Slate’s Culture Gabfest on Snowpiercer, Vicious on PBS, and David Brooks’ guide to emotional depth.

PBS’ Vicious Doesn’t Perpetuate Gay Stereotypes. It Celebrates Them.

PBS’ Vicious Doesn’t Perpetuate Gay Stereotypes. It Celebrates Them.

Slate's weekly roundtable.
July 9 2014 12:39 PM

The Culture Gabfest “Babbling Brooks” Edition

Slate’s Culture Gabfest on Snowpiercer, Vicious, and David Brooks’ guide to emotional depth.

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Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 303 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and June Thomas with the audio player below.

And join the lively conversation on the Culturefest Facebook page here:

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The sponsor of this week’s show is Audible. Get a free audiobook from Audible’s collection of more than 150,000 titles and a subscription to a daily audio digest when you sign up for a 30-day free trial at audiblepodcast.com/culturefest. This week’s pick for the Culture Gabfest Bucket List—the books you’ve got to read to be a smarter culture hound—is The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux, read by Frank Muller.

This week Slate Plus listeners will hear the gabbers discuss their favorite vacation reads and where they read them. Go to slate.com/cultureplus to learn more about Slate Plus and join today. (You’ll also see a video from Steve, Dana, and Julia welcoming you to the program.)

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On this week’s episode, the critics discuss Bong Joon-ho’s new film Snowpiercer, a dark political allegory with the action sequences and budget of a summer blockbuster. Next, the gabbers turn to the British sitcom Vicious, starring Ian McKellan and Derek Jacobi as two “vicious queens” who have lived together for almost fifty years. And finally, the critics take on David Brooks, who spoke at this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival about our culture’s overvaluation of shallow success. Is a wildly successful apologist for unfettered capitalism the appropriate advocate for emotional depth?

Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:

Endorsements:

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Dana: Albert Coffee, aka “the Real Indiana Jones,” an archeologist and tour guide in Guanajuato, Mexico.

June: These Things Happen by Richard Kramer, a funny novel about coming out in Manhattan.

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Anna Shechtman.

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Stephen Metcalf is Slate’s critic at large. He is working on a book about the 1980s.

Dana Stevens is Slate’s movie critic.

June Thomas is managing producer of Slate podcasts.