A Movie Mirrors the Stranger-Than-Fiction Reality of Civil Asset Forfeiture
The outrageous seizure at the center of Rebel Ridge resembles real-life cash grabs.
Popular Culture
Rank Choices
Plus: A listener asks the editors for short quotes from fictional works that are representative of libertarian ideas.
Mickey Mouse Is Now In the Public Domain. Well, Sort Of.
Even though only one very specific version of the character is free to use, it still represents a positive step for creative expression.
SAG-AFTRA's Halloween Costume Rules Are Super Annoying
The union wants you to throw your Barbie costume in the trash, scab.
Jonah Goldberg: A NeverTrumper's Take on the 2024 Election
The Liberal Fascism author and co-founder of The Dispatch talks candidly about the weird state of the contemporary political right.
The Flash Makes the Case Against the Multiverse
A listless, cynical wrap-up to a decade of chaotic superhero storytelling.
Review: The White Lotus Explores the Misery of Wealth
The HBO series features what Ayn Rand would call "second-handers."
E.E. Cummings Celebrated Libertarian Utopia
His most popular book, The Enormous Room, was recently reprinted for its 100th anniversary.
Review: The Progressive Backlash Against Influencer Moms
Momfluenced bemoans unrealistic expectations set on American mothers but then establishes new ones.
Review: The Clumsy Anti-Muskism of Glass Onion
Hating tech billionaires is The Current Thing.
Dave Cicirelli: Does Selfie Culture Destroy Real Individualism?
The "interactive artist" inspired by Jack Kirby and Barry Goldwater challenges social media and intellectual conformity.
Why Schools Suck in the Movies and in Real Life
Why are educational institutions in real life more like the one in Carrie than the one in Harry Potter?
Stop Spazzing Out About 'Spaz'
Social media, streaming, and a new era of digital self-censorship
New Movie Lists Honor Jeanne Dielman and 2001, Snub TikTok
Friday A/V Club: Sight and Sound revises the film canon again.
Friendsgiving Is Cultural Flourishing, Not Cultural Decay
Found families may ultimately lead to new ones.
BTS's Military Conscription Is a Reminder That Mandatory 'Service' Is Servitude
The South Korean government brings the country's greatest cultural export to heel.
Beyoncé, Under Fire for Using an 'Ableist Slur,' Chooses Self-Censorship
"Spazzing on that ass" does nothing whatsoever to harm people with cerebral palsy.
Nathan Rabin: Why Gen X Is Super Media-Literate
The Joy of Trash author talks about how D.A.R.E., bad TV, Weird Al Yankovic, and 9/11 created a generation of ironic idealists.
Nathan Rabin: Confessions of a Trash-Culture Connoisseur
Nathan Rabin celebrates The Joy of Trash—and Gen X irony and cynicism—one terrible movie, book, and TV show at a time.
The Awful Uncharted Raises the Question: Are Video Game Movies Art?
Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg star in another timid, lifeless video game adaptation.
Hope Must Conquer Fear in Politics
Princess Leia shows us why hope is crucial for a liberty-oriented way of life.
Chloe Valdary: How Kendrick Lamar and The Lion King Can Help Close the Racial Divide
Forget Robin DiAngelo and White Fragility. Theory of Enchantment uses popular culture to make workplaces more inclusive and welcoming.
Diversity Seminars Don't Have To Be Maoist Struggle Sessions
Chloe Valdary's Theory of Enchantment program uses Kendrick Lamar, Cheryl Strayed, and The Lion King to ease workplace racial tensions.
Who in the World Wanted Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins?
A dumb movie with a dumb name based on a dumb idea.
CNN Memorializes America's Trashiest Romance Writer
Jackie Collins was a pop culture force to be reckoned with in the 1980s.
The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
Art Tavana: What Guns N' Roses Tells Us About the American Dream
How Axl Rose reflected a country desperate but unwilling to move on from a worn-out postwar consensus on national identity, gender roles, and global hegemony.
Even Voldemort Masks Up in New Public Service Announcement
WarnerMedia, the Ad Council, and the CDC are infantilizing us and insulting our intelligence.
Neutron Gun Reloaded
Gerry Reith's raw, paranoid, apocalyptic fables were shot through with distrust for just about every institution around.
Wasteland 3
It's a telling sign when a video game opens with a warning that the events it depicts might be a little too close to life.
Alex Winter: Frank Zappa's Ultra-Individualist Legacy
The rock legend fought for free speech and self-expression in ways that appealed to dissidents in America and communist countries alike.
Zombies Eat Academic Brains in Misbegotten PBS Documentary Exhumed
Meanwhile on CBS, B Positive offers laughs about...kidney transplants.
A Summer Without Summer Movies
On missing the accessible fruits of giant corporate filmmaking
Kindergarten Cop Is Canceled, Likened to Birth of a Nation
Portland's Northwest Film Center pulls film from summer drive-in schedule after critics say it promotes "school-to-prison pipeline."
Little Richard, the King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll
Little Richard helped make the United States a little more black, a little more queer, and a little more free.
Robert Hunter, R.I.P.
The Grateful Dead lyricist filled a generation with a sense of amused, loving, liberatory patriotism.
San Diego Comic-Con and the Tensions of Market-Induced Growth
In Comic-Cons, as in great nations, there's room for plenty more to live the dream.
The Horror of War and the Thrill of Horror
A new book explores the First World War's role in creating the horror genre.
