Crying Spells

₊✩‧₊ Crying Spells is a media and cultural theory project that looks at how identity and desire get constructed and reflected back ₊✩‧₊

By Mel Zog

Imagining the End of Loneliness: Horror & the Collective Body

Is community worth the price? Jun 5 • Mel Zog

The most erotic thing a man can do is wait

Subverting the gendered expectation of utter devotion May 17 • Mel Zog

Give Girls Their Subjectivity Back! Now!

Half His Age & Giving Girls Agency in Age Gap Narratives Mar 7 • Mel Zog

The Homoeroticism of Female Rivalry

A video essay! Feb 23 • Mel Zog

Watching Pretty Boys (Play With Each Other)

On the erotics of male competition Dec 21, 2025 • Mel Zog

Hidden in Plain Sight

Female Vulnerability as Performance and Plot Device in Contemporary Horror Nov 8, 2025 • Mel Zog

The Summer I Was Desired

On the Enduring Success of the Two-Brothers Trope in Post-Feminist Media Oct 7, 2025 • Mel Zog

Who's Afraid of Merging with Their Significant Other?

An essay on the body horror revival, the movie TOGETHER, and loss of individuality as this decade’s greatest horror Sep 23, 2025 • Mel Zog

You Don't Own Me

Simulacra, Pin-Up Culture and Ownership in the Sabrina-verse Jun 18, 2025 • Mel Zog

To Live and Die in the Shadows

Violence and Sacrifice in the Mission Impossible Franchise May 26, 2025 • Mel Zog

Yelling on the Red Carpet

Who gets to have public-facing fits? May 16, 2025 • Mel Zog

I'm Afraid I'm Not a Real Person Yet

On self-respect, potential, and that one Succession line Apr 20, 2025 • Mel Zog

Desire, I Want to Tame You

Abject Desires, Nosferatu, and the Evolution of the Beauty and the Beast Trope Apr 3, 2025 • Mel Zog

No Sympathy for the Homewrecker!

misogyny as morality, the “girl’s girl” fallacy and the enduring obsession with the 'other woman' Jan 14, 2025 • Mel Zog