Though the Drag Race will crown its Season 12 champion in a Zoomed finale tomorrow night, the real winner, in my heart, will be Jackie Cox. The self-professed Persian Princess of Drag, Cox didn't just bring fabulous looks to the runway every week and assassinate her lip sync competition -- she unapologetically, thoughtfully brought her culture … Continue reading Stars, Stripes, and “Salaam, RuPaul Joon!”: A Niche Interview with Jackie Cox
The year was 1956. Europe, torn up and traumatized by war, needed something that might help it heal. In came the Switzerland-based European Broadcasting Union with an at-the-time highly ambitious idea: broadcast a song contest between European countries, each represented by a performer, to the whole of Europe simultaneously. Ever since then, with the exception … Continue reading Did Susan Sontag Write “Notes on Camp” Specifically About Eurovision? Who’s to Say?
In the basement of a home in suburban Winnipeg, Bradford How and his high school chums would spend their Friday nights partying while watching Electric Circus, longing to be a part of Toronto’s vibrant nightlife. A television show that aired on MuchMusic and various Chum television networks from 1988 to 2003, Electric Circus offered a … Continue reading An Ode to “Electric Circus,” The Original Tiktok
As a long-term sufferer of chronic, incurable Anglophilia, I find myself drawn to content from across the pond with the dyspeptic regularity of an unfortunate intestinal condition. Recently, I’ve begun to compulsively wander into the wilds of “Britcom,” which as you might imagine is short for British comedy. Everyone who’s at least a little bit … Continue reading Thank You Daddy: The Psychosexual Intimacy of Taskmaster
We talk a lot about representation here at The Niche. But I feel like something's missing from that conversation, a form of representation that hasn't been addressed yet. What is this form, you ask? It's when you're watching the show you hate-watch drunk every week with your best friends and said show suddenly becomes very … Continue reading Did Riverdale Base its New Season on That Esquire Article About Bennington College In The 1980s?
As a trans woman, I find it disconcerting that I can’t remember a single trans character from my childhood except for Alexis Meade from Ugly Betty. As a barely-out-of-the-closet queer 18-year-old, I watched the series with a feral intensity. I felt drawn to Marc’s unashamed flamboyance, his playful and loving friendship with Amanda, Betty’s ambition … Continue reading Wilhelmina Slater is the True Trans Woman of Ugly Betty
Inspired by this post. 1. What's your favourite flavour of ice cream? a) My own tears. b) Fake asthma medication. c) Cocaine. 2. Would you be comfortable coming out to your mother? a) Last year, on my birthday, she got me three gifts: a pack of rainbow-colored gel pens, a cassette of Madonna's greatest hits, and … Continue reading Niche Quiz: Which Emotionally Unstable Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with a Crush on Your Best Friend, Finn Wolfhard, Are You?
In the near present you, dear Nichers, will likely be seeing a lot about the BBC/Amazon mini-series of Good Omens. You probably already have—it's actually a little scary how many non-internet people I know who've asked me if I've heard about "this new show" like I don't have every page of the novel inscribed in … Continue reading These Man-Shaped Beings Are Gay and There’s Nothing Neil Gaiman Can Do About It (A Good Omens Primer)
I'm going to start this out by saying: if you haven't seen the Starz series Black Sails (2014-2017) leave this page right now and go watch it by any means necessary. Do you like Narrative? Do you like wrestling with Enlightenment ideals and the ideology of colonialism? Do you like love? Do you like romance? … Continue reading All Eternals Deck is a Concept Album About Black Sails’ James Flint
"WILL BYERS, 12, is a sweet, sensitive kid with sexual identity issues." In the Duffer Brothers' pitch for Stranger Things, this is the very first sentence we read about Will. He's recently come to the realization that he's not "normal," the pitch reads, by the standards of semi-rural suburbia. He is bullied for his "innocent choices," … Continue reading What I Want for Will Byers
