Issue 15: Americana, pt. II Archives

It is summer in America and everyone is pushing the limit on how long the forces at work that are bigger than us can be ignored. How long the Other can be staved off. How long we can continue to avoid that which scares us or is stronger than us or is pulling us underwater. America is really good at pushing these limits.

But That’s What Happened, Man.

Tess Lynch·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

When I first saw American Movie, I was working at a vintage clothing store and blithely guzzling vodka sodas until four in the morning; I had recently graduated from college and had plenty of time to land myself in a 30 Under 30 list or apply to graduate school. There were no failures yet, only promise.

Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) raises his hands up towards the moon in a scene from Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) in a painting by Brianna Ashby.

We’ll Jump and We’ll See

Chad Perman·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

Joe Versus the Volcano is a film that lives almost entirely in its own world, asking Big Questions about Big Things; its heart is large, and its magic deep.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Surviving North by Northwest

Erika Schmidt·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

So you’re on the run. The bad news: you’re being pursued by both international spies and by the American police....

What Happened to You is Freak Luck

Bebe Ballroom·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

No one ever told me how beautiful Sylvester Stallone was in 1976. Sunken-in eyes, almost able to make out the skull beneath the skin. Big, permanently wounded doll eyes, surprisingly smooth skin, face like a basset hound.

Home is Where I Wanna Be

Andrew Root·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

In An American Tail, America takes on a mythic energy; it is the Golden Fleece, the Holy Grail and armour of Achilles. It is fulfillment, deliverance from trial, protection from evil. It is happiness and it is home.

And Not to Yield

Summer Block·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

Three escaped convicts and a young man who claims to have sold his soul to the Devil arrive at a...

It’s Not Personal

Katie Zimolzak·

Issue 15: Americana, pt. II

The vision Francis Ford Coppola presents in The Godfather is a reality that many first-generation Americans experienced in the first half of the twentieth century: you had to live near your own countrymen because your parents only spoke their language; you feel left out, shut out from the larger population.