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Year: 2018

Photo: Rhododendrites @Wikimedia Commons

Review: Widows

Written by izzysharp on . Posted in Film.

I first encountered Widows in book form in a train station bookshop. I picked it up, read the blurb, observed that the plot seemed better than your average train station novel, and forgot about it — I had a train to catch. When I saw the film adaptation advertised, I thought I’d go.

The plot of Widows concerns the wives of a heist team left rudderless when their husbands die on the job, and who take on an unfinished job to support themselves. The team comprises of Veronica (Viola Davis), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), and Belle (Cynthia Erivo).

Yet for a film that tries to give over a strong feminist message, quite a large proportion of the run time concerns itself with men in whom I wasn’t particularly interested. Daniel Kaluuya was wonderfully nefarious as Jatemme, the rival politician’s aide who does his dirty work for him. But I found the man himself, Jamal Manning, boring — which was at least a relief from Liam Neeson’s performance.

The filming of Widows is sharp enough to cut itself. Its styling is slick — almost too slick to hold on to. The interiors all resemble some sort of expensive coffee advert, or an IKEA showroom, which left me more bemused than impressed. The cold, Glade-scented atmosphere soon became more interesting. There are spots of brilliance in the cinematography, such as the fluorescent light of a bus glinting off Belle’s hoop earrings, and turning her white buzz cut green.

The violence in this film is deft and genuinely surprising. Jatemme interrogates two subordinates who have made a critical error, sharply commanding them to rap as a distraction, lulling them into a false sense of security before abruptly shooting one in the head. If the violence was surprising, though, the plot wasn’t.

The script backs out of the women’s heist for the majority of the film, which is the most interesting part to begin with, and unloads the contents of a particularly trashy airport novel.

Alice is a Polish immigrant with an overbearing mother, a history of being abused, and a newfound career as a sugar baby. All on top of a completely non-existent accent. This would have been fine if she hadn’t referenced it herself in the film. Veronica is a woman whose husband cheats on her with a white woman, getting her pregnant after the loss of their son.

The film is at its best when it concerns itself with the women and the heist, but by god, it doesn’t half faff around getting there.

Concerning the heist itself, there are some intelligent moments. It seemed realistic, with the women training to run with the heavy bags of cash, and one of the women being unable to turn up at a certain time because of her children.  And an earlier shot of a kid playing with a voice distorter re-emerges in the voice-disguising masks used by the team during the heist.

However, there are also some phenomenally stupid moments. They begin physical training a day or so before the actual heist, or so they seemed to from the pacing. One of them pops into an architect’s office in broad daylight, hands over a screamingly conspicuous blueprint down on the receptionist’s table, and asks to speak to the designer.

One of my favourite terms in film analysis has to be ‘The Idiot Plot’, wherein a film’s conflict could be solved very swiftly if the characters were not all idiots. I propose ‘The Liam Neeson Plot’ wherein a film could be vastly improved if his character was not present.

Rating: 2/5.

Photo: BagoGames @flickr

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds coming to PS4

Written by Jeremy Bijl on . Posted in Games.

It appears that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, widely known as PUBG, will be coming to the PS4 in December after the game image and content-I.D. were found on Sony servers.

Whilst neither Sony nor Bluehole has confirmed the veracity of this, U.K. based games media outlet Eurogamer claim they “understand this to be true.”

This newest piece of evidence follows a leak on the Korean Game Rating Board which gave the PS4 version a rating.

Further credence is added to this by the fact that PUBG is fast approaching the end of its one year exclusivity deal with Microsoft, and also by the fact that it is now officially out of early access/beta, meaning Sony, who have no early access programme, may be interested in selling the game on their PlayStation platform.

Furthermore, Microsoft have made the game free on the Xbox One, suggesting some willingness to compete with their enduring rivals on the PUBG front.

Whilst the few fans of PUBG who have been dissatisfied with the other battle royale offering on the PS4 will no doubt be delighted, it may already be too late for PUBG, with Fortnite and even Call of Duty’s Blackout mode having a stranglehold on the genre, as demonstrated by the lack of long-term interest in H1Z1.

Concerns have also been voiced about the quality of PUBG, with console players who are perhaps less used to rougher looking games than PC players, voicing concerns over the games bugginess, bland aesthetic, and server capabilities. Bluehole will no doubt be looking to have rectified this situation by launch day.

Indeed, despite the initial hype around PUBG, which saw the game break multiple records and catapulted it into the mainstream, its stock has been on a downward trajectory, with a high profile lawsuit filed against Epic Games, developers of Fortnite, proving particularly ill-advised.

Nevertheless, in an industry in which competition is generally healthy, the option to play another battle royale game on the PS4 appears a good move for Bluehole, Sony, and players alike.

Photo: Cyanide

Review: Call of Cthulhu

Written by robertpate on . Posted in Games.

On the 30th of October, Cyanide Studios released Call of Cthulhu, an (obviously) Lovecraftian adventure horror video-game, promising to be an official adaptation of the tabletop roleplaying game of the same name. Not only have I enjoyed reading Lovecraft’s work, but I also own the tabletop RPG. At a steep £40, this game is actually more expensive than the core rulebook it is supposedly based upon – but at least I don’t need friends for this. Though at a mere seven hours of play, and a lacklustre experience, was it worth the money?

The game sets you as private investigator Edward Pierce, a WW1 veteran lacking a sense of purpose and a struggling alcoholic. Your nightmares from the war are starting to change into something else, as a nameless and unfathomable voice calls to you. You awake in a damp and dark cave, as faceless cultists perform a ritual in the distance. Shortly after you wake, a man arrives through the door with a painting and the story of a dead woman, Sarah Hawkins, and asks you to find out her true fate.

If this game nailed one thing, it was the atmosphere. Every dialogue and every location ran the spectrum of unwelcoming to downright freaky. This was unintentionally assisted by some awkward dialogue where the mood shifted quite unnaturally from calm to intense, but overall interactions with characters fairly true to the cosmic horror vibe. Everyone seemed to be hiding something, and even those you could trust would shatter whatever hold you on reality you had left. Some parts of the game really had Pierce in an existential crisis and you were living it with him. For some characters, it wasn’t simply a case of being prepared for them to lie to you, but rather you started going through scenario after scenario in your head: “Why is he alive? Does he know he shouldn’t be or is he lying? Has somebody replaced their body? Is this a dream? Or did I dream them dying?”. If you were really trying to figure it out, you couldn’t – my mind was doing laps. In that respect, it was absolutely a great cosmic horror romp.

