'The Velveteen Rabbit' Was Always More Than a Children’s Book

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( close reads [The Velveteen Rabbit Was Always More Than a Children’s Book]( Margery Williams Bianco’s story is a memorial to what we lose in exchange for adulthood. You probably remember it. But if you don’t, it goes like this. A little boy receives a stuffed rabbit for Christmas. From a wise old toy, the rabbit learns that when a child loves you for a long time, you become Real, and the rabbit yearns to be Real himself. Eventually, he gets his wish: The boy plays with him all spring and summer, and the rabbit doesn’t mind that his coat has grown shabby and his stuffing is coming out, because he knows he is Real to the boy. But when the boy gets sick with scarlet fever, the doctor orders the rabbit to be burned alongside the other germ-ridden playthings. Shivering on the trash heap, the little rabbit wonders what it all was for. He cries a tear — a real tear — and from the fallen tear there grows a flower, and out of the flower steps a beautiful fairy, and the fairy transforms him into a real rabbit at last. [Read More]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now](for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Below Deck Mediterranean: [Pancakes!]( • Bachelor in Paradise: [Love Fools]( • 90 Day: The Single Life: [First Dates, Ex-Husbands, and Vibrators]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [Our Loss Drake’s new album, billed as a collaboration with 21 Savage, renews his interest in bars but also excitable, chauvinistic cruelty.]( [Quentin Tarantino Shit-Talks Movies The filmmaker’s long-promised book on American cinema can be funny, self-indulgent, and just plain ugly.]( By Chris Stanton [The Best James Bond Car (and Boat and Helicopter and Alpine-Ski …) Chases 007 is known for martinis, stellar tailoring, and the coolest cars you’ve ever laid eyes on.]( [Nothing Helps Me Fall Asleep Faster Than Listening to Horror Podcasts It’s not weird, I swear.]( By Alison Willmore [Talking With the Video-Game Podcasters Who Put Me to Sleep Get Played isn’t made for me, but each night I look forward to not finishing it.]( [Nothing in Life Is Promised Except an Elena Ferrante Screen Adaptation The Lying Life of Adults, the dreamy Netflix series adapting the author’s latest novel, arrives on January 4.]( By Zoe Guy [Even J.Lo’s Kids Know It’s ‘Such a Thing’ When She Goes Out “Nobody’s complaining, but it’s a thing.”]( By Justin Curto [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 9-Down, Nine Letters: Drugstore featured prominently in Hocus Pocus 2. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Samsung, Lisa O’Connor/AFP via Getty Images and Tristar Media/WireImage In the 20th century, queer people had the line “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” But in 2022, there’s the saying “Do you listen to girl in red?” If you’re young, queer, or on TikTok, you might have noticed a growing community of artists and listeners over the past few years under the banner of “sapphic pop,” a term recently coined for music by and/or for sapphics (i.e., women or femme folks who are attracted to other women or femme folks). [This week on Switched on Pop](, we explore exactly what sapphic pop is, where it came from, and how artists feel about it — even asking Tegan and Sara and King Princess directly. You can listen wherever you get podcasts. [Read more from Vulture]( Vulture Movies Fantasy League Illustration: Vulture This year’s game invites readers to compete against one another — and the Vulture staff — in a test of box-office foreknowledge and awards-season prognostication. [Read up on the how the game works](, and when you’re ready, [select your team]( before the draft window closes on November 21! [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022, All rights reserved