In The Buzz Cut, we bring you a round-up of all the weird, controversial, and wonderful stories we’ve been reading all week.
The New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears shed renewed light upon the media’s treatment of female pop stars, leading people to question not just the cruel treatment doled out to Britney Spears in the ’00s, but also to pop stars today. Is the tabloid culture softening, or has it morphed into something just as sinister?
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This week, a Powerpuff Girls live action remake was announced, in which grown-up Powerpuff girls lament their childhood spent fighting crime. It’s yet another example of film and TV executives bringing back (and effectively ruining) childhood favorites, as a tool to jump on the mental health bandwagon.
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An interview with Priyanka Chopra, commemorating the launch of her memoir Unfinished, reveals her history, ambitions, and struggle in both Hollywood and Bollywood — as well as her ties to the Modi regime, and what her definition of apolitical means.
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Speaking of Priyanka Chopra, international brown girl solidarity has become a online phenomenon as South Asian celebrities transcend country lines. But it actively ignores class and caste narratives within, making it yet another dangerous girl power rhetoric.
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The paparazzi in India are changing — armed with mobile phones instead of professional cameras, young people — bartenders, mechanics or drivers on the side — are taking on the task of waiting for hours outside celebrities homes and gyms for that money shot.
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As Twitter comes under increasing pressure to suspend or withhold user accounts, the platform must decide between protecting free speech rights or bowing to the Indian government’s dubious thumping of the constitutional rulebook. While it currently appears to be standing its ground, an escalation from the Indian government might force it to change its stance.
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Meanwhile, the Indian judiciary’s failure to apply bail laws equally is under close scrutiny, as apparent through the cases of Sudha Bharadwaj and Jhalid Saifi, arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Rather than using bail to ensure attendance, it’s being weaponized as a tool of punishment.
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On a lighter note, a U.S. county attorney found himself the accidental subject of Twitter fame as a video of him at a virtual court hearing with a cat filter turned on went viral. End your week by watching the Texas lawyer insist he’s not a cat as his colleagues tell him that actually, he really is.
