The Week in Review: February 15th, 2015

Two very different humans vandalized this Fifty Shades of Grey poster, but they were united in their distaste for it. Magical. I’ve been sick this week, which has been fun. Oh, spring, please come back, so I can wear nice things. (Or someone give me enough money to afford cute winter things.)

Links

The second wave of Fifty Shades of Grey thinkpieces brings with it a very interesting dialogue on class:

• Anne Helen Petersen’s take on the capitalist fantasy within.
• The New Republic focuses on its treatment of class.
• The Baffler on class and morality.
• Arthur Chu at The Daily Beast talks about luxury, domination, and feminism.
• Sarah Siegel at Tea Leaves and Dog Ears ponders a feminist reading of the film.

Jessica Williams has stated that she won’t host The Daily Show, although she’ll still turn up to troll from time to time. Whatever she does, it’s going to be awesome.

Abraham Riesman at Vulture digs into the history of Harley Quinn, her success, and her place as a feminist character because she’s allowed to be as horrible and petty as she wants.

Baby Nightcrawler has been cast for X-Men: Age of Apocalypse. Well, we’ll see where this goes!

Shauna Miller at The Atlantic talks about the swooningly queer glory of Kate McKinnon’s Justin Bieber impression. ACCURATE.

Joshunda Sanders and Diana Barnes-Brown look at enlightenment, consumption, and what’s expected of an enlightened woman in capitalism.

Here’s a fascinating interview of Kristen Stewart by Patti Smith. It’s 100% love.

Jason Momoa’s Aquaman… looks… awesome? Conflicting emotions about Batman V. Superman: Grimdark Grimdark Grimdark! Cannot compute!

Kyle Turner at Movie Mezzanine talks about The Imitation Game and what constitutes a truly queer film. I really enjoyed this piece, because this is exactly why I identify as queer as well as bisexual: queerness carries with it a connotation of active subversion that goes beyond sexuality. Fascinating.

Kristen Stewart is the first American actress to win a French César Award for her work in The Clouds of Sil Maria. I’m really glad Stewart is getting recognition for her talents.

Here’s Eddie Murphy at the 1988 Academy Awards calling out the film industry for how it treats and celebrates black actors and actresses. And here’s hoping someone does the same at tonight’s Oscar ceremony…

Scarlett Johanssen has assembled a supergroup of lady musicians (including Este Haim of HAIM) to create the Singles, a girl group in the vein of the Go-Go’s. I have a playlist called “future eighties” that this would go great on.

Books
Purchased: None
Added: Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss by Tom Davis (via my enduring Saturday Night Live obsession), Saturday Night Live and American TV by Nick Marx, Matt Sienkiewicz, and Ron Becker (same), Heroines by Kate Zambreno (via Bad Feminist)

Films
Purchased: None
Added: None