Arts + Culture - The Conversation - Movies, Music, Language and more, explained by experts

Black and white photo of ripped up land and an excavation crew in front of a large white monument.

Black and white photo of ripped up land and an excavation crew in front of a large white monument.

Trump’s slapdash Reflecting Pool renovations stand in stark contrast to years of deliberation and engineering ingenuity that went into its creation

Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University

A middle-aged woman with messy hair clasps her hands and rests her chin pensively on them.

A middle-aged woman with messy hair clasps her hands and rests her chin pensively on them.

Why Christopher Nolan turned Circe into a vindictive witch

Bailey Sincox, Binghamton University, State University of New York

What the panic over Gen Z’s reading habits gets wrong

Kathi Inman Berens, Portland State University and Rachel Noorda, Portland State University

A group of young women either lie on floor pillows or sit on a sofa as they read and discuss books.

A group of young women either lie on floor pillows or sit on a sofa as they read and discuss books.

What a western Pennsylvania ’90s-style Pizza Hut reveals about nostalgia

Jeff Galak, Carnegie Mellon University

A vintage photo of a group of teenagers sits around a table in a Pizza Hut restaurant.

A vintage photo of a group of teenagers sits around a table in a Pizza Hut restaurant.

‘The Odyssey’ is a striking portrait of the psychological wounds that can emerge when people violate their deepest values

Amy S. Badura-Brack, Creighton University

An exhausted middle-aged man with a thick beard gazes forlornly into the distance.

An exhausted middle-aged man with a thick beard gazes forlornly into the distance.

What critics of college athletes making money get wrong about name, image and likeness policies

Brennan Berg, University of Mississippi

two women wearing orange basketball uniforms hold their hands up with thumbs touching on a basketball court

two women wearing orange basketball uniforms hold their hands up with thumbs touching on a basketball court

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Sports

Nearly 100 years ago, Philadelphia’s Inez Patterson integrated pools and encouraged other Black girls to swim too

Samantha Adams, University of Michigan

Black and white photo of dozens of Black children in a large swimming pool

Black and white photo of dozens of Black children in a large swimming pool

Seat the rich! World Cup ticket inflation reflects widening gap between haves and have-nots

Stefan Szymanski, University of Michigan

A group of men stand around a large ticket.

A group of men stand around a large ticket.

For Iran’s diaspora, a tough World Cup call: To support the national team or protest – or both?

Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, Arizona State University

A man sits on seating draped in a flag.

A man sits on seating draped in a flag.

Bingles, knuckleballs and ‘Beer Barrel Polka’ – hundreds of forgotten works showcase the eclectic world of baseball scholarship

Tom Reinsfelder, Penn State

Man wearing baseball uniform cocks his arm back to throw a pitch while gripping the ball with the tips of his fingers.

Man wearing baseball uniform cocks his arm back to throw a pitch while gripping the ball with the tips of his fingers.

Read more about sports

Movies

A 10-year-old boy wearing a pink costume sits in the corner of a room and plays on his tablet.

A 10-year-old boy wearing a pink costume sits in the corner of a room and plays on his tablet.

Toy Story 5’s ‘Lilypad’ is an indictment of the world that birthed the ‘iPad Kid’

Aarushi Bhandari, Davidson College

¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! Speedy Gonzales set to make his triumphant return to the silver screen

Jared Bahir Browsh, University of Colorado Boulder

A running, smiling cartoon mouse wearing a yellow sombrero painted as graffiti on a red, brick wall.

A running, smiling cartoon mouse wearing a yellow sombrero painted as graffiti on a red, brick wall.

‘Hamnet’ is making audiences break down in tears – and upending beliefs about male grief

Jeanette Tran, Drake University

A young, handsome, forlorn-looking man stares off into the distance.

A young, handsome, forlorn-looking man stares off into the distance.

As the Oscars approach, Hollywood grapples with AI’s growing influence on filmmaking

Holly Willis, University of Southern California

A glitchy-looking golden Oscar statuette set up against a black backdrop.

A glitchy-looking golden Oscar statuette set up against a black backdrop.

Do animals have a future on Hollywood sets?

Cynthia Chris, City University of New York

A bearded man wrestles with a large, brown bear in the snow.

