Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar is a freelance culture writer. He was the 2009 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard University.
Beyond the Usual Suspects
Dennis McNally’s The Last Great Dream: How Bohemians Became Hippies and Created the Sixties considers not only the major bohemian and hippie artists but also those outside the mainstream.
Translating ‘The Sympathizer’ into a Visual Language
This year’s limited HBO series takes the right liberties in adapting Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, the California Book Club’s January selection.
Engaging the Myth of the ‘Tragic Mulatto’ On-Screen
Culture writer Chris Vognar examines movies that thematically overlap with Danzy Senna’s Colored Television, the September California Book Club selection.
Everyday Heroism: Films Like ‘Under the Feet of Jesus’
Culture writer Chris Vognar recommends two movies that address similar material as Helena MarÃa Viramontes’s novel, the August California Book Club selection.
Arduous Passages
Culture writer Chris Vognar recommends movies with themes and storylines similar to author Javier Zamora’s Solito, the June California Book Club selection.
Soft-Shoe Dystopia
In The Every, the February CBC selection, Dave Eggers critiques the loss of necessary discursions that occurs when people seek quantification of every aspect of being human.
Uncanny Suburbia
Unlike books and media that hinge on suburban dysfunction, D. J. Waldie uses haunting details to reveal the fabric of Lakewood, the town featured in Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir, the January California Book Club selection.
Cinematic Gambits
The history conveyed in Kelly Lytle Hernández’s Bad Mexicans, the September California Book Club selection, has on-screen analogues, both worthy and not.