CULTURAL RADAR
FRESH MANIFESTO
ROX MAGAZINE
CULTURAL RADAR
It pays to keep your earbuds to the tracks and square-eyes on the prizewinners. This is a banner year for everything cultural, with all things digital fostering rather than hindering artistic creativity, nurturing our attention spans rather than blunting, and all along threatening nothing to the 45rpm twelve-inch, printed word or static picture. Words by Alex Doak.
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THE SCREEN
THE STREAM
THE EXHIBITION
JOKER
THE POLITICIAN
CONSCIENCE MATTERS
If you’re fed up with superheroes after the 10-year, 21-film bloated Marvel whale that was finally washed up in Avengers: Endgame, then think of this as a palettecleanser. As the name suggests, this is a reimagining of Batman’s nemesis and his origin myth, set in the 1980s and following the plight of struggling stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck whose failure with audiences, and brutal treatment at the hands of various groups of men, drives him insane and into crime. A murky, beautifully shot portrayal of the descent into madness, owing debt to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s seminal graphic novel The Killing Joke.
The small screen is where the A-list is at these days. There’s Meryl doing her bit for mother-in-laws everywhere in Big Little Lies; John Hamm putting his jawline to good use as the Angel Gabriel in Good Omens; and now it’s the turn of jade-egg touting, vagina-steaming Gwyneth Paltrow who will be on small screens later on this year in Netflix’s The Politician. Details are scant at the time of press, but there are rumours of musical numbers and violent teen deaths, so think Heathers meets Glee. We think. (Starts September 27.)
During WWII 60,000 men and women chose not to fight for religious, political or moral reasons. Despite having to prove your reasons sufficiently or face prison, there was a stigma, or an aura of cowardice, attached to these conscientious objectors. This judiciously curated show at Edinburgh’s National War Museum brings together stories, paintings, letters and speeches, valiantly attempting to redefine these brave people who took a stand for the things in which they believed, in the face of public condemnation. Truly an exhibition for our times.
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