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This week on Slate Plus, Stephen, Dana, Julia, and Slate contributor Seth Stevenson interview actor Chris Eigeman about his Gilmore Girls experience and assess the last four words of the show.
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics discuss the new Disney film Moana, about a Pacific Island princess on a standard Disney journey, and whether the movie is new and exciting or if its feminist stance makes it predictable. Then, the critics are joined by Gilmore Girls completist Seth Stevenson to talk about the series’ return to Netflix, which premiered over Thanksgiving weekend after nine years. How has the show changed, and was the revival a success? Last, the critics discuss Nathan Heller’s New Yorker piece, “If Animals Have Rights, Should Robots?” They dig into the intricacies of his argument and debate whether robots can ever achieve the consciousness of animals.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- Disney’s Moana
- Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
- The comedies of Preston Sturges
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Our past discussion of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Bunheads
- “If Animals Have Rights, Should Robots?” by Nathan Heller in the New Yorker
- Animal Liberation by Peter Singer
- Westworld
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Endorsements
Dana: the new film The Eagle Huntress
Julia: Donny Hathaway’s performance of “You’ve Got a Friend”
Stephen: the television show The Last Tango in Halifax
Outro: “You’ve Got a Friend” performed by Donny Hathaway
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Benjamin Frisch. Our intern is Daniel Schroeder.
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