Supercontext: an autopsy of media

This 2018 spy thriller is praised for its humor and subversion by critics and audiences alike. We discuss how it represents female and queer identities without pinning down either as templates or tropes. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Killing Eve, Season 1 Additional Resources: ‘It’s anarchic’: the cast of Killing Eve on Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s killer thriller Phoebe Waller-Bridge Twists the Spy Genre With BBC America’s Thriller ‘Killing Eve’ ‘Killing Eve’ Showrunner: ‘All Obsession Is Sexual’ All About Killing Eve: The BBC spy drama that's already a US hit Killing Eve and the Riddle of Why Women Kill The Queer Ambiguity of ‘Killing Eve’ ‘Killing Eve’: TV’s Newest Assassin Subverts Storytelling Cliches, Which Makes Her Scary as Hell Feminist thriller "Killing Eve" has proven a perfect show for the #MeToo era BBC Buys Into Award-Winning U.K. Drama Producer Sid Gentle Films

This repost of our two Nick Cave episodes is a mess of grief, awe, love, and aspiration. Part 1: Nick Cave's Lament In anticipation of the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album “Skeleton Tree” and its accompanying documentary “One More Time With Feeling,” we discuss the tragedy of losing a child and its effect on art, performance and persona. Part 2: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Skeleton Tree By becoming a more vulnerable frontman, Nick Cave has transformed after a major tragedy. To understand this better, we cover his latest album Skeleton Tree, the companion film One More Time With Feeling and the Bad Seeds' latest North American tour. Additional Resources: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Nick Cave I Am the Real Nick Cave The Love and Terror of Nick Cave Nick Cave Finally Tells His Most Painful Story Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds x Hingston Studio – Skeleton Tree All Songs +1: A Devastating New Film About Nick Cave Nick Cave Talks About Living and Writing Through Grief Nick Cave Will Never Be Forgotten THE IMMENSE GRIEF OF NICK CAVE’S ‘SKELETON TREE’ Nick Cave financed the documentary One More Time with Feeling so that he would not have to speak with journalists about the death of his son

THIS IS A REPOST OF A 2016 EPISODE. In an unusually giddy, slaphappy episode, Charlie & Christian try to understand how Game of Thrones' sixth season was made. When does an adaptation stop being an adaptation? What happens when it passes -- and surpasses -- its source material? Additional Resources: Last Year (Winds of Winter) post by George R.R. Martin

Thank you to our Co-Producer patron Chris Marlton for selecting this week's topic! This 1997 Australian alternative rock record was a massive success in its home country, but is something we (the hosts) were totally unfamiliar with. We look at how music subjectively builds identity for some "young people" to understand why Unit is so important to adults looking back on their outsider adolescence. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Unit Additional Resources: Polyester genius: reflecting on the boundary-pushing perfection of Regurgitator’s 1997 classic, Unit MUSIC REVIEW | Regurgitator – Unit (1997) ! (The Song Formerly Known As) by Regurgitator – towering electronic fuzz Jade Lazarevic. (2012, September 8). The way we were. Newcastle Herald, The (Includes the Central Coast Herald), p. 12. ELIZABETH LORD. (2012). Regurgitator relive retro. Mercury, The (Hobart), 6. Regurgitator has always pleased itself — and fans are happy to tag along Andrew M c Millen. (2018, August 2). Band of outsiders. Australian, The, p. 15. Regurgitator crowd still partying like it's 1999 By: Craig Platt, Age, The (Melbourne), 03126307, Aug 13, 2018 Brain uploading, warts and elaborate subterfuge: a chat with Quan Yeomans of Regurgitator

This 2015 Vertigo comic by Tom King and Mitch Gerads sets a murder mystery in the Iraq War in 2004. We discuss how the creators strived for accuracy and reverence with this complex story while struggling with our own distaste for violence, glorification, and authority. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: The Sheriff of Babylon Additional Resources: One of comics’ best writers is a former CIA agent Inside 'The Sheriff of Babylon,' DC Comics' Wartime Crime Drama Comic-Con: DC's Vertigo Imprint to Launch 12 New Series Before End of Year Why the CIA Has to Read This Comic Before You Can The Best Retelling of the Iraq War Story Is a Comic Book 15 Reasons Why You Should Be Reading The Sheriff Of Babylon https://twiststreet.tumblr.com/post/181648879026 Did Batman’s Tom King Work For the CIA? Yes, Yes He Did. PERSPECTIVES ON A CRIME: TOM KING AND MITCH GERADS ON ‘THE SHERIFF OF BABYLON’    

Thank you to our Co-producer patron Kevin Wetter for selecting this week's topic! This 2003 superhero film adaption went through ten screenwriters during its production and suffered poor critical reception. We look back before the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we now know it and ask why the formula of Greek tragedy mixed with Cold War paranoia failed to work. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: HULK Additional Resources: Countdown to Hulk: Screenwriter John Turman talks about a fan's dream job U Bulks Up Hulk Hulk Makes a Monster Out of Gamma Rays Green With Anger Ang Lee Gets Inside Hulk’s Head Countdown to Hulk: Screenwriter Michael France Talks ‘Hulk,’ ‘Punisher,’ and Beyond. Countdown to 'Hulk': Producers Avi Arad and Gale Anne Hurd talk Temper, Temper Ang Lee looks back at his Hulk movie The successful failure of Ang Lee’s Hulk Credit Grab The Hulk. (2003). Millimeter, 31(6), 14.

This HBO series remake about artificial intelligence, violence and consciousness was made with expert care by everyone involved in its production. But we ask, why then wasn't its depiction of its big themes ultimately satisfying? Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Westworld Additional Resources: Abrams and Nolan Team Up for Westworld HBO Pilot The Long, Weird History of the Westworld Franchise HBO’s Westworld Extras Have to Sign a Consent Form Agreeing to ‘Genital-to-Genital Touching’ Ed Brubaker on Westworld, The Fade Out, and his immersion into Hollywood Your Westworld Logistical Questions Answered On the Ranch with the Creators of “Westworld” How the Creators of Westworld Built a Violent World of Robot Cowboys Why the Westworld Costumes Were So Complicated to Create The Secrets Behind Westworld’s Opening Title Sequence Westworld’s Showrunner Hint at Season 2, Discuss Show’s Video-Game Influences Why the Bicameral Mind Theory is Crucial to Unlocking Westworld A New Diversity Reviews Site Rates TV Shows and Films By Quality of Representation Westworld, Race and The Western Racial Stereotyping and Westworld  

This 1996 novel is infamous for its length and complex narrative structure, while being critically lauded for its themes and style. We discuss how Wallace approached the project, while grappling with revelations about how he treated women both on-and-off the page. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Infinite Jest Additional Resources: The Afterlife of David Foster Wallace Infinite Proofs: The Effects of Mathematics on David Foster Wallace! David Foster Wallace at 50: Why he still matters and always will MICHAEL PIETSCH: EDITING INFINITE JEST A BRIEF (CROWD-SOURCED) INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL PIETSCH 'Infinite Jest' celebrates 20th anniversary God, Mary Karr and Ronald Reagan: D.T. Max on David Foster Wallace Mary Karr Speaks Out About David Foster Wallace Amid Literature's #MeToo Movement 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Infinite Jest Why Insufferable People Love Infinite Jest Men Recommend David Foster Wallace to Me 15 Facts About Infinite Jest Reading from the “Blind-spots” A Short Meditation on the Whiteness of David Foster Wallace’s Writing Thinking About David Foster Wallace, Misogyny and Scholarship The Magic of Michael Schur's Sitcoms: Why 'The Good Place,' 'Parks and Rec' & More Are So Rewatchable An Interview with Michael Schur 'Parks and Recreation': 'Infinite Jest' references in 'Partridge'

Thank you to our Co-Producer patron Miriam Meaney for selecting this week's topic! This 2016 film by Nicolas Winding Refn is about beauty, jealousy and the entertainment industry. We look at Refn's thematic intentions and the myriad of arguments about his "misogyny" or "feminism," to try to understand how the glamour industry portrays women.   Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: The Neon Demon Additional Resources: ‘Movie blood tastes so good’ – on The Neon Demon set with Nicolas Winding Refn A HORROR FILM ABOUT BEAUTY: NICOLAS WINDING REFN & ELLE FANNING ON “THE NEON DEMON” Nicolas Winding Refn Readies Danish/French Horror Tale Nicolas Winding Refn on The Neon Demon's Female-Dominated Cast The Neon Demon is the most offensive film of the year - and not because of the necrophilia MOVIES‘The Neon Demon’ Is ‘Valley of the Dolls’ Meets ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?! Birth. Movies. Interview: Nicolas Winding Refn And Cliff Martinez Talk THE NEON DEMON The Neon Demon: a spoiler-filled chat about the year’s best or worst movie I’M A FEMINIST, AND I LOVED THE NEON DEMON The Neon Demon tries to both fetishize and vilify young girls. It fails.

This 2007 manga serial by Inio Asano seems like a simple story about a middle-school boy growing up in Japan. But we find that using symbolic simplicity together with the detailed, weird world of adults, Asano has been described as the voice of his generation. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Goodnight PunPun, Volume 1 Additional Resources: INIO ASANO INTERVIEW — “REALITY IS TOUGH, SO READ THIS MANGA ABOUT CUTE GIRLS AND FEEL BETTER” The disaffected world of Inio Asano GOODNIGHT PUNPUN Is A Horrifying Glance In The Mirror Preview: Inio Asano’s Goodnight Punpun is an ode to life’s awkwardness ‘GOODNIGHT PUNPUN’ IS THE STRANGEST MANGA OF THE YEAR (AND ONE OF THE BEST) Saying Goodbye to Childhood in Goodnight Punpun Interview: Goodnight Punpun Creator Inio Asano