The Culture We Deserve

Fine, we give up trying to make original content, let's make a list! Jessa and Nico talk about the best and worst films, television, books, art, and music of the year that got eaten by the election cycle. Full list and shownotes: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

As the stars align for another French Revolution (Pluto in Aquarius, baby), the billionaires and CEOs are quaking. They're upgrading their security teams, they are building compounds. Also, as things escalate with Russia, Jessa and Nico wonder if we're going to get Rocky IV-level propaganda soon. Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey is getting review-bombed for even having a Russian character in her novel, the people demand a new Drago onto which they can project their hate and anxiety! The last Cold War gave us Mikhail Baryshnikov, who knows what wonders await us this time? Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Elon Musk twat that Cancel culture has been canceled. All our bad men are coming back -- Kevin Spacey, Bryan Singer, Armie Hammer. New administration, baby! So what was cancel culture even for? Nico and Jessa discuss grievance culture, how Netflix has monetized the anti-cancel culture grift, and whether anyone is going to learn anything from the last ten years of madness. Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Progressive self-flagellation continues this week, as now the left wonders why they don't have a Joe Rogan-like figure to lead the angry young men into socialist politics. Maybe because you guys are all desperately overeager? Maybe because you'd want them to attend a new Columbia University masters program for audio arts before you trusted them to start a podcast? Just a thought. Also: Cormac McCarthy had a teenage lover during his midlife crisis, and is Argentina our new economic libertarian father figure? Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Quick, how do we politically, financially, and culturally exploit the lower classes, now that the politicians admit maybe wealth inequality and the abandonment of class issues has led us to a second Trump administration. There will be lots of solemn talk about the dignity of the working class, lots of PhDs doing working class ethnography, etc. But probably we still won't get healthcare, unless you count RFK replacing fluoride with ivermectin in our water supplies. Jessa and Nico talk about how the working class just can't win, and if there is still an American dream. Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

It's the era of the sore winner. Trump voters are feeling emboldened, from racist texts to more Trump flags going up to personal confrontations. And billionaires from Silicon Valley to pop music are bitter they should ever be questioned or criticized about the constant stream of dreck they pump into the world. Jessa and Nico discuss why too much is never enough in the age of infinite branding. Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

In DC, Philadelphia, and Portland, monuments to Donald Trump's legacy as a white supremacist and sexual predator have been popping up. Their creator has yet to be revealed (please don't be Banksy). But it does open the door to the question: are we doomed to suffer through four more years of bad anti-Trump art? Or will the pro-Trump guys like Beeple take over cringe creation? And if the bro podcasters are to blame, and the socialist Twitch streamers couldn't save us, what do we do with our culture of overproduction? Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

God, this is so boring and please let it be over. Swing state fatigue, billionaire media, and a political sphere dominated by bro podcast hosts. Show notes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Is it a contradiction that in this age of trigger warnings people are calling this a golden age of horror? Or is there something cozy and coddling about what is celebrated as prestige horror? Is Longlegs even scary, is The Substance just a montage of better horror films, does Red Rooms even haunt you, bro? Jessa and Nico discuss Variety's 100 Best Horror Movies list, lists as anti-content, and why contemporary horror fails to get at what people are truly afraid of. Show notes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Still dealing with pre-election tension. But some bullying ads ("everyone will know whether you voted!") have us thinking, is it true what they say, that the Democratic party has become too feminized? And the Ta-Nehisi Coates media tour prompts us to ask, is it possible to have a great run in interviews and TV and still have written a not very good book? Or do we have to support bad books forever just because they have good politics. (See also: Han Kang Nobel discourse.) Show notes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com