Arts and Entertainment 

By Athena Somogyi

When I first read “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore, I remember thinking not only were the characters compelling, but the world itself was captivating. At first glance, it may seem like a generic medieval setting with superpowers added to make the story interesting, but the way the two aspects are interwoven is fascinating.

What is really distinct about the world to me is how the story deals with superpowers, called “Graces.” Graces can be anything from being able to hold your breath for a long time to controlling other people’s minds. The only way to tell that someone is a Graceling is by their two different colored eyes.

In six of the seven kingdoms, Gracelings are property of the king. The king then either puts them to work for himself or deems their Grace useless, and sends them home. 

In my view, this is quite an interesting setup because it feels so realistic. Stories where superpowers are either worshiped or shunned completely don’t make sense to me, as people will always fear those who are different, and will always want to control power and use it for themselves.

“Graceling” combines these two aspects of human nature very naturally. Common people who interact with Gracelings who were sent home fear and avoid them, and each of the six kings control Gracelings whose powers they deem useful for their own benefit.

Cashore does an amazing job interweaving plot and character growth. The book is primarily focused on the main character, Katsa, and what she goes through to understand her Grace. Her Grace manifested when she was eight, and gives her the ability to easily kill. 

Throughout the book, readers are brought along as Katsa figures out what her Grace really is, and how she can use it as her own. All her life she had been used as the attack dog of her uncle, the king. Katsa formed an underground rebel group to control the damage the kings are doing to the common people, and through this learns of a kidnapping.

Although the main villain isn’t revealed until midway through the book, Cashore includes enough tension and intrigue to keep readers captivated. Katsa, along with another Graceling she meets, travels around the continent to uncover the mystery of the missing person. As she travels, she grows as a person and discovers her own moral compass.  

Overall, “Graceling” is a book that balances character development, plot progression, and worldbuilding to a degree that it remains enjoyable to reread. There is romance, but it feels natural and smooth without obstructing the plot. Enough hints of the true villain are dropped throughout the book that a reread is worth it, but not so many that reading it for the first time is confusing.

By Ashen Rain Blumberg

Three years ago, my dad invited me to watch “The New Mutants” for the first time. Both curious yet aware that I could barely hold still during most live-action movies at the time, I accepted the offer, knowing nothing about the movie nor its critical reception. I’m more than glad I walked into it blind 

“The New Mutants,"  rather than focusing on the greater good, focuses on the importance of our own justice and those closest to us. It values interpersonal relationships and tells a story about teenagers facing their greatest fears, in a literal sense. 

The movie currently holds an undeserving 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some people would argue that the naive, rose-tinted glasses of a child mask movie flaws, and when they’re watched again, they’re grown out of and said movies become less enjoyable, saved merely by nostalgia. After “The New Mutants” was taken off of HBO Max, it took me three years to find another way to watch it for the third time, and so I found even more reasons to love it. 

Since 2019, a minimum of six Marvel movies have been funded by the Department of Defense, which inherently affects the variety of messaging allowed to be published under these circumstances. “The New Mutants," although adapted from the titular Marvel comic, separates itself from the “superhero” genre by branching out into a psychological thriller, allowing the standard PG-13-rated movie to explore more mature themes surrounding grief and autonomy. Its characters actively work against becoming what others want them to be.

Parts of the movie could be interpreted as criticism of military recruitment tactics and the aftermath of their success. When people’s hardships cannot be taken advantage of, they are seen as disposable. Children today are especially vulnerable to this phenomenon.

Some teenagers use ignorance, hate, and harm to hide their vulnerability in order to shield themselves from being hurt like they were in the past, none of which is justified, as the movie makes painfully clear. Some have the potential to carry these unhealthy coping mechanisms into adulthood, which would continue to damage others and themselves in the long run, which is exactly how the enemy wins. In order to move the story forward, they must work toward acknowledging their actions and the feelings inspiring them, then learn how to let down the walls they built around them, then let people in who may relate to their struggle.

