Culture

We have all encountered someone vain. Perhaps someone we know personally, a celebrity we’ve come across, or a fictional character. More often than not, they get under our skin. Film characters are no exception to this idea of vanity. These are the characters that make you want to throw your popcorn in the air or your remote at the TV. We might love to hate them, or just simply hate them, but they add a certain undeniable quality to a film; the quality of being human. Whilst we might never admit, or openly embrace it, we are all a little vain. That’s what makes us human. Yet, do we really need these vain film characters? What do they add to a film? Let’s take a look.Starting off strong with a classic vain character: Gaston, the arrogant antagonist of the 1991 animated Disney film 'Beauty a...

By Matthew Gibbons Modernity is subjective, relative, and paradoxical - it both encompasses everything, yet ultimately amounts to nothing.  By definition, ‘modernity’ denotes all that is ‘modern’, the attributes of recent and current culture, society, politics - everything that uniquely exists in the present and recent past. So what is unique to our time? One might think of computers, the internet, social media, bluetooth, virtual & augmented reality, deepfakes and generative AI…in other words, the newest technology. The period of History we are currently experiencing is sometimes referred to as ‘The Digital Age’ or ‘The Age Of Information’ because of the prominence of technological development - but is an era only defined by its scientific progress, or is technological...

By Habiba Khalil A mere 407 years ago, our truly beloved Shakespeare died, but not in vain, for he thankfully set the standard of a true love story for us all before departing. Romeo and Juliet is argued as one of the greatest love stories to ever exist, but would they have lasted in a modern world? A 2024 love story would no doubt have sent Shakespeare crawling into his grave again. I mean, can you imagine explaining a situationship to him? Therefore, it is obviously my job to introduce Romeo and Juliet to the twenty-first Century and hope and pray that I stay off William’s haunting list. Let me set a quick scene for you. The play ends not with a dramatic death scene but instead Romeo and Juliet stumbling across a time machine, right as they are about to die in the name of eternal ...

By Ruby Day -- Senior Culture Editor Last August marked the 30th anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s Grace. Defined by haunting vocals of unfiltered yearning and timeless instrumentation, the album has captivated the hearts and souls of most that have ever come across it. Since his debut at Sin-é in 1993, Jeff Buckley himself has become a mythological figure in the music industry. In large part because of Grace, the indisputable work of art precursing a stellar career that never was. Throughout the 1990s and beyond, certified music legends have had nothing but praise for Grace. David Bowie credited the album as one that would keep him company on a desert island. Leonard Cohen admired Buckley for reimbuing his track Hallelujah with melancholic vitality. Bob Dylan and Jimmy Page both consid...