Arch Enemies
A new company is bringing the engineering savvy of rocket science to the design of the high-heeled shoe. Can stilettos that are actually comfortable to wear change centuries’ worth of symbolism?
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Patrick McMullan / Getty What Michiko Kakutani Talked About When She Talked About Books
After 38 years at The New York Times, the woman whose name became synonymous with book culture in America is retiring from the paper.
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Freeform The Bold Type and the Enduring Appeal of the Women's Magazine
The Freeform show celebrates “stealth feminism.” So does the publication it portrays.
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Justina Mintz / HBO Insecure’s Nuanced Take on Singleness
The HBO show’s Season 2 premiere treats a breakup not just as an event, but as a kind of physical space.
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Your Favorite Jane Austen Adaptations
Last week we asked readers to share: What’s your favorite Jane Austen-related adaptation? Or, if you prefer: What’s your least…
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Wedding Stock Photo / Shutterstock How 'I Do' Became Performance Art
Thirty years ago, with the help of a massive coffee table book, the American wedding theatrical complex was born.
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PeJo / Shutterstock / C. E. Brock / ... Colin Firth's Shirt: Jane Austen and the Rise of the Female Gaze
She died 200 years ago. But her writing fits perfectly into the culture of the current moment.
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Helen Sloan / HBO Game of Thrones: About That Cameo
Wait, is that—?
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Tell Us: What’s the Best Jane Austen Adaptation?
“The first rule of Fight Club is: One never mentions Fight Club. No corsets, no hat pins—and no crying.” …
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters What Does 'Community' Mean?
The term’s evolution makes a nice metaphor for the rise of American individualism—and the decline of trust in American institutions.
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Sergey Uryadnikov / Shutterstock When Hatred Is a Joke
On Sunday, the president posted a video making light of violence. The move was both highly unusual and completely at home in this turbulent political moment.
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AP / Mark Lennihan How to Be a Human Leader
A collection of highly successful women have some tips for developing that most fundamental and crucial of skills: speaking up.
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Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters The Perils of Meritocracy
It’s one of the most loved ideas in American life. Perhaps, though, it should be one of the most resented.
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Nathan Congleton / MSNBC Mika Brzezinski and Donald Trump's Penchant for Blood Feuds
American pop culture has worked to normalize women’s bleeding. The American president has missed that memo.
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ABC The Bachelorette Reveals Itself for What It Is
The show, this season, with exploitative plotlines that treat racism as entertainment, is becoming harder and harder to defend.
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HBO The Most Pessimistic Episode of Veep Yet
The show’s Season 6 finale highlighted the sometimes suffocating nature of American politics.
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Paramount Face/Off Is 20 Years Old
It’s bold. It’s absurd. It’s about, literally, the swapping of face-skin. It might be one of the best action movies of all time.
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Columbia Pictures What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Unruly’ Women
A new book offers nuanced appreciations of celebrities, from Serena to Madonna to Hillary to Caitlyn, who refused to know their place.
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Paramount Why Adolescence Lasts Forever
A new book explores the dynamics of popularity, and the ways our high-school selves stay with us far beyond the teenage years.
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Warner Bros. Wonder Woman, Heroine of the Post-Truth Age
The character, created by a man who helped to invent the lie detector, is perfectly at home in a culture contending with weaponized lies.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Spicer's Razor
How the White House press secretary turned “covfefe” into a covfspiracy