The movie’s antagonist remains ambiguous, as conflict in writing includes man versus man, man versus supernatural, man versus society, and eventually man versus self. The lack of an apocalyptic threat shifts focus to character development and harnesses fantasy elements to tackle personal conflict.

The movie brings back nostalgia for those who have read the books, all while standing well on its own for those who are either unfamiliar with the comic series or less inclined toward superhero stories in general. “The New Mutants” offers a full-course meal in its eerily silent cafeteria, with each side dish dedicated to all who give it a chance and embrace the experience with open arms. 

Due to marketing choices, it may come as a surprise to some that “The New Mutants” is the first superhero movie in all of United States history to display main characters in a queer relationship, as well as the first X-Men movie to feature a lesbian couple. The X-Men franchise has long been known to connect mutants with metaphors for the Civil Rights movement, and this instance combines them with reality. 

One of the character’s experiences as a mutant reflects many queer people’s experience’s with religious trauma and other hostile childhood environments. People don’t feel self-conscious about themselves until they are told by others that a specific way they may exist is wrong. Sometimes, they will be told by others that those parts of themselves are beautiful, and from there, it’s up to them to decide whether or not they believe it. 

These characters bring each other up on a journey to accepting and living with the beauty of their powers together. Their relationship in the movie was seen by crew members as an extension of their telepathic connection in the comics. 

This does more than provide representation to young queer people who don’t see themselves as much in the mainstream superhero franchise. This relationship between the two during their discovery of love for each other, as well as the other character’s journeys, serves to send a subversive message that encourages youth to refuse to believe they should be melded into becoming what others want them to be, including weapons. 

Once I began to watch, I could feel the tension and chemistry between the characters from the moment they met, nearly twenty minutes in.  The mere idea of LGBTQ+ presence in media was often dangled above loyal franchises like Polaroid photos of carrot scraps to a truffle pig’s snout. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all in my head, until I saw it was real, irreplaceable, and left room to develop into something substantial.

The characters’ queerness, while far from their sole qualities, adds another level of depth to the overarching theme: accepting the parts of yourself others may find frightening or otherwise undesirable. The carefully crafted scenes make a subtextual point that queer people don’t exist in a vacuum; they are people who were all once kids who went through it. The movie’s original score puts you in the boots of the characters, pulling you into their intimate space. Cinematic tactics like these demonstrate that studios don’t need bright lights and flowers to show that in the moments they’re finally happy, their joy ever-so-gently beams across what once were despairing grassy fields, like the subtle sun’s life-giving warmth at midnight. This movie makes character relationships central to the story in order to heighten the stakes and remind us that it’s completely valid to feel afraid of what scares us most, even if it’s “not the end of the world.”. 

As a lesbian who was just starting to become a teenager, it was really important to see this kind of naturally building representation, which made itself an essential part of the story. The characters in this movie encouraged me to embrace the unique and uncontrollable parts of myself in spite of what others think, and the ability to do that for anyone is all the more heroic.

By Marina GonzalezPerez

Kong x Godzilla: The New Empire came out on March 29, 2024. The movie is around two hours long; however, it does feel a bit rushed. The film wastes no time diving into the action, with King and Godzilla clashing in spectacular fashion against the backdrop of a futuristic cityscape. The CGI used was phenomenal. The effort that Ben Sensin, the cinematographer, and his group put in to get the scenes done to their full potential was evident. The scale of the battles is nothing short of breathtaking, as skyscrapers crumble and explosions light up the screen in displays of destruction. There’s been a lot of debate about whether there is an overuse of CGI instead of props. However, I believe that the CGI adds a jaw-dropping visual effect that heightens the experience of capturing an imaginary world, which in this case is Hollow Earth.

Although mixed reviews of the movie have been made, the movie has made over 480 million dollars in box office, with the budget for the movie being between 135 and 150 million dollars.

