Pop Culture

Whether you’ve watched every episode of Friends multiple times or just know when to clap during the theme song, there’s no question as to the show’s ongoing cultural importance. 

This September, Jonathan Van Ness disclosed his HIV-positive status in an interview with the New York Times. This revelation came in advance of the hairstylist and Queer Eye cast member’s new book, Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love.

Across North American TV and film, a prevailing theme proves everyone has the right to love who they want, regardless of race.

Bachelor in Paradise had its sixth season finale last week, and it was mostly business as usual onscreen: steamy Fantasy Suite visits, dramatic fights in the sand, and unnecessarily long reunion scenes.

This September, Mississauga-born Bianca Andreescu won the US Open against veteran tennis star Serena Williams.

I still remember when a big vape cloud descended over my high school.

While Netflix offers a vast selection of crime dramas to binge watch, Unbelievable is unlike any other.

I grew up in Oakville, Ontario, a city ranked the best place to live in Canada in 2018. My high school had Smartboards, laptops, tablets, and all the rest. But most importantly, my teachers and counselors gave me the confidence and the tools to make it to Queen’s, launching me on a path toward a successful life and career. 

Netflix’s latest teen rom-com Tall Girl attempts to chronicle the process of overcoming an insecurity—but doesn’t quite make it work. 

While celebrities are most often thought of as figureheads reinforcing rigid standards of beauty and gender roles, they can also use their influence to help normalize less-accepted or misunderstood facets of society. Recently, Sam Smith did exactly that.

In recent months, the Brazilian Amazon, the Earth’s largest tropical rainforest and its most biodiverse region, has been devastated by thousands of fires—and it continues to burn. 

I believe public and private enterprises are key to saving the environment. Although private enterprises have spent years turning a blind eye to the environment’s welfare for the sake of profit, I think our generation’s sense of global responsibility can help to bring change.  

With federal elections looming in both Canada and the US, politicians have been emphasizing for months where they stand on hot-button issues like the economy, job security, and health care. One of these issues that’s become increasingly polarized is the world climate crisis.

When I heard the new Quentin Tarantino movie was about the Manson Family, a radicalized cult, and their 1969 murder of American actress Sharon Tate, I was concerned. The writer-director is known for delighting in gore, and I feared the film would glorify the crimes and their perpetrators.

The Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why is one of the most controversial, boundary-pushing television shows on the platform—and perhaps in modern television. But despite its strong first season and talented cast, the series has since proven it should never have continued past its initial 13 episodes.

Lizzo’s hit empowering song “Truth Hurts” is poised to be nominated for the 2020 Grammys—two years after its initial release.