The Existential Status of The Simpsons

Pondering the Homeric Dasein of Springfield

One of the ongoing jokes on The Simpsons -- which is currently celebrating 30 years on air, as the longest-running primetime scripted series on U.S. television -- is that the viewer is consistently denied knowledge of which state Springfield is located in. In a recent interview with podcaster Marc Maron, Krusty the Klown ...
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The Existential Status of The Simpsons

Reading The Second Sex in the Age of #MeToo

Where are we coming from, and where do we go?

In the firestorm of debates about the implications of #MeToo, feminist activists and commentators have found themselves circling around the definitions of a handful of essential terms: rape, harassment, assault, consent. We have seen the word “pleasure” disentangled, and the word “inappropriate” expanded. We have discussed power and victimhood, empowerment ...
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Reading The Second Sex in the Age of #MeToo