Wednesday, June 1, 2022 — 3
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘Conversations with Friends’
isn’t the new ‘Normal People’
and that’s okay
Heralded as the “voice of a
generation,” critically renowned
for
her
uncanny
knack
for
capturing the zeitgeist of millennial
malaise and certainly well-loved
by the writers at this publication,
Sally Rooney has quite rapidly
become a household name. In
what the internet affectionately
refers to as the “Sally Rooney
Cinematic
Universe,”
Rooney’s
various creative endeavors include
collaborations
with
everyone
from Phoebe Bridgers to Phoebe
Waller-Bridge (and no, they’re
not the same person). The TV
adaptation of Rooney’s debut novel
“Conversations
with
Friends”
is simply the latest addition to
her already substantial imprint
on contemporary literature and
greater popular culture.
“Conversations with Friends”
follows two university students
— Frances (Alison Oliver, debut)
and Bobbi (Sasha Lane, “American
Honey”) — and a married couple —
Melissa (Jemima Kirke, “Girls”) and
Nick (Joe Alwyn, “The Favourite”)
— as they navigate the relationships
developing between the four of
them through discussions of love,
art, theory and politics.
While the success of Hulu’s
adaptation of “Normal People”
set the bar high for bringing
Rooney’s source material to life,
this second television venture
remains aesthetically on par with
its predecessor. The soundtrack
effectively mirrors the romantic,
melancholic and self-deprecating
mood of Frances, floating through
varying degrees of aloofness with
tracks
like
Phoebe
Bridgers’s
“Sidelines” or CMAT’s “I Don’t
Really
Care
for
You.”
The
production design of Nick and
Melissa’s house acts as a window
into the character dynamics at play,
as age and class differences bleed
into Frances’s perception of it; the
warmth it holds early on as the site
of her affair with Nick juxtaposed
to the later coolness of her fraught
relationship with Melissa. At a
granular level, the show’s energy
feels authentic to the environment
Rooney crafts on the page and
makes the viewing experience akin
to that of living inside of a Rooney
novel.
SERENA IRANI
Daily Arts Writer
U-M’s 2022 creative writing thesis writers — the
collections
Every
Creative
Writing
and
Literature major in U-M’s Residential
College has the option to write a
thesis over the course of their senior
year, working with a faculty advisor
to produce a polished body of work.
These theses can take the form of
novels, novellas, collections of poetry,
short stories or essays. The 2021–2022
school year saw 11 students take on
the challenge. We’ve heard from the
novelists and poets; last up, the short
story and essay writers.
Grace Andreasen, “Endangered
Species”
Grace Andreasen always knew what
her short story collection was going to
be about. In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, she said, “I always
knew the title of it. That was one of the
first things I came up with. I applied
for the honors thesis, and then I got the
email a few weeks later saying I’d been
accepted, and the first thing I had in
my mind was the title of it.” That title,
“Endangered Species,” is a reference to
her subject matter: “young women and
women navigating the world.”
Her interest in portraying these
“difficult women … who aren’t doing
so well in life, maybe, and have a lot
of different sides of them and deal
with the stickier situations in life” was
sparked by a gift she received when
she graduated high school: a collection
of short stories called “Difficult
Women” by Roxanne Gay. She wanted
to similarly create a collection by
women, about women and for women
— something that portrays women’s
full humanity and doesn’t shy away
from all the good, bad and messy
in-betweens that accompany life. But
she also thinks that “anyone can read
it and get something out of it,” which is
the “beauty of fiction: anyone can find
something.”
In
pursuing
this
ambition,
Andreasen
also
pointed
to
her
“ultimate inspiration,” Toni Morrison,
who is her “favorite author of all time.”
Reading Toni Morrison’s “Sula” in
high school was the first time she
read something and thought, “‘Oh my
god, this is so amazing that a human
being can write like this and can make
these beautiful sentences and weave
this story.’” She has since read many
of Morrison’s other books and gushed
that “every sentence is just the best
sentence you’ve ever read, and it’s just
so well done.” She came out of all this
reading thinking, “‘I’m going to do
that.’”
BRENNA GOSS
Daily Arts Writer
Design by Jennie Vang
Kendrick Lamar looks inward on ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’
Kendrick
Lamar
has
been
the king of emotionally fraught
storytelling for almost a decade
now.
Across
his
unmatched
discography, the Compton rapper
has masterfully fused diaristic
tales of his upbringing with sharp
social commentary. Five years after
his Pulitzer-winning fourth studio
album, DAMN., Lamar returns
with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,
a sprawling and vulnerable project
proving the rapper still has plenty
of personal layers to reveal.
Instrumentals have never been
a weakness for Lamar, but they’ve
never been an obvious strength for
him either, often overshadowed by
his otherworldly lyrical abilities.
While Lamar’s rapping is still the
main attraction on Mr. Morale, his
instrumentals
provide
nuanced
emotional backdrops for his lyrics,
which ties the project together in
a stunning way. From the album’s
first track, “United in Grief,”
Lamar’s
instrumental
evolution
is immediately obvious: The song
begins with short, ominous piano
chords that grow into a smooth,
jazzy texture before immediately
being replaced by a frenetic drum
break. Later in the album, on “Auntie
Diaries,” Lamar describes his path
to accepting the gender identities
of two transgender relatives with a
powerful instrumental that grows
from a glitchy, lo-fi beat to a glorious
orchestral
chord
progression.
Yet, Lamar’s message of personal
growth is undercut by his repeated
use
of
homophobic
slurs
and
misgendering of his uncle and
cousin. These charged lyrics have
caused some serious contention
amongst fans and raise the question
of whether true allyship can result
from such heavy-handed language.
What serves as Mr. Morale’s
guiding star is Lamar’s forthright
discussions
of
personal
relationships
and
history
of
family trauma. The rapper has
been remarkably private about his
personal life since entering the
public eye, making this in-depth
exploration
of
romantic
and
familial hardships almost a novelty.
We hear from Lamar’s fiancée and
the mother of his two children,
Whitney Alford, on the track
“Father Time,” as she declares,
“You really need some therapy,” to
which Lamar defensively replies
that he doesn’t “need no therapy,
fuck you talkin’ about?” Across
the album, he admits his infidelity
towards Alford, tracing the roots
of this behavior back to an unstable
relationship with his father and
subsequent indulgence in sex to
cope. Lamar speaks through these
moments with unabashed candor,
revealing the therapy session-like
narrative structure of Mr. Morale.
As
the
album
nears
its
midpoint, Lamar begins to express
vulnerabilities far deeper than
his
disconnect
from
modern
pop culture. The song “We Cry
Together” depicts a fiery domestic
argument between Lamar and a
woman, portrayed in the song by
actress Taylour Paige. Above a
dissonant piano line, the argument
devolves into the woman blaming
Lamar, and all men, for electing
Donald Trump in 2016, and Lamar
accusing all women of being fake
feminists without real virtues. It’s a
difficult listen due to the emotional
weight behind the words of Paige
and Lamar, but it’s also peak
storytelling from Lamar, rivaling
the powerful narrative of 2012’s
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.
NORA LEWIS & JACK MOESER
Daily Arts Writers
Design by Abby Schreck
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Read more at michigandaily.com
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