Culture and media
Taking our cue from Raymond Williams’ ‘culture is ordinary’, we explore how politics works through old and new media, books, film, stage and screen, music and sport.
We cover a breadth of themes, from representations of class, race and gender in the arts, to progressive and reactionary uses of nostalgia, to the grassroots voices democratising the channels of communication.
Taking our cue from Raymond Williams’ ‘culture is ordinary’, we explore how politics works through old and new media, books, film, stage and screen, music and sport.
We cover a breadth of themes, from representations of class, race and gender in the arts, to progressive and reactionary uses of nostalgia, to the grassroots voices democratising the channels of communication.
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When the people made television: the BBC’s Community Programme Unit
An exhibition revisiting a radically different, democratic approach to programming in the 1970s prompts Andrew Dolan to consider whether another BBC is still imaginable today
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Greater than the Sum of Our Parts – review
Nada Elia’s book touches on a number of interesting themes, but fails to shift its focus from the academy to grassroots organising, argues Jeanine Hourani
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Monopolywood: Why the Paramount accords should not be repealed
Repealing the Paramount accords could set independent cinema back, writes Vaughn Joy
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Abolition Revolution – review
Abolition Revolution looks to a future free of the punitive systems that permeate British society, argues Shahed Ezaydi
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The Full Monty at 25
A quarter of a century after its release, The Full Monty still resonates today. Alex Green revisits a working-class story told with compassion and humour
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This Arab is Queer – review
Elias Jahshan’s anthology paints a vibrant picture of queer Arab life on its own terms, writes Aneesha Hussain
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Riot daze
In the current political climate, despair come easy. From Pussy Riot to queer cabaret, we must find hope in one another, argues Siobhan McGuirk