Necessary Fictions

This is what losing sounds like

Why Trump's Iran speech reminded me of Alexander Garland's “Civil War”

Apr 2 • Elias Isquith

35

7

March 2026

Apocalypse again

Colonel Kilgore loved the smell of napalm. Secretary Hegseth loves killing. There's a difference.

Mar 30 • Elias Isquith

20

3

The president is bored

Trump wants to "move on" from his war of choice. Tony Soprano would sympathize.

Mar 29 • Elias Isquith

34

5

“Margin Call” in the age of “Epic Fury”

What separates the bankers of 2008 from the people running the Iran War? The difference between cynicism and cruelty.

Mar 26 • Elias Isquith

41

3

7

“Unforgiven” is about an incompetent

“Worse than a crime — a mistake.”

Mar 23 • Elias Isquith

71

16

10

“Network” is a prayer, not a prophecy

Inside one of cinema’s bleakest masterpieces, there is something hidden that feels like hope.

Mar 15 • Elias Isquith

14

2

3

"There is so much work to be done on your heart"

Cameron Winter's "Warning" is an angry, devastating, God-haunted threat.

Mar 11 • Elias Isquith

11

4

The media is structurally pro-Trump

What a petty hit piece reveals about the media's fucked-up incentives.

Mar 10 • Elias Isquith

35

6

6

Trump’s war on Iran is taking place

What's it like to re-read Baudrillard as bombs fall on Tehran?

Mar 8 • Elias Isquith

33

2

11

February 2026

"Deadwood" and the community of spirits

On rewatching David Milch's masterpiece in the age of the oligarch.

Feb 22 • Elias Isquith

19

2

1

March 2025

Why MAGA acts like it’ll never lose

The logic of populism holds that anyone who is not a believer is not real.

Mar 28, 2025 • Elias Isquith

128

14

36