Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 525 with Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, and Stephen Metcalf with the audio player below.
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On Slate Plus, the hosts’ continue their conversation with New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris.
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This week, the critics tackle A Star Is Born, the new movie starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. What does this old-fashioned remake tell us in 2018? Can we still appreciate the classic Hollywood myth for what it is? Next, the gabbers unpack the Starz docuseries America to Me, which follows students at an outwardly progressive public high school where racial inequity remains a serious problem. Finally, they’re joined by friend of the podcast Wesley Morris to discuss “The Morality Wars,” his essay for the New York Times Magazine that has sparked a larger debate on the intersection of art, criticism, and social justice.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- A Star Is Born (2018)
- A Star Is Born (1954)
- “The New A Star Is Born Is Astonishing on Multiple Levels” by Dana Stevens in Slate
- “A Star Is Born Is a Reboot Done Right” by Dana Stevens and Rachel Syme in Slate
- America to Me
- “America to Me Is a Worthy Follow-up to Hoop Dreams” by Sam Adams in Slate
- Steve James’ Hoop Dreams
- “The Morality Wars” by Wesley Morris in the New York Times
- “How Do We Talk About Race and Pop Culture Without Going Insane?” by Angelica Jade Bastién, E. Alex Jung, Miriam Bale, Alison Willmore, and Jasmine Sanders in Vulture
- “In Defense of the New Moralizers” by Inkoo Kang in Slate
- “We Watch Whiteness” by Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham in the New York Times
Endorsements:
Dana: Peter Stults’ series What If: Movies Reimagined for Another Time/Place
Julia: Tana French’s The Witch Elm
Steve: Taylor Swift (following her endorsement of two Tennessee Democrats) and “Advice to a Prophet” by Richard Wilbur
Outro: An edited version of “Luminescence” by Trevor Kowalski
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Benjamin Frisch. Our production assistant is Alex Barasch.
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