Every generation has its signature so-bad-it’s-good movie: Before there was The Room, there was Showgirls, then Plan 9 From Outer Space. This week, The McGill Tribune decided to investigate Cats, the newest addition to this canon. A real cat-astrophe Gabe Nisker One cat takes a couple of attempts to launch Bustopher Jones, performed[Read More…]
Tag: pop rhetoric
Pop Rhetoric: OKNOTOK is not what rock and roll needs right now
For all their talk about being so vehemently anti-capitalist, and–by proxy–true to their art, Radiohead loves a good gimmick. It was around this time last year, for example, just days before the release of their first album in seven years, that the British rock band effectively erased themselves from the[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Youtube star JonTron’s unfortunate foray into alt-right politics
Millions of fans around the world love Jon Jafari—the creator of the JonTronShow and former Game Grumps host. For six years, his videos have brought tears of laughter to anyone fortunate enough to have discovered his channel—yet, with his recent foray into the alt-right and white supremacist political spheres, his[Read More…]
Pop Dialectic: Film Reboots
End the Reboot Hollywood and content creators of all kinds have always been influenced by those that have come before them. Some of the greatest films of all time are based on previous works: The Godfather, To Kill a Mockingbird, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to name a[Read More…]
Hollywood awards itself
When the Golden Globes kickstarted the awards show season on Jan. 8, the normally easy-going ceremony was set with an unusually tense energy. Award shows are a time for the entertainment industry to pat itself on the back for its accomplishments in film and television. This year, celebrities went even[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Drake wins the game of egos
In Dr. Dre’s 1993 tripartite diss track called “Fuck Wit Dre Day,” Dre delivered the ethos of rap beef: “You fucked with me, now it’s a must that I fuck with you.” Diss tracks historically do not get radio play—partially because of their violent content, and partially because rappers focus[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Is it okay to laugh at Kim K?
A woman was physically restrained and robbed at gunpoint by five men in Paris. Does the horror of this statement change when considering that said woman is Kim Kardashian West, celebrity and reality show star? According to thousands of people online, the woman’s identity renders the situation laughable. Several million[Read More…]
Amanda Knox: faux femme fatale
Following the success of true crime series Making a Murderer, Netflix released its documentary Amanda Knox on Sept. 30. The film recounts the arrest and acquittal of American exchange student Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecitio in the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Directors Rod Blackhurst[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: A new battlefield in the fight over video games
There is something oddly familiar about the criticism that was levelled against Battlefield 1, the next installment of Electronic Arts (EA)’s hugely successful military franchise, after the game was revealed in early May 2016. Just as all other once-novel entertainment trends—such as television, rock, and rap music—had to face in[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: The Ann Coulter Roast with Rob Lowe
American actor Rob Lowe is an unlikely catalyst for a bipartisan debate. Following in the footsteps of a yearlong media cycle fascinated with a farcical U.S. election, Comedy Central’s Roast of Rob Lowe was no exception to politically charged comedy. When the special aired on Labour Day, it was not[Read More…]
