Trigger warning: this review includes mention of violence, sexual assault, and homicide.
When I’d previously imagined what the...
I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t read bell hooks’ Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center...
Janet Frame was a “rebel, a seeker of freedom and a passionate champion of the imagination”, according to the theatremakers who adapted her...
I have a feeling no-one really knows how they felt at 18 until they’re not 18 anymore.
And it’s only a...
If the world never produced another Jane Austen adaptation, we’d be fine. There are at least 15...
Sometime over the summer, an Anime House opened up at my local Westfield Mall. I wandered in one day to peruse the merchandise, and came face to...
For those of us who grew up on, in or around the internet, it’ll always be...
The following article contains details that may be considered spoilers for the Netflix docuseries...
First published on Friday the 29 th of March, 2019, this piece comes in at number 5 in the top 30 most read...
First published on Thursday the 21 st of March, 2019, this piece comes in at number 10 in the top 30 most read...
First published on Thursday the 16 th of May, 2019, this piece comes in at number 11 in the top 30 most read...
First published on Sunday the 9 th of June, 2019, this piece comes in at number 12 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2019.
A...
Trigger warning: this piece features discussion of violence and rape.
Have you ever thought about who cleans up the aftermath of...
Joy to the world, Netflix has released another set of Christmas movies. This year, they’ve branched out. There’s only one movie with Vanessa...
It’s official — Taylor Swift is the Artist of the Decade! After her recent wins at the...
I recently talked to a living, breathing human person in the year 2019, who told me “women...
Cameron Diaz, wearing a golden bikini and blue-tinted shades, steers a speedboat. She’s squinting...
Protest Tautohetohe is exciting. To be honest, I didn’t expect that from a book which was produced by museum curators and focuses on objects. I...
WARNING: Contains major Breaking...
Ellen DeGeneres has walked herself into a bit of controversy lately, after being caught on...
There’s a fantastic moment in the buoyant first hour of Hustlers, the stripper-heist...
If you’ve ever done a trash audit, you’ll know that the bathroom is an area of the home that can regularly generate a lot of waste. But that needn...
Possum Plows has had enough. As the lead singer of Openside, New Zealand’s premier pop-punk collective, they’ve gifted us countless awesome tunes...
If you’re not living under a rock, you’ve...
In a landscape of blonde actresses with chiseled jaws and pearly white teeth, there’s something...
Whether you love them or not, it’s safe to say that nearly everyone has heard of BTS.
...
One of the Great Disappointments of my 2019 will be having missed Alexander Chee at this year’s Auckland Writers Festival. Sadly, it was only...
If you haven’t heard of The Worst Idea of All...
“I want my legs as sharp as dogs’ teeth / wild dogs / wild Samoan dogs / the mangy kind that bite...
Are you craving some bingeable TV shows with good LGBT+ representation? Are you...
Sometimes, when the world seems a bit much, a feminist read is the perfect remedy. I did not expect Jane Eyre to provide that empowering read; it...
To go a day without hearing about Stranger Things this month is to go a day without leaving the...
Shortland Street , like most soap operas, has had its share of frustrating characters...
It’s coming up - that time of year when our evening hours have the potential to be a little bit sparklier (and full of screen-friendly snack...
In certain circles, Laura Bates is considered a legend. She founded The Everyday Sexism Project in 2012– a website touted by some...
In 2016, Taylor Swift suffered from a particularly niggly run of bad press. She had a messy split from...
Techweek New Zealand is an annual event to celebrate the advancements within our...
People from just about everywhere have come to call New Zealand home. Adjusting to their new...
Like just about everyone else on planet Earth, I went along to see Avengers: Endgame recently...
Flying across the world and finding yourself (or just drinking a lot of alcohol and eating your weight in croque monsieurs) is seen by many as a...
“All I’m hoping for is that it starts big conversations,” Joni Nelson tells me about her first play, 8 Reasonable Demands . The young playwright...
After some recent hoopla around the validity of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (...
Growing up, the people in my communities never talked about motherhood as though it were a choice. It was always a matter of figuring out the when...
A tone-deaf Hollywood actor, an up-and-coming British director and a Northern Irish playwright with very different ideas try to put on a play… It...
Māori music is at the very heart of the Auckland Arts Festival this year, with Tōku Reo Waiata taking centre stage as the centrepiece festival...
They may not have won gold tonight, but these are the women, and women-led films, that truly deserve our applause...
I’m excited. The Oscars, only the most important event in the global film industry, are a week away tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Debra Granik...
I feel so stupid when it happens. The ‘you’re-a-phony’ siren goes off at such a high screech inside my head - it almost surprises me the...
Find me a TV show that shows teenage girls in all their raucous yet insecure high-school glory. Go on, ya...
Films and novels are great at glamorising sadness, yet in reality it’s anything but glamorous. I remember one of the lowest moments in my life was...
First published on Monday the 5th of March, 2018, this piece comes in at number 3 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2018.
First published on Monday the 16th of April, 2018, this piece comes in at number 6 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2018.
First published on Tuesday the 14th of August, 2018, this piece comes in at number 10 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2018....
First published on Wednesday the 31st of October, 2018, this piece comes in at number 16 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2018....
First published on Thursday the 15th of March, 2018, this piece comes in at number 18 in the top 30 most read...
First published on Friday the 23rd of March, 2018, this piece comes in at number 22 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2018.
First published on Friday the 26th of January, 2018, this piece comes in at number 24 in...
The 2019 Academy Awards show, due to take place on February 25 th , is just over two months away. Still a while away in the grand scheme things,...
Christmas + Netflix = trashy, feel-good, rom coms. The online streaming service has taken to releasing a few original Christmas movies each year...
Donna Brookbanks is a comedian, actor, improviser and writer based in Auckland. Just recently she...
