20th century literature
This novel about a Good Lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman won the Pulitzer and is held up as one of the Great American Novels; it has been criticized for its use of the White Savior trope, stereotypical depictions of black people, and use of racial slurs.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This NYT podcast hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones "aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative."
The 1619 Project
The show about mobsters that placed HBO as the main player in the world of Prestige Television and influenced almost every cable show that succeeded it.
The Sopranos
These two kids were eaten for the mortal sin of loving candy.
Hansel and Gretel
Both snobby gents and loutish chavs are obsessed with their past imperial "glory", tea, and hating the French.
Englishmen
A professor becomes sexually obsessed, and then involved, with his future stepdaughter, Dolores, in this novel; the title quickly became an epiphet for a sexually promiscuous or desirable young girl.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
"This American Life" on NPR is hosted by this radio personality.
Ira Glass
This was the show that proved that genre TV could also be prestigious; created by J.J. Abrams, this show was infamous for its mindfucks and might be held responsible for the current online culture of analyzing each and every frame of a television show.
Lost
Getting the guy is totally worth cutting out your tongue and feeling like you're always walking on knives, according to this teenager.
The Little Mermaid
These surly, alcoholic loners hide away in their saunas.
Finns
This book title has recently been used as the template for many an article on the coronavirus and its effect on our life and culture.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.
A podcast about the internet.
Reply All
This show created and run by David Simon explores Baltimore and its people; each season introduces a new institution (e.g. drug trade or the school system) and then examines its relationship with law enforcement.
The Wire
If you're able to guess his name, this gold-spinning trickster will generously allow you to keep your firstborn.
Rumpelstiltskin
Probably gay, always stoned and really into biking.
Dutch
"The Second Coming" by Yeats inspired the title for this collection of essays about life in California in the 1960s.
This controversial podcast is easily the most popular one on the "dirtbag left" and was recently criticized for trivializing police brutality and the police abolition movement.
Chapo Trap House
This show has recently been in the spotlight as the world grapples with the potential body count of the coronavirus; the show tries to answer the question of how we would deal with 2% of the world's population disappearing.
The Leftovers
An eccentric rich man whose idea of interior design is the brutalized bloody corpses of the wives he killed hanging from hooks on the wall.
Bluebeard
Lazy, criminal, Catholic zealots that steal everyone's jobs.
Poles
This book by British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie was the subject of much controversy, particularly in Muslim countries--to the point where an order for Rushdie's assassination was placed by the Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989.
The Satanic Verses
Journalists Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall revisit major moments in history in this podcast with a focus on separating fact from fiction.
You're Wrong About
This show tried to recreate the success of Mad Men by being a character-driven historical workplace drama, exchanging the world of 1960s advertising for 1980s personal computing.
Halt and Catch Fire
These girls should probably consider investing in some better shoes.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Loud and covered in hair, they love smoking and are bad with money.
Greeks