Class

Unnecessary Necessities

During the pandemic, you may have been watching Schitt’s Creek. Its characters inspired this month’s pandemic puzzle, which is about how to figure out the ideal balance between feeling like you need a lot to be happy, and feeling like you need very little.

Discriminating Streets

为什么会有这么多糟糕的城市设计?我们怎样才能使我们的街道更欢迎每个人?完美的城市仅仅是海市蜃楼吗?在本周的节目中,我们将探讨街道是否会有歧视,以及我们如何设计我们的城市,使它们更加公正。

Sorry, Critics: Parasite is a Good Movie

For me—as for the good people at the Oscars—Parasite was far and away the best film of 2019. Critics, however, are eagerly denouncing it as a failure, a capitulation, a “conservative” film, indeed a movie full of “contempt” for the working class. What is going on?

#Francis-on-Film: Parasite

Parasite, the new critically-acclaimed film by the South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, challenges audiences to probe social parasitism amidst growing inequality in a largely affluent country. Who exactly are the parasites? And what makes them parasites?

#FrancisOnFilm: Downton Abbey

作为一名《唐顿庄园》的新手,我无法评价这部电影是否圆满地解决了《唐顿庄园》系列的遗留问题,但我可以说,它揭示了社会矛盾,而不是解决了它们。阶级既被理想化又被破坏,局外人既被宣扬又最终被吸收。