80s

Stranger Things Puts the Science (And Much More) Back in Science Fiction

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When you watch Stranger Things, you are immediately transported into a relic of the 1980s. It was a time when adventure was sought out, science was deemed cool and heroism was somewhat synonymous with nerdiness. We are introduced to our heros — four boys around ten years old who strive for scientific exploration, fantastical adventure and unbreakable friendship — and, as viewers, immediately become attached to them. From the beginning of the first episode, there is an underlying element of supernaturalness that becomes much more overt later in the hour. However, unlike most shows for which the basis of the storyline is made up of supernatural events, this show isn’t nauseatingly cheesy or predictable.

Arts & Culture

Imperfect Crime: The People vs. O.J. Simpson

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There is no doubt that The People vs. O.J. Simpson will gain popular traction just by virtue of the nature of its content. Whether it deserves this traction is a valid question; given the interesting cast (Cuba Gooding Jr., David Schwimmer, John Travolta) and its place on a cable channel new to making homemade dramas (FX), it seems that The People vs. O.J. Simpson is predestined to be flawed. While regurgitating a beaten crime story — especially considering the emotional distress the Simpson family must continually face — seems questionable, the show demonstrates how the case has obvious parallels to today’s racial tensions.

Arabic

Theeb: Learning from a Wolf

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One would expect a foreign film like Theeb to provide the audience with some sort of historical backdrop in order to contextualize a niche storyline. However, besides the minimal information that we are now in 1913 Jordan, not much else is given to Theeb’s viewers, who are immediately afterwards thrown into a jarringly different geo-historical perspective limited through the eyes of a child. Viewers quickly learn this child is the titular character Theeb who lives away from sedentary civilization. Historically keen viewers can surmise (or avid Googlers can verify) that Theeb belongs to a nomadic group of people called Bedouins. The intrinsic vagrant nature of Theeb’s life coupled with his naïve youth parallel our limited contextual understanding of the setting of the film.