As for the rest, Call of Cthulhu’s gameplay primarily consists of exploring rooms and environments, which will present you with clues and evidence. These appear as white spots you can interact with, but some additional items are very well hidden. You would only know about these additional items through the question mark that appears at the bottom left of the screen when you are in their radius. It’s a handy feature, but infuriating when you just can’t find them. Go away! I don’t want to know I’m stupid!

Conversations with characters take the form of a dialogue wheel, where certain options only become unlocked if you had found particular items or met skill requirements. The Skills section of the game really piqued my interest early on, seemingly allowing you to develop in a multitude of direction; someone that investigated by punching; by understanding motives; a smooth-talking for information, or was just straight up good at investigating. A few skills stood out among these – Spot Hidden, Occultism, and Medicine. The first of these just straight up allowed you to find more clues, so I maxed this out. The latter two, however, could only be levelled up by finding books during your playthrough. While this gave you a real incentive to search through each environment and appreciate it to its full extent, there was the flipside of times when you were just walking up to everything and waiting for white spots to appear.

 

photo:Cyanide

What was noticeable during my playthrough, however, was how meaningless these skills began to feel. Maybe I’d luckily punched in the perfect ones but I don’t feel as if I missed out on much content during the game. Often I was able to discern some information using skills I had hardly touched during the game, with the only exception being my inability to lockpick doors twice in the game. This extended to the dialogue, as finding clues would open up so many conversation topics that I really started to question the point of the other skills.

None of the features in the game feel fleshed out. Coming fresh from a playthrough of Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter released two years prior (a title I believe gets totally undeserved hate), it was a real shame to the see all the wasted potential in Call of Cthulhu. The game never really allows you to piece together the smaller findings yourself. Reconstruction scenes are merely a case of interacting with an item and Pierce drawing the conclusions for you. Puzzles themselves, in a game about an investigation, are so rare that the change in pace jolts you. One particular puzzle requires you to find a drawing of an item on the floor, then you go find it. You will never be stuck in this game, it’s impossible.

But this is a radically different game to what was speculated. From the list of expected elements, there are no side quests; half the promised hours; no ability to form an ‘investigation team’; and no phobias. While there are four endings, I unlocked three by playing the game pretty haphazardly. At the end of the game you are given a dialogue wheel and asked what action you will take, so you can just reload the autosave before the end and try each one because nothing changes through the rest of the game of any significance. The ‘secret’ fourth ending requires ridiculously more work than was put into it.

For the developers and publishers to call this the official adaptation of a tabletop game, implying a deep sense of roleplaying, makes you wonder if their sanity was lost to the Elder Gods too. Hell, maybe we should just stop resisting too. 

Rating: 4 / 10

Call of Cthulhu is available on PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Photo: werner22brigitte@Pixabay

Single-sex schools will make us single-minded

Written by Maurits Bekkers on . Posted in Opinion.

The number of single-sex schools in the UK has been strongly declining over the past 20 years. This is because, these days, more liberal ways of thinking prevail when it comes to education.

However some have claimed that overall, pupils at a single-sex school, at least in the case of all girls schools, tend to get better grades than those in a mixed school.

Consequently, the problem modern parents are faced with is: “are single-sex schools actually better than mixed-sex schools?”

It has been suggested that single-sex schools are good for children to grow up in. Both sexes have brains that are ‘wired’ differently, and therefore react differently to the same stimuli. Using the same teaching techniques on both sexes would hence turn out to be less academically advantageous for all.

Thus, if single-sex school teachers teach their pupils in a way that helps them reach their potential, their students will as a matter of fact achieve better grades and learn a better studying method that is more suited for their sex.

Personally, I believe that mixed schools prepare children better for their adult life. Since they have to live together in an institution which better represents society from a young age, they will get used to how the other sex behaves and reacts to certain common situations.

Moreover, each individual will learn to stand up for themselves and make their voice heard before peers of both sexes. They will notice differences between the behaviour of both sexes and become more comfortable with it from habit. After all, both sexes have to live with each other in the same world when they are adults, so why not prepare them for that?

While scientists could claim that both sexes have differently-wired brains, the differences in the brains of pupils of the same sex also have consequences in how specific individuals reach their full potential. These are also significant differences.

Furthermore, the skill that seems to be most needed currently in education is memory. Since it seems likely that both sexes are equally good at it, the only differences in their capability is between individuals, irrespective of sex.

I am not implying that reaching your full potential academically is a negative thing. Rather, I am trying to underline the other lessons. Evidently, it is good for young individuals to make personal progress, leading to skills they will be able to bring into their adult life. Yet it is difficult to say what is important for them.

However, surely a mixed school would be a better way of processing knowledge and creating a decent understanding of how the social world around them works?

Often, one’s time in school seems to be based on learning-off-by-heart. Therefore, would single-sex schools really be worth missing the chance of living in a more represented social institution?

Dream Wife - Photo: The Mancunion

Live Review: Dream Wife

Written by loischandler on . Posted in Music.

As the first entrancing riffs filled a packed-out Gorilla on the 26th October, it was clear that the audience was in for something special.

The energy of the three women, who met at art school in Brighton, radiated from the stage and instantly whipped the audience into a frenzy of mosh pits and movement. However, these were no ordinary mosh pits – the crowd didn’t contain an ounce of aggression,  something which is all too present in many gig settings. The same cannot be said, however, for the band who aggressively roared lyrics such as “I am not my body I am somebody” whilst towering over the audience. The sight of young girls screaming the band’s feminist orientated lyrics back at lead singer Rakel Mjöll was nothing short of cathartic.

Feminism is a key part of the band and their sentiments on the issue were made crystal clear in songs such as ‘Somebody’, which tells the story of sexual assault on females from a male perspective. The band made it apparent they’re aware of their influence, with Rakel proclaiming, “if you have a platform, no mater how small, use it”. They proved that they’re not all talk, calling halfway through the performance for all the “bad bitches” to come to the front – therefore making sure all the shorter members of the audience could see. The band clearly made the effort to create an inclusive environment, demonstrated in the diversity and drive of the crowd. A band so aware of their position of authority and influence is invigorating in an industry where so many avoid using it.

Melodic, classic indie guitar riffs in songs such as ‘Fire’ blended seamlessly into pure punk hits, demonstrating the ability and diversity of the bands repertoire. The lights and staging were kept minimal, with lead singer Rakel’s stage presence stealing the show. She moved across the stage with mesmerising effortlessness, oozing confidence more commonly found in the likes of Mick Jagger. She somehow manages to combine dazzling harmonies with almost spoken word-like aggression on songs such as ‘FUU’, all delivered with true anger and sass, the likes of which haven’t been heard since 90s Riot Grrrl.

