1) Show – Modern Love (on Amazon Prime)
Relentless commitment issues with television shows is a trait I have yet to overcome. However, Modern Love is different. At the outset, I was apprehensive of the rather cheesy title, somewhat scarred from the influx of Hallmark rom-com films (with dreadful acting and a myriad of loopholes) that are plastered on Netflix during the cold winter season. After watching the extended six-minute trailer of Modern Love, I was sucked into binge-watching all eight episodes within a 12-hour timeframe (amongst all of the lectures and seminars that had fragmented my day).
Modern Love is a romantic comedy anthology based on The New York Times column with first-person essays on love, relationships and friendships. If, like me, you also have commitment issues with television shows – the thirty minute stand-alone episodes will be ideal for you. Modern Love certainly does not incorporate the standard “boy meets girl intertwined with heartbreak later on” storyline as it seeks to explore love in its prolific forms whether it be romantic, familial or platonic, all set amongst the New York skyline. Story lines range from Dev Patel playing a dating app founder pursuing his arduous search for love to Anne Hathaway playing a lawyer with bipolar disorder, navigating life through a theatrical lens.
Despite the mixed reviews on this show claiming Modern Love as a discordance of random components with weak execution on accurately depicting what “love” is, this show emphasises the enlightening existence of the abundance of love in hidden pockets of our lives everyday.
2) Podcast – The High-Low
A short attention span coupled with frantically attempting to attend my morning lectures may seem like the most ill-suited time to listen to a podcast. Nonetheless, eating my breakfast whilst listening to Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes rant about witty pop culture and current affairs with an immensely sarcastic and feminist tone has almost become a daily ritual.
3) Book – “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and The Future Of Clothes” (Dana Thomas)
The words “fast fashion” and “sustainability” have deluged Youtube videos, Instagram posts and online articles, with an emphasis placed on the profoundly negative impacts on the environment of our consumerist actions with fashion. Despite my rather feeble attempts on attempting to transition from purchasing clothes impetuously to thinking more about an item’s longevity and its manufacturing process, Dana Thomas highlights the dangerous relationship of our fast-fashion closets to the current economic and climate patterns, reinforcing my decision to always think about the underlying story behind clothes that I purchase. Delving deeper into the economic and political roots behind the textiles industry, Thomas discusses the role of NAFTA in providing the platform for fast fashion to thrive and touches upon alternative solutions, including the rising prominence of “slow-fashion” brands which incorporate locally grown materials.