Culture Corner
The Arts Desk’s weekly picks for music, movies and more
By MIRIAM RAMAKRISHNAN — arts@theaggie.org
Album: “Songs in the Key of Life” by Stevie Wonder (1976)
An unequivocally revolutionary album, “Songs in the Key of Life” has shaped the music industry since the day it came out (demonstrated by the Grammy it won that year). The sheer range of genres (as well as topics) that the album covers, including funk, soul, R&B, jazz and gospel, is a huge part of why it still feels fresh almost 50 years after its release. Wonder moves from the pure, ecstatic joy of “Sir Duke,” his tribute to jazz legend Duke Ellington, to the poignant social commentary of “Village Ghetto Land,” painting a portrait of urban poverty against an elegant string arrangement. There is objectively a lot going on in this record, especially considering it’s a double album with a bonus EP. However, Wonder holds it all together as a representation of what it means to be alive — in both celebration and struggle.
Film: “Network” dir. Sidney Lumet (1976)
I was introduced to this film last quarter while sitting in my UWP 104C (Writing in the Professions — Journalism) class, taught by Sasha Abramsky. “Network” covers a failing television network broadcasting primetime news anchor Howard Beale announcing his intentions to commit suicide live on camera. The executives fire Beale, but ultimately bring him back to capitalize on his newfound sensationalism. Most notably, “Network” is a black comedy and commentary on the media industry’s ability to turn anything, even a man’s public breakdown, into a product. The network’s news division is handed over to the entertainment side and filled with psychics, gossip segments and a docuseries on a radical militant group. It's no wonder the film took home four Oscars, but what really makes “Network” so special is its enduring relatability— both in the 70s and in 2026.
Book: “The Dharma Bums” by Jack Kerouac (1958)
A polarizing and arguably pretentious read, “The Dharma Bums” is a Beat Generation classic that urges readers to break out of their routines in search of the truth. Published in 1958, just a year after “On the Road” made him famous, Kerouac's novel follows Ray Smith — a thinly veiled self-insert of the author himself — as he hitchhikes up and down the West Coast in search of spiritual meaning through Zen Buddhism. For some, Ray’s rambling reflections are genuinely moving. For others, they read as a guy who decided he’d figured out the universe by reading a few pages on spirituality. At the end of the day, the novel remains a true American classic characteristic of the Beats, capturing the simple, stark feeling of being alone in nature with nothing to prove to anyone.
Written By: Miriam Ramakrishnan — arts@theaggie.org