Culture Gabfest: Scorsese’s Killer Epic

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Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, the panel begins by reviewing Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese’s film based on David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book about the plot of white Americans to steal the Osage Nation’s headrights in the 1920s, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. Then, the three are joined by Dan Kois, writer and editor at Slate and author of Vintage Contemporaries, to puzzle over Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, a scripted audio series based on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer that’s written and performed by many of the original cast, with one glaring omission: creator and showrunner Joss Whedon. Finally, the trio asks: Why is the internet no longer fun? The once utopian dream of democracy has turned into a hellscape, according to Kyle Chayka’s essay in The New Yorker, “Why the Internet Isn’t Fun Anymore.” In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel shares their relationships (or lack thereof) with audiobooks, inspired by Paul Grimstad’s essay “Confessions of an Audiobook Addict for The New Yorker.” Email us at [email protected]. Endorsements: Dana: The Genius Behind Hollywood’s Most Indelible Sets, a profile of Jack Fisk, the master production designer behind Killers of the Flower Moon and many other films. Julia: While watching Sleepless in Seattle with her husband, Julia discovered her new favorite sound clip: When Meg Ryan dishes with Rosie O’Donnell about her budding romance with Tom Hanks, O’Donnell responds comically while chomping a bite of egg salad into her mouth, in a way that deserves to become a meme. Stephen: The little-known, up-and-coming writer Shakespeare (according to Stephen, he’s “very good” if not “a little antique-y”), specifically in the context of Killers of the Flower Moon. The film’s final scenes recall The Tempest in many ways. Outro music: “Back to Silence” by OTE. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Stephen McCaff in this is the Slake culture gap fest Scorsese's killer epic edition.
0:15.9	It's Wednesday October 25th, 2023, on today's show Killers of the Flower Moon is Martin
0:21.9	Scorsese's adaptation of the nonfiction book by David Gran tells the story of a satanic
0:27.4	plot to steal oil rights from the Osage Indians. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone
0:34.6	and Robert De Niro. And then what is Buffy without Joss Whedon? We discuss the podcast Slayers
0:41.9	with Slate's own Dan Coise. And finally the worldwide web, right? Remember late 90s, mid 90s,
0:50.6	Utopian Fantasia that has turned since by 2023 into a dystopian realm of surveillance
0:58.5	and commercial manipulation. We discuss why the internet is no longer fun. But joining me today
1:04.3	first is Julia Turner from the LA Times. Hey Julia. Hello. And of course Dana Stevens is the
1:10.6	film critic for Slate. Hey Dana. Hey. Shall we make a show? We good? Yes, I'm so excited for this
1:16.2	week's show. Alright, well Killers of the Flower Moon. It was a 2017 nonfiction book by the author
1:22.1	David Gran. It's now an epic film co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese. It takes place
1:27.5	mostly in the 1920s after the Osage tribe has discovered vast oil deposits on its Oklahoma
1:33.6	reservation. These are now being exploited by major oil companies, turning the Osage into the
1:40.7	richest people per capita on earth. It's like a mini Kuwait in the middle of Oklahoma. Then came
1:46.0	a series of mysterious deaths. But with a pattern, they resulted in a white settler inheriting the
1:53.1	head rights from the deceased person, i.e. the rights essentially to the income from the oil.
1:59.2	The movie centers its story on Molly, an Osage woman played by Lily Gladstone who's courted
2:05.2	and married by Ernest, a white settler, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. He may or may not be in
2:11.7	love with Molly. It's actually quite ambiguous at the same time he is beholden, however,
2:16.0	to William Hale, the chief architect of the murder scheme played by De Niro. As I said,
2:21.2	the movie's co-written, it's directed by Scorsese. Let's listen to a clip. It's early in the film
	...

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