A bearded man wrestles with a large, brown bear in the snow.

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Visual art

Why Gen Z is falling in love with film photography

Rotem Rozental, University of Southern California

A group of children gather around a girl holding a strip of developed film in a darkroom.

A group of children gather around a girl holding a strip of developed film in a darkroom.

AI-generated fantasies of US intervention reveal how desperation has narrowed Cuba’s political horizons

Michael J. Bustamante, University of Miami

cartoon on the left and AI image on the right showing Americans as Cuba's liberators

cartoon on the left and AI image on the right showing Americans as Cuba's liberators

Sora’s downfall signals broader problems with AI’s creative utility

Ahmed Elgammal, Rutgers University

Michelangelo hated painting the Sistine Chapel – and never aspired to be a painter to begin with

Anna Swartwood House, University of South Carolina

A woman in a museum gallery views of sketched portrait of a young man wearing a hat.

A woman in a museum gallery views of sketched portrait of a young man wearing a hat.

Read more about visual art

Housing: Visions

Miniature, clear plastic houses laid out side by side in a model of a neighborhood.

Miniature, clear plastic houses laid out side by side in a model of a neighborhood.

A rare bipartisan housing bill just became law – but Americans will still struggle with affordability

Kirk McClure, University of Kansas and Alex Schwartz, The New School

Believe it or not, there was a time when the US government built beautiful homes for working-class Americans to deal with a housing shortage

Eran Ben-Joseph, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A row of newly built homes.

A row of newly built homes.

What if universal rental assistance were implemented to deal with the housing crisis?

Alex Schwartz, The New School and Kirk McClure, University of Kansas

Silhouettes of a young woman and her daughter on a bed piled with bags of personal belongings.

Silhouettes of a young woman and her daughter on a bed piled with bags of personal belongings.

England’s ‘once in a generation’ housing law takes effect as US housing legislation sits in congressional purgatory

Allyson Gold, Wake Forest University

Hundreds of residential rowhouses are seen from the air.

Hundreds of residential rowhouses are seen from the air.

What the world can learn from Uruguay as the global housing crisis deepens

Jennifer Duyne Barenstein, ETH Zurich and Daniela Sanjinés, ETH Zurich

A brick, two-story apartment complex with sidewalks and greenery in front of it.

A brick, two-story apartment complex with sidewalks and greenery in front of it.

Music

An illustration of a man playing a trumpet with colors coming out of the horn and a black background.

An illustration of a man playing a trumpet with colors coming out of the horn and a black background.

What I found when I scanned the brains of kids creating tunes on the piano

Karen Barrett, University of California, San Francisco

200 years after his birth, controversial composer Stephen Foster still sings to America’s contradictions

Christopher Lynch, University of Pittsburgh

Three separate copies of sheet music, with the one in the middle titled 'Massa's In De Cold Ground' and attributed to Stephen C. Foster.

Three separate copies of sheet music, with the one in the middle titled 'Massa's In De Cold Ground' and attributed to Stephen C. Foster.

How a box set from 1964 attempted to capture the sweep of American music from the colonial era to the counterculture

Ted Olson, East Tennessee State University

black and whgite photograph of a man singing and playing banjo in a crowded room

black and whgite photograph of a man singing and playing banjo in a crowded room

Techno tourism in Detroit – what do visitors owe the city that created the music?

Carla Vecchiola, University of Michigan-Dearborn

side angle of crowd shot showing varying ages and races, some dancing, some standing, and others seated on couches in a backyard setting

side angle of crowd shot showing varying ages and races, some dancing, some standing, and others seated on couches in a backyard setting

30 years after ‘Reasonable Doubt,’ Jay-Z’s career embodies hip-hop’s biggest contradictions

Jabari M. Evans, University of South Carolina

Young Black man sits behind a desk wearing a chain necklace and a baseball hat cocked to the side.

Young Black man sits behind a desk wearing a chain necklace and a baseball hat cocked to the side.

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Literature and writing

A lone tree in a misty field at dawn.

A lone tree in a misty field at dawn.

