Culture Gabfest - Encore: Barbenheimer Blockbuster Bonanza
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Slate
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2023
⏱️ 58 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
This week, we revisit one of our favorite episodes of 2023! 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 | Hey, listeners, Dana Stevens here. So we are taking some time off this week to rest and spend the holiday with our families. So instead of a regular episode, we would like to share one of our favorite episodes of 2023. An episode titled Barbenheimer Blockbuster Bonanza. |
| 0:14.5 | Barbie and Oppenheimer really helped movie theaters start to come back to life after the pandemic, and they were also fascinating movies to discuss in themselves. In this episode, we also had on Chris Malanfi, who is the host of Hit Parade |
| 0:25.6 | and Slate's writer on music charts, to talk about a song by country music artist Jason Aldeen. |
| 0:31.4 | 2023 was a really big year for country music on the charts, so that conversation is worth |
| 0:35.4 | revisiting as well. Anyway, this was an episode that we enjoyed that feels very representative of the year |
| 0:40.7 | 2023 to us, so we hope you enjoy hearing it too, and we hope you have a wonderful and restful |
| 0:45.2 | holiday season. We'll talk to you next year. I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gapfest, |
| 1:01.9 | Barbenheimer Blockbuster Bonanza Edition. |
| 1:05.3 | It's Wednesday, July 26, 2023 on today's show. |
| 1:10.0 | Barbie, it's Greta Gerwig's movie about the iconic toy doll |
| 1:13.5 | from Mattel. It stars Margot Robbie as the stereotypical blonde bombshell and Ryan Gosling as her, |
| 1:21.7 | I don't know, what's even calling him boyfriend? Can, I suppose. It's just can. Just can. It's in |
| 1:27.4 | theaters. And as we speak. It's in theaters. |
| 1:28.5 | And as we speak, it's breaking box office records. |
| 1:31.3 | And then Oppenheimer is a sprawling biopic from writer-director Christopher Nolan. |
| 1:35.8 | It stars Killian Murphy as the so-called father of the atomic bomb, together with its unlikely sibling Barbie. |
| 1:42.5 | It's helping to break box office records as well. And finally, |
| 1:47.0 | the country singer Jason Aldeen has a song called Try That in a Small Town. Safe to say, |
| 1:52.0 | it's a compilation of racist dog whistles. We discussed the unfolding controversy with Slate's own Chris |
| 1:57.8 | Malanthe. Joining me today is Julia Turner of the LA Times. Hey, Julia. Hello, hello. And, of course, Dana Stevens is the film critic for Slate. Hey, Dana. Hey, greetings. We're so excited, right? Portmanteau word day here at the Gab Fest. It wasn't hard to pick the order to do these. |
| 2:17.9 | And you got to start with Barbie. |
| 2:19.0 | It's such a huge hit. |
... |
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