Michael and Us: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Jacobin Radio
Jacobin
4.7 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2022
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Monkees were a prefabricated pop band who didn't play their own instruments and didn't get much respect. But in 1968, they teamed with director Bob Rafelson and a young writer named Jack Nicholson to take charge of their image with HEAD (1968), a corrosive satire that asks: what do the Monkees have in common with the Vietnam War?
Donate to an abortion fund: https://www.thecut.com/article/donate-abortion-fund-roe-v-wade-how-to-help.html
Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, Will here. We'd be remiss if we didn't address off the top that this episode was |
| 0:05.9 | recorded shortly before Politico published a draft majority opinion that appears to suggest |
| 0:12.1 | that the US Supreme Court intends to overturn Roe v Wade. I know that this is weighing very heavily |
| 0:18.8 | on everyone's mind now, especially for our American listeners. There are many more qualified voices |
| 0:24.8 | than us to talk about this issue. Right now, I'll just say that if you're feeling |
| 0:29.5 | anxious and even hopeless, it's important to remember that none of the institutions who devise |
| 0:35.5 | this ruling should be regarded as legitimate, nor should the ruling itself, if it officially comes |
| 0:41.4 | to pass. We also know that none of this represents the will of the vast majority of the US population. |
| 0:47.9 | This knowledge can only be so comforting at a time when these institutions have so much power |
| 0:53.6 | and so much power to enforce this potential decision, but I think it's still important knowledge |
| 0:59.3 | to have going into the next stage of this struggle. In the show notes, we'll be linking to an article |
| 1:04.9 | that lists some of the many abortion funds you can donate to right now. If you're able, we'd encourage |
| 1:10.7 | you to join us in donating. Now, without further ado, on with the show. |
| 1:30.5 | Welcome to Michael and us. I'm Will Sloan. Here is always with Luke Savage. Welcome back, folks. |
| 1:35.0 | A couple of months ago, we watched one of my favorite movies, Godzilla, the 1954 Japanese original, |
| 1:41.1 | and anybody who knows movies knows that Godzilla is an example of why movies are an interesting art form. |
| 1:47.1 | It's like the bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nine years later, |
| 1:53.1 | Japan starts producing 30 straight years of movies about giant monsters destroying Japan. |
| 1:59.8 | I mean, as the great man, Gene Siskel once said, movies are the national dream beat. |
| 2:06.1 | And he was right in his corny way. Yeah, employing that cornball eloquence for which he became known. |
| 2:12.1 | Here's my impression of Gene Siskel. Him. We've set it again and again on this show. You've got |
| 2:17.2 | to start with the script. And what Sylvester Stallone needs to realize is it's his fans who are |
... |
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