The art of literary translation exposes the limits of AI

Krupa Shandilya, Amherst College

DIY zines are helping queer communities tell their own stories and craft their own culture

Rachel Schneider, Missouri University of Science and Technology

A young woman seated in a chair in a wood paneled room surrounded by shelves with zines and a wall with various images and flyers tacked to it.

A young woman seated in a chair in a wood paneled room surrounded by shelves with zines and a wall with various images and flyers tacked to it.

Despite all the likes, literallys and dropped g’s, English isn’t decaying before our eyes

Valerie M. Fridland, University of Nevada, Reno

A fork lifts alphabet pasta letters that spell out 'help.'

A fork lifts alphabet pasta letters that spell out 'help.'

Artemis II moonshot reflects a spacefaring vision present in Jules Verne’s 19th-century novel

Anastasia Klimchynskaya, Illinois Wesleyan University

The Earth, partially shadowed, visible beyond the lunar horizon.

The Earth, partially shadowed, visible beyond the lunar horizon.

Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel-writing machines’

Laura Beers, American University

An open book with text in binary code, set against a red background.

An open book with text in binary code, set against a red background.

Read more about books

Media

As AI reshapes newsrooms, leading media outlets are charting different paths for its use

Erik P. Bucy, Texas Tech University and Milad Jalalian Ebrahimi, Texas Tech University

A journalist speaks to a camera while standing in front of the BBC's headquarters.

A journalist speaks to a camera while standing in front of the BBC's headquarters.

TMZ descends on Washington in a test of whether tabloid tactics can serve the public interest

Angelica Kalika, University of Colorado Boulder

A TMZ microphone is seen among a bouquet of microphones from other media outlets.

A TMZ microphone is seen among a bouquet of microphones from other media outlets.

As goes CBS Radio News, so goes the idea that news media should serve the public interest

Matthew Jordan, Penn State

Black and white photograph of a young man wearing a suit and reading from a piece of paper into a radio microphone.

Black and white photograph of a young man wearing a suit and reading from a piece of paper into a radio microphone.

The two lives of Chuck Norris

Ben Pettis, University of Richmond

Young, fit man with blonde, shoulder length hair and a beard poses in a field wearing blue jeans and a tight, white t-shirt.

Young, fit man with blonde, shoulder length hair and a beard poses in a field wearing blue jeans and a tight, white t-shirt.

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History

A road at dusk featuring neon signs, including a raised one spanning one side of the road to the other, featuring a neon version of a Route 66 highway marker.

A road at dusk featuring neon signs, including a raised one spanning one side of the road to the other, featuring a neon version of a Route 66 highway marker.

As Route 66 turns 100, what is it that we’re actually celebrating?

Daniel Milowski, Arizona State University

FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution

Julia Gaffield, William & Mary

Young Black man tugs on his blue and red soccer jersey during a match.

Young Black man tugs on his blue and red soccer jersey during a match.

Why are buttons and zippers on different sides of men’s and women’s clothes?

JuYoung Lee, Mississippi State University and Caroline Kobia, Mississippi State University

Closeup view of a white button against blue-and-white striped textile

Closeup view of a white button against blue-and-white striped textile

As renaissance fairs become big business, can they retain their counterculture roots?

Katrina Stack, University of Tennessee and Reagan Yessler, Pellissippi State Community College

A line of actors dressed in colorful 16th-century garb.

A line of actors dressed in colorful 16th-century garb.

The costume maker who convinced Hersheypark to embrace candy mascots and ‘chocolatize’ their old-timey theme park

John Haddad, Penn State

Statues of a smiling and waving Hershey's Kiss, Hershey's Chocolate Bar and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

Statues of a smiling and waving Hershey's Kiss, Hershey's Chocolate Bar and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

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Gender and sexuality

How LGBTQ employees at Kodak risked their careers to build a safer, more inclusive workplace

Tamar Carroll, Rochester Institute of Technology

A group of men and women hold rainbow umbrellas and wear T-shirts reading 'Pride @ Kodak.'

A group of men and women hold rainbow umbrellas and wear T-shirts reading 'Pride @ Kodak.'

Who was the first transgender person?