The band appeared to be having almost as much fun as the audience – leading them to emotionally declare that they “wished they had more songs to play”. Indeed, watching them it was easy to forget that they’d only released their debut album, as they played with the confidence of a band with decades of experience. Their debut absolutely comes to life in a live setting, the band very much relying on the their relationship with the audience in order to perform to the best of their ability.

The bands mixture of simplistic indie riffs and raw energy combine to form something that’s nothing short of revolutionary. Dream Wife won over every member of the audience, making sure they had not only the time of their lives but also left with something to think about.

9/10.

Photo: @hawwaetc

In conversation with: The Feminist Collective

Written by Chloe Hatton on . Posted in Societies.

This week we’re supporting the Misogyny Is Hate campaign, which aims to make misogyny recognisable as a hate crime in Manchester – meaning that rape, domestic violence, aggressive stalking, and groping could all be treated as hate crimes.

So, who better to speak to about the campaign and all things feminism than a feminist society? I spoke to Safiyya El Diwany, a third year Pharmacy student and the chair of the Feminist Collective, about the work that the Collective are doing this year.

They’re an intersectional society who campaign for an inclusive campus for self-defining women, holding socials and running campaigns to better the lives of students. When I ask Safiyya why students should get involved she laughs a little.

“I always find this question really difficult to answer. It’s more a question of ‘why wouldn’t you get involved?’ Feminism is such a hot topic in the media at the moment, especially with the rise of #MeToo and with the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. I think people are really starting to realise just how necessary feminism is.

“It’s my duty not only as a woman, but as a human being, to make sure society is a safe place for trans women, lesbian women, women of colour, Muslim women, non-binary people, and everyone else.”

However, it’s not just women that will feel the effects of feminism. Safiyya says that men will also feel the benefits. Feminism is a tool for dismantling the patriarchy, and whilst this undoubtedly has benefits for women, men will also be able to reap the rewards. In a feminist society, she explains, many of the issues that face men, including things like toxic masculinity, will begin to disappear.

As for the Misogyny Is Hate campaign, Safiyya thinks it’s a brilliant idea.

“It’s about time. There have been lots of misconceptions about the campaign, but men won’t go to prison for things like complimenting a woman. However, misogyny is an act of aggression, and making it a hate crime will put more weight behind convictions. It’ll also empower more women to stand up for themselves and report things if they know it will also be treated as such. Women tend to minimise their experiences; being groped on buses at the age of 14, saying ‘this is just what happens to all women, it’s normal.’ It’s not – it is a hate crime. We absolutely do not want to negate the suffering of men who have also experienced sexual abuse, but women are more likely to be harassed than boys, and this is happening because we are women.”

Men can also help the feminist cause and help to empower women. The Feminist Collective is open to all genders and anyone can join. However, Safiyya says that sometimes men need to allow spaces for women to speak and put forward their experiences.

“We held a documentary screening recently about labiaplasty in the UK, with a discussion afterwards. There was one man there, and whilst we are open to everyone joining us, men also need to recognise that they need to allow women to speak rather than directing the conversation towards them. There were women in this screening who didn’t feel comfortable enough to speak up, and so it’s so important for men to understand that some spaces are for women to speak, and not for men to monopolise the conversation.”

When I ask Safiyya about the need for women-only spaces on campus, such as the Women’s Theatre Society, she says that it really depends on the space. There definitely is a place for women-only spaces, but that the Collective themselves really want to try and engage with more men and work together in tackling the patriarchy.

The Feminist Collective have a whole host of events coming up you can get involved in. On the 12th of November, they’ll be hosting an Angry Feminist event session, which is a space for women to come together and express their frustrations without judgement. Each session is themed, and this time round, the theme is body hair. This theme also stands for an exhibition that the Collective are doing in the Students’ Union on the 28th of November, so if you need a place to express your anxieties and grievances with the support of other women, head on down.

November is also Islamophobia Awareness Month, and so the Collective want to look at how feminism can sometimes be weaponised as a tool of Islamophobia, and look beyond a good/bad binary. They’re running a workshop on decolonising feminism on 29th November, led by the spoken word poet Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan, which will look at feminism through a different lens.

As well as all this, they’re also partnering up with various campaigns to work together on issues that face Manchester. One of these is the Speak Up Stand Up campaign, running a workshop on being an active bystander, giving you the opportunity to learn how to help in situations involving harassment. You will learn how to recognise the warning signs, how to intervene, and how to support any victims.

They’re also teaming up with Sister Supporter – a group of people who are a counter presence to anti-abortion protesters. When protesters gather outside clinics and try to harass staff or women who are attending these clinics, Sister Supporter are on hand to take evidence and support patients if this is needed or wanted. They’re currently trying to lobby Manchester City Council to create buffer zones around abortion clinics. If you want to support this cause, there will be a stall outside the SU where you can sign the petition to make this a reality.

“If you want to join the Feminist Collective, please do! You can be involved as much or as little as you want, there’s no joining fee, and all of our events are free. We’ve also got a Facebook page that you can like to keep up-to-date with all of our news and events”.

“We’re just trying to make society a better place for everyone.”

Photo: Alice Rigby

Report recommends cutting tuition fees to £6,500, but increases for STEM

Written by Nicole Wootton-Cane on . Posted in News.

University tuition fees could be cut to £6,500 under measures proposed from a government review.

The report commissioned by Prime Minister Theresa May also suggested that fees for subjects that could lead to higher earnings, such as medicine or science, could be raised to up to £13,500.

The proposal has divided students, who all currently pay tuition fees of £9,250 a year, with some dubbing it “shocking” whilst others say it is “fair”.

Some argue that tuition fees for STEM degrees should be higher as they are more expensive to teach and could lead to higher-earning jobs after graduation.

Others are strongly against the idea, suggesting that it could lead to a lower status for arts and humanities degrees and create a two-tier system.

Concerns have also been raised over the social implications of the proposals, arguing that higher fees could discourage students from lower income backgrounds to pursue STEM subjects.

Second-year Physics student Olivia Murray told The Mancunion: “Forcing a fee gap between the arts and the sciences will only reinforce the false dichotomy between them. By adjusting the fees, both fields will suffer; the arts will be perceived as a lesser class of degree, and students from low-income backgrounds will be discouraged from applying for the sciences due to the overwhelming debt.”

Another student who chose to stay anonymous said: “From my perspective as a medical student I think it’s really problematic. Medicine already has a rep for being a course that’s generally only available to you if you’re middle class. It’s one that a lot of unis try to compensate with for having medicine specific widening access schemes. I really believe medicine needs people from all different sorts of backgrounds as it will make us all better doctors.

“I think if fees went up it would really put some really good people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds off medicine.”

