Lion King? I didn’t watch it until this morning, which made me only about the 16 millionth person to do so in the last two days. And even though 1994’s animated classic The Lion King isn’t actually one of my favorite […]