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This week on Slate Plus, we answer a listener question: Which dead writer do you wish were alive today to write about the election?
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics talk about the new Netflix series Stranger Things, a Spielbergian teen horror series that is causing ripples in the sci-fi realm. Next up, Harry Potter fans can momentarily break from their mourning: The script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the West End play that serves as the eighth story in the Potter universe, is now available in bookstores. Forrest Wickman joins the critics to ask whether Potter fans will approve of the latest addition to J.K. Rowling’s franchise. Last, the public hates the media, but does the media deserve its terrible reputation? The critics discuss New York magazine’s “The Case Against the Media, By the Media” and the state of the American press.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- Stranger Things on Netflix
- J.J. Abrams’ 80s thriller Super 8
- Stand by Me
- Steven Spielberg’s E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Back to the Future Part II
- New York magazine’s “The Case Against The Media, By The Media”
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Endorsements:
Dana: Hillary Clinton and active support of her campaign
Julia: Sweetbitter: A novel by Stephanie Danler
Stephen: A Letter to Three Wives, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Outro: “Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Lizzie Fison.
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