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On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics are live from Syndey, Australia! There, they discuss Baywatch, the new movie based on the hit series from the 1990s. We now know there is nothing Hollywood won’t stoop to reboot, but can the presence of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson redeem this movie? Next, the gabbers tackle Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale and its Hulu adaptation, exploring how the show uses the source material to comment on our current political climate. Finally, critic Sebastian Smee joins the conversation to talk about the state of criticism, how it has changed with the culture landscape, and why we need it more than ever.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- Baywatch
- Dana’s review of Baywatch in Slate
- “Dwayne Johnson for President” by Caity Weaver in GQ
- 21 Jump Street
- The Lego Movie
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu
- 1984 by George Orwell and our recent discussion of it
- The Art of Rivalry by Sebastian Smee
- “Critical Condition” by Adrian Searle in the Guardian
Dana: Walkabout by Nicolas Roeg
Julia: The rainbow lorikeet, Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, and “Amanda Peet: The First Time I (Didn’t) Read a Scathing Review” by Amanda Peet in the New York Times*
Sebastian: The Gathering by Anne Enright, and Bill Henson’s photography
Stephen: The Evening Visits … and Stays for Years by the Apartments and “Cattle and Cane” by the Go-Betweens and their discussion of the song’s creation
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Benjamin Frisch. Our intern is Daniel Schroeder.
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*Correction, May 31, 2017: Due to a production error, this page originally misattributed Julia’s endorsement to Dana. (Return.)