Doreen St. Félix
Doreen St. Félix, a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2017, is a regular contributor to the weekly column Critic’s Notebook. 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.
The Banal Provocation of Sydney Sweeney’s Jeans
The American Eagle campaign, with its presentation of Americana as a zombie slop of mustangs, denim, and good genes, is lowest-common-denominator stuff.
The Tragedy of the Diddy Trial
After being acquitted of the charges that would have put him away for life, Sean Combs likely has a plan to work his troubles into a narrative of redemption.
Play It Again, Charles Burnett
Over the years, the director’s early films have been lost and found, forgotten and celebrated. But what about the work that came after, or that never came to be?
“The Encampments” and the American College Student
In a new documentary about the pro-Palestine demonstrations on Columbia’s campus, students are in an existential battle of both exploiting and shedding their protagonist status.
The Shameless Redemption Tour of Jonathan Majors
In “Magazine Dreams,” the actor—who was found guilty of assault—plays a bodybuilder undone by the pressures of image-making. Majors has relied on the slippage between character and actor to facilitate his rebrand.
The Flawed Heart of “Adolescence”
The creators of the British miniseries think of the contemporary English boy as a fragile creature, abandoned by society.
“Paradise” Is Manna for the Moment
The clanking didacticism of Dan Fogelman’s new Hulu series, which involves climate disaster, nuclear war, and the insurgency of the billionaire class in politics, is deeply satisfying.
Kendrick Lamar and the Messy Art of Meta-Performance
The best word to describe the rapper’s Super Bowl halftime show is “existential.”
“Eusexua,” the Dance-Floor Album That Doesn’t Need Berlin or Prague
On her new record, FKA Twigs both engages in exhibitionism and reveals her hermetic side—the monkishness of the night-life circuit girl.
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Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and the Collapse of the Hollywood #MeToo Era
The reportage that thrived in the late twenty-tens cannot break through on today’s volatile Internet, where information is misinformation and victims are offenders.
Refinding James Baldwin
We commonly associate the writer with the land of his birth—America—and with the land of his expatriation, France. But a fascinating new exhibit focusses on Baldwin’s years in Turkey, the country that, in his words, saved his life.
How “Nickel Boys” Critiques the Camera in American Cinema
RaMell Ross’s drama—a remarkable one, about institutions, Black male friendship, social mimicry, and the Black political dream—feels shot through with the history of American image-making.
Documentaries of Dissent
“No Other Land” and “Union” are films that Hollywood and corporate America don’t want you to see.
The Divided Soul of “Bad Kreyòl”
Dominique Morisseau meditates on identity, and on the possibilities of language, in her new play, set in Haiti.
Flag Waving and Flag Burning in Kamala Harris’s America
This past year, there has been a surfeit of so-called recontextualized patriotism, brightened and Blacked up, made sexy, both in culture and in politics.
The Reclamation of Jane Campion’s “In the Cut”
Although the movie has been reappraised as a masterpiece, it wants to remain kind of lost, as adrift from film canonization as its protagonist is from her own desires.
Kamala Harris, the Candidate
The Vice-President, who is set to win the Democratic nomination, has graduated from limbo.
How Lawrence Abu Hamdan Hears the World
The artist and audio investigator, who calls himself a “private ear,” investigates crimes that are heard but not seen.
The Banal Provocation of Sydney Sweeney’s Jeans
The American Eagle campaign, with its presentation of Americana as a zombie slop of mustangs, denim, and good genes, is lowest-common-denominator stuff.
The Tragedy of the Diddy Trial
After being acquitted of the charges that would have put him away for life, Sean Combs likely has a plan to work his troubles into a narrative of redemption.
Play It Again, Charles Burnett
Over the years, the director’s early films have been lost and found, forgotten and celebrated. But what about the work that came after, or that never came to be?
“The Encampments” and the American College Student
In a new documentary about the pro-Palestine demonstrations on Columbia’s campus, students are in an existential battle of both exploiting and shedding their protagonist status.
The Shameless Redemption Tour of Jonathan Majors
In “Magazine Dreams,” the actor—who was found guilty of assault—plays a bodybuilder undone by the pressures of image-making. Majors has relied on the slippage between character and actor to facilitate his rebrand.
The Flawed Heart of “Adolescence”
The creators of the British miniseries think of the contemporary English boy as a fragile creature, abandoned by society.
“Paradise” Is Manna for the Moment
The clanking didacticism of Dan Fogelman’s new Hulu series, which involves climate disaster, nuclear war, and the insurgency of the billionaire class in politics, is deeply satisfying.
Kendrick Lamar and the Messy Art of Meta-Performance
The best word to describe the rapper’s Super Bowl halftime show is “existential.”
“Eusexua,” the Dance-Floor Album That Doesn’t Need Berlin or Prague
On her new record, FKA Twigs both engages in exhibitionism and reveals her hermetic side—the monkishness of the night-life circuit girl.
Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and the Collapse of the Hollywood #MeToo Era
The reportage that thrived in the late twenty-tens cannot break through on today’s volatile Internet, where information is misinformation and victims are offenders.
Refinding James Baldwin
We commonly associate the writer with the land of his birth—America—and with the land of his expatriation, France. But a fascinating new exhibit focusses on Baldwin’s years in Turkey, the country that, in his words, saved his life.
How “Nickel Boys” Critiques the Camera in American Cinema
RaMell Ross’s drama—a remarkable one, about institutions, Black male friendship, social mimicry, and the Black political dream—feels shot through with the history of American image-making.
Documentaries of Dissent
“No Other Land” and “Union” are films that Hollywood and corporate America don’t want you to see.
The Divided Soul of “Bad Kreyòl”
Dominique Morisseau meditates on identity, and on the possibilities of language, in her new play, set in Haiti.
Flag Waving and Flag Burning in Kamala Harris’s America
This past year, there has been a surfeit of so-called recontextualized patriotism, brightened and Blacked up, made sexy, both in culture and in politics.
The Reclamation of Jane Campion’s “In the Cut”
Although the movie has been reappraised as a masterpiece, it wants to remain kind of lost, as adrift from film canonization as its protagonist is from her own desires.
Kamala Harris, the Candidate
The Vice-President, who is set to win the Democratic nomination, has graduated from limbo.
How Lawrence Abu Hamdan Hears the World
The artist and audio investigator, who calls himself a “private ear,” investigates crimes that are heard but not seen.