Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.
I’ve become more invested in creating and consuming art lately. I even made Letterboxd and Goodreads accounts this year — so it’s serious. Watching a brilliant film or reading an insightful book isn’t just entertaining, it makes me feel alive. Art has transformed my perspective on life, my interests and, if I were to get spiritual, the fabric of my soul.
Though I may be just a humble plebeian striving to become a sophisticate, I have compiled my 10 favorite works of art I watched, read, listened to or played this year. These items are listed in no particular order. They span genres, mediums and decades. I chose these works for their impeccable quality and profound effect on me, and I hope to continue imbibing transformative art like this in 2025.
‘Chainsaw Man’ by Tatsuki Fujimoto (2018)
I initially picked up “Chainsaw Man” because it reminded me of my favorite manga series, “Soul Eater” (2004), as both feature protagonists who physically turn into weapons. While I expected “Chainsaw Man” to be a generic action series about devil hunters, it is a profoundly dark story that investigates autonomy and sexual assault in more depth than any other shounen manga I’ve read.
Teenage protagonist Denji’s body is not his own, as he is government property due to his half-human and half-devil status. His older female coworkers repeatedly exploit his loneliness by encouraging him to perform dangerous tasks in exchange for sexual favors. Denji’s devil powers violate him, as his bloody, brutal transformations into the chainsaw devil mangle his flesh. “Chainsaw Man” deftly weaves together these dark elements while never becoming dour. Deeply disturbing and frenetically fun, the series strikes the razor-thin balance between dark themes and exhilarating action, ultimately dethroning “Soul Eater” as my favorite manga.
‘Disco Elysium’ by ZA/UM (2019)
A role-playing video game developed by ZA/UM, “Disco Elysium” features a detailed world with a complex political history that immediately enveloped me in its painterly richness. The player character is Harry Du Bois, an alcoholic, amnesiac detective solving a murder case. The game offers minimal direction at the beginning, allowing the player to roam through the French-inspired city of Revachol openly. The freedom in gameplay is nearly overwhelming, as players have complete autonomy over which tasks they choose to complete, the skills they level up and how they interact with characters. The complex network of intersecting politics furthers this breadth of player choice, as Du Bois takes on different ideologies when it most benefits his agenda. I’ve spent countless hours lost in “Disco Elysium,” completely entranced by the world and all that lies within it.
‘Friday Black’ by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018)
This debut short story collection is an incisive satire on modern American capitalism and racial injustice portrayed through violence and speculative elements. The stories were hilarious, tragic, gruesome and ultimately revelatory in their unhindered bitterness. For example, in the short story “Zimmer Land,” bloodthirsty, frustrated white men live out the fantasy of performing citizen's arrests and killing Black civilians in a supposedly educational amusement park. The titular story “Friday Black” recounts the protagonist’s experience on Black Friday as a retail worker, where buyers shamble mindlessly, maim each other to retrieve products and spread the consumer craze like a zombie virus. These standout stories and others in the collection critique the modern United States, grasping at answers to the problems of racism, consumerism and hatred, and highlighting the inability to resolve such issues. That lack of solace left me staring at my ceiling in silence after finishing the collection, a sinking feeling pulling me to the bedrock of the Earth.
‘Far Away’ by Caryl Churchill (2000)
This absurdist, gruesome play unsettled me during the entirety of my reading, looking at how imperialism and authoritarianism create cultures of fear and neurosis. The protagonist, Joan, is a maker of absurd, frivolous hats. Halfway through the play, it’s revealed that prisoners wear these hats before execution, either as a form of humiliation or as a bizarre ritual. While the early half of the play stews in uncanniness, this scene reveals that Joan, and everyone in this world — not unlike our own — is complicit in acts of violence. The ending dissolves into a nearly incomprehensible series of neurotic monologues, a climax that demonstrates the depth of how political structures penetrate peoples’ psyches and cause paranoia.
