Culture Gabfest - Tweeting Through It
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Slate
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 June 2021
⏱️ 50 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week Dana and Steve are joined by Slate staff writer Karen Han. First, the panel discusses the movie Zola. Next, they talk about the British sitcom We Are Lady Parts. Finally, the panel is joined by Seth Stevenson, the host of Slate’s Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism, to discuss the past, present, and future of HBO.
In Slate Plus, the panel talks about Conan O'Brien's departure from late night TV.
Email us at culturefest@slate.com
Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Cleo Levin.
Outro music is "Did I Make You Wait" by Staffan Carlen
Endorsements
Dana: “The Story Behind Luca’s Whale Carcass-Loving Breakout Character” by Karen Han for Slate
Karen: “Navillera” on Netflix.
Steve: “Rothko Chapel” by Morton Feldman.
Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Stephen McHaff, and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, Tweeting Through It Edition. |
| 0:14.9 | It's Wednesday, June 30th, 2021. |
| 0:17.8 | On today's show, the indie movie Zola, it's said to be the first feature film based on a Twitter thread. |
| 0:22.9 | It recounts the harrowing first person's story of a woman duped into being sex trafficked. |
| 0:28.1 | It stars Taylor Page in the title role. |
| 0:30.8 | And then the British sitcom We Are Lady Parts is about the foibles of an all-female, all-Muslim punk band in London. |
| 0:36.9 | It's on Peacock, the streaming |
| 0:38.3 | service from NBC. And finally, HBO invented prestige TV, as we know it. Back then in the 90s, |
| 0:45.5 | that's what they did. But 30 years on, it's placed within a digital universe is uncertain. We're |
| 0:50.8 | joined by Slate's own Seth Stevenson to discuss the fate of HBO in the age of the so-called |
| 0:56.1 | streaming wars. Joining me today is Karen Hahn, Slate staff writer. Hey, Karen. Hi, thank you for having |
| 1:03.4 | me back. I mean, our total pleasure. We had we knocked it out of the park last week, or I can say you |
| 1:09.4 | did. Welcome back. And of course, Dana Stevens is the film critic for Slate. Hey, Dana. Hello, Stephen. You knock it out of the park every week. It's a non-story. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, actually, it's true, but okay. All right, shall we dive in? What? The movie Zola began its life as a tweet thread, 147 or 148 around there and all. |
| 1:34.1 | It recounted how what was supposed to be a fun weekend road trip careened off its access and became instead a nightmare of sex trafficking and violence. |
| 1:41.9 | Rolling Stone magazine and Hollywood both descended on the author |
| 1:44.8 | of said tweet thread, and we now have a movie based on the original thread and the resulting |
| 1:48.6 | article. Zola opens with the title character, Waitressing in a Hooters-like restaurant where she |
| 1:53.6 | flirts with a young customer. The two become very, very fast friends. And all of about a day later, |
| 1:59.7 | they agreed ahead to Florida together to make some |
| 2:01.6 | money pole dancing. Right away, though, everything about this road trip is off. Her new friend, |
| 2:07.3 | Stephanie, has brought along two male companions. It's unclear who exactly they are, what their |
| 2:11.8 | role is in her life. And what follows is a dantean excursion into the swampy world of Florida |
... |
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