Eric Valenti

Eric Valenti

A&E Editor

On April 19, of this year, “Ramy,” a Hulu original tv series, was released. The drama follows the story of millennial Ramy Youssef who struggles to find a balance between his Muslim faith and the pressures of today’s societal expectations. But this isn’t a typical show following the story of someone who believes their losing their faith, prepare to be surprised. I came into this series with a little to no knowledge of the Muslim faith.

When I had initially seen the trailer for the Hulu series it definitely piqued my interest. There’s a noticeable lack of representation for the Muslim community most likely due to the negative stigma that the Muslim community gets from the terrorist attack on September 11th. “Ramy” tackles this stigma head-on in one of the ten episodes of the Hulu series.

The plot in “Ramy” is simply finding the balance between religion and being a millennial. In the Muslim faith, things such as drinking and premarital sex are looked down upon and Ramy is forced into a situation where he has to decide whether or not him partaking in these things makes him a “bad Muslim.” Though I myself am not religious I did to some extent find a way to relate to Ramy’s struggles.

If you’re looking for a short series that will not open your eyes to a new culture but also make you laugh, I would definitely recommend “Ramy.” If you don’t cry or laugh while watching the series, you’ll definitely stay hooked because of the relatability of the characters.

Though I do not identify with any religion at this time, I do sometimes feel pressured to do things that I’m unsure about because of peer pressure or parental expectations, similar to Ramy. Something the show did well was creating an environment that was both relatable but also informative as well. In my opinion, this came through with not only the writing but the acting as well.

May Calamay who plays Ramy’s sister, Dena, the plotline is only focused on in one episode but offers a ton of insight on the life of a Muslim girl. Dena does a fantastic job of playing a sensitive yet closed off character. Her character struggles with things like having more “rules” to follow then men in Muslim faith have to. Things such as deciding to wear a hijab, respecting her parents’ belief that a man has control over her life as well as her struggle to stay a virgin until she is married.

The subject while quite serious is actually easy to handle because of the comedy that is thrown into the mix. I definitely appreciate the relatable humor of coming from an immigrant family but also the blend of humor about being a millennial and being Muslim. In the first episode specifically, where Ramy is talking about picking up girls with his mom, Ramy makes the joke, “You can’t just go up to a girl and ask her, ‘Hey can I get your father’s number?” Subtle jokes like this aren’t worth crying over but it does make you chuckle a bit which I appreciate.

Eric Valenti

A&E Editor

On January 26 of this year, “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” mini-series premiered to Netflix, revealing countless facts and secrets about Bundy and the murders that took place because of him. Two days following the release of the tapes, COTA’s film was released at the Sundance Film Festival as “Extremely Wicked,” starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy.

When the trailer was originally released, people had mixed feelings about Efron playing the monstrous Ted Bundy. The trailer depicted Bundy as a misunderstood cool guy with a secret, almost like an action star. This approach is not the first of its kind –there have been many recreations of other murders such as “My Friend Dahmer” and “The Assassination of Versace,” which were both quite critically acclaimed. But are these portrayals inaccurate? And if they inaccurate, are they harmful?

Senior Matthew Reed, who is a fan of such shows, doesn’t see a problem.

“Making movies off of these people allow us to get an insight into the lives of a killer. You’re bringing awareness to people and for all, we know someone could know a person who could do something like this one day. It brings awareness and information,” Reed stated.

Dramatizations of these events aren’t necessarily bad. There entertaining and they’re able to teach people about events that impacted America in such a large way that people felt the need for these stories to be recreated by actors and shown for generations to come. Recreations of these events occur also to show either new evidence that has come up or when a director/writer believes there is a new way to tell these stories.

However, One of the parts of the dramatizations that people forget about is that there not always 100% facts. Some details are added in order to fill the unknown. Senior Shilo Kendall believes that documentaries, and not dramatic re-creations, are the proper way for a person to learn about these events.

“Having tapes or people who are apart of the investigations who were involved in any way with the people are more interesting than a dramatization,” she stated. Who cares about what it looks like if you’re not actually portraying the facts of the situation?” Kendall stated.

Even some of the younger people of today believe that the dramatizations that are shown on all different types of viewing media actually do more harm than good. If the show is entertaining enough,  viewers may not feel compelled to research these heinous people and their actions.

