Dear Virgil Abloh, I wish this was a letter I could actually send you. Maybe it would end up somewhere between sketches, playlists, and the endless ideas you always seemed to have. But since it can’t, this is just my way of saying thank you. Not just for the clothes, and not even just for the moment you became the menswear artistic director at Louis Vuitton. What I’m really thankful for is the way you helped people see culture differently. You showed the world that the things so many of us...

The “black guy dies first” line has become shorthand for a long-standing, maddening expectation in American horror: Black characters show up, they warn us of danger (or crack a joke), and then, too often, get dispatched before the final credits roll. That shorthand isn’t just a punchline; it’s a pattern with roots in Hollywood’s representational habits, and it carries cultural meaning about expendability, narrative function, and who is allowed to survive fear on screen. Robin R. Means Coleman...

Ryan Coogler’s career is often described as meteoric, but his rise as a filmmaker is also a testament to vision, discipline, and collaboration. From his earliest short films to helming one of the highest-grossing superhero movies of all time, Coogler has built a reputation as both a sensitive storyteller and a bold director unafraid to tackle cultural and political themes head-on. At the heart of his journey is his recurring partnership with actor Michael B. Jordan, a collaboration that has...