Aisha Harris
Aisha Harris is a critic and host of Pop Culture Happy Hour and author of Wannabe: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shapes Me.
From 2012 to 2018, Harris covered culture for Slate Magazine as a staff writer, editor and the host of the film and TV podcast Represent, where she wrote about everything from the history of self-care to Dolly Parton's (formerly Dixie) Stampede and interviewed creators like Barry Jenkins and Greta Gerwig. She joined The New York Times in 2018 as the assistant TV editor on the Culture Desk, producing a variety of pieces, including a feature Q&A with the Exonerated Five and a deep dive into the emotional climax of the Pixar movie Coco. And in 2019, she moved to the Opinion Desk in the role of culture editor, where she wrote or edited a variety of pieces at the intersection of the arts, society and politics.
Born and raised in Connecticut, she earned her bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University and her master's degree in cinema studies from New York University. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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People have strong opinions about the best Pixar movies. We asked NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners to vote. -
Brad Pitt is in the driver's seat this week in F1, while M3GAN 2.0 follows up on the surprise 2022 hit about a killer robot. After something referred to as the "bad thing" occurs, an English professor confronts the emotional fallout in Sorry, Baby. -
A money-obsessed NYC matchmaker is wooed by a financial investor and a cater waiter in a romantic drama that has its protagonist finding strength and emotional growth via a side character's suffering. -
The characters in the romantic comedy Materialists, Celine Song's follow-up to Past Lives, see the dating pool in terms of the "market" – people are evaluated by how "competitive" they are and marriage is treated like an equation to be solved. -
Celebrity guests on The Jennifer Hudson Show — Michelle Obama, Usher, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tina Knowles to name a few — have all caught a ride through this viral backstage ritual. -
For over a decade, Ryan Coogler has been bringing out the best in Michael B. Jordan — in Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and now, Sinners. It's hard to overstate how important this partnership is in cinematic history. -
In Sinners, Ryan Coogler creates a bold original vision, and Michael B. Jordan is at the top of his game. -
Rami Malek plays a CIA data analyst out of his depth in The Amateur, while Warfare depicts a real-life Iraqi mission, calibrated as a cinematic show-of-force. -
In Season 8, two of the women who dumped their respective fiancés at the altar cited the men's inability to engage meaningfully with political issues that were important to their partners. -
Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: A Dolly Parton memoir, the show Reacher, the game Dredge, and the song "Bittersweet" by Semma.
