Hosted by Charlie Bennett and Christian Sager.
This HBO series remake about artificial intelligence, violence and consciousness was made with expert care by everyone involved in its production. But we ask, why then wasn't its depiction of its big themes ultimately satisfying?
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- Abrams and Nolan Team Up for Westworld HBO Pilot
- The Long, Weird History of the Westworld Franchise
- HBO’s Westworld Extras Have to Sign a Consent Form Agreeing to ‘Genital-to-Genital Touching’
- Ed Brubaker on Westworld, The Fade Out, and his immersion into Hollywood
- Your Westworld Logistical Questions Answered
- On the Ranch with the Creators of “Westworld”
- How the Creators of Westworld Built a Violent World of Robot Cowboys
- Why the Westworld Costumes Were So Complicated to Create
- The Secrets Behind Westworld’s Opening Title Sequence
- Westworld’s Showrunner Hint at Season 2, Discuss Show’s Video-Game Influences
- Why the Bicameral Mind Theory is Crucial to Unlocking Westworld
- A New Diversity Reviews Site Rates TV Shows and Films By Quality of Representation
- Westworld, Race and The Western
- Racial Stereotyping and Westworld
This 1996 novel is infamous for its length and complex narrative structure, while being critically lauded for its themes and style. We discuss how Wallace approached the project, while grappling with revelations about how he treated women both on-and-off the page.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- The Afterlife of David Foster Wallace
- Infinite Proofs: The Effects of Mathematics on David Foster Wallace!
- David Foster Wallace at 50: Why he still matters and always will
- MICHAEL PIETSCH: EDITING INFINITE JEST
- A BRIEF (CROWD-SOURCED) INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL PIETSCH
- 'Infinite Jest' celebrates 20th anniversary
- God, Mary Karr and Ronald Reagan: D.T. Max on David Foster Wallace
- Mary Karr Speaks Out About David Foster Wallace Amid Literature's #MeToo Movement
- 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Infinite Jest
- Why Insufferable People Love Infinite Jest
- Men Recommend David Foster Wallace to Me
- 15 Facts About Infinite Jest
- Reading from the “Blind-spots”
- A Short Meditation on the Whiteness of David Foster Wallace’s Writing
- Thinking About David Foster Wallace, Misogyny and Scholarship
- The Magic of Michael Schur's Sitcoms: Why 'The Good Place,' 'Parks and Rec' & More Are So Rewatchable
- An Interview with Michael Schur
- 'Parks and Recreation': 'Infinite Jest' references in 'Partridge'
Thank you to our Co-Producer patron Miriam Meaney for selecting this week's topic!
This 2016 film by Nicolas Winding Refn is about beauty, jealousy and the entertainment industry. We look at Refn's thematic intentions and the myriad of arguments about his "misogyny" or "feminism," to try to understand how the glamour industry portrays women.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- ‘Movie blood tastes so good’ – on The Neon Demon set with Nicolas Winding Refn
- A HORROR FILM ABOUT BEAUTY: NICOLAS WINDING REFN & ELLE FANNING ON “THE NEON DEMON”
- Nicolas Winding Refn Readies Danish/French Horror Tale
- Nicolas Winding Refn on The Neon Demon's Female-Dominated Cast
- The Neon Demon is the most offensive film of the year - and not because of the necrophilia
- MOVIES‘The Neon Demon’ Is ‘Valley of the Dolls’ Meets ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?!
- Birth. Movies. Interview: Nicolas Winding Refn And Cliff Martinez Talk THE NEON DEMON
- The Neon Demon: a spoiler-filled chat about the year’s best or worst movie
- I’M A FEMINIST, AND I LOVED THE NEON DEMON
- The Neon Demon tries to both fetishize and vilify young girls. It fails.
This 2007 manga serial by Inio Asano seems like a simple story about a middle-school boy growing up in Japan. But we find that using symbolic simplicity together with the detailed, weird world of adults, Asano has been described as the voice of his generation.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- INIO ASANO INTERVIEW — “REALITY IS TOUGH, SO READ THIS MANGA ABOUT CUTE GIRLS AND FEEL BETTER”
- The disaffected world of Inio Asano
- GOODNIGHT PUNPUN Is A Horrifying Glance In The Mirror
- Preview: Inio Asano’s Goodnight Punpun is an ode to life’s awkwardness
- ‘GOODNIGHT PUNPUN’ IS THE STRANGEST MANGA OF THE YEAR (AND ONE OF THE BEST)
- Saying Goodbye to Childhood in Goodnight Punpun
- Interview: Goodnight Punpun Creator Inio Asano