Madison Fowler

If someone were to ask me what I first think of when I hear the name Ariana Grande, it wouldn’t be her music or her role as Galinda in Wicked. The hard truth is, when I imagine Ariana Grande, all I can picture is her frail body. And that makes me sad and a little disturbed. I’m not the biggest fan of Ariana, but sometimes when I’m scrolling TikTok or X in the middle of the night, I’ll read posts about her latest scandal or new music she’s releasing.

Above photo: Fred Murphy. “People are scared,” remarks the executive director of a grassroots environmental group in Southern California. Her group, like many others, engaged in self-reflection following the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. They made substantial changes through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and developed new partnerships with community leaders.

I think it might be a common experience to watch Backrooms and leave the movie with more questions than answers. Maybe the film felt confusing or pointless in its premise. Or maybe you just have to look a little deeper into what it’s trying to convey. When Backrooms first came out in theaters, I was finishing up my final exams at UCLA and getting ready to fly back to Texas for the summer.