What truly sets "Kong x Godzilla: The New Empire" apart, however, is its commitment to character-driven storytelling; the human characters are given ample room to shine, with standout performances from the cast. The acting captured the emotion that was meant to be portrayed. Kaylee Hottle, who was Jia in the film, has done an excellent job at using facial expressions and helping you feel the emotion. Her adoptive mother, Dr. Llene Andrews, who was played by Rebecca Halls, does a great job expressing herself to her daughter and showing her bond with her. When there was a scene of sign language, even though you couldn’t hear Jia’s voice, you could feel the emotion through the sign language. In addition, the animation of Kong’s face was very well done. There was great use of expression, and you could tell what Kong was trying to express.  Followed by the intricate details of King's fur and the sheer ferocity of Godzilla's atomic breath, every frame shows the power of modern filmmaking technology.

Whether you're a longtime fan of the franchise or simply in search of a thrill ride unlike any other, "Kong x Godzilla: The New Empire" is an experience you won't soon forget. I suggest you watch the movie. If you want to check this action-filled movie out yourself, the movie is available for streaming on Vudu, Apple, YouTube, Amazon, and Max.

By KhoiHoang Nguyen

In his newest book published on March 26, 2024, Jonathan Haidt, American social psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of business, uses novel yet credible data culminating from decades of research to conclusively prove an convincing connection between smartphone usage in teenagers and their soaring rates of depression, suicide, and anxiety.

Haidt starts by outlining the fact that “unsupervised outdoor play declined at the same time that the personal computer became more common and more inviting as a place for spending free time” as a principal reason for social media addiction, naming parental overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world as contributors, while advocating for restrictions on smartphones/social media both in the family and in the schoolhouse as well as childhood independence as solutions. 

He argues that because depression and anxiety rates among college students have more than doubled in the past 10 years, claims that this was caused by economic trends, school shootings, or polarized politics, are easily refuted, as people who lived through more turbulent times like the Great Depression and World War II did not exhibit similar behavioral changes.

Throughout the book, Haidt enumerates a long list of startling statistics reflecting the state of mental health in America, particularly that of teenagers, coupled with a compelling analysis to support all the points he makes. For instance, violent crime has dropped continuously since the 1990s while a record high of 45 million illegal images like child pornography were flagged on the Internet last year, backing up his claim that children are overprotected in the real world but underprotected in the virtual world.

Describing giving smartphones to adolescents as “the largest uncontrolled experiment humanity has ever performed on its own children,” Haidt asserts, “The first generation of Americans who went through puberty with smartphones and the entire Internet in their hands became more anxious, depressed, self-harming, and suicidal. We now call that generation Gen Z.”

While critics may dispute Haidt’s findings and claims as alarmist, he is insistent that “No other theory has been able to explain why rates of anxiety and depression surged among adolescents in so many countries at the same time and in the same way”, as the phenomenon is now also seen all over the Anglosphere and Nordic countries.

At the same moment social media companies like TikTok are coming under fire over allegations of espionage and privacy concerns, Haidt puts a considerable amount of blame on them for facilitating the “great rewiring of childhood”, noting that an early leader of Facebook once admitted that the goal of Facebook and Instagram founders was to create “a social-validation feedback loop… exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology”. 

He claims that as it is human nature to imitate successful and prestigious people, social media creates an illusion of success and prestige through “likes and followers”, where people are often “famous for being famous”--among the top ten most followed Instagram accounts is Kim Kardashian, who gained fame over a leaked sex tape, and now has a following of 400 million, larger than the population of the United States itself. 

Haidt describes social media as being inherently prestige based, and therefore diverting the time of children from imitating people that could actually make them successful in the real world. Humans have sensitive periods where they are able to learn languages and assimilate into culture extremely well between ages seven and 15, and as children generally get their first smartphone around age 11, they are extremely susceptible to getting socialized into Tiktok, Instagram and video game culture for the rest of their teenage years, and even beyond.

If readers want an information-packed book that still tells a compelling story explaining the science between social trends observed over the past 40 years, then this is the book for them.

