Exploring Privilege with Sofia the First

Originally appearing in the Apex Publications blog (now defunct), May 2014 I’m a mom so I end up watching a good deal of children’s TV. Some shows are better than others, but all in all the recent crop of kids’ programming is overall pretty good. They have good production values, interesting storylines, and teach valuable life lessons without getting preachy. Case in point, Disney Junior’s Sofia the First. A quick primer: Sofia and her mom, Miranda, were commoners in the village. King Roland (who we assume is widowed but so far as I know, no mention has been made about what happened to the spouse of either of the adult characters) falls in love with Miranda and they get married. Poof, Sofia is now a princess with two royal step-siblings James and Amber...

Shakespeare, Feminism, and Joss Whedon

Originally appearing in the Apex Publications blog (now defunct), March 2014. Shakespeare is NOT the forefront of anyone’s mind when someone mentions “feminist literature,” but Much Ado About Nothing comes closest to our modern sensibilities. It features a female-heavy cast and barely squeaks past the Bechdel test, but it does pass. Hero and Ursula talk about Beatrice and then Hero, Margaret, and Beatrice talk about Beatrice’s cold. Not a lot to go on but technically, they aren’t speaking to one another solely about a man. It’s tough as this is basically a romantic comedy so relationships are the main thrust (giggedy) of the plot. What makes Much Ado so palatable to the modern audience is Beatrice with all her wit and sass and self-actualization. That...

The 1913 Armory Show and Speculative Fiction

Originally published in the Apex Publications blog (now defunct), January 2014 In February 1913, one hundred (and one!) years ago, an amazing thing happened in America: it was introduced to Modern Art. The 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue in New York City was a far cry from the glamorous museum space one would expect to showcase Van Gogh, Picasso, Cezanne, and their contemporaries today. But in 1913, it was all they could secure, and all they could afford. The Armory Show in New York was the launching point for this new brand of art in the United States, it had already paid its dues in Europe. One of the things new to this art movement is that it went beyond a mere visual experience with art and sought to interact with people on a deeper level. Cubism...

Lovecraft and Speculative Realism: Making the Known Strange and Terrifying

Originally appearing in the Apex Publications blog (now defunct), May 2013. It’s official! When we think “Weird Fiction,” we think Lovecraft! But what exactly makes Lovecraft so weird? What I think makes his work resonate so well with readers is how damn plausible these encounters are. He writes of horrors that lurk not necessarily in exotic, bizarre places but close to home, in fact many of them ARE the home. “Rats in the Walls,” “The Shunned House,” “Dreams in the Witch House” to name a few that turn the mundane into the frightening. Lovecraft gets there by way of language. In Brian Kim Stefans’s Salon.com article, “HP Lovecraft, pulp philosopher,” he reviews and deconstructs Graham Harman’s book, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and...

The Missing Literary Link: Tolkien, Language, and Forgotten Myths

Originally appearing in the Apex Publications blog (now defunct), April 2013 So we all know that Tolkien wrote the seminal work of modern fantasy, known collectively as The Lord of the Rings, but divided across three books: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, which are each subdivided into several smaller books within those books. If you haven’t heard of this guy or these books, at least tell me you’ve seen the movies. The Lord of the Rings is an amazing tale of the triumph of good over evil, the power of friendship and loyalty, the tenacity of the underdogs, and is shot through with enough myth and poetry to choke a horse. A really, really big horse. I once read an internet rumor (so very trustworthy, right?!) that Tolkien...