However, other students are in favour of the proposals. Second-year History and Politics student Sam Honey said: “The principle is entirely fair – fees should reflect the price of resources and other costs. Quite simply, science-based subjects will tend to be more expensive, and students should be prepared to respect that.”

Some felt the report relied on generalisations; second-year Lizzie Hartree asked: “What about degrees like film which are arts but cost a lot? I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

The report comes on the heels of Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s latest budget, which failed to make changes to the current tuition fee or student finance system.

universities Photo: Center for American Progress @ Flickr

Head of Office for Students rules out saving universities from financial difficulty

Written by Nicole Wootton-Cane on . Posted in News.

The head of the Office for Students (OfS) has warned that they will not bail out universities from financial crises.

Speaking at the Wonkfest higher education festival in London, Sir Michael Barber said that universities should not assume that the OfS will relieve them and that such thinking “is not in students’ longer-term interests”.

The comments follow reports that some institutions are facing financial difficulty due to falling student numbers. There has been no information regarding which universities are struggling.

He went on to say: “We expect universities to develop realistic plans for the future which reflect likely student demand for their courses and how best they can meet that demand.”

“Should a university or other higher education provider find themselves at risk of closure, our role will be to protect students’ interests, and we will not hesitate to intervene to do so. We will not step in to prop up a failing provider.”

However, some remain skeptical that the OfS would stick to this rhetoric in practice. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute told The Guardian: “If a big institution that employs and educates tens of thousands of people were to topple over, there will be a major row. When Rover collapsed, the politicians had to get stuck in and it would be the same with a university.”

Unions shared similar concerns, with the Universities and College Union (UCU) saying: “Michael Barber’s comments demonstrate just how out of touch those in charge of our universities really are. You don’t protect students’ interests by bringing about the demise of their local university.”

“The regulator and government should be supporting universities to excel, not washing their hands when things don’t go to plan.”

The OfS currently do not have any financial concerns about the 182 higher education institutions it has registered.

The Office for Students took over as the regulator for higher education earlier this year, replacing the Higher Education Funding Council for England. It has the power to enforce closures and mergers, but has limited financial power to support universities.

STEM Photo: GrrlScientist @ Flickr

Misogyny in STEM: the evidence and the future

Written by Jacklin Kwan on . Posted in Science & Tech.

The lack of gender equity in STEM continues to be one of the biggest contemporary challenges to overcome. To tackle it, society must examine the institutional barriers that prevent women from participating, as well as the pernicious narratives that permeate our wider culture.

Different STEM fields face vastly different degrees of gender representation. In the US, over 50% of bioscience undergraduate degree recipients are women. This number drops significantly to fields like engineering, physics, and computer science where the percentage is closer to 20%. This is despite similarities in early academic performance between boys and girls – PISA scores are near identical for boys and girls in mathematics and science.

Deficits in gender representation become more glaring as you go down the ‘STEM pipeline’. All STEM fields show consistent trends of more women ‘leaking’ out of the system on the road to becoming fully tenured professors or high-ranking academic administrators/researchers.

Why are things like this? There is inexhaustible supply of research that have studied numerous factors that contribute to the negative external backlash women receive in STEM, as well as the internalized perceptions women have.

One barrier is whether women believe science is a ‘relevant’ profession for them. Rational questions shape women’s early interest, such as: would pursuing STEM guarantee a safe work environment? Would it allow for career progression and benefits such as maternity leave? Have there been other examples in history of successful women in STEM?

All of these questions are shaped by softer cultural influences that frame science and technology as exclusive. Only 13% of occupations classified as STEM are filled by women. The lack of a female presence in STEM means that young girls find it more difficult to envision themselves as leaders in their fields.

Cultural beliefs surrounding STEM as inherently gendered not only shape how women shape their future aspirations, but also the reactions of the people around them. Research reveals that males under-estimate the performance of their female peers.

Similarly, evidence shows that readers perceive research to be lower quality when it is a female author, as opposed to a male author. One early study that looked at the peer-review process in biomedicine concluded, “Our study strongly suggests that peer reviewers cannot judge scientific merit independent of gender. The peer reviewers over-estimated male achievements and/or underestimated female performance”. Biases against minorities as well as the need to confirm one’s own prejudices about what an ‘ideal’ scientist looks like are common theories to explain such results. These hostile environments also shape the pathways and opportunities made available to women. A study showed that STEM faculty at research-intensive universities were more likely to hire and mentor a male lab manager, as well as pay and rate him higher than an equally competent female candidate.

Skewed perceptions of job performance also prevent women from being promoted to higher positions. A study shows that students rate female lecturers, especially junior ones, 37 slots below male ones. The study controlled for course materials, the final grades of the students, as well as the number of contact hours. Disturbingly, this effect is reproduced when the course is online. When online course instructors are given a male identity, evaluations are far more positive.

Strides have been made at improving gender equality. However, there are still huge challenges to come. Acknowledging that there is a sexism issue in STEM is surprisingly difficult. A paper published in 2015 revealed that male STEM faculty preferred research that disproved the existence of a gender bias in science, despite it being fabricated for the purposes of the experiment.

Continuing to raise awareness around the issue, and taking pragmatic action such as anonymising peer-review and application processes may help improve gender representation. Providing student and professional networks for women in STEM, like WISE, is also invaluable.

To conclude, we asked the University’s WISE Committee for their thoughts: “To help benefit our society and its future development, we should encourage and promote science and engineering. Especially, we should try to minimise the prejudice that still emerges against women pursuing a career in STEM related fields. This will ultimately allow us to work better in unison, enabling technical and scientific challenges to be overcome”.

Three Billboards Photo:Mavelus @wikimedia commons

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: a female protagonist and still not feminist

Written by georgiachurch on . Posted in Film.

Upon its release, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri blew audiences away, swept up award after award and was lauded by many critics. What emerged from reviews was the ostensible ‘feminist triumph’ of the film, commending the empowered female protagonist and praising the way in which it broaches such relevant issues as sexual abuse, domestic violence, and the female voice. Telling the story of a bereaved mother (portrayed by the spectacular Frances McDormand) who erects three billboards calling the police to act on her daughter’s brutal death, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is certainly an incendiary film. Under the surface, however, it is problematic.

The complex character of McDormand’s Mildred Hayes reminds us of the importance of multi-faceted female characters in film and there is no doubt that her character speaks to the anger of modern day feminism in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The film’s proposed ‘feminist’ voice begins and ends with McDormand’s character as the film disregards every other female character.

