The Act of Writing

"The American Spirit, the one that called us from the Old World to the New, to conquer and build and civilise. And destroy that what needs to be destroyed. To lift up the lesser races. If not lift up, subjugate. And if not subjugate, exterminate. Our destiny by divine prescription - the American imperative." This quote from Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad is the one that, for me, reveals the heart of the novel. This White American attitude is what the novel seeks to expose, not just in the American's of the 19th century, but which still resides within the White American's of today. The Underground Railroad follows the experience of plantation slave Cora, and her journey on the Underground Railroad towards the North and her freedom. Along the way she see's much of humanity- the best and the worst of what humans have to offer. This novel is very much about the way humans connect to each other, or rather, how they don't. With the author attemp...

When I first saw this film in cinemas back in 2015, I thought it was an enjoyable revisit of a classic film series but certainly nothing special. However, whilst stuck at home for the holidays my family decided to put it on and I've got to say, this film should have been really impressive and beloved... but it just feels empty? I think the film looks absolutely stunning, the set design in particular is wonderful, especially with the nod to the original films by adding in part of the original Park set. However, when you look at the CGI dinosaurs... the original films created stunning looking 'dinosaurs' that were 20 years ahead of their time. Jurassic World's 'dinosaurs' by comparison are just a bit flat. Now onto the characters. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are rather excellent in their roles, with Pratt playing his well worn hat of lovable, comedic character who is overly sarcastic but secretly has a heart of gold opposite Howard's harried,...

Rian Johnson, writer and director of Looper and the famously controversial Star Wars: The Last Jedi,  returns to the big screen with a new film, a murder mystery entitled Knives Out. The base plot is simple, a family gathers together to celebrate their father/grandfather's 85th birthday, the next morning he is discovered dead and foul play is assumed, due to the dead man's incredible wealth. However, what is shown is decidedly the opposite of simple, with alibis, accusations and motives abounding, any of the family could be the murderer.  Where Johnson's genius shines, in his portrayal of what is an admittedly well worn story, is in his structuring of the telling of said story. Most 'Whodunnit's' have a tried and tested formula; the murder is discovered, the characters are introduced, their alibis (or rather alib-lies) are established, the detective discovers a lot of hidden truths, a red herring is involved and finally the crucial piece of evidence is found...

“The future isn’t a warning my friend, it’s a promise, and it won’t be broken by us. That’s the nature of the trap we’re caught in.” The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of those novels that comes around once a year and on word of mouth alone becomes a massive, overnight sensation. Personally, I remember hearing about this book months before it was published, and thinking that it was an interesting concept, but ultimately not something I gave a lot of thought to. That is, until the cover design came out. Just seeing how stunning the designs were kept the book in the back of my mind until I finally saw it on my local Waterstones bookshelves. I knew then and there that I had to have it, so later that day a copy came home with me. And it very quickly cemented itself as one of my very firm favourites. From the very first page I was spellbound. The main character, Aiden, knows about as much of the plot as the reader does, i.e: nothing at all. It is only as you fol...

If there is one thing I can never claim to be good at, its video games. I don't understand how to wield dual controls, I get easily frustrated when I'm not immediately good at playing them, and quite frankly, I get bored of having to check in and play the same thing EVERY SINGLE DAY. That said however, I can kind of see the appeal. They're bright, they can be fun, franchise games usually pick up quite a large following because people can connect to the characters and most of all, they're the most immersive form of escapism that popular culture is able to give us. Therefore, whilst I do not play these games myself, below are my thoughts on some of the games I have seen my boyfriend, flatmates and friends play. Quite frankly it was either writing this or regurgitating something about my dissertation and I'm sick to death of staring at my diss, so I hope you enjoy! Animal Crossing: When this game was made available for the mobile earlier last year, ...

Catch Captain Marvel, in cinema's now The moment that every fragile, white, male lover of superhero movies has been dreading, has arrived. Captain Marvel  landed in theatres this weekend, and it's the first  Marvel  movie of this year. This film had a lot to prove. Firstly, it follows on from  DC's immensely popular Aquaman,  which grossed over $1 billion and has quickly elevated Marvel's  competitor to very high heights. Secondly, it is the first MCU movie to be lead by *shock horror* a woman, instead of the boringly same-y, crusty, white dude (Black Panther excepted. ) Finally, it has to both set up the new leader of the next ten years of Marvel movies, as well as building hype for the next film in the series, the highly anticipated Avengers: Endgame. Now, I am a huge Marvel fan, as I'm sure I have mentioned in other posts. I am also a white woman, which makes me the epitome of target audience for this film. That being sai...

The Cate Blanchett play at the National Theatre As it wraps its run, the new play at the National Theatre, When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, (known hereafter as the 'Cate Blanchett play') has left many bewildered, gobsmacked or just plain shocked. With reports of people fainting in the front rows and others just walking out in disgust, this is my take on what exactly I went to see. First things first, whilst I do love going to the theatre, this play in particular would not have enticed me to travel 155 miles, just to see it were it not for the small fact that Cate Blanchett (of Lord of the Rings, Carol and Thor: Ragnarok fame) was in the leading role. So the play. I know that it is meant to be various variations on Samuel Richardson's Pamela, mostly because that's the second part of this play's outrageously long title. Martin Crimp, the playwright, admits that he was particularly inspired by the production of discourse that occurs within the...