[New] Tim Burton Defamation

The worlds Tim Burton builds are void of color, and his casting is no exception.

BY NATALIE WILLIAMS

Tim Burton, the father of Gothic avant-garde film, is regarded as the blueprint for outcasts everywhere. With original storylines and adaptations of classics, the filmmaker is one of the most renowned of his generation. Growing up, I was obsessed with his classics, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Corpse Bride,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and the like.

Upon the announcement of Netflix’s “Wednesday,” Burton fans anxiously awaited his first diverse piece of work. The casting of Jenna Ortega, a young Latina woman, seemed like a promise to fans that the director had grown beyond past controversies. Referencing the lack of diversity within his films, Burton was quoted saying, “Things either call for things, or they don’t.” Throughout the forty years Burton has been creating, Wednesday is the first of his works to feature a POC at the forefront. In “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Ken Page, a talented Broadway actor, voiced Oogie Boogie. His 2016 adaptation of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” featured Samuel L. Jackson as Barron. The problem? The only Black actors in both films were the primary antagonists.

If you thought Burton had learned from the backlash he’s received about his racial insensitivity, you’d be mistaken. “Wednesday” is no exception. Bianca, Nevermore Academy’s resident mean girl, is also Black. With so few POC represented in Burton’s work, audiences watch to see what stereotypes these characters fall prey to. Will Tim Burton ever stop demonizing people of color in an effort to uphold his incredibly white aesthetic?

Spotify’s Platinum-plated Fist

BY VISHALLI ALAGAPPAN

“Call Me By Your Name” is a queer, erotic coming-of-age adapted from the novel of the same name by André Aciman. The movie was very-well received when it came out, especially by straight white women; it was the height of queer representation to this demographic. To a queer brown person, the movie was frustratingly problematic.

The plot is that a 25-year-old Jewish post-doc student Oliver, played by Armie Hammer, travels to the Italian countryside to work under a professor for the summer and starts a relationship with his 17-year-old son Elio, played by Timothée Chalamet. On a good day, Chalamet looks like a 15-yearold and Hammer looks like a middle-aged man, so the age difference is jarring on screen. It’s very apparent that Elio is a child. The professor and his wife call Elio “Elly-belly” and rub his tummy. He is doe-eyed, curious, and submissive. Contrastingly, Oliver is confident, intellectual, and domineering.

The power dynamics between the duo was utterly disturbing. Oliver demands that Elio drop his pants in the hallway, performs fellatio, and leaves him vulnerable just to gain the upper hand of a situation. In another scene, Elio is embarrassed about masturbating and Oliver teases him and play-wrestles with Elio. Elio tearfully says, “ Please don’t do this… you’re f*cking hurting me,” to which Oliver responds sternly, “Then don’t fight.” These are just some of the many awful scenes that left me absolutely uncomfortable and flabbergasted.

The queer community has been plagued by stereotypes of pedophilia and grooming since the dawn of time, so to have such a toxic ephebophilic relationship be our representation is like a slap to the face. The aesthetics and cinematography are commendable, but I was altogether disappointed by this movie. Can the directors of Hollywood please make a movie that doesn’t pander to straight white women?

BY ABBY VELA

Spotify pays artists less than $0.04 for every 10 streams. If an artist uses a publisher, those few cents are split between the publisher and the artist. When we artists say that streaming platforms pay us pennies, we literally mean pennies.

But the streaming giant won’t give this information easily. In fact, if this information is available on Spotify’s website, I still haven’t found it. On Spotify’s artist site, Loud&Clear, you’ll find tons of pretty graphics telling you, “lots of people make money from their music on our site, and you can too!” Of course, this is anecdotally torn to shreds the minute you talk to a small artist who begs, “please buy our merch to help us keep making music!”

Listens don’t pay, and streaming platforms are just glorified advertising firms.

Do artists want to make their music accessible to those who can’t pay them directly or can’t see them live? Absolutely! But the truth of the matter is that Spotify and other streaming platforms make it nearly impossible to make a living off making music, especially off streams alone.

Help us, small artists, out. We love that you listen to our music on streaming platforms, but to really support us, come to our shows, pay us tips, and buy a CD if you like what you hear! We artists appreciate you all; close to none of us are in it for the money, but unfortunately, that’s what makes the world go ‘round. So until late-stage capitalism eats us all alive, support your local music scene; I promise you won’t regret it.

BY SHANNA SIVAKUMAR

Camilla Cabello has consistently been topping the charts since 2017, but it remains a question as to who her music is for and who is still actively listening to her. She had a good run from 2017 to 2018 as she rode the high of terminating her contract with Fifth Harmony and getting to release music on her own, but since then, she hasn’t done anything remarkable— until the holiday season hit.

Her recent single, a Mariachi-infused remake of Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” went viral on TikTok for her pronunciation of the word “Christmas” during a live performance. I made sure to listen to the studio recording to double check and—yes, it’s pronounced as “Quismois” there as well. But “I’ll be home for ~Quismois~” is just the cherry on top of all the reasons I keep my distance from the artist.

There’s so much to say about Camilla’s internet presence and how it never seems to work in her favor. The general public has no obvious love for her, and it’s probably due to the content that gets her viral. For example, her rather unsavory video where she makes out with her now ex, Shawn Mendes, back in 2019, just caused people to cringe and look away. Or just about any old red carpet, interview, or live performance of her with Fifth Harmony just cemented the fact that those girls were on a contract and on another wavelength than Camilla.

I’ve since outgrown my girlband phase, but I can’t seem to get over Camilla Cabello and her penchant for online chaos. And even if I’m not interested in her, she seems to show up on my feed, whether I like it or not.