Indeed, Mildred’s ex-husband’s new girlfriend is simply a vehicle for asinine humour, a classic cookie-cutter stock female character who’s thrown in to provide brief comic relief. Even Angela, Mildred’s murdered daughter and heart of the story itself, is played off with a transient and unremarkable flashback in which she fights with her mother. With unbrushed hair and dark makeup, Angela is a predictable trope straight from the reel of any teenage movie and is deserving of a much more interesting characterisation. Various other female characters follow similarly formulaic and unimaginative arcs; we have wives, mothers, daughters who never stray from their stock traits. Surely we know by now that women are complex, individual and multi-faceted; having one developed female character does not excuse the hypocritical confinement of every other woman to stereotypical tropes such as the bimbo girlfriend or angsty teenager. 

While female characters are pigeonholed into their stereotypes, shallow male characters who are abusers, racists and misogynists are given undeserved redemption arcs. Their brutality is continually excused, firmly disputing the presentation of the film as inherently feminist. Mildred’s ex-husband’s domestic violence is brushed off, providing a supposedly ‘comic’ moment, Chief Willoughby never holds his police officers accountable for their abhorrent behaviour but is redeemed by his death, and a rapist/murderer is never brought to justice.

Best epitomising this, however, is the character of Jason Dixon, a police officer known for abusing his position of power who, despite the power of Frances McDormand’s character, muscles in as second protagonist. Instead of condemning Dixon for his actions, McDonagh manipulates the audience into sympathising with Dixon, never truly addressing his dire racism and misogyny. Dixon is instead given a seal of approval, a slightly turbulent family dynamic and a redeeming ‘heroic’ moment in order to humanise him. Indeed, it seems that his one moment of selflessness is supposed to excuse the entirety of his abhorrent character. In this way we see that McDonagh favours the narratives of male characters, ultimately focalising his story through them, not Mildred. 

It would not be true to say that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is not a good film. In fact, it is an excellent one. The film as a whole is urgent and engaging, populated by exceptional performances, and beautifully shot. What would be a lie, however, is to claim that this is some beacon of sociopolitical evolution, an icon of modern feminism. What this film does do is to bring these issues of sexual abuse, female empowerment and the patriarchal structure of authority into public discourse and that is to be commended.

Potentially, McDonagh is using his outraged female protagonist to simply hop on the bandwagon of the current feminist movement, but that would be cynical. McDonagh’s film is among those contributing to the tentative but vital first steps of a world trying its best to overcome misogyny. In the words of Mildred Hayes; this is just the f*cking start.

My body is not my home

Written by Ellie Martin on . Posted in Societies.

The Women’s Theatre Society‘s event, ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’ took place in the theatre space of the SU recently. 

It was a truly inspiring event; to every hilarious performance there was one just as heartbreaking. For me, a highlight of the evening was a performance by the talented Safiyya El Diwany, who performed ‘My Body Is Not My Home’.  Her performance was deeply honest, poignant, and incredibly powerful. I was privileged to see Diwany perform this piece last year, when it was included in the Women’s Theatre Society production of ‘The Vagina Monologues’. It had struck me so deeply that I thought about it for months afterwards, and requested a copy of the script so that I could read it over.  I was very fortunate to interview Diwany about the piece in light of the #MisogynyIsHate movement happening on campus this week.

When I asked where Diwany draws her inspiration for her writing, she responded “most of my pieces are written in direct response to something someone has said to me, or a long-running expectation that I’m subjected to. I started ‘My Body Is Not My Home’ after a family event in which many extended family members sort of patronised me and told me I’d change my mind when I told them I didn’t want kids. Telling me things like I wouldn’t be fulfilled without them and that once you have them, you can’t imagine life without them, etc. So that’s how that particular piece started, and then it snowballed into an outlet for a lot of things to do with that subject.”

“I just take my frustrations and anger and channel it into an art form that allows me to direct my emotions outward rather than inward. Every time I perform, I’m expressing the negative emotions that have been building.”  

What I have been very struck by is the response of the audiences to the performances of last night.  If you manage to take your eyes away from the captivating performers on stage, you will see those in the audience nodding in agreement. I asked Diwany how she felt about theatre in particular as an outlet for women to deal with the treatment they face.

“I think theatre, and art as a whole, is an essential form of expressing your opinions and emotions. It allows you to take something negative – an experience, etc – and channel it into something powerful and meaningful. I think it helps people when they have a form of self expression. The whole process of creating art takes away the power of that bad thing to have a negative internal effect. You’re harnessing your emotions and utilising them, instead of letting them eat you up inside.”

Photo: Mark Hillary @ Flickr

Linder: Radical Feminist, Punk Rocker, Anti-Establishment Artist

Written by Bella Jewell on . Posted in Arts.

Linder was born in Liverpool and studied Art at Manchester Polytechnic in the 1970s. It was there in 1976 that she started to create her conceptual and gleefully provocative photomontage works that challenged the contemporary presentations of women in the public eye.

In a video interview with the Tate, Linder described the process behind the creation of her trademark style. Linder recounts how “[she] began to look at magazines that were around [her], at print media and advertising.” She went on to describe how she perceived a stark gender divide in magazine content: “for men it was sport, DIY, cars, and pornography”, whereas “for women it was fashion, household…”

The explicit gendering of the mass media, and implications it had on society’s perception of ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, was a concept that Linder sought to challenge with her work. “I began to cut out from the men’s magazines and the women’s magazines” she said, and began to fit the images together as a kind of “jigsaw”.

Linder described how she payed particular attention to the portrayal of the female form as presented in men’s pornographic magazines.

The surreal works which followed this moment of experimentation are deeply intriguing. Bodies are deconstructed and recomposed to create photomontages that are both disconcerting and striking. A standout example of this is her untitled 1977 work which became the basis for the cover of the (tastefully-named) single ‘Orgasm Addict’, which was released in 1977 by the Manchester punk band, Buzzcocks.

Linder described the composition of the collage as “a really female torso with the addition of a Morphy Richards iron and two mouths.” The ironic sense of dehumanisation that the replacement of the body’s head with a heavy metal iron conveys, is blatant.

Linder has combined the two representations of women in the 1970s: the body to serve men’s sexual interests, and the housewife to serve men’s domestic interests. This torso has no identity other than that of a sexual object.

Linder’s involvement with punk rock began at the first Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, where she met the band, Buzzcocks, who asked her to create some covers upon finding out that she was an Art student. But Linder’s musical involvement didn’t end there. As well as being a good friend with Morrissey she formed her post-punk band, Ludus, in 1977 alongside guitarist Arthur Kadmon.

Her anti-establishment radicalism was demonstrated with a memorable act of performance art at the Hacienda in Manchester in 1982. In pre-Gaga fashion, the vegetarian rocker performed in a dress made of scraps of raw chicken, which she went on to rip off to reveal a surprising undergarment: a glossy black strap-on dildo.