Ky Merkley, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Nick Winters, Northwestern University

statue of a sphinx

statue of a sphinx

How Amazon workers made glamour a form of protest

Eileen G'Sell, Washington University in St. Louis

Looksmaxxing isn’t just a TikTok trend – it often reflects severe body image issues in teen boys and young men

Jordyn Tovey, University of Michigan

Young man with curly hair examining his face in the mirror.

Young man with curly hair examining his face in the mirror.

Read more about gender and sexuality

Cities

Elderly people walk along a sidewalk in front of storefronts, including one with a sign reading 'Hebrew Religious Articles.'

Elderly people walk along a sidewalk in front of storefronts, including one with a sign reading 'Hebrew Religious Articles.'

Lower East Side street named for ‘King of Comics’ Jack Kirby, a nod to one of the countless kids of immigrants who shaped the genre

Miriam Eve Mora, University of Michigan

Yellow vehicles work on construction grounds to the right of a stately, white residence.

Yellow vehicles work on construction grounds to the right of a stately, white residence.

In his efforts to remake federal architecture, Trump repudiates the ‘republican ideals’ that have long informed it

Kevin D. Murphy, Vanderbilt University

Read more about cities

Television

Man in red sports uniform and black helmet is belly down on slide filled with green goo

Man in red sports uniform and black helmet is belly down on slide filled with green goo

Philadelphia’s rich history of children’s television includes ‘Double Dare’ and a golden age of local hosts like Chief Halftown and Captain Noah

Jared Bahir Browsh, University of Colorado Boulder

‘Heartstopper’ is helping LGBTQ+ fans find hope and community across time and space

Annaliese Grant, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Carrie Grant, Towson University

Two boys smiling at each other in a dim room bathed in neon lights

Two boys smiling at each other in a dim room bathed in neon lights

5 reasons Stephen Colbert is one of the most important satirists in American history

Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State

Smiling man poses while wearing a glittering red, white and blue American flag vest.

Smiling man poses while wearing a glittering red, white and blue American flag vest.

TikTok’s popular microdramas shrink TV into bite-sized chunks

Jessica Maddox, University of Georgia and Krysten Stein, University of Cincinnati

Young Black woman speaks into a microphone while seated in a white sofa chair on a stage.

Young Black woman speaks into a microphone while seated in a white sofa chair on a stage.

HBO’s ‘The Pitt’ nails how hospital cyberattacks create chaos, endanger patients and disrupt critical care

Jeffrey Tully, University of California, San Diego and Christian Dameff, University of California, San Diego

Medical staff from the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center stabilize a patient.

Medical staff from the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center stabilize a patient.

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Lifestyle

A mom, a dad and two young kids traverse rocky terrain as birds fly over them.

A mom, a dad and two young kids traverse rocky terrain as birds fly over them.

Why fatherhood matters more than ever before

Darby Saxbe, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

What we misunderstand about absent fathers

Matthew Alemu, University of Michigan; Northeastern University

Close-up of man's arm with a space between his daughter's arm, suggesting distance and coldness.

Close-up of man's arm with a space between his daughter's arm, suggesting distance and coldness.

Older Americans are often compelled to keep working – and then criticized for not stepping aside

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, University of North Dakota

A sharply dressed older woman ducks into a car.

A sharply dressed older woman ducks into a car.

Food

The rise of Yemeni coffeehouses in Dearborn and beyond

Sally Howell, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Man prepares coffee

Man prepares coffee

Starbucks’ big marketing blunder in South Korea shows how cultural blind spots can put global brands in a bind

Karen Stollznow, University of Colorado Boulder; Griffith University

Juneteenth’s real meaning is written on the plates of smoked meats, potato salad and watermelon

Bobby J. Smith II, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Man holds an aluminum tray of grilled meats in the foreground while a large number of people socialize in the background.

Man holds an aluminum tray of grilled meats in the foreground while a large number of people socialize in the background.

Butter or margarine? A food scientist describes their subtle chemical deviations and how they can affect your baked goods

Rosemary Trout, Drexel University

A square pat of margarine melting in a pan

A square pat of margarine melting in a pan

Read more about food

Most read this week

1.
Trump’s slapdash Reflecting Pool renovations stand in stark contrast to years of deliberation and engineering ingenuity that went into its creation
Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University