In the case of  Ted Bundy, he may be seen as a character instead of a criminal, thus making him easy to sympathize with and seem more humane. For example, In “Extremly Wicked” it was noted that because the movie was told in the perspective of Bundy’s girlfriend, it displayed Bundy as a father who was being harassed by a court and prevented him from being with his girlfriend and her daughter. The crimes themselves were not as noteworthy in the film but were more just brought up and talked about but not actually shown all that much.

Math TeacherBrad Latimer, who is also a devoted True Crime Podcast listener, stressed the importance of the mindset the viewers have while watching a dramatization.

“I always think about the nature vs nurture thing. What sort of things can impact someone’s life that can lead someone down a certain path? What kinds of trauma can people experience when their younger can lead them to go down a path that most don’t follow.” Latimer stated.

It’s difficult to determine whether or not dramatizations are harmful. Some argue that these portrayals of famous killers cause individuals to become demonetized to violence and make people see these murderers as the victim because of the harmful environment that they lived/grew up in. Others believe that portrayals of murders allow people to better understand the time period where these murders took place in order to further their understanding of whether or not a murderer is born or created.

It appears that the biggest thing to understand when watching dramatizations like “Extremely Wicked” is that these people are actors, these are characters that are based on real people and true events, but it’s not all facts.

Taylor Green

A&E Editor 

Firefly, Coachella, Made in America, are all festivals that are held in the same place each year. The Vans Warped Tour is one of the few, if not only music festivals that traveled across the country. However, 2018 was their last complete run of the tour. Yet the tour curator Kevin Lyman did hint that there could be a celebration show for the tour in the future.

On December 18th, the official Vans Warped Tour Twitter account announced the dates and primary locations for the 25th- anniversary show. They confirmed that one was being held in Cleveland, Ohio and the others in the east coast, west coast and the midwest.

The account later revealed in January that the east coast show is happening in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the west coast show is happening in Mountain View, California.

The announcement of the shows, of course, caused a few of mixed feelings among fans. People who lived close to these areas were ecstatic, whereas people who are quite a drive away felt as though it was unfair. Many people took to Twitter voicing their opinions, prompting the Warped Tour account to respond and clap back, as well as answer some frequently asked questions.

Another thing that fans took issue with is the fact that tickets had presale before the lineup was even announced. A lot of people didn’t understand why someone would want to spend money on a show without knowing who was performing. Other fans countered with going for the experience since this is the last official Warped Tour the performers wouldn’t matter and it would be more about the atmosphere.

However, many fans weren’t ready to make the commitment and buy a ticket because Warped is a two-day event this year. The locations are also a distance away from some people, so that means that they would have to try and find AirBnBs or hotels to stay at. , of course, Lauren Nicolella shares that with Warped being similar to other festivals this year,  it was more difficult to plan around it. “I was trying to plan with a group of friends to go to the one in Atlantic City, but it turned out to be a lot harder than last year,” Nicolella says. “Since it’s two days and a bit further away, we had to plan out who would drive, and it’s not necessarily easy to get a hotel as an 18-year-old.”

Nicolella also shares that it was more difficult trying to secure a ticket this year than last year due to the exclusivity of the event. “There are only three dates, and the Atlantic City one is literally gathering all of the east coast fans since its a central hub for New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and other people are willing to travel for something as big as this.” She says.

It isn’t unheard of that people from different states go to music festivals held in farther locations. For instance, Coachella is held in Indio, California every year. The festival has multiple plans for people who are traveling via driving, Uber, public transportation and even plane. The festival also offers camping plans, which allows the attendee to camp on the desert site, in their car or even hooks them up with hotel rooms close to the desert.

The Vans Warped Tour twitter account realized that many people attending the Atlantic City show would want to stay either on or somewhere near the beach and gave some information out about nearby hotels.

Benjamin Rush High School Senior Justin Stetler bought his Warped Tour tickets during the pre-sale event for the Atlantic City Show. “I, fortunately, was able to afford the pre-sale tickets, and I had a feeling that these tickets were going to sell out fast.” Stetler shares.

Stetler’s prediction was right, and the Atlantic City show sold out March 8th, seven days after the lineup was announced.

Stetler plans to stay close to the beach for the AC show. He planned to go to the show with a few friends and get a room close to the shore. “I would say that this does make it harder because we have to book a hotel room for 4 days, and that’s going to be pretty pricey.” Stetler shares.

However, he admits that he’d prefer to splurge more for a two-day event rather than a one day festival like the 2018 Warped Tour. “I am glad that it is a two-day event this year because last year after I left my city’s warped tour date, I felt that I needed to go to another date. Unfortunately, I couldn’t because of how far the other nearest date was.” Stetler says.

