Small Street Press

History in E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime (1975) and Tony Kushner's Angels in America (1991) By Lucy Coleman Baring striking similarities in their approach to historicism, Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow and Angels in America by Tony Kushner are both underpinned by magnetic forces of American progress. Doctorow depicts early 20th-century capitalist expansion as an ‘upward’ movement while Kushner envisions a ‘downward’ pull toward apocalypse as the millennium approaches. In both cases, characters are drawn towards the earth’s magnetic poles as a reflection of the historical forces shaping their worlds. Kushner and Doctorow warn against the tendency to impose linear narratives onto history, a critique shared by both authors, informed by their Jewish heritage. In Kushner’s words, we must remember that throughout history ‘the future [has] remained indeterminate.’ [1]   Doctorow, in an interview with Paul Levine, remarked that history ‘belongs more to the novelists and the poets than it ...

 'Quite  au Sérieux ' The Mikado debate as revealed in  The Musical World's  'A Japanese View of the Mikado' (1886) By Lucy Coleman From the moment that librettist W. S. Gilbert decided to set his new operetta in Japan, ‘The Mikado’ has been controversial for its depiction of racial identity. Two strains of criticism define the discourse around the opera: one camp marks it as an expression of Victorian fascination with Japan, and therefore as an attempt at accurate representation. The other recognises the problematic aspect of this, especially in the light of the opera’s inaccuracies, and insists that ‘The Mikado’ is certainly not about Japan. In the words of Grace Lavery, t he idea that it is strictly a pastiche of Britain ‘ reassures enthusiasts of the popular work that nobody is calling them racist.’ [1] A letter reprinted in The Musical World upon ‘The Mikado’s 1886 opening in Hamburg provides a previously absent but essential perspective in this early deba...

Dissecting the Brony Paradoxical Masculinity in the My Little Pony Fandom By Lucy Coleman Originating in right-wing online discussion boards in the early 2010s, Brony subculture is a valuable case study in paradoxical fan identities and the impact of irony on gender identity. Though the My Little Pony fandom still boasts many members – the fansite ‘Equestria Daily’ lists twenty conventions in 2025 – it has declined in popularity, with the final large-scale BronyCon occurring in 2019. [1] Rather than the wider My Little Pony fandom, this essay specifically addresses the Bronies of the early 2010s whom Samuel Miller identifies as predominantly male, heterosexual and between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. [2] Miller's survey is of 1,194 self-identified Bronies, but at the fandom’s peak the true number could have been in the tens of thousands. [3] An ironic portmanteau ‘bro’ and ‘pony,’ the moniker primarily denotes a straightforward enjoyment of My Little Pony , and as suc...