The Take The Roost

From always having to look picture perfect even during the literal apocalypse, to “smartphone face” – aka actors who just look too modern to fit into period settings, to the rise of plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures leading to so many people we see on screen starting to have nearly identical features, the effect of aesthetic trends has become more and more talked about in recent years. And while the expectation certainly isn’t that everything on screen has to be exactly true to real life all of the time – it is entertainment after all – it is interesting to take a deeper look at what drives these kinds of societal trends. The judgment is usually placed on the actresses themselves, but there is much more at play here. So let’s take a deeper look at the truth about these on screen trends, how they alter our viewing experiences, and can even affect how we see ourselves.

The O.C.’s Seth Cohen is an iconic heartthrob of the early 2000s. He was cute and awkward and always had a hilarious quip ready to go. But as the show celebrates the 20th anniversary of the end of its mega-hit first season, we can look back and realize that Seth was actually… wrong about a lot. His mindset hindered him in so many ways – but many of his faults were also what made him so relatable to many at the time. So let’s take a look back at Seth Cohen, what he got wrong about life, and why his growth was so important for him and us.

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Friends' Rachel Green, Monica Geller, and Phoebe Buffay are all beautiful – but the show singled out only one as *the* "hot one". For a long time, there was a trend on screen where, within any group of female friends – regardless of what any of them looked like – one was always upheld as the hot friend (pretty much always because she was the main love object of the story.) But this trope split off from other ‘hot girl’ tropes for one key reason: her friendships. So where did the ‘hot one’ trope even come from, and how did Rachel (with the help of Monica and Phoebe) change it for the better? (And have we *finally* gotten rid of it altogether?) Let’s take a deeper look at the ‘hot one’ trope!

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Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes is one of the most iconic and hilarious characters of the 90s – played by the comedy legend, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She stood out for being the only woman of the friend group, but also because she was (at least at first) also less cynical than her friends. Her confidence and unapologetic attitude were refreshing and radical, and her character opened the door for so many of our faves that followed after. So let’s turn back the clock and analyze what made Elaine so different, why she became such an iconic and beloved character, and how, even if she wasn’t always a great person, she still managed to be a new kind of role model.

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Workaholism and hustle culture are certainly nothing new, but now it’s not just about being efficient at work, but reworking *every aspect* of your entire life to be “productive.” There’s a pervasive feeling that nothing in life is worthwhile if it doesn’t count as being productive – but productive pretty much always boils down to financially lucrative. In a world where making ends meet feels harder than ever, we’ve all been pushed into framing our lives around chasing capital and “maximizing our profits” like we’re over-the-top venture capitalists and not just… people trying to live our human lives. So let’s take a look at this modern streak of ‘toxic productivity’, the media and pop culture it evolved out of, and how we can best try to combat it and take back our hobbies and peace of mind.

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Netflix’s new hit adaptation 3 Body Problem is filled with symbolism, but what does it all really mean? The book on which the show is based is famous for leaning hard into the science aspect of sci-fi, creating an engaging but incredibly dense work. The Netflix series streamlines some of the story’s more confusing aspects, but it still takes us on a wild ride and leaves us with more questions than answers. The show uses a lot of symbolism to help get across its major themes, and unpacking these can help us understand the story on a deeper level. So let’s break down some of the show’s most important symbols to get a better grasp of what the story is really trying to tell us.

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