The first musical of its kind, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical served up a delicious community-baked Broadway treat this January. Based on the Disney-Pixar 2007 film Ratatouille, the project began last year on Aug. 10 when TikTok user Emily Jacobsen posted a TikTok of her squeaking out a high-pitched ode to […]
Pop Rhetoric
The ‘Steel Magnolia’ Ms. Dolly Parton
As she celebrates her 75th birthday, Dolly Rebecca Parton, of Pittman Center, Tennessee, remains one of the finest country music stars. To some, Parton is simply that: A star. But to others, her body of work is above simple concepts of “stardom.” In 1989, well after the successes of albums […]
Destiel sings its swan song
Over 15 unrelenting seasons, Supernatural has developed a remarkably devoted and persistent fandom. The show follows brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester, along with the angel Castiel (Misha Collins), as they protect middle-class Americans from mythical monsters while defying death at every turn. Castiel joined the Winchesters in […]
Taylor Swift will never ever be silenced, like ever
When news broke in summer 2019 that Taylor Swift’s former label, Big Machine Records, was sold to Scooter Braun, Swift and her legions of fans publicly expressed their outrage over the distribution of her work. For approximately $300 million USD, Braun had bought the master recordings of her first six […]
Where do I begin: 5-Minute Crafts
No contemporary filmmaker has captured the absurdity and fragmentation of our postmodern condition better than 5-Minute Crafts (5MC). The YouTube channel and Facebook page are best known for producing short video compilations of “life hacks,” typically named something along the lines of “Brilliant hacks and crafts for your home that […]
Pop Dialectic: When should the most wonderful time of the year begin?
With Thanksgiving and Halloween behind us, the holiday season in Canada has officially begun. For some international students, though, American Thanksgiving will delay the onslaught of holiday music that has already found its way into grocery stores and Spotify playlists. This week, The McGill Tribune weighs in on one of our […]
Ryan Murphy’s misguided progressivism
In the last decade, Ryan Murphy has been a singular force to be reckoned with in the world of television. Murphy has written, directed, and produced some of the most celebrated contemporary TV shows and films, including his humble beginnings with Nip/Tuck, to the attention-grabbing anthology American Crime Story, the […]
The Evangelical Crux of the Bachelor franchise
“Bachelor Nation,” as the viewership of the sprawling ABC franchise affectionately refers to themselves as, watched in awe and elation during last season of The Bachelorette, when Hannah Brown dramatically sent home Luke Parker—the season’s villain—during week seven. The two had bonded over their shared Christian faith, and Parker had […]
Let meme explain: Christian Girl Autumn
In August 2019, Twitter user @bimbofication, real name Natasha, tweeted a now-iconic photo that garnered nearly 50,000 likes and a combined 20,000 retweets and quote tweets. The photo features two young white women wearing coordinated blue skinny jeans, brown ankle boots, and leather handbags. It is the kind of photo […]
A look into Robert Pattinson’s twisted sonic world
In 2005, Stephenie Meyer released Twilight, making waves in young adult literature. It was the novel’s 2008 film adaptation, though, that truly cemented The Twilight Saga in the teen cultural landscape. A major player to emerge from the series was Robert Pattinson, the British actor who portrayed vampiric protagonist Edward Cullen […]