Megan Garber
Do You Speak Fox?
How Donald Trump’s favorite news source became a language
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic Slouching Towards Gilead
The Handmaid’s Tale showed the ease with which the unthinkable can become ordinary—a lesson crucial in the age of the Big Lie.
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Illustration by Paul Spella; images by Mary Evans … Top Gun Is an Infomercial for America
Reconsidering the meaning of Maverick
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic / Disney The Cowardice of Cruella
The new Disney film could have embraced villainy, in all its complications. Instead, it opts for a cheaper sort of sympathy.
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HBO Max / Getty / The Atlantic The Friends Mythology Has Come Full Circle
The long-awaited reunion special is an uneasy continuation of the sitcom’s easy fantasies.
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Apple TV+ How the Space Fantasy Became Banal
The final frontier, as a setting, has long channeled giddy dreams of human communion. A new group of cultural works explores the opposite possibility.
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Sindha Agha The Dark Side of the Houseplant Boom
American culture is becoming more and more preoccupied with nature. What if all the celebrations of the wild world are actually manifestations of grief?
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Illustration by Oliver Munday; Christine Schneider / Brigitte … Hormone Monsters
Television turns to magical realism to explore the trials of early adolescence.
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Michael Nagle / Getty Portrait of a Leader Humblebragging
In October, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a book-length ode to his leadership style. It has not aged well.
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Tyler Varsell American Cynicism Has Reached a Breaking Point
The nation’s politics is in dire need of earnestness. Can its culture meet the moment?
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Getty / Shutterstock / The Atlantic The ‘Pussy’ Presidency
Donald Trump ended his term in office the way he began it: by invoking a perverse vision of manliness.
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SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty When the Mob Reached the Chamber
Watching the insurrectionists, I felt outrage and horror and heartbreak. What some of them seemed to feel was boredom.
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Soomin Jung 2020 Changed What TV Is For
Viewers didn’t care about “good” or “bad” television this year. Maybe the distinction never mattered.
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KFC / Lifetime I’m Really Sorry, but Let’s Talk About That Chicken Movie
In a time of rampant lies, a KFC-Lifetime rom-com is about as refreshingly blunt as you can get.
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The 15 Best TV Shows of 2020
The year’s most distinct and worthwhile series
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Apple TV+ / Stephanie Branchu / Netflix The New Comedy of American Decline
Even works of escapism are reckoning with waning national myths.
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The Atlantic Fox News Hits a Dangerous New Low
The most-watched news network in America is choosing to mislead its viewers about the state of the election.
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Shutterstock / The Atlantic Beware False Endings
At a time when uncertainty may be the election’s only immediate result, Americans have an opportunity to rethink the way stories are told.
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Chris Haston / NBCU Photo Bank / The … Dwight Schrute Was a Warning
When The Office originally aired, its resident fool made for easy comedy. Fifteen years later, it’s hard to watch Dwight without seeing tragedy.
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AP / The Atlantic Atlas Coughed
Donald Trump has steadily turned masks into symbols—not of government overreach, but of governmental impunity.
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Illustration by Alexandria McLin; photograph by Howard University Kamala Harris’s Ambition Trap
By talking plainly about her qualifications, Harris embodies progress. Will it work?
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