Culture Gabfest

The Culture Gabfest, “Totally Gruesome” Edition

Listen to Slate’s show about Jason Zinoman’s guide to fixing modern horror, the film industry’s all-too-familiar approach to online piracy, and the latest debate over antidepressants.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 147 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, Bill Wyman, and Jason Zinoman by clicking the arrow on the audio player below or  opening this player in another tab:

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In this week’s Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner are joined by Slate contributor Jason Zinoman to discuss Shock Value, Zinoman’s new history of the horror film; and his Slateseries on “How to Fix Horror.” For their next segment, they are joined by Slate contributor and former NPR arts editor Bill Wyman to discuss how, when it comes to the fight against online privacy, the film industry appears poised to repeat the music industry’s mistakes. For their final segment, they discuss the recent high-profile debate over antidepressants—are they more effective than placebos?

Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:

Jason Zinoman’s four-part Slate series on “How to Fix Horror.”
Zinoman’s accompanying “10 Greatest Scenes in the History of Gore” video slide show.
Zinoman’s book on the birth of modern horror, Shock Value.
Landmark 1968 horror films Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, and Targets.
David Edelstein’s influential 2006 New York article on “Torture Porn.”
Bill Wyman’s Slate article on the movie industry’s familiar approach to Internet piracy.
The NYT on the MPAA’s new partnership with Internet service providers to fight piracy.
PC Mag’s FAQ on how the new approach will work.
Wyman’s related Slate essay on what it means to have all music instantly available.
Marcia Angell’s New York Review of Books essay “The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?
Part two of Angell’s essay, on “The Illusions of Psychiatry.”
Peter Kramer’s editorial “In Defense of Antidepressants” in the NYT Sunday Review.
Felix Salmon’s response to “The Antidepressant Debate.”
Louis Menand’s similar exploration of “Can Psychiatry Be a Science?” in The New Yorker.
Alan J. Pakula’s 1974 paranoid thriller The Parallax View.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Dana’s picks: Depression memoirs Darkness Visibleby William Styron and The Noonday Demonby Andrew Solomon.
Julia’s pick: The podcast WTF With Marc Maron. (Here’s the recent episode with Amy Poehler).
Steve’s pick: The crowds of people standing up against News of the World, including Steve Coogan and Hugh Grant.

Outro: “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads.

You can e-mail us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Jesse Baker. Our intern is Forrest Wickman.

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