Culture Gabfest - Barbenheimer Blockbuster Bonanza
Slate Culture Feed
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 July 2023
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, the panel begins by examining Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s hot pink, record-breaking movie about the iconic Mattel doll. Then, the trio dives into Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which chronicles the life of the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” and explores whether the film achieves its aims. Finally, they are joined by Slate’s Chris Molanphy to discuss the controversy behind country singer Jason Aldean’s latest song, “Try That In A Small Town.”
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel is once again joined by Chris Molanphy to discuss all things Summer Strut. With the annual show just weeks away, the four pull back the curtain to detail their processes, weird observations, and more.
Email us at culturefest@slate.com.
Endorsements:
Dana: In line with her theme of the week, “Yay movies and go, go, go to the theater,” Dana highly recommends Theater Camp, a delightful film by Ben Platt and Molly Gordon.
Julia: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for zucchini pasta with crispy capers and pistachios isn’t the sort of thing Julia would normally endorse (for one, it’s extremely laborious and you will need to fry individual basil leaves), but it’s vegan, a showstopper, and completely worth it.
Stephen: In honor of the late singer, Stephen recommends two Tony Bennett albums: “The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album” (1975) and “Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall” (1962).
Outro music: “Last Sunday” by OTE
Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Steven McCaffin, this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, Barbenheimer Blackbuster, |
| 0:15.4 | Bonanza Edition, it's Wednesday, July 26, 2023 on Today's show. |
| 0:21.6 | Barbie, it's Greta Gerwig's movie about the iconic toy doll from Mattel. |
| 0:26.0 | It stars Margot Robbie as the stereotypical blonde bombshell, and Ryan Gosling as her, |
| 0:33.0 | I don't know, was he even call him boyfriend, can I suppose? |
| 0:37.0 | Just can. |
| 0:38.0 | Just can, it's in theaters, and as we speak, it's breaking box office records, and then |
| 0:43.2 | Oppenheimer as a sprawling biopic from writer-director Christopher Nolan, it stars Killian Murphy |
| 0:49.1 | as the so-called father of the atomic bomb, together with its unlikely sibling, Barbie, |
| 0:54.3 | it's helping to break box office records as well, and finally, the country singer Jason |
| 0:59.8 | Aldin has a song called Try That in a Small Town, saved to say it's a compilation |
| 1:04.3 | of racist dog whistles. |
| 1:06.4 | We discussed the unfold in controversy with Slate's own Chris Malampi. |
| 1:10.4 | Joining me today is Julia Turner of the LA Times, hey Julia, and of course Dana Stevens |
| 1:16.2 | is the film critic for Slate, hey Dana, hey greetings, we're so excited right, Port |
| 1:21.4 | Mantel, we're day here at the gap fest, it wasn't hard to pick the order to do these |
| 1:29.3 | and you got to start with Barbie, it's such a huge hit. |
| 1:32.4 | So the new movie Barbie, it stars Margot Robbie as the quote unquote stereotypical Barbie, |
| 1:38.8 | that means she's tall, live, bucks him very blonde, and her feet are molded permanently |
| 1:45.1 | to slip into high heels, and as she herself says in the course of the movie, no genitals, |
| 1:51.4 | suddenly out of nowhere flickers of existential dread begin to cross or otherwise sunshine drenched |
| 1:57.0 | mind, she and her male counterpart can eventually cross over into the human world to discover |
... |
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