Linder’s work, despite being a remnant of a different era, continues to shock and challenge societal concepts of ‘femininity’. Her Frankenstein-esque creations are an important part of Manchester’s rich history of radical activism and provocative art forms, a legacy which continues today.

You can see more of Linder’s works on the Tate website: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/linder-10844

Photo: Cecile van Straten @ Wikimedia Commons

Nigella Lawson: icon or innuendo?

Written by Holly Kathleen Crystabell Ktorou on . Posted in News.

When one thinks of Nigella Lawson, her vivacious persona often precedes her. Full of descriptive and highly sensual language, innuendo Nigella herself notes how many chefs ‘have no authentic language of their own’, and in creating one for herself she is often ridiculed as a caricature of women’s sexuality. It only takes a quick google search to find compilation videos of her shows titled ‘Nigella Talks Dirty’.

It is particularly striking that chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, in constructing his ‘language’, involving plenty of swear words, simply become a part of him. He’s known as ‘the chef that swears a lot’ — mostly at other people, I might add. However, he is not reduced to the language he chooses to use. In almost every aspect of Nigella’s career she is belittled due to the language she chooses to express herself.

Simply because Nigella chooses to use sensual language doesn’t mean she should be prejudiced against because of other people’s biases. Examples like Gino D’Acampo and Ramsay show how their choice of language can enable them to display their authentic duality. Gino D’Acampo utilises his ‘Italian-ness’ and flirts with his audience whilst Ramsay is brutally harsh. Yet we still see his softer side when he comes into contact with children aspiring to be chefs.

On the other hand, Nigella is only permitted to display the one-dimensional sexualisation of herself. Her language quite literally defines how we as a society view her. Nigella isn’t given the freedom to express herself fully, and is instead commodified. Mary Berry is similarly reduced to the simplistic ‘mother’ figure of baking.

In a particularly telling interview for ‘The Project’, an Australian TV show, host Hamish Macdonald confronts Nigella’s use of language, stating, “you have this way of saying things”. Her response is visibly flustered until she settles with the almost heart-wrenching and relatable statement: “I have this way of people projecting things on me”, and it is hard to deny this.

If an individual wants to create their own ‘language’ around themselves, it is their personal right to do so. When has it become so acceptable to reduce a person to their language choices? Nigella is more than her language, more than her looks, more than a chef – she is woman who should be allowed the right to express herself and not become a symbol, used to represent womanhood in the kitchen.

 

Photo: Eric Parker @Flickr

Hate all Hate Crime

Written by Cachella Smith on . Posted in Opinion.

The UK government has recently launched a consultation on the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which aims to facilitate people changing their legal gender on birth certificates. Changing gender legally does not have a biological change as a pre-requisite.

According to an LGBT survey carried out by the government of over 108,000 participants, a majority felt that requirements for applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate are confusing. The process was termed “bureaucratic and expensive”.

The proposition therefore is to enable people to change their legal gender without the need for medical consultation or proof.

There has been a subsequent backlash to this movement. Feminist groups have suggested that this would enable predatory non-trans men to gain access to spaces where females are vulnerable, from female prisons, to changing rooms and toilets, and even Girlguiding communities.

A few weeks ago, a protest took place in Deansgate, Manchester, attacking the government’s proposition for these very reasons. Women came dressed in costumes representing both the suffragette movement and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, protesting against the rights of transgender people due to a supposed threat to female safety.

Whilst we would all tend to say that the security of other human beings must be a priority, equating such a positive movement within the transgender community to a threat to the female sex gives rise to some incredibly negative outcomes.

Suggesting a need for those who apply for a new birth certificate to undergo rigorous checks because they potentially pose a threat to females in vulnerable spaces, spreads a dangerous and blatantly false message about transgender people, to the detriment of gender equality.

This kind of argument is radically exclusive, and works to promote fear through exaggerating a potential but very minimal and unlikely risk.

If the Government were to pass such a movement, it would be a hugely positive step for the recognition and equality of all genders. It would make an already difficult process slightly easier, and prove that the government and those in power recognise the plight of those in that situation.

What protests like those mentioned above serve to do however is the opposite to the proposed new regulation. They are literally arguing for the continued segregation of genders, posing them as threats against each other.

Radical feminists like these present a need to protect females and to collate this group as an exclusionary gender. They reiterate the concept of gender as binary and biological, denying a trans woman the status of a woman and suggesting they, as a biological man, still pose a threat.

There are two messages given here. Firstly, denying or complicating the right of belonging on the part of trans people. Secondly, aligning all men with a potential threat.

It is not just misogyny and hate crime against women that we need to fight against, but hate crime associated with any gender in particular.

Photo: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom@ Wikimedia Commons

New Brazilian Government: a genuine threat

Written by George Walker on . Posted in Opinion.

Jair Bolsonaro recently won the 2018 Brazilian General Election to become the president-elect of the world’s fourth largest democracy. He beat left-wing candidate Fernando Haddad with a landslide victory. In my opinion, given the broader picture, this news is largely negative.

To give some context, Jair Bolsonaro has made some grossly discriminatory comments on record regarding minority groups, including the LGBTQ community and Brazil’s black and mixed-race community.

Furthermore, he praised the country’s fascist military dictatorship of the 1960s to 1980s as “glorious”. He was supported by General Antonio Hamilton Mourão, a man who claimed last September that the military could seize power if Brazil’s courts don’t punish corrupt politicians.

Upon his election it was reported that over twenty Brazilian universities were raided by military police. They confiscated material concerning the history of fascism, interrupted classes due to so-called ideological content, and removed anti-fascist banners, terming them as propaganda.

The evidence overwhelmingly supports the interpretation that this is a fascist government in the making.

We might have thought that the mainstream media would have denounced both him and his behaviour, or utterly condemned his victory as a dark day for democratic politics. One of the biggest democracies in the world electing such a man is surely a step in the wrong direction.

Yet sadly the coverage and exposure of the situation has been entirely insufficient, at most in the West. Bolsonaro has been called “trumpist”, “populist”, “arch-conservative”, but never “fascist” in spite of his degradation of ethnic minorities and collusion with the Brazilian financial elites. This, along with the presence of military police in Brazil to suppress ideological opposition, all surely points to characteristics of a fascist environment threatening people’s liberties.

British media reports have failed to mention the presence of military police in the days following his election. There has also been no reference to the aforementioned forced censorship within Brazilian universities over so-called ideological content.