It seems like for the final tour, Warped is going out with a bang with what people are calling the best line up yet. Stetler, who is more into metalcore and hardcore wishes there were more heavy bands coming, but it stoked nonetheless. “I’m so excited to see Taking Back Sunday, A Day To Remember, Wage War, Memphis May Fire, Sleeping With Sirens, Blink-182, Hidden In Plain View, The Offspring, Bowling For Soup, Trophy Eyes, and We The Kings,” Stetler says, expressing his enthusiasm for the lineup.

Not only does the tour have a spectacular lineup, but there are other attractions as well. For the Cleveland date, the show is going to be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Atlantic City show is going to have live wrestling, a human cannonball, and even motocross. The Mountainview date is going to have a Warped Museum, going through the tour’s 25-year history.

It’s bittersweet to finally be saying goodbye to the famous Warped Tour. The festival has been a wonderful place for fans of alternative music to express themselves freely for over twenty `years. Many fans say it would be nice to see more Warped dates after this year, however, they admit that it would be too good to be true.

Lily Bromley

Staff Writer

Close your eyes and imagine the ordinary TV portrayal of high school. What do you see? For me, it’s an oversaturated mess, filled with bad acting and cliche plot lines. What’s worse is that there is no in-between for teen shows, they are either overly innocent or extremely raunchy, the actors either 12-year-olds or 30-somethings. I have always wished for a show that accurately described high school.

Sex Education isn’t exactly that show, but it’s close.

The new Netflix show follows Otis Milburn, a socially awkward nerd, and Maeve Wiley, a punky girl from the wrong side of the tracks. It seems like a pretty cliche high school show: naive boy meets manic pixie dream girl and his life is changed forever. But that’s not where the show goes.  Maeve and Otis are paired together on a science project and she observes him comforting a classmate about his sexual troubles. She then decides that she and Otis are going to start a “clinic”, where he gives advice to their sexually inexperienced peers, and while Maeve takes care of the money.

The soundtrack for Sex Education was chock full of throwback indie and punk music, with some of my favorite bands including, The Cure, Bikini Kill, Talking Heads, and The Psychedelic Furs. In fact, music played a big part in the characters. Maeve Wiley’s Riot Grrrl aesthetic is sealed when she is shown blasting “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill in her bathroom. Otis’ sad boy demeanor is showcased with his own music including “Boy’s Don’t Cry” by The Cure.

Sex Education is set in the present day, but if it wasn’t for the use of cell phones and laptops, I would have guessed it was set in the 80s or 90s. The costume design is also a definite throwback, and each group seems to have their own specific style. The popular girls are clad in denim jackets, zip up jumpsuits, colorful tops, and shoulder pads. Maeve wears dark denim, combat boots, and chunky jewelry, keeping up with her grungy character. Otis keeps to blue, red, and tan. I overall liked the 80s and 90s vibe of the show, but I thought it seemed a little out of place in a show that seems so current in all other aspects.

One of the most compelling parts of Sex Education is the obvious focus on female empowerment. I mentioned before that the female lead Maeve Wiley isn’t the average female character, though she easily could have been. With her pink hair and grunge style, she almost resembled Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs The World.  In the show, Maeve makes a point to say that she likes “complex female characters”, and I would definitely say that she is one. She has a complicated backstory and is given plotlines outside of Otis.

My favorite episode of the whole show is Episode 3, in which Maeve, after finding out she is pregnant, decides to get an abortion. The show did an amazing job of being respectful and realistic about the whole experience. The episode was very heartwarming, and I think it is the first time I had ever seen abortion being talked about in depth on a teen show. In Episode 5, an anonymous nude picture is sent to all the students at the high school. One of the popular girls, Ruby, confesses to Maeve and Otis that it is her picture. Maeve and Otis investigate who sent the picture to try and find out who sent the picture. The best part of the episode is the ending, in which all the girls in the school stand up during an assembly to declare “It’s my vagina” in support for Ruby. The scene was again, very heartwarming. The show’s portrayal and the inclusion of LGBT relationships, people of color and multiracial couples was authentic.

Sex Education isn’t the perfect show. Most of the actors are in their twenties, and their age, plus… some of the sexual references and plotlines (like the scene where a boy serenades his crush with “Love Really Hurts Without You” By Billy Ocean with the whole school watching) make the show somewhat unbelievable. But I think that overall, Netflix did really well. The show is diverse, funny, and definitely binge-worthy.