FILM I TV

Introducing: Theme of the Month

A new column on Vulnerable Man.

Akos Peterbencze
Published in
3 min readAug 10, 2021

--

Artwork by the author.

If you follow me and my publication for a while, you know the stories I publish here about pop culture are pretty random. Last week, I wrote about an underrated JCVD flick, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, and Bruce Springsteen’s Netflix special. I love having the freedom to talk about any movie, TV show, or other stuff without feeling the need to be relevant at all times. See, covering only the latest releases could be a chore.

But being this free and selective also means that there is not much structure on Vulnerable Man. I’m about to change that — well, I’ll try, but I won’t make any promises.

Since I started the pub, I had dozens of ideas about running different series. But I failed pretty quickly because I have trouble following a strict schedule when it comes to writing. I don’t like putting pressure on myself to cover something no matter what. The more wiggle room I have among topics, the more creative I feel. Although I’m an advocate of to-do lists in real life, in terms of creativity, it never really worked for me.

On the other hand, though, I love regular columns — and consistency is key, at least that’s what the big shots say. So I give this a try.

In Theme of the Month, I will cover a specific subject through a film or TV show with my own personal take on it. I won’t commit to a precise number of pieces, but I’ll try to publish at least one essay a month — preferably two or three, but I don’t want to overpromise.

The series will also have its own place pinned under the “favorites” section.

The first theme will be: immigration.

It’s no secret that I’m an immigrant living in the UK for nearly nine years now. I came here as a scared, vulnerable guy with very little knowledge of English whatsoever. I’ve struggled, changed, and turned into a person — dare I say man — who I’ve come to like a lot more than the one I knew before. But the beginning of this new life, the transition from a Hungarian to a Londoner, had been challenging. It’s tough to adjust to an environment that you know nothing about — with no safety net or friends at all.

--

--

Akos Peterbencze
Vulnerable Man

Freelance Grinder. Staff writer at Looper. Contributor: Paste Magazine and more. SUBSTACK: https://thescreen.substack.com/