In fact, when you see someone in the art world claiming that X is a "defining" anything, it usually means that they have a big collection of X for sale.

In this case, I imagine it's submarine marketing for the movie that's out.

Submarine? Astro-turf or native-advertising, maybe? Or perhaps I misunderstood.

Basically the same. An “article” planted by a PR firm, where the promotional target just happens to pop up about halfway through.

I'm not sure this magazine is nearly popular enough for that to be worth it.