By Haley Ng

In most zombie movies and TV shows, zombies are created by a virus that infects humans to become cannibalistic walking corpses. In “Parasyte: The Grey,” humans are infected by “parasytes,” aliens that crawl into human ears to eat the brain and control that body as their own. 

“Parasyte: The Grey'' is a live-action thriller Korean TV series directed by Yeon Sang-ho, which was released on Netflix recently on April 5, 2024. The show is a spin-off from the manga “Parasyte,” written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki. Prior to the release of the live-action, an anime adaptation was also released, “Parasyte: The Maxim,” and is available to watch on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Crunchyroll, and Fandango. 

When I first saw the preview on Netflix, I assumed this would be similar to other Korean zombie TV shows, like “Train to Busan'' and “All of Us Are Dead,” because they both include their own versions of a “traditional zombie” trope, where the public gets infected by a man-made virus. It was refreshing to see this branch-off of the zombie apocalypse genre because of the suspense of finding out who is a parasyte, since the aliens are verbal, unlike zombies, and can communicate in Korean. 

Parasytes are aliens that mysteriously rained down from the sky into Korea. As soon as they reach the ground, the centipede-like creatures look for a human ear to go inside and eat the brain to take control of the human body. 

Su-in (Jeong So-nee), the protagonist, is infected by one of the parasytes at the same time she had gotten stabbed by a psychotic man. The parasyte then heals her and kills the man to protect Su-in, evidently saving itself since it needs a human to survive. But since it used all of its energy to save Su-in’s body, it didn’t have enough strength to eat her brain, leaving it to only take control of her for short periods of time, which makes her a “half-breed.”

Throughout the show, the other parasytes that landed in Korea despise half-breeds, as they are considered traitors for keeping humans alive. But as Su-in is trying to protect herself from other parasytes, a police force unit that targets parasytes, “Grey Team,” is also hunting her down. 

This contributes to her meeting an important ally, a runaway gang member, Kang-woo (Koo Kyo-hwan). He encounters Su-in while being under the control of the parasyte, whom he later names Heidi, and continues to stick with Su-in for the duration of the show. 

Even though he was helpful to Su-in through trials and fighting scenes, it took me a while to actually believe they had a good relationship. Whenever I see them interact, their conversations are short, and their interactions are awkward. . It would be more enjoyable to see more emotional connections between the characters. 

When the two are fighting parasytes, or Grey Team, Kang-woo shows compassion for Su-in and is willing to help her, but in quieter scenes, they barely show any chemistry. 

The two also have very different personalities in the show. Su-in is passive and caring, which contrasts against Kang-woo’s personality, which is also impulsive but cowardly at times. 

For example, when Su-in and Kang-woo are hiding from Grey Team, Heidi takes control, and they make a plan that she will fight and he will get a car for them to escape. Kang-woo ends up breaking this promise in fear, leaving Heidi to get captured. But as he’s running away, he gets caught by Cheol-min (Kwon Hae-hyo), a Grey Team police officer who is friends with Su-in, at the airport, who then convinces him to help Su-in escape from Grey Team.

I noticed the most important decisions, such as whether or not to attack or stay on the defense against parasytes, were made by Heidi or Kang-woo. I wish Su-in took more initiative towards the dynamic of the team. Su-in and Kang-woo tend to have different opinions, and it makes it appear as if they do not work well together, which I find very frustrating. 

Heidi and Su-in also have no physical way of talking to each other, which contributes to why Su-in does not have a say in dangerous situations, so Heidi takes control. 

I admire Jeong So-nee’s portrayal of Heidi and Su-in. Despite one person playing two characters, Jeong marvelously distinguishes the two characters clearly through changing the tone of her voice, facial expressions, and body mannerisms. 

Despite my critiques, the show itself is quite enjoyable because of the alternative trope to the zombie genre of adapting aliens that infect humans instead of viruses, making walking, brain-dead corpses. “Parasyte: The Grey” is suspenseful and thrilling. I always looked forward to watching the next episode, and I hope a new season comes out soon.