Bolsonaro seems to have even pervaded into the Brazilian legal system, as courts in Rio ordered the Universidade Federal Fluminense faculty to remove from the Law School facade a flag with the message “UFF Law Against Fascism”. The fact that I had to find this information from a Brazilian news source via Twitter tells much of the story.

When will this horror end, you ask? For me, it will be when mainstream media, as a cohesive unit, begins to attack the place of neo-fascism in today’s democratic society. Think of Poland, Hungary, Italy, the USA, and now Brazil. When reporting on fascism, an all-sides-being-equal debate should always be an afterthought to utter condemnation and a hostile attack of these ideas.

Events in Brazil are evidence as to why the mainstream media needs to unite in calling a spade a spade, in reaction to the ugly rearing of fascism’s head.

Photo: Misogyny is Hate

How can your society get involved in Misogyny Is Hate?

Written by rosiejohnson on . Posted in Societies.

You may have seen Misogyny Is Hate outside the SU on one of our Drive Days, or you may have come to one of our events such as our Pizza and Prosecco networking evening. The cause may have caught your interest and now you might be wondering… what can I do? If you are a member of a society, or even run your own, here are some of the ways you can get involved in Misogyny Is Hate.

Our campaign events, in particular, are essential for both networking and raising awareness for the campaign. Your involvement, or even just your attendance, could dictate the final success of the Misogyny Is Hate campaign.

On 15th November, we will be holding a ‘Blanket’ Night where we will be covering the streets of Manchester with Misogyny Is Hate posters. Here, we will need as many volunteers as we can find to get involved so that we are successful in covering Manchester from Fallowfield, through both UoM and MMU, to the city centre. Following this, we will be holding a demonstration in the city centre on the 28th November. This will involve a short performance art piece about misogyny. Your society may want to be involved in the performance or the direction of this piece.

Finally, our ‘1000 Voices’ Rally on the 5th December. This is the most important event for our campaign and is where your help is most needed. This may be your opportunity to stand up and speak out for Misogyny Is Hate. In particular, performance-based societies might be interested in showcasing their work by performing at the rally. This may be anything from a music piece performed by a small singing group to a short spoken word piece. Alongside this, if you are passionate about making misogyny a hate crime in any capacity, and have something you want to say about the cause or anything related, then you may wish to be a speaker at the rally.

The main purpose of the campaign is to fight the acts of crime that the women of Manchester are subjected to every day. We want to hear from you: what are your own experiences which make our campaign as important as it is?

If you wish to share your own story you may want to speak at our rally or, alternatively, you may wish to write for us and have you work published on our blog (either anonymously or not). If you or your society want to get involved in our Misogyny Is Hate campaign, please contact us on our Facebook page, Instagram (@misogynyishate), or Twitter (@MisogynyIsHate).

This post was a guest submission from the student-led Misogyny is hate campaign.

Photo: Bangin @Wikimedia Commons

What does the Pittsburgh shooting say about far right politics?

Written by nimoomer on . Posted in Opinion.

In what can only be described as one of the most extreme acts of violence against the Jewish community in the US, on October 27th Robert D. Bowers, an incensed white supremacist armed to the brim with weapons, opened fire on worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue. 11 innocent congregants were declared dead and 4 police officers wounded.

This act of senseless violence was monstrous, but we cannot just describe Bowers as a monster and be done with it. His views were not cultivated in a social vacuum.

Bowers was emboldened by a President who shows no qualms in pandering to white supremacists. He found a place for his views on a social media site called Gab that is tailored for white nationalists. He saw himself represented by far-right political pundits worming their way into mainstream news. I am not in any way alleviating him of any responsibility — the deaths of these innocent civilians lie solely on his doorstep.

However, if this was a Muslim terrorist attack the first things we would ask are: “Where was he radicalised?” “How did this happen?”  “Were there any signs?” And rightly so. We owe the people who died the same courtesy so that it does not happen again.

While it might be unfashionable to say, we need to stop giving these incendiary far-right political so-called commentators platforms alongside serious journalists. We need to stop legitimising them because the truth is that not only do they create massive divisions between people and create a toxic political atmosphere based around hate, but they also actively spread lies.

Conspiratorial and paranoid thinking is common in far-right spaces. This is where anti-Semitic and racist ideas truly thrive and encourage people like Robert D. Bowers to commit such a heinous act. It is old news that right-wing populism is everywhere.

However, the dog whistles have moved from loose racial stereotypes to alluding to global Jewish conspiracies through anti-Semitic slurs like “globalist”, which are effectively just dog whistles for some kind of Jewish global elite. These are now a part of everyday conservative slang that even the President dabbles in.

We need to accept that this is not just about economic anxiety and protest votes anymore. It has moved away from that. The way we understand and see politics is sending us back to a time that I truly don’t think anyone wants. By giving people like Raheem Kassam, Ezra Levant, and even Steve Bannon a voice we are allowing their views to disseminate to the public and we simply cannot afford to do that anymore.

The entire globe seems to be on this weird precipice of something truly terrifying. Brazil just elected far-right Jair Bolsonaro, every corner of Europe seems to be flirting with fascism, and we’re never allowed the luxury of forgetting that Trump exists. This attack exemplifies everything that’s wrong with our society and just shows how vigilant we need to be in the face of fascism.

On Saturday, a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor was gunned down in their place of worship. A person who survived the horrors of Nazi Germany did not survive in America in 2018. Need I say more?

Photo: Hawwa Alam

Review: ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’

Written by Devi Joshi on . Posted in Theatre.

Hate crime in the UK has risen by almost 50% in the last year. Overwhelmingly, Muslim women have been targeted. The narrative surrounding Muslim women is polarised. Either they are oppressed and need saving, or they are radicalised and dangerous. There is little room for nuance in media representations of Muslim women in the UK.

With the Misogyny Is Hate campaign picking up steam, ideas surrounding intersectionality within the female community are of vital importance in understanding and sympathising with the experiences of women with regards to their faith, sexuality, and class.

These nuances were touchingly and sensitively explored in ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’, put on by the Women’s Theatre Society. The society, which started last year, aims to provide a safe space for women and allow them to explore the world of theatre and to tell their stories in a supportive environment.

The performance was made up of eight monologues written by women of the Islamic faith, and performed through a diverse range of experiences, performance styles, and forms. The show offered an intersectional perspective, with religion, queerness, tradition, and womanhood explored in all their multi-faceted complexities. It was truly refreshing.

There was a real sense of inclusivity at the event, with a British Sign Language interpreter translating every performance. The women walked onto the bare stage alone, recited their monologue, and exited — often leaving to the roaring applause of a fully engaged audience.

All of the monologues were written by the performers, creating a sense of honesty and vulnerability. From dealing with offhand remarks by friends and peers, to being made to feel uncomfortable on public transport, many of the monologues portrayed the microaggressions Muslim women face daily.

