Alexandra Fiorentino-Swinton

“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12,” types the grown-up protagonist in the final scene of the 1986 movie Stand By Me, “Does anyone?” I first encountered this movie on one of those nostalgic, “I was born in the wrong generation” types of cinema Tumblr accounts in 2012, when I was about that age. When I watched the whole thing, I found it wholesome and wholly unrelatable...

One of the early-aughts archetypes that gets praised today is that of the teen comedienne—think Lindsay Lohan, Raven-Symoné, or any number of girls featured in the now mythical 2003 Vanity Fair profile, “Teen Engines: Riding with the Kid Culture.” But before any of them, there was Amanda Bynes. Twenty-five years ago, Bynes made her debut on Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy show All That, inadvertently kicking off a renaissance of tween and teen TV and film.
In an era of fervent 2000s revisionism, ...

The late ‘90s embraced a new space age as it saw the possibility for the millennium to either end the world in a crash of binary code or actualize the idyllic future the late 1960s and ‘70s had promised but failed to produce. Unlike the ‘60s space age, utopia was to be realized not by looking to the stars, but by means of an equally intangible future of extreme connectivity via the Web 2.0. This revamped idea of futuristic optimism was reflected in updates on ‘60s space age designs, modernized by the incorporation of “cyber” aesthetics...

Olivia Rodrigo’s latest single, “Good 4 U,” comes from a long lineage of teen girl pop rock—that 2007 Radio Disney sound, as fellow young rocker Willow Smith put it. The 18-year-old Rodrigo’s trio of singles have garnered praise for paying homage to her female Disney Channel predecessors, who similarly explored the emotional spectrum of girlhood through their music, chronicling its cheesy jubilance, frustration, pettiness, adventurousness, and confusion. For young girls in the 2000s...

UChicago’s Weston Game Lab was pleased to welcome Dr. Kishonna Gray to speak about her work on intersectionality and social issues within digital media, particularly in the gamer community. Dr. Gray is a groundbreaker in the digital studies field, with work featured in publications such as the New York Times, Engadget, The Guardian, BET, and Sociology Compass. She spoke on how black bodies are configured inside of technological structures and the steps being made to create equity in these spaces. UChicago Arts sat down with her after the presentation to learn more about her work.

A Hilary Duff-aissance was inevitable. "With Love," a single off her fifth album Dignity, has gone viral on TikTok for the lackluster (or interpretive, depending on who you ask) choreography Duff deployed when performing the song live. Chock-full of robotic arm movements, it's an accessible dance for the rhythmically challenged (and perhaps a brilliant deconstruction of pop star expectations in the wake of dancing Britney Spears-alikes that flooded the market of the time).
A woman of many fir...

Though the current public health situation has scattered UChicago students around the globe, many RSOs (Registered Student Organizations) have carried on remotely. UChicago has a vast range of artistic student activities and the dedicated members of these organizations have found innovative ways to do what they love despite necessary physical limitations. Dancers, singers, and creatives of all creeds have utilized technology to stay connected with their peers and create collaborative art. UChicago Arts spoke to a few students about the remote artistic endeavors they’ve taken part in.

In a span of 10 years, Disney established itself as the Motown of teen idols, turning sitcom starlets into chart toppers and vice versa. Their total saturation of teen media during their tenure on Disney Channel and subsequent popstar statuses are a result of the Machiavellian machination I’ve dubbed the Disney Channel Popstar Industrial Complex. After Hilary Duff established the blueprint in 2003, every Disney teen that could 1) even remotely act and 2) even remotely carry a tune has been relentlessly funneled through Disney’s movie, TV, and music industries.

December: the apex of consumerist joy, the holy grail of awkward family interactions, the pinnacle of overindulgence. No matter how long or hard a year has felt, I anxiously await December not for the good food, gifts or holiday break, but because of the movies. To me, nothing says ‘tis the season like the claymation Christmas specials from Rankin/Bass Productions. With their big eyes, full hearts and intricate backstories, every holiday icon is made lovably relatable in the RBCU (Rankin/Bass Cinematic Universe, which I will soon be trademarking). What gives it the lofty and coveted...

If you’re a hip-hop head or simply fascinated with the Verzuz phenomenon of reintroducing legacy catalogs to a global, mainstream stage, you probably watched the legendary battle between rap groups Dipset and The Lox. Verzuz has proven time and time again to be a game of strategy, not hits, and the organization of one’s setlist can make or break your chances of “winning” (as judged by social media, essentially, and by Twitter in particular). In Dipset’s case, their chances didn't break so muc...

While cities like Nashville and Detroit have booming music tourism economies honoring their respective places in music history, Philadelphia, as local record store owner Max Ochester succinctly put it, “is the city that sleeps on itself.” Philadelphia’s vast influence on music is often overlooked, with dangerous consequences—the last remaining home of Philly soul, Sigma Studios, is in danger of demolition to make way for the construction of residential properties on the lucrative Center City property.

Supermodel/businesswoman/TV host Tyra Banks announced the creation of a model themed amusement park called Modelland in February, slated to open in the Santa Monica Place shopping plaza late in 2019. Modelland is meant to follow the mission of the book by Disneyland-ifying modeling for regular folks. What the park will entail is a mystery, as the website contains nothing but a logo, “Coming Soon” and “Step Into Your Light.” So what does it really mean to “bring modeling to the masses” as Banks claims Modelland is sure to do?

“You can’t wear white after Labor Day!” proclaimed John Waters’ Serial Mom in the film of the same name, featuring an unhinged suburbanite who murders people for breaking social rules or committing the slightest faux pas. I was raised on this outdated rule but luckily, my childhood media addiction and near constant consumption of movies opened my mind and showed me the great wide world of winter white! The historical fashion tenet that states white is a strictly summer color has practical and societal origins—white reflects the sun for optimal coolness on blistering summer days, but...

An unanticipated oracle of our times, Soulja Boy has been equipped to make the isolation required of the current public health situation work since 2008. Kiss Me Thru The Phone is a responsible, self-quarantining anthem—he wants to get with his girl but acknowledges that he can’t right now, even though he misses her! He then offers some fantastic alternatives to physical interaction like calling and texting. (America, take notes.) Music has long been used to chronicle the uncertainties of changing world orders, and in the latter half of the 20th century artists zeroed in on the...