Best Books & Fabulous Films

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29 June 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsAsexuality, Book, Book Review, Fairytale, Fantasy, Fantasy Novel, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Royal Rescue, YA, Young Adult FictionHenrike Kattoll

Rescue, Marry, Happy Ever After – The Asexual Fantasy Novel Royal Rescue

By Veronika Heinrich

“I’ve never had a crush, I’ve never wanted anyone in my bed. I’ve never looked at anyone and wondered what they looked like naked. I’ve never wanted to… to see anyone or touch anyone.”

We all know the classic fairy tale premise: A prince rescues a princess, they get married, they live happily ever after. Now, of course, we’re living in modern times. Princes can marry princes; princesses can marry princesses and so on – as long as they stick to the premise. Rescue, marry, live happily ever after. But what if a prince doesn’t wish to be rescued?

Aro-ace Prince Gerald teams up with a no-nonsense dragon to fight against the Thousand Kingdoms’ marriage traditions in ROYAL RESCUE, a fantasy adventure with magic, rebellion, and queer happy endings! https://t.co/slNMermv3P pic.twitter.com/Wt2iSJHS8y

— Alex Logan (@AAlexLogan) June 12, 2021

22 June 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsAmish, Amish Culture, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Liberating Lomie, Memoir, Personal Recollection, Personal Stories, Saloma Miller Furlong, Stories, Why I Left the AmishHenrike Kattoll

Breaking New Ground: Liberating Lomie by Saloma Miller Furlong

By Sabrina Völz

In 2011, Saloma Miller Furlong’s Why I Left the Amish: A Memoir appeared during the memoir boom that gave agency to invisible, marginalized, or misrepresented groups. Why I Left the Amish was one of the first memoirs written by a former Amish woman that provided unfettered perspectives on the Amish. While many Amish groups today lead a simple life much like many rural Americans in agricultural communities did in the 19^th to early 20^th centuries, Amish culture is anything but simple as Furlong’s newest memoir shows.

27 April 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsAdaptations, Alexandra Daddario, Annabeth Chase, Aunt May, Book Adaptations, Book Lover, Book-Alike, Books, Booksworm, Classics, Jane Eyre, Leuphana, Leuphana University, Look-Alike, Marisa Tomei, Michael Fassbender, Movies, Mr. Rochester, Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Spider-Man, Tom Holland, ZendayaHenrike Kattoll

How to Break a Bookworm’s Heart

By Sara Cepollina

Michael Fassbender, Marisa Tomei, and Alexandra Daddario: What do these three actors have in common?

You may not know all of them, but what you need to know is that they’ve all played a character from a book or a comic, and that they don’t look like their book-alikes at all! For some people, this may not be relevant, but for book fans, who’ve lived side-by side with their fictional characters, it’s highly important that an actor who somewhat resembles the protagonist in the book plays the role. I’m an avid reader, and whenever the rights to one of my favourite books are bought, I begin to think about the perfect actor who would best fit the role.

13 April 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsAlienating, Art, David Lynch, Dream World, Freudian, Haunting, Human Experience, Inner Knowing, Lesbian Love Story, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Mulholland Drive, Mystery, New Formalism, Surrealism, ThrillerHenrike Kattoll

The Mesmerizing and Alienating Experience Called Mulholland Drive

By Mahsa Pakzad

Have you ever felt like not watching movies for a while just because you saw one that’s so damn good you knew watching anything else after it would just disappoint you? This is the spell that Mulholland Drive has cast on me.

David Lynch’s 2001 movie was chosen by a BBC poll as the best of the 21^st century, yet for me, it’s more than that. For me, it’s the definition of art. Maybe that makes me too much of a New Formalist, but I do believe that what counts in a work of art is not the ‘what’ but the ‘how’. Lynch takes what could simply be a lesbian love story and explores its other dimensions – jealousy, toxicity, rivalry, and betrayal – while at the same time intertwining it with a Hollywood dream. Though this is fascinating, it’s not what sets it apart. What ‘does’ set it apart is how Lynch tells this story in the form of an unnerving, haunting, surrealistic, Freudian mystery/thriller.

30 March 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsAdaptation, Billy Porter, Camila Cabello, Cinderella, Critcism, Diversity, Fairy God Person, Fairy Tale, Feminism, Film, Idina Menzel, Movie, Nicholas Galitzine, Queer, Stereotypes, Tallulah GreiveHenrike Kattoll

The ‘Woke’ Cinderella Recipe: A Dash of Queerness, a Pinch of Feminism, and a Sprinkling of Fairy Dust

By Veronika Heinrich

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Cinderella (Camila Cabello). In the 2021 film, she loves to design dresses and wants to make a business out of it. When the prince (‎Nicholas Galitzine) announces a ball, her stepmother Vivian (Idina Menzel), wanting to protect her from the patriarchal world outside, destroys Cinderella’s dress to keep her from potentially marrying a man she’d just met. The prince, however, is in love with his best friend (Jenet Le Lacheur) but can’t really admit it – not even to himself. Also, he’s not qualified to rule the kingdom. The patriarchy, however, wants him to become king and will never agree to his smart sister (Tallulah Greive) becoming queen.

When Cinderella’s fairy god person (Billy Porter) arrives, they not only turn one of her designs into reality, but they also throw a party at Cinderella’s place. When the prince and his best friend arrive, the presence of the fairy god person gives them the strength to admit their feelings for each other. The prince’s sister becomes heir to the throne, and Cinderella finds a queen with whom to travel around the world and sell her designs. And they all live happily ever after.

Only that’s not what happens.

12 January 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsCancel Culture, Dave Eggers, Dystopia, Dystopian Literature, Everyones, Free Speech, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Meta, Novel, Satire, Social Media, Surveillance, Tech Critique, Tech Dystopia, The Circle, The EveryHenrike Kattoll

Cancel Field Trips, Cancel Forest Rangers: The Every by Dave Eggers (2021)

By Sebastian Tants-Boestad

Dave Eggers’s bestselling tech dystopia, The Circle (2013), has finally received a sequel. While The Circle described the rise of a fictitious tech and social media company and its protagonist’s steady descent into the maelstrom of surveillance culture, The Every now picks up a couple of years later, after the Circle has acquired a big online retailer “named after a South American jungle.” The resulting mega corporation, called the Every, is pretty much the monopolist in all things digital tech – from apps to online shopping to cutting edge hardware. Of course, it’s every bit as scary and unlikeable as one would imagine it to be.