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The Anti-Biopic: On Refusing the Cradle-to-Grave Shape

The biopic is a genre with a default structure, and the default is almost always the problem. An argument for the biographical films that refuse the shape.

Lena Ashworth·18 Jan·5 min

Two paper hearts in slightly mismatched red, overlapping on a cream ground.

Essays

The Romantic Comedy Came Back Because Everything Else Got Heavier

The rom-com was commercially dead for a decade. It returned in 2023-25 and the return was not coincidence. An essay on what the surrounding cinema had become, and why audiences wanted this back.

Lena Ashworth·22 Sep·7 min

A rodeo arena at dusk with a single saddle laid across a fence rail

Music

Cowboy Carter: The Beyoncé Record That Became a Genre Argument

A year out, Beyoncé's country album is not a country album. It is a demolition project. An argument for Cowboy Carter as one of the most important genre interventions of the decade.

Jules Okonkwo·30 May·5 min