Critics at Large | The New Yorker
Episodes
The Painful Pleasure of “Wretched Love”
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As much as contemporary audiences relish a happily ever after, some of the greatest romances of all time are ones that have turned out badly. In this ...
Why We Can’t Quit the Mean Girl
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If some of us have managed to avoid mean girls in life, we’ve had no such luck in art. The “mean girl”—a picture of idealized femininity who u...
From In the Dark: The Runaway Princesses
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The wives and daughters of Dubai’s ruler live in unbelievable luxury. So why do the women in Sheikh Mohammed’s family keep trying to run away? The...
What Is the Comic For?
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special, “The Dreamer,” has drawn criticism for its targeting of trans and disabled people–the latest in a string...
The Case for Criticism
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz turn their attention to the art—and purp...
Can Slowness Save Us?
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, in the realms of self-improvement literature, Instagram influencers, and wellness gurus, an idea has taken hold: that in a non-stop w...
Portraits of the Artist
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hollywood’s obsession with stories about creative types has resulted in familiar tropes—namely that of the tortured artist, whose fanatical devoti...
From The New Yorker Radio Hour: a Conversation with Dolly Parton
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After six decades as an icon in country music, it’s hard to imagine Dolly Parton had anything to prove. But when she was inducted into the Rock &a...
The Year of the Doll
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the highest-grossing movie of 2023, Barbie, a literal doll, leaves the comforts of Barbieland and ventures into real-world Los Angeles, where she d...
George Santos and the Art of the Scam
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the weeks since George Santos was expelled from Congress, his story has been funnelled straight into the entertainment pipeline, from a memorable s...
Hayao Miyazaki’s Magical Realms
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Margaret Talbot, writing in The New Yorker in 2005, recounted that when animators at Pixar got stuck on a project they’d file into a screening room ...
The Past, Present, and Future of the Period Drama
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From Merchant Ivory’s classic adaptations of E. M. Forster novels to the BBC’s beloved rendition of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” the...
Samantha Irby Knows How to Be Funny
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Samantha Irby’s latest essay collection, “Quietly Hostile,” cemented her place as one of the great professionally funny people working today. He...
Is “The Golden Bachelor” Too Good to Be True?
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Reality television is all about artifice, and contestants on “The Bachelor” often seem more interested in becoming influencers than in finding a s...
Why We Dine Out (or Don’t)
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the years since the pandemic began, the experience of dining out has been utterly transformed. Coveted tables now disappear seconds after they’re...
Britney Spears Tells Her Horror Story
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The celebrity memoir has long been a place for public figures to set the record straight on the story of their lives. By any measure, Britney Spears’...
Martin Scorsese’s America
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout his career, Martin Scorsese has traced crime, greed, and corruption across American life. In his new film, he turns his gaze to the viole...
Are Straight Couples O.K.?
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout film history, heterosexual relationships have served as a battleground for questions of sex, power, and equality. From the 1949 screwball c...
Spies, Sex, and John le Carré
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1963, a British spy writing under the pen name John le Carré published a novel that shot to the top of best-seller lists worldwide. After the su...
Taylor Swift Is Everywhere All at Once
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Swift has long been the subject of adoration, scrutiny, and debate—but it wasn’t until this summer, as the Eras Tour filled football stadiu...
The Myth-Making of Elon Musk
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk’s presence in our lives is inescapable: his cars roam our streets, his satellites orbit our skies, and his purchase of X—formerly known ...
What Is Cringecore, and Why Is It Everywhere?
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the inaugural episode of The New Yorker’s new culture podcast, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz make sens...
Introducing: Critics at Large
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On Critics at Large, a new weekly culture podcast from The New Yorker, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss ...