Society & Culture > Media, arts & sport
Günter Grass and the German neurosis
19 Apr 2012
Maciej Zurowski looks at a literary scandal and the bourgeoisie's attempt to cope with its past
A 'people's' tragedy
06 Dec 2007
Lawrence Parker reviews Ben Harker's Class act: the cultural and political life of Ewan MacColl Pluto Press, 2007, £15.99, pp360
A load of old Balzac
15 Nov 2007
Is there such a thing as a 'Marxist art'? James Turley takes issue with Hillel Ticktin
From must-see to snore-fest
18 Oct 2007
The 51st annual London Film Festival opens this week with a plethora of films from around the world. Jim Moody reviews a selection from the 270 feature films and shorts that will be screened up to the end of this month
Straw men and solitary revolution
04 Oct 2007
The 'high modernism v improvisation' debate represents a false dichotomy, writes Wieland Hoban
Challenging the commodity form
27 Sep 2007
The intermediary terrain that Wieland Hoban claims musicians should inhabit in order to "engage with the world" does not exist, argues Gordon Downie
Class cookery
20 Sep 2007
Lawrence Parker reviews Nigella Express (BBC2 Mondays, 8pm)
Inspired flashes, mainstream values
09 Aug 2007
Jeremy Butler reviews Harry Potter and the deathly hallows
Quixotic windmills
02 Aug 2007
Is the detailed notation of musical composition more democratic than free improvisation? Composer Wieland Hoban responds to Gordon Downie's article, 'Art and commodification'
Art and commodification
26 Jul 2007
The working class must have access to the most advanced and sophisticated means of cultural production, argues composer Gordon Downie
From mighty messiahs to mere mortals
21 Jun 2007
Superheroes like Batman and Spiderman mean lucrative movies and reviews in The Times and The Guardian. Yet the very first superhero, Superman, was invented by two working class teenagers during the depression. Mike Belbin looks at the development of the genre and what it may tell us about its makers and audiences
Politics and lure of fame
07 Jun 2007
George Binette finds Julian Temple's film about The Clash frontman Joe Strummer engrossing, but occasionally cringe-inducing
Less than charitable
17 May 2007
The Independent ran an intriguing story on May 12 centred on the expulsion of Mike Squires from membership of the Marx Memorial Library. Unfortunately, the paper dropped a clanger by stating that the Communist Party of Great Britain was at the centre of an attempted 'takeover' of the library. Lawrence Parker reports
Out of the closet?
03 May 2007
Lawrence Parker reviews Florian Henckel's The lives of others (Das Leben der Anderen)
Propaganda and ideology
26 Apr 2007
The most remarkable thing about the sword and sandals epic 300 is that there have been no pickets organised outside the local Odeon and no fatwahs issued against director Zack Snyder and executive producer Frank Miller, says Jeremy Butler
Ken Loach's use of Irish history
19 Apr 2007
US communist Jim Creegan revisits the controversy over a film that has at last reached New York