When picturing French women, many of our brains conjure up images colored by stereotypes of chic, young, white women smoking cigarettes at sidewalk cafes with airs of cool detachment. The French stereotypes many outsiders hold are perpetuated in part by French film, and most notably by the popular titles of the male-dominated French New Wave. An overwhelming number of leading ladies in French films over the past several decades have been hypersexualized — as in the case of Brigitte Bardot in Et dieu… crea la...

The Bechdel Test, created by Fun Home author Alison Bechdel, is a measure used in critiquing works of fiction. The test asks a simple question: does this work feature at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man? In 1985, when the Bechdel Test was published, this idea was a novel and radical thought. The test gained popularity and ultimately became a fast-handed way to loosely assess a works of fiction. And although there are critiques of the test—mainly, two women...

Voice is a mysterious thing. Was iconic singer/producer Genya Ravan born with that impossibly rich, heart-wrenching tone, or did she somehow inherit it along the way, picking up flecks of gold and gravel through decades of towering highs and devastating lows? One spin of her new single “I Who Have Nothing,” tells it all—and after nearly fifty years in the tumultuous music biz, there's a lot to tell. The track is included on a 7” split record featuring The Shang Hi Los, out February 19 (and available for pre-order now) on Rum...

The City That Never Sleeps. The Big Apple. Gotham. The Center of the Universe. The City So Nice They Named It Twice. I’m sure writer and public personality Fran Lebowitz would gag hearing any of these nicknames for New York City, America’s most iconic metropolis. Pretend It’s a City on Netflix toes the dangerous precipice of New York City’s most irritating cliches, but Lebowitz’s grounded, derisive storytelling and director Martin Scorsese’s sensatory cinematography keep the show from ever falling into a void of cornball mawkishness. Claiming...

I was not a cheerleader in high school and I don’t regret making that choice. What I do regret, however, is spending literally any of my time over the past 21 years watching any film that doesn’t feature at least one high school football game. I miss drinking vodka out of a water bottle and pretending to know what's going on. I miss "spirit week" even though I hardly ever participated. Thankfully, there are plenty of films that feature cheerleading, a sport that is almost...

Michaela Watkins is a brilliant comic actor who has been cracking audiences up since she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2008. In the decade since she left the show in 2009, she has been in a bevy of beloved indie films and delightfully weird TV shows, including Joey Soloway’s Afternoon Delight and Transparent, Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said, the acclaimed hulu show Casual, and the Sundance hit Brittany Runs a Marathon. Most recently, she’s been lighting up the ensemble cast of the CBS...

Excellent news for YA and literary nerds everywhere: the first images for Shadow and Bone, Netflix's upcoming adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's acclaimed YA novel, were released this week. The new photos come on the heels of the teaser trailer Netflix released in December.  The show is set to premiere on April 23. I'm not sure if these images will hold over my excitement until April, but it will have to do for now. Because let me tell you: the story of Shadow and Bone is extra juicy. "Shadow and Bone takes...

We’re officially a full month into 2021, and we’ve already seen it all, from a long-awaited Inauguration Day to a GameStop stock market battle. This year has already given us some great new shows, books, and music, too – and this week, we have even more recommendations for your favorite Spotify playlist, to-read list, and Netflix queue. Read on for our picks. MOVIES/TV Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready   Last season, Tiffany Haddish introduced us to comedians including Aida Rodriguez, Marlo Williams, and Tracey Ashley. Now, Haddish is back...

If you've spent any time online, you've probably heard of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, a one-dimensional character who has no sense of agency and serves as a plot device to aid the male protagonist in his journey of self-discovery. She is quirky, a little offbeat; both extremely desirable and completely available, having little to no narrative purpose aside from serving as a tool for the male lead to “find himself.” But many shows, movies, and books have challenged this idea by introducing characters who are...

Just over two years ago, I wrote a piece for BUST about five female artists who should be on your radar. Being that there are more talented women in music than ever these days, I decided to do it again. The five women I’ve chosen this time around are a talented and very diverse group, to say the least. Their genres, ages, races, and sexual orientations are all over the map. Some are brand new and some have been around for quite awhile. What they have in common...