Thomas Elrod: 4 books

One of the most powerful yet idiosyncratic voices of American culture, Richard Pryor often remains an enigma despite the strikingly personal quality of his best work. This series of essays attempts tracks the parallels between the comic’s work and the black experience, contextualizing his art and...

Since its first feature film in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has often been treated, rightly, as a powerful, influential, and forward-thinking animation company. However, many of its films are incredibly besotted with a nostalgic longing for the past, one that may not have truly existed outside...

Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled, released in 2000 to controversy and mixed reviews, follows a frustrated black TV producer on his quest to create a show so offensive it will get him fired. The result is a modern-day minstrel show that, contrary to expectations, becomes a massive hit. A satire of race,...

This incisive introduction to the life and work of Orson Welles is an essential study of one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. With special attention paid to the political, social, and cultural milieus in which Welles lived and worked, this in-depth personal essay and...