Doreen St. Félix
Doreen St. Félix has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2017 and was named the magazine’s television critic in 2019. Previously, she was a culture writer at MTV News. Her writing has appeared in the Times Magazine, New York, Vogue, The Fader, and Pitchfork. St. Félix was named on the Forbes “30 Under 30” media list in 2016. In 2017, she was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary, and, in 2019, she won in the same category.
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The Afro-Esotericism of Awol Erizku
The prolific artist knows that contemporary Blackness, made and unmade on the stage of capitalism, is as much defined by its spiritual reckonings as it is by the elemental stuff.
Why the New Kesha Doesn’t Miss the Old Kesha
At a friend’s art show, the pop singer revealed the recipe for her new album, “Gag Order”: holing up in Hawaii, weepy meditation sessions, and howling at the moon.
Rubbernecking for Jerry Springer
He was sweeter than Howard Stern, realer than Phil Donahue. His coolness gave his show its plausible deniability.
Danielle Deadwyler’s Gravity-Shifting Intensity
The multi-hyphenate discusses her role in “Till”; her approach to art; ego death; and the retrograde values of the Hollywood system.
The Memphis Police Are Not Bystanders to the Death of Tyre Nichols
By appropriating citizen-made mechanisms for monitoring violence, the police have spun failed reform into a myth of incremental accountability.
What Susan Miller Would Have Told Louis Vuitton’s Mother
The cult stargazer behind Astrology Zone gave a talk in the old Barneys basement, amid two hundred customized L.V. trunks. One of her predictions involved Barron Trump.
Lorraine O’Grady Has Always Been a Rebel
The eighty-eight-year-old artist and critic, whose profile has risen in the past decade, examines her role in the art world then and now.
The Shocking Conservatism of the “American Gigolo” Reboot
What should be a sprawling vision of sex is shrunk to a political tract.
How Many Generations of “Katrina Babies” Are There?
An HBO Max documentary, released before the seventeenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, looks at the storm’s reverberating effects on children in New Orleans.
“The Resort” Needs to Relax
The mystery series on Peacock, starring Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper, puts itself under unnecessary stress.
The Unabashed Spectacle of “P-Valley”
The Starz drama, set at a Mississippi strip club, skillfully meditates on colorism, land restitution, domestic violence, and the business of sex—and now, in Season 2, COVID.
“The Janes” and the Power of Pro-Abortion Imagery
Lately, I have been thinking about what abortion looks like, or, rather, what we need it to look like.
“The Staircase” Deconstructs the True-Crime Genre
The HBO series, a dramatization of the famous 2004 documentary, makes tantalizing equivalences between the filmmaking process and the justice system.
The Spiritual Conflicts of “Atlanta”
The latest season of Donald Glover’s series, on FX, is a sardonic exploration of Black commercial success as oppression.
“The First Lady” Is a Bad-Wig Costume Drama
The Showtime miniseries, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson, manages to make life as a White House wife seem both cosmic and forgettable.
The Lovers of Clifford Prince King
The photographer is not simply interested in making Black gay men available to be “seen.” He is intent on showing his audience that there is value in ambiguity, in privacy.
“Bel-Air” and “Abbott Elementary” Reboot and Revive the Network Sitcom
The former, on Peacock, is a humorless remake of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” while the latter, an original series by Quinta Brunson, has rejuvenated the form.
The Bland Agenda of “Pam & Tommy”
The Hulu miniseries, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, is only superficially antic; its politics are quite normie.
A Crisis of Fanhood and Faith in “We Need to Talk About Cosby”
W. Kamau Bell’s Showtime series, which seeks to convert those who are still in denial about Bill Cosby’s sex crimes, seems motivated by a feeling of guilt that we all inadvertently provided an alibi for a bully who actually despised us.
The Sex Scene Is Dead. Long Live the Sex Scene
Four critics discuss erotic thrillers, prosthetic penises, “Euphoria,” and the state of desire onscreen.
The Afro-Esotericism of Awol Erizku
The prolific artist knows that contemporary Blackness, made and unmade on the stage of capitalism, is as much defined by its spiritual reckonings as it is by the elemental stuff.
Why the New Kesha Doesn’t Miss the Old Kesha
At a friend’s art show, the pop singer revealed the recipe for her new album, “Gag Order”: holing up in Hawaii, weepy meditation sessions, and howling at the moon.
Rubbernecking for Jerry Springer
He was sweeter than Howard Stern, realer than Phil Donahue. His coolness gave his show its plausible deniability.
Danielle Deadwyler’s Gravity-Shifting Intensity
The multi-hyphenate discusses her role in “Till”; her approach to art; ego death; and the retrograde values of the Hollywood system.
The Memphis Police Are Not Bystanders to the Death of Tyre Nichols
By appropriating citizen-made mechanisms for monitoring violence, the police have spun failed reform into a myth of incremental accountability.
What Susan Miller Would Have Told Louis Vuitton’s Mother
The cult stargazer behind Astrology Zone gave a talk in the old Barneys basement, amid two hundred customized L.V. trunks. One of her predictions involved Barron Trump.
Lorraine O’Grady Has Always Been a Rebel
The eighty-eight-year-old artist and critic, whose profile has risen in the past decade, examines her role in the art world then and now.
The Shocking Conservatism of the “American Gigolo” Reboot
What should be a sprawling vision of sex is shrunk to a political tract.
How Many Generations of “Katrina Babies” Are There?
An HBO Max documentary, released before the seventeenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, looks at the storm’s reverberating effects on children in New Orleans.
“The Resort” Needs to Relax
The mystery series on Peacock, starring Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper, puts itself under unnecessary stress.
The Unabashed Spectacle of “P-Valley”
The Starz drama, set at a Mississippi strip club, skillfully meditates on colorism, land restitution, domestic violence, and the business of sex—and now, in Season 2, COVID.
“The Janes” and the Power of Pro-Abortion Imagery
Lately, I have been thinking about what abortion looks like, or, rather, what we need it to look like.
“The Staircase” Deconstructs the True-Crime Genre
The HBO series, a dramatization of the famous 2004 documentary, makes tantalizing equivalences between the filmmaking process and the justice system.
The Spiritual Conflicts of “Atlanta”
The latest season of Donald Glover’s series, on FX, is a sardonic exploration of Black commercial success as oppression.
“The First Lady” Is a Bad-Wig Costume Drama
The Showtime miniseries, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson, manages to make life as a White House wife seem both cosmic and forgettable.
The Lovers of Clifford Prince King
The photographer is not simply interested in making Black gay men available to be “seen.” He is intent on showing his audience that there is value in ambiguity, in privacy.
“Bel-Air” and “Abbott Elementary” Reboot and Revive the Network Sitcom
The former, on Peacock, is a humorless remake of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” while the latter, an original series by Quinta Brunson, has rejuvenated the form.
The Bland Agenda of “Pam & Tommy”
The Hulu miniseries, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, is only superficially antic; its politics are quite normie.
A Crisis of Fanhood and Faith in “We Need to Talk About Cosby”
W. Kamau Bell’s Showtime series, which seeks to convert those who are still in denial about Bill Cosby’s sex crimes, seems motivated by a feeling of guilt that we all inadvertently provided an alibi for a bully who actually despised us.
The Sex Scene Is Dead. Long Live the Sex Scene
Four critics discuss erotic thrillers, prosthetic penises, “Euphoria,” and the state of desire onscreen.