Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Arts and Culture”

‘Parasite’ First International Film to Win Best Picture — But Is It Too Late for the Oscars to Be Redeemed?

This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded South Korean film “Parasite” with its top prize, resisting their usual favorites -- Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, flashy war movies -- and just barely avoiding total irrelevance. The political black comedy was nominated for six awards, winning Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, and, most notably, Best Director and Best Picture.

The Genre-Savvy Fun of “Knives Out”

“Knives Out,” directed by Rian Johnson and theatrically released on Nov. 27, contains a scene in which a character describes the film’s forbidding mansion setting as “practically […] a Clue board.” It is an unexpected but wholly appropriate moment. A whodunit murder mystery inspired heavily by “Clue,” “Knives Out” isn’t interested in shying away from its modern time period or in denying its genre roots. Part homage and part subversion, “Knives Out” relishes the way it plays with audience expectations, seeming to welcome comparison to other works.

Beyond the Station: Smith College Radio WOZQ’s History of Connections

In the depths of the bottom floor of the Campus Center, tucked into a corner, lies the WOZQ station for Smith College Radio. Lined floor to floor with disks, records, polaroids, drawings, letters and posters (specifically, a four-foot-tall poster of 2010-era Kevin Jonas, red-lipstick-kissed on his cheek), over eighty Smithie DJs come to broadcast their shows seven days a week.

2019 Fall Chrysanthemum Show at The Botanical Garden

At the beginning of November, Smithies and the Northampton community flooded into the Botanic Garden of Smith College to see the highly anticipated Fall Chrysanthemum Show. Nicknamed “the mum show,” this visually stunning display of bonsai, chrysanthemum cascades, oversized standard blooms and diverse variety of mums has a rich history that stretches across the globe. For a show with a little bit for everyone, its popularity is rightly deserved.

A Few Questions with ‘Shrek the Musical’ Co-Directors Emily Prendergast ’21 and Heather Hannon ’21

This fall, Duct Tape Productions (DTP) is following up its spring production of “The Addams Family” with another movie-based show they hope will entertain. From Thursday, Nov. 14 to Saturday, Nov. 16, Smithies will have the opportunity to see "Shrek the Musical" in all its verdant (and, reportedly, heartwarming) glory.

SCMA Features Munio Makuuchi in ‘Defiant Vision: Prints & Poetry’

“Defiant Vision: Prints & Poetry” by Munio Makuuchi will be exhibited until December 8 at the Smith College Museum of Art. As a Japanese-American artist and poet, Makuuchi’s work represents an important perspective on a moment in American history that was ignored during his lifetime.