Sophia A. McClennen

What I'm watching

Hasan Minhaj and the New Yorker: Who decided comedy needed fact-checking?

Hasan Minhaj’s embellishments arguably serve a larger purpose. What purpose is served by destroying his career?

Sick of Trump? Try laughing at him

We are sick of Donald Trump. Totally and completely sick of hearing his voice, seeing his image, and watching his latest idiotic, sinister move. We are sick of his hold on the GOP, his incessant need for attention, and his bullying, bigoted swagger.

We are over him. Done. Ready to move on.

How to Sharpen a Nonviolent Movement

In the past three decades nonviolent social protest has become the most reliable path to democracy. However, not all nonviolent mobilization campaigns succeed. To examine why some nonviolent campaigns are more successful than others, we analyze…

“Taking sides is not my job”: “Retrograde” filmmaker Matthew Heineman on documenting a war's end

Salon talks to Matthew Heineman about his new film about the final days of the U.S. War in Afghanistan

Matthew Heineman’s documentary “Retrograde”: A chilling, intimate view of the Afghanistan War's end

This unique new film focuses on the failures, human costs and consequences of the abrupt end to the longest US war

Michael Moore predicts Democrats will win big in the midterms. Could he be right again?

Maverick filmmaker who called 2016 for Trump sees a “tsunami” of angry Democrats hitting polls in “Roevember”

25 years of “The Daily Show”: Here’s 5 ways it permanently changed U.S. satire

“The Daily Show” launched as a parody of news, but 25 years later it has become more important than the news

Why it's (almost) impossible to argue with the right

The right only debates with itself: their view and their version of the left. Fighting with that is near impossible

Why Zelenskyy's background in comedy really matters

Forget about Paddington for a minute. The comedy that made Zelenskyy famous was also political

"Trump's Ironic Effect on Satire"

Check out this new essay on how Trump changed satire published by Film Quarterly.