Nickelodeon benefits from an ultimately one-sided relationship, in which Steve from Blue’s Clues serves a manufactured comfort. By Dede Akolo As we all know, Steve from Blue’s Clues is very proud of you and everything that you’ve accomplished. At least that’s what he says in this video released on Nickelodeon’s Twitter account for the twenty-fifth...
Category: Television
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How ‘Sex Education’ Gets Modern Sex Ed Right
Sex Education stands out for focusing on the emotional impact that sex can have on discovering yourself, over and over again. I’ll admit: When Sex Education first aired on Netflix back in 2019, I was skeptical that they were going to get it right. Long before the show aired, media portrayals of sex education were...
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‘Bad Girls Club’ and the Profitability of Misogynoir in Reality Television
The spectacle held in Bad Girls Club’s mass appeal was the promise of anti-Black violence, misogynoir, and the narrative exploitation of women who needed real help. By Monika Estrella Negra Bad Girls Club, in which a group of self-proclaimed “Bad Girls” are given the opportunity to hash out their toxic social skills together in a...
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‘The White Lotus’ And Why Whiteness Cannot Truly Critique Itself
The reason “The White Lotus” can’t fully commit to its critique on whiteness and power is simply because then white people wouldn’t watch it. By Ebony Purks HBO’s latest hit series The White Lotus aired its sixth and last episode on Aug. 15. Many viewers (particularly viewers of color) were left with a lingering dissatisfaction...
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‘The White Lotus’ Is An Exercise in White Privilege None of Us Asked For
‘The White Lotus’ says nothing at all, except for what we already know, which is that those who benefit from whiteness are very rarely willing to divest from it. By Arielle Gray [CN: this article contains spoilers for HBO’s “The White Lotus”] In the opening scene of HBO’s The White Lotus, viewers know that someone...
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Mapping My PTSD In Wanda Maximoff’s Sitcom Universe
It’s strange to see myself in Wanda—a red-headed white woman with magical powers—but as a Black woman with PTSD, I understand her use of sitcoms to escape her trauma. This piece includes discussion of domestic violence, trauma, and mental illness. It also contains spoilers for WandaVision. By: Tatiana Johnson-Boria The first couple of notes of...