Hana Jafar was a standout performer, especially in her delivery and in the humour, of her retelling of three scenarios where she was made to feel uncomfortable for her choices. From being called “strict” after politely declining an invitation to the pub, to being told by a counselor who recently went to Morocco that she had thought of Hana — why? “Because there were so many people wearing headscarves there!” Her response: “Yes, and every time I see a middle-aged white woman, I think specifically of you!”

Being singled out or made to feel different is never a nice feeling. But Hana’s story, however hilariously delivered, highlights a major issue in the UK. When we only see Muslim women through their hijabs, we begin to group all women who wear a hijab into one monolithic group. That’s why performances that explore the individual stories of women, who are often regarded as one group, are so important in confronting misplaced stereotypes.

I was also touched by Urussa Malik’s performance. This was a stream-of-consciousness piece, which explored ideas surrounding death, loneliness, and tense parent-child relationships. Malik was able to tap into the universal experience, whilst remaining deeply personal.

The final speaker, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, highlighted the fact that throughout her career in the media, people have always referred to her as “brave” or “outspoken”. At first, she thought that this was a compliment — she was a vocal Muslim, addressing issues within her community.

However, throughout the arc of her piece, she came to the realisation that an “outspoken Muslim woman” is at odds with the “submissive, repressed Muslim woman”, a figure too often seen in media representations. In breaking stereotypes, we can inadvertently reinforce them.

The greatest achievement of ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’ was that the performers were performing for themselves, not for other people. They had the platform to be true to themselves in front of an audience open to their experiences — a powerfully personal performance.

Find out more about the Women’s Theatre Society, including future events and how to get involved, here.

Photo: Hawwa Alam.

Moschino H&M Photo: hm.com

H&M and Moschino’s coveted collaboration launches this week – and it’s coming to Manchester

Written by Rona McCann on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

Want designer clothes on a student budget? Well, it gives us great pleasure to tell you that you’re in luck. Luxury Italian fashion house Moschino has teamed up with global brand H&M for what is already being dubbed the collection of the season.

It is no exaggeration to say that the line is a big deal. A star-studded catwalk show debuted the pieces in New York last week and had us drooling with fashion envy. Clad in the collection were the hottest models around, including Gigi and Bella Hadid, Winnie Harlow, and Joan Smalls. Also joining in the fun and showing them all how it’s done was the legendary Naomi Campbell.

A further factor that makes this collaboration so great is its ideology. “I hate the idea of exclusivity in fashion,” said Moschino’s creative director Jeremy Scott before his art graced the runway. “I’m all about the democratisation, about reaching people who can’t normally afford this stuff.”

Scott is confident in the launch and has commented on its necessity in these troubling times. “I want to be a bright light in the midst of so much darkness; people need a moment, a break from it.”

He’s not wrong about him bringing the brightness. The collection is bold – think hot pink and cartoons and glam galore. T-shirts bearing a streetwear-clad Mickey Mouse, glimmering gold combat trousers, and vibrant faux furs, to name just a few, make up the impressive and lively range. The accessories are worth looking out for too; padded hats, foil bags, and heavy-duty chains are ready to be added to your wardrobe. The line even allows you to keep looking Fallow cool – a choice of puffa jackets will be on sale too.

The collection includes men’s, women’s and even – wait for it – dogs’ pieces to get your whole gang looking as stylish as ever.

“So how much am I needing to spend to get my hands on all this?” we hear you ask. Well, the answer really depends on how you’re feeling. Prices start at just £7.99 for accessories and £17.99 for clothing. However, if you fancy a bit of a spontaneous mid-semester, stress-induced splurge, some of the limited edition pieces will set you back by a whopping £299.99.

As we all know, living in the jam-packed, culturally-thriving city of Manchester is a daily gift, but this week sees it get even better. You have been blessed with being a mere walk away from one of only five stores in the UK that will stock pieces from the range. H&M’s Market Street branch is already preparing its Moschino stock for the big launch.

The Moschino x H&M range will go live online and in selected stores this Thursday (8th November). But make sure you’re hasty – these pieces won’t be around for long.

Review: Bohemian Rhapsody

Written by Adrian Kanyoli on . Posted in Film, Music.

If you’ve ever wanted to watch a truly musical film, this is one you’ve been waiting for. Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of the legendary rock band Queen through the eyes of their charismatic lead singer, Freddie Mercury. The film is a triumph and is capable of simulating the excitement induced by the band’s most infectious anthems.

This isn’t a cradle-to-grave biopic. It’s a music-driven tale of the band’s meteoric rise and painful stumbles. Sound is the driving force of the narrative, providing auditory cues to shift focus in the places cuts would be. Even in long takes, visual storytelling is simply not enough. This is seen when Mercury (Rami Malek) – played to perfection by the Mr. Robot star – proposes to his girlfriend and only the word “yes” will suffice, not taking her nods for an answer.

The true potential of this use of sound is only realised during the dynamic stage performances which capture the joy of arena rock on film so well you’ll feel like you’re at a Queen concert. Most of us are too young to have witnessed the rock stars live. However, the film effectively captures the nostalgia of the songs we’ve grown up listening to. This movie will make you want to sing along. I admit I had to stop myself from stomping my feet and clapping when We Will Rock You came on.

Despite multiple montages and full-length performances, this never gets old. By the time the film ends with Queen’s show-stopping performance at Live Aid and you think you’ve seen all Malek has to offer, he gives us one last taste of Mercury’s legendary showmanship, showing off the singer’s wide vocal range, his flamboyant dance moves, his attention-grabbing quirks and his enchanting control of the crowd. This might be a film about the band but Mercury is the true star of this picture. It also takes a star like Malek to do him justice.

The rest of the British, Irish, and American cast (Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech) are spectacular, wearing the personas of these real-life figures so well you’d think they were born to do it. Fans of Wayne’s World will be delighted to see Mike Myers get his meta moment as a record executive who refuses to release the song Bohemian Rhapsody as a single because its too long, and not the type of music teenagers would sing in their car. This moment got quite a few chuckles at the cinema.

Unfortunately, the film’s lengthy runtime (134 minutes), lacklustre script, headache-inducing editing and uneven pacing are enough to try the patience of the most avid cinephile or Queen superfan.

Overall, despite its flaws, this is a film that should be seen and is definitely worth the price of admission. While it commits a few cardinal sins, it doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects. The film is willing to undo a lot of history’s whitewashing of Mercury’s Indian Parsi descent and his sexual orientation. It’s worth watching to learn more about an icon of British culture and the music that shaped today’s hits.

3/5.