Culture Gabfest - Swifties at the Movies
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2023
⏱️ 53 minutes
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Summary
This week, the panel begins by diving into Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, a glittery and extremely fun concert movie starring the singer-songwriter-producer-mogul that’s already become the highest grossing concert documentary of all time. Then, they discuss Beckham, a surprisingly candid four-part docu-series on Netflix directed by Fisher Stevens that chronicles the footballer’s meteoric rise to stardom and paints an intimate portrait of his home life with Victoria Adams, a.k.a. Posh Spice. Finally, the three dissect “Why Culture Has Come to a Standstill,” a provocative essay authored by Jason Farago, the New York Times critic at large.
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel embraces sweater weather with a discussion inspired by Amanda Mull’s essay for The Atlantic, “Your Sweaters Are Garbage.”
Email us at culturefest@slate.com.
Endorsements:
Dana: One of Dana’s favorites from the New York Film Festival this year is Anatomy of a Fall (which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes!) Directed by Justine Triet, this murder mystery thriller becomes a psychological study of a marriage when a suspicious tragedy strikes a family living in the French Alps. “It’s the kind of film you want to see then immediately debate over drinks with friends.”
Julia: A fantastic piece of writing on Insider, “The Great Zelle Pool Scam” by Devin Friedman, that uses the funny personal essay form–some reporting, a few confessions, observational humor, and the occasional insight–to levy an attack on Zelle, a massive, poorly regulated major part of our financial infrastructure.
Stephen: “Picasso’s Transformations” an essay by the art critic Jed Perl, published in The New York Review of Books (which is celebrating its 60th anniversary).
Outro music: “Lonely Calling” by Arc De Soleil
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 Slateculture Gapfest. Swifties at the movies edition. It's Wednesday, October 18th, 2023. |
| 0:19.0 | On today's show, Taylor Swift, the nearest horror came to theaters and it really conquered them this past weekend at the B.O. |
| 0:27.0 | It's already the highest grossing concert doc of all time. We discussed the unstoppable juggernaut known as Tate or whatever you want to call her. |
| 0:37.0 | And then the documentary Beckham tells the story of the rise to superstardom of David Beckham, the footballer. |
| 0:43.0 | It's a very candid and intimate portrait of him and his ultra-famous wife, Victoria Adams, aka Poshbice. |
| 0:52.0 | It's directed by Fisher Stevens, who is anybody? Who is Fisher Stevens? |
| 0:58.0 | Well, I mean, everybody's going to say he's Hugo on succession. |
| 1:01.0 | Yeah, he's one of these faces that achieves sort of anonymous ubiquity. And then all of a sudden, that role in succession is Hugo, the slimy, you know, courtier, publicist, uh, was just amazing. |
| 1:14.0 | And now he's made this kind of great four-part documentary. Beckham, and finally, has progress in the arts come to a halt. |
| 1:21.0 | We discuss a brilliant, really, I think, really provocative essay by the Times critic Jason Farago. |
| 1:28.0 | But first, joining me today is Julia Turner of the LA Times. Hey, Julia. |
| 1:33.0 | Hello, hello. |
| 1:34.0 | And of course, Dana Stevens, who's the film critic for Slate.com. Hey, Dana. |
| 1:39.0 | Greetings. |
| 1:40.0 | Shall we make a show? We got some, like, pretty juicy meat on the bone here. |
| 1:45.0 | Yeah, I mean, the headline is, we made Steve C. the Aristotle. So let's get into it. |
| 1:51.0 | I was hoping that lead could stay buried forever, Julia, but here we go. |
| 1:56.0 | All right, Taylor Swift, the Ears tour, IRL, in real life, the bricks and mortar version of it broke all kinds of concert records, you know, an arena tour going all over, setting off many earthquakes, |
| 2:08.0 | literally and figurative wherever it went. It's now, of course, a three-hour concert film filmed over three nights in LA. |
| 2:15.0 | Which night were you at, Julia? |
| 2:17.0 | I was at the very last night, night six. I was not at one of the nights that was taped. |
| 2:22.0 | Oh, I kept looking for you, and then I had to do something to pass the time. |
... |
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