Critics at Large

Her campaign has ushered in a rush of political energy, evidenced by a deluge of memes and pop-culture mashups. Can this new optimism last?

Revelations about the celebrated writer have reignited debates about how to reckon with artists who do terrible things. Have the years since #MeToo yielded any answers?

The genre, long celebrated for its lush visuals and hard-won footage, is increasingly reckoning with the fact that the landscapes and the species it showcases may soon be gone forever.

Therapy has come to shape our entertainment, our language, and even our relationships. How did we get from treatment to a life style?

Global tourism is projected to reach an all-time high this year. How do we square our zeal for exploration with increasingly pressing reasons to stay put?

The figure of the sleek, practiced killer has been a fixture of the cinematic landscape, from “Pulp Fiction” to “John Wick.” A new film from Richard Linklater pokes fun at our collective obsession with the archetype.

The classic midlife crisis, with its flashy sports cars and covert affairs, has become a cliché in itself. Miranda July’s novel “All Fours” is part of a new wave of fiction that’s challenging expectations of what middle age can be.

A feud between two of the biggest names in rap quickly escalated into a mutual smear campaign. How did a conflict based in craft become one that was about so much more?

Today’s audiences have a seemingly insatiable appetite for stories about people who do—or experience—terrible things. Is there a right way to turn real-life tragedy into mass entertainment?

Films like Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” and last year’s “The Iron Claw” offer Zeitgeisty takes on masculinity. Do they signal a shift in the storied genre?

Alex Garland’s latest film, in which the U.S. has collapsed into brutal internecine conflict, has polarized audiences with its depiction of violence—and its evasion of politics. In art and in life, how do such visuals change the viewer?

After twelve seasons and nearly twenty-five years, Larry David’s masterpiece of observational comedy has come to an end. What does it mean to say goodbye to a work of fiction that’s become a fixture in our everyday lives?

Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel, “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” tells the story of a grifter who goes to unthinkable lengths to assume a life style he covets. In the age of influencers, “Ripley” is more winning than ever.

In the months leading up to the announcement of Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis, online sleuths created a vivid fictional world explaining her absence. When conspiracy steps in, where does that leave reality?

In an era of life-altering pandemics, advanced A.I., and climate catastrophe, anticipating the future can seem like a futile exercise. Is sci-fi our best chance at making sense of what’s to come?

Vinson Cunningham discusses his début novel, “Great Expectations,” a bildungsroman that captures a particular moment in American life—and that offers some clues about where the genre is heading.

From Adelle Waldman’s novel “Help Wanted” to the sci-fi-inflected Apple TV+ show “Severance,” fictional depictions of work are getting darker, or at least stranger. What can the state of the workplace in art tell us about the workplace in life?