The Take

You may have noticed a look being celebrated among many female characters and actors in movies and TV––the “wide-eyed girl” look. And it’s not just you; people have been doting on the look for ages. I Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking back on The Wire now, we can see how Marlo Stanfield’s ability to make a very bad state of affairs even worse conveys an important, timeless message: just because things feel like they can’t get worse, doesn’t mean that’s true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Nicole Smith is getting the Marilyn and Pamela treatment – the once-vilified voluptuous blonde is now getting reframed to embody the 'glamorous yet tragic' arc. But, why do we keep repeating this tragic revolution, and is there any lesson in Anna Nicole's story about how to stop the deja vu? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix’s Bridgerton and spin-off Queen Charlotte blend of fact and fiction to tell an engaging story about then and now... So what’s the real history behind the fascinating Queen Charlotte and how does it line up with the series? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Succession's final showdown is coming into sight: it’s Kendall versus Shiv for the crown, while Roman completes his spectacular self-destructive fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many differences have you caught between the 1989 Disney animated The Little Mermaid and the modern live action remake? Today we're taking a closer look at the details to see what’s different between these two stories of Ariel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No, it’s not just you. TV and movies are getting darker. So…why? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nepotism doesn’t always flow from parent to child – there are nepo parents, nepo partners, even nepo friends. While we’re quick to point out nepotism, are we forgetting about the importance of collaboration, & the inspiration that creators derive from their close ones? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At first, Unforgiven might just look like another old-school Western, but it also challenges the genre of the Western and the black-and-white idea of a Western hero. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve probably seen modern neo-Westerns that stand on the shoulders of the revival this movie kicked off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fashion today is veering in one of two directions: on one end of the spectrum is "hobocore," and on the other is the "old money" aesthetic. Here’s why these class-crossing fashion trends are so in right now, what their histories are, and their biggest problems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scandoval: It’s got fan theories. It’s got lawsuits. It’s got brawls. And it’s got everyone’s attention. What makes this Vanderpump Rules scandal different from the endless reality tv gossip flooding social media? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our post-truth age, have conspiracy theories got more power than ever? Here’s our take on the current climate of conspiracy theories, how the lines between fact and fiction have become more blurred than ever, and the danger of living in a culture where trust is hard to come by. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Radcliffe has pretty much defied all expectations people had for him as a child star. He's grown into a mature dad and respected actor by embracing his weird side. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of the Coronation, do Harry and Meghan need to repair their relationship with the Royals, go full Hollywood, or take an Entrepreneur route? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly two decades the seemingly invincible MCU has dominated the cinematic release schedule, but some cracks are showing in their audience response... So what's really going on? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are our standards for celebrity-privacy that low, that we’re shocked if a celebrity has *anything* in their life they're not broadcasting to the paparazzi? Today we’re so primed to expect famous people to share everything, we get blindsided when they still have secrets. But a striking celebrity “trend” today is the subtle clawing back of privacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has splitting Dune into two parts potentially confused the message of the sci-fi epic? Paul Atreides checks many of the boxes of the noble protagonist chosen to lead. But some of Paul’s prescient visions of the future hint at future disaster. So what’s the effect of director Denis Villeneuve dividing this narrative in two, and what hints do we get about what’s to come from the trailer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The final season of Succession is the ultimate test for Kendall Roy: now that his father is finally out of the picture, can he become the killer his father doubted he could be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was Twilight really the fairytale many took it for? And what views on love and relationship did Twilight actually teach its fans? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our take on Emily Ratajkowski, how she evolved from being "the Blurred Lines girl" into an inspirational icon, reminding us that only we should get to define ourselves, and that there’s power in examining the countless assumptions we take for granted about our bodies and how we exist in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food-focused celeb interviews show a different side to celebrities than the more formal press junkets of years past. Today we're looking at how this niche content has blown up online, & what it's shown us about our favorite celebs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s something about WAGs that just gets people annoyed. But is this all a way of demanding that women in the public eye be a little… quieter, and not get too dominant in sports? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These days Kate Middleton seems to be constantly plagued by rumors and scandalous news stories - so who’s really behind it all? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion was ahead of it's time - it managed to anticipate many of the anxieties about status& self-image that drive people in the age of social media (despite being released at a time when most people were still going on the internet through AOL) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our culture spends a lot of time fearing aging, trying to hide all signs of it, even attempting to eliminate it all together – but what if we stopped assuming it's all bad? If we face our fears, then the joys of getting older can come to the surface. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Succession is finally closing in on answering the question that's been on everyone's minds since episode one: which of Logan Roy's children (or other inner circle members) will truly have what it takes to seize power? