Caitlin Barr

Enthusiastic award winning London based journalist. City MA Magazine Journalism student. Previously print editor of RAZZ magazine. Interested in writing about culture, lifestyle, mental health and current affairs. 


Contact me on caitlinbarr872@gmail.com or via my Twitter.


Please see my About Me page for more information.

LAPP

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Chartist

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Chartist •

Gateway to attacks on civil rights

Caitlin Barr on the fight for reproductive justice everywhere in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision - this article also appeared in print in the September/October edition. We are now four months on from the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, taking the right to safe, legal abortions away from women and trans and non-binary people all over the nation. Here in the UK, the issue has more or less departed front pages – but it would be foolish to imagine that the landmark ruling won’t have any effect on our own rights.

RAZZ Magazine

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RAZZ •

The Female Gaze in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

The Bechdel Test, named after its creator Alison Bechdel, aims to measure female representation in film via three criteria: the film must have two named female characters (1), who have a conversation with each other (2) about something other than a man (3). The fact that 60% of films surveyed in 2021 passed the test is hardly cause for celebration — the other 40% (a sizeable chunk!) did not meet the very simple conditions.
RAZZ •

Love Island Champions a Sustainable Future

It’s June, which means that most of us have the familiar jingle of the Love Island theme tune playing on a loop in our heads. Toned bodies, exclamations of ‘got a text!’ and awkward firepit convos abound! But this year, something is different. Instead of the standard violently neon, probably highly flammable clothes made in factories where workers make £3.50 per hour, this year’s islanders are donning second-hand fits thanks to Ebay.
RAZZ •

A Final Term Bucket List at Exeter University

As the dissertation looms and that cheeky grad robes fee seems to be staring you in the face, you may be thinking of simpler times. When you were just a silly fresh, graduation felt so far away. Yes, you energetically bounced from club to club, but did you ever stop to explore Exeter properly before COVID came along to ruin your summer? Probably not. But never fear – from one nostalgic final year student to another, here are some top Exeter Bucket List activities.
RAZZ •

Roma and the Entrapment of Domestic Servitude

In the opening scene of Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 film Roma, a plane crosses the sky, reflected in a pool of water on tiles. This shot seems to last a lifetime until the camera pans to a woman mopping the floor, enclosed in the side passage of the large townhouse she is cleaning. The contrast between the two images is stark: the freedom of travelling the whole world, set against an image of a woman trapped as much by her chores as she is the shot she is framed in.
RAZZ •

Edward Colston: A Problematic Legacy in the People’s Hands

On the 7 June 2020, against a backdrop of conversations surrounding the treatment of Black people in light of the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota, protestors in Bristol graffitied, tied up and toppled a statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader whose fortune helped to build the city. The whole world watched as the bronze memorial, which had stood by Bristol’s harbour since 1895, was thrown into the water amidst cheering.
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Exeposé

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Exeposé Online •

Album Review: Lorde – Solar Power

After a four-year hiatus, Lorde is back with an album full of pensive, serene tracks. Almost the antidote to 2017’s booming masterpiece Melodrama packed with songs about hedonism and doomed love affairs, Solar Power ushers in a new era of Lorde: an era of subduing old demons, starting afresh, and contemplating what is to come. She looks to the future while questioning her past, one that we have been privy to since her first single, Royals, hit the charts when she was just a month off 17.
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Single Review: Big Thief – Little Things

Brooklyn band Big Thief have always had a knack for capturing small, intimate moments in lyrics. Little Things, the band’s latest single released earlier this month, follows suit, putting to music the thoughts of a lover trapped in an obsessive, intoxicating relationship. The upbeat utilisation of clapping and a buoyant guitar track juxtaposes with lead singer Lenker’s somewhat morose, subdued vocals, giving the whole track a sense of irony.
Exeposé Online •

Single Review: Lorde – Solar Power

Just in time for hot girl summer, Lorde’s new single Solar Power has hit streaming platforms. The first track from the upcoming album of the same name was released to coincide with 2021’s only solar eclipse, and has a distinctly hippy vibe, with the music video leaning heavily into cult vibes. Men and women in beige kaftans and shorts perform what look like yoga routines on the sand while the singer skips around in bright yellow and declares herself ‘a prettier Jesus’.
Exeposé Online •

Percy Pig Pancakes – Unpalatably Pink

This weekend, I ventured out to Marks & Spencer’s, partially to get some bougie baking ingredients but mostly to get Percy Pig Pancakes. Yes, you read that right. M&S announced that they’d be releasing Percy Pig themed pancakes in time for Pancake Day and my interest was immediately piqued. As a fan of the big pig, I was keen to see how the taste of a Percy Pig would be transferred to one of my favourite breakfasts.
Exeposé Online •

I May Destroy You snubbed by the Golden Globes

Caitlin Barr considers the history of awards ceremonies, discrimination, and Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You Every awards season, I log onto Twitter and am immediately greeted with hundreds of tweets about various snubs, shock nominations, and film and TV fans lamenting their faves not being recognised by the powers that be. Some of these criticisms are more trivial, but many shine a light on awarding bodies’ lack of respect for female and non-white directors, writers, and actors.
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The Collective

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The Indiependent

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The Indiependent •

Live Review: Lucy Dacus // Marble Factory, Bristol, 24.03.22

The Marble Factory is alive with anticipation. As Lucy Dacus takes to the stage, the crowd expels the breath they have been holding and muffled cheers from behind masks. The first chord of ‘Triple Dog Dare’ strikes up, and the excitement in the room erupts – and it’s just the start of an excellent show from Dacus and her band. The Virginian singer’s return to the UK after COVID was triumphant. Having spent most of her American tour on a couch due to a herniated disc, and then cancelling her fir
The Indiependent •

Six Strong Female Leaders In Film

It has recently been announced that will play the U.S. President in Adam McKay’s upcoming film Don’t Look Up, a science fiction black comedy about an approaching comet that looks set to destroy Earth. Streep already has a track record of portraying strong female leaders on screen, her most memorable turn perhaps being her Oscar-winning performance in The Iron Lady (2011). Except she is far from the only woman to have stepped up to a position of power on the big screen.