A transparent effort to apply a new coat of feminist gloss to a doll condemned for the unrealistic expectations it set for women, “Barbie” saved Mattel from certain cultural death. Its ideology is less certain.
Three years out from Biden’s inaugural promises of unity, it seems that partisan fractures are far from healed — and that his own party is less than convinced by his performance.
It is worth imagining a role for climate art that escapes the confines of politics and leans into an essential function of good art: reminding us of our humanity and the value of the world beyond our constructed one.