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are firmly in the era of artificial intelligence, which means we have technology to digitally resurrect dead artists for new projects – but does that mean we should? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We may think questions of bloodlines and royal heirs seem archaic, but these concerns have greatly shaped the lives of royal modern women, too. From Princess Diana in the 80s, to Kate allegedly having to take a fertility test pre-marriage, to Megan's revelations about the Firm's interest in her pregnancy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It looks like Taylor Swift & Joe Alwyn are over after 6 years together... So what does this mean for Taylor’s eras – and the new era of her personal life that she’s embarking on? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fans and artists alike are speaking out about a troubling shift in concert culture, from the nearly-impossible-to-get tickets, to seas of phone screens, to heckling, to... just nearly everything about the concert going experience getting worse. Why did this happen, and how can we turn things around? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s no scientific proof that your body type says anything about you as a person – but this idea is back in the zeitgeist with the reemergence of Kibbe, and body typing has blown up into a surprising modern craze. So is there anything to body typing – and why are we so willing to believe there must be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everywhere we turn, we’re seeing unhappy rich characters. Even though today we’re pushed constantly to lust after having money in our culture, it seems that at the end of the day lots of money still turn you into a bad or miserable person... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past few years, real life Princess fairytales have been exposed in the press as apparently pretty nightmarish realities. So why does princesscore persist, for today’s adults and new generations? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anya Taylor Joy is THE alternative it girl. Anya intrigues us because it feels like we don’t know her - unlike some of her other peers who we’ve seen grow up on screen, it feels like Anya started her career suddenly, already fully formed. So how does this unknowability elevate her work on screen? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media apps make it easier than ever to filter, contour, smooth and shape our selfies into something completely different from what we actually look like, and this is leading to a big problem: Selfie Dysmorphia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The term "incel" was first coined by a woman in 1997, but has been hijacked by men who promote misogyny and blame women and feminism for their struggles. This lead to a new term emerging: femcel. But what makes a femcel unique and different from the stereotypical male incel? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between the Chrises, the Ryans, and all of the square-jawed, dark-haired guys on Ryan Murphy's shows, it’s getting harder and harder to tell movie stars apart... So, why is this happening & what do these types really represent? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gwyneth Paltrow’s ongoing trial is a deliciously ridiculous combination of wealth, celebrity and courtroom drama. Here's a rundown on the case & our take on why everyone's so obsessed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hailey Bieber’s rise in the skincare community has coincided with a crisis of the younger generation fearing aging at ever-earlier points. So is Hailey really that into health and skincare, or is her glow only skin deep and she’s just taking advantage of a market and generation already trending that way? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On HIMYM, Marshall seems like the perfect man... But, upon further inspection, he seems to be just as self-serving and morally limited as the rest of the cast, and he displays the show's inherently limited moral outlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sex is out at the movies, and family-friendly superheroes are in. That’s partly because sex no longer sells, but also because the way audiences feel about movie intimacy has changed, too. Here’s our take on how consent plays into how we view intimacy onscreen – and whether Hollywood needs to start censoring again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olivia Wilde had a wild past couple of years and still gets *a lot* of hate online. But how did Olivia Wilde become the Internet’s Most Hated Woman in the first place – and are there any darker agendas at play? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s our take on Chris Rock’s attack on outrage culture, what he gets right and wrong, and whether becoming more conscious of this outrage cycle can break us out of today’s tired back-and-forth culture-war conversations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The plastic surgery business is booming, and more people than ever making body modifications that they regret but that are impossible to reverse. Can create a culture that allows people the freedom to choose what they do with their body, without making them anxious about the body they’ve been born with? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Prince William’s Royal Affair actually real – or could it be totally invented by gossip and the media? The history of the Royal Family is full of juicy affairs and beloved mistresses, so the press is highly aware of how magnetically we’re drawn to this story arc of the royal “other woman.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miley Cyrus is the queen of reinventing herself - and with her new era, it looks like Miley has found her most honest form yet. Our take on the hidden messages of Endless Summer Vacation, the new “Miley era,” and why it pays to drop genres and personas to get personal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Selena Gomez: queen of kindness... and controversy? Today we're looking at why, despite her best efforts, Selena keeps finding herself embroiled in controversy after controversy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Succession does a great job of dealing with not just how the “woman” dynamics realistically play out around Shiv, but also how they’ve shaped her psychologically. Shiv has been molded into an arrogant-yet-insecure Girlboss who not only doesn’t help other women but often weaponizes feminism in service of her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't miss our Take on the hidden significance behind Yellowjackets season one’s most poignant reveals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biopics aren’t always the truth, but they are versions of the truth. With Elvis, we are hearing the King’s story through the voice of a classic unreliable narrator. So, what was left out… and more importantly, why? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices