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Culture Gabfest: Demi Moore Gives Substance to The Substance

Slate Daily Feed

Slate

Business, News, Society & Culture

3.91.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this week’s show, the hosts are joined by a very special fourth panelist: Wesley Morris, a critic at The New York Times and the host of The Wonder of Stevie, a new podcast on Audible. First, the quartet explores The Substance, a lurid, monstrous body horror flick by writer-director Coralie Fargeat. Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading Hollywood icon who is so repulsed by the idea of aging, that she purchase a black-market drug known as “the substance.”‌ The film caused a commotion at Cannes this year, where audience members reportedly walked out in disgust and the remaining crowd gave it a 13-minute standing ovation. Then, the panel dives into The Wonder of Stevie with its host. The new six-part Audible series explores the career of Stevie Wonder and “uncovers the untold story of an extraordinary artistic journey that shaped the greatest creative era in popular music history.”‌ On the show, Wesley is joined by guests including Barack and Michelle Obama, Questlove, Smokey Robinson, and more. Finally, the hosts discuss A.I. slop and the onslaught of online garbage and language model detritus. This conversation was inspired by Max Read’s piece for New York Magazine, “Drowning in Slop.”‌ In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Wesley Morris sticks around for a classic Slate spoiler special, and joins the hosts in dissecting The Substance and the film’s controversial, bloody, and borderline nauseating third act.  Email us at culturefest@slate.com.  Endorsements: Dana: Stevie Wonder and Gilbert Gil performing live in Brazil in 1995. Julia:‌ Today on Trail, Rusty Foster’s spin-off newsletter miniseries about hiking the Appalachian Trail with his son. Stephen:‌ British singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya’s album, My Method Actor. Wesley: Vote for your favorite songs of the past 25 years, and add to WXPN radio’s definitive list of the “885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century.”‌ Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This ad-free podcast is part of your Slate Plus membership. Hello, I'm Dana Stevens, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest.

0:18.0

Demi Moore, Give Substance to the Substance Edition.

0:21.0

It's Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and on this week's show, we will be discussing

0:25.8

The Substance, a feminist body horror thriller about oppressive beauty standards, female

0:31.1

self-hatred, the exploitative nature of the entertainment industry.

0:34.7

What exactly is the substance about?

0:36.9

Maybe one of you can tell me.

0:38.7

We'll also talk about a new podcast from Audible about the greatest multi-album stretch in the career of Stevie Wonder and

0:44.4

to do so we will be joined by that show's host Wesley Morris who we are thrilled to be joined by today

0:48.8

not just for that segment but for the entire show not as a fill-in host for one of us but as a very special fourth

0:54.9

member of our panel and finally the four of us will dig into a long article by Max Reed

0:59.5

in New York magazine last week about what the author calls AI Slop, the large language

1:04.4

model generated detritus that has begun to invade every corner of our

1:08.0

digital lives. I'm joined today live in the slate studio by Stephen metcalfe

1:12.7

hey Stephen

1:13.7

hey Dana great to see you again and of course by Wesley Morris hey Wesley

1:18.3

Wesley hello I cannot believe I'm getting to be on a whole show with you guys.

1:24.0

Wesley I can confidently say it's the dream dream for all of us.

1:27.0

This can be a delight.

1:29.0

We're also joined of course remotely from Los Angeles by our beloved Julia Turner, a fellow at the Annenberg School of Journalism.

1:35.0

Hey Julia, hello, hello, so excited about this show.

1:38.0

All right, the substance is the second feature film from the French director Cora Lee Farjah.

...

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