Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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On the surface, Hamlet ponders life and fear of death, but the subtext veers far beyond that into morality and conscience, reflecting the themes of the play and the broader range of the human condition. Not bad for a speech that seems almost accidentally stuck into the final product, as if Shakespeare wrote it for… Continue reading “To be or not to be” is the most famous speech in the English language, but what does it really mean?
You can consider The Power of the Dog an arthouse western with a star in the lead role and recognizable actors in the supporting cast. It’s a character study more than an epic. Unforgiven, on the other hand, is a blockbuster western with a rich, dark underbelly. Later this month, Jane Campion’s disturbing The Power… Continue reading The Power of the Dog is all the rage, but Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven remains the undisputed anti-western masterpiece
It took close to 350 years for mathematics and philosophy to catch up with the ideas about the human mind explored in Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. From computer science to the study of language, the opacity of other minds remains at the forefront of our understanding of each other and at the center of Iago’s scheming… Continue reading Shakespeare’s Othello, the Turing Test for Artificial Intelligence, and the indeterminacy of radical translation
The announcement that there will be elves, dwarves, and other species of color prompts Tolkien purists to claim Amazon Studios is destroying the franchise, which of course prompts accusations of racism and bigotry from the usual suspects. Of course, few bother to consider that elves and dwarves aren’t real and aren’t human at all… Last… Continue reading Amazon’s woke take on Tolkien provokes another racial controversy
King Henry V is a nationalist hero to the English, a villain to the French, and likely something in between to modern audiences. Part heroic warrior, part self-serving, calculating politician, Henry’s rise prompts timeless questions about the nature of power in general. Shakespeare’s Henry V is a subtly yet at times disturbingly contradictory character, a… Continue reading Shakespeare’s Henry V and the timeless politics of power
The Simpsons numbers over 700 episodes and counting. The show has birthed a thousand memes on social media, is said to have predicted the Donald Trump Presidency, but remains a family comedy at heart, turning this tried and true formula into an ongoing commentary on American life and culture. The Simpsons is more legend than… Continue reading The Simpsons: America’s favorite animated family is still brilliant, funny, and biting after 33 years
My father was a car guy and “Racing in the Street” was a natural choice for him in many ways, but the darkness underlying the song hints at unexplained emotional depths, mirroring some of his own demons, and how he wished something better for his own children. My father passed away a year ago this… Continue reading My father’s favorite Springsteen song
The entire Nebraska album was recorded by Bruce Springsteen alone in his house on a 4-track cassette. At points, you can hear the creak of the rocking chair he sat in, but these meager beginnings do not limit the songs’ collective scope, power, and impact. “Atlantic City” combines it all in one haunting track. Bruce… Continue reading Bruce Springsteen’s Atlantic City: The personal and the universal connect in a timeless and versatile classic
The enigmatic, often inscrutable Inland Empire intentionally defies, if not outright demolishes, traditional narratives at every turn. Instead of a single, linear story, we have four, almost circular primary threads. The making of the film in the first place also prompts a lot of questions, something of a mystery in and of itself. Ultimately, this… Continue reading Inland Empire and the mad genius of David Lynch
An excellent new film adaptation combines a stark abstraction with rich performances and stunning moments to illuminate the complexities underlying a simple plot, but no single version can ever capture the impenetrable duality of man that serves as Shakespeare’s true subject matter. Free will or foreordained? We are a product of both, and this play… Continue reading The Tragedy of Macbeth and the Immortal Genius of William Shakespeare
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 