‘Shiva Baby’ by Emma Seligman (2020)
While director Emma Seligman’s recent film “Bottoms” (2023) is her more well-known work, it was her first film that altered my brain chemistry. “Shiva Baby” follows protagonist Danielle (Rachel Sennott) as she struggles to stave off an anxious meltdown at a shiva. This film captures the pure dread of being an under-achieving young person at a family function, blurring the line between comedy and complete surrealist horror. Danielle spends most of the film aimlessly wandering from room to room, eyes glazed over, ensnared in a series of passive-aggressive interrogations. The camera work paired with Sennott’s performance expertly captured the misery of the entire situation, especially the feeling of being a failure. This movie was anxiety-inducing and completely nauseating. I loved it.
‘Cosmic Hero’ by Car Seat Headrest (2016)
“Cosmic Hero” contemplates relationships and how they end, becoming a true dreary November ballad for me at an exhausting time in the semester. Singer-songwriter Will Toledo delivers understated but meaningful lyrics, amplifying the profundity of his words with progressively intensifying vocals. The repetition in the lyrics oozes desperation, such as the anaphora of “and if you” in the opening verses, followed by the droning chorus “I will go to heaven / You won’t go to heaven” and the screeching of “It’ll be alright” in the bridge. This song is about attempting to reconcile with one’s past mistakes and the subsequent shame, but not quite able to move past it. Being a human is hard, and Toledo attentively captures that tension.
‘Grey Gardens’ (1975) by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde
This documentary follows Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith — two reclusive relatives of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis — as they live at the decrepit, rotting “Grey Gardens” estate. This art is about decay — the decay of wealth, place, the mind and relationships. The mother and daughter pair endlessly bicker with one another, and at times escalate to verbal abuse. By design, the film is frustrating, repetitive, slow and long. Around the one-hour mark, it feels less like an educational documentary and more like a guided meditation on human misery. I felt trapped with Edie and Edith, unable to escape and find reprieve. In the end, the cycle doesn’t conclude, and Edie and Edith continue to have the same arguments in the same filthy house.
‘Mouth: Stories’ by Puloma Ghosh (2024)
This weird, grotesque and promising short story collection debut from Puloma Ghosh single-handedly revitalized my interest in the horror genre. In 11 stories, Ghosh explores intimacy, motherhood, celebrity culture and homoeroticism. “Anomaly” was a stand-out story for me. At a glance, it’s a simple story about going on a first date while not quite being over your ex. However, the insane worldbuilding in the background reveals that the world underwent a war against time travelers that led to mass quarantine — all while the protagonist works a boring office job. The simultaneous mundanity and absurdity of the story represent Ghosh at her best. The story is a biting commentary on the loneliness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a masterclass in speculative fiction and a contemplation on getting over past relationships.
‘Bed and Sofa’ by Abram Room (1927)
This early Soviet Union film shocked me with its forward-thinking narrative about cuckoldry and domestic servitude in marriage. Facing verbal abuse from her husband, housewife Liuda begins an affair with his friend. However, the friend grows increasingly more demanding, culminating in Liuda leaving both men to start a life of her own. Though the plot sounds dark, the film utilizes humorous satire to emphasize the situation’s absurdity. “Bed and Sofa” proved to be an insightful watch a century later, as it reveals how domestic spaces often act as a channel for women’s oppression within the institution of marriage.
‘Dandadan’ by Science SARU (2024)
Though relatively new to the anime industry, studio Science SARU has already demonstrated its amazing promise through visually stunning original projects. “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” (2023) whetted my appetite for SARU’s explosively fun work, while “Dandadan” satiated it. Based on the manga of the same name by Yukinobu Tatsu, this anime is about a girl with psychic powers and a supernaturally cursed boy fighting aliens and demons. The show is absurd, ridiculous and hilarious, and the animation keeps me hooked during its ongoing weekly releases. In the action scenes, the use of perspective and momentum creates the hectic and eruptive movement. The colors and lighting create explosions of visual flavor like Pop Rocks for the eyes — if I could put this show in my mouth and eat it, I would.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Title IX resources at 404-727-0541 or https://equityandcompliance.emory.edu/title-ix/index.html and the Office of Respect at https://respect.emory.edu/ or their hotline 24/7 at (404) 727-1514. You can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at (800) 656-4673 or https://hotline.rainn.org/online. You can reach the Atlanta Grady Rape Crisis Center crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 616-4861 or gradyrapecrisiscenter@gmh.edu and the Decatur Day League Sexual Assault Care and Prevention crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 377-1428.
