Nostalgia Trap

In a world of infinite #content, why do we find ourselves watching the same movies and TV shows again and again? KJ Shepherd joins us for a conversation about the particular qualities that draw us to compulsively re-watch certain pieces of media, especially from when we were young. Our conversation focuses on the 1997 film Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, a “dumb” comedy that functions as a powerful nostalgia trap for KJ and a reflection of a very specific type of 90s Hollywood production. We talk about Romy and Michele’s unique charm, its undeniable queerness, the post-Romy career paths of Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow, and the singular social, cultural, and economic circumstances from which the “dumb 90s comedy” emerged. To listen to full episode go to patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977) remains an unrivaled enigma in the history of cinema, a cult film that launched the career of one of Hollywood’s most enduring outsiders. The process of making the film, detailed in Lynch’s 2018 memoir Room to Dream (co-written with Kristine McKenna), reflects the complicated intersection of individual vision and economic reality that would define Lynch’s path as a filmmaker. But do these cultural and economic conditions even exist anymore? Musician, writer, and fellow Lynch-head Tyler Scruggs joins us to talk about Eraserhead’s unique production and cultural legacy, in a conversation that explores authorship, adaptation, consciousness, and what it means to be an artist in the digital era.   

We kicked off this week's livestream with a visit from Justin Rogers-Cooper, who reminds us that liberals (and the left too!) often lack a critique of the Fed, and how that gap in understanding leads to weird pronouncements like "capitalism loves COVID" when the truth is far more sinister. And I continue down the 90s memory hole with a discussion of Neil LaBute's 1997 film In the Company of Men and the different ways it rearranged my views on masculinity, work, and the banal sadism of capitalist culture. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Claudia Moreno Parsons joins us for an exploration of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders (1983).Based on S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel about working class teen “greasers” in 1960s Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Outsiders is a searing take on the rigidity of class in America that resists the easy answers of other “young adult” books and movies of the era. In this conversation, we talk about the elements that make this film unique, from its melodramatic tone and affecting performances to the wider cultural and political questions with which it grapples. Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Michael Brenes is  Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and Lecturer in History at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. His new book, For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy, asks important questions about the disturbing connections between militarism, austerity, and democracy that mark the post-Cold War era, and how those trends both continue and accelerate the ideological and practical structures of American anti-communism. In this conversation, Brenes shares some of the book’s more startling revelations and reflects on how his historical and political imagination has evolved in the Trump era.   

On this week's livestream, Justin Rogers-Cooper drops by to offer thoughts on some weird moves from U.S. Congress on China this week, which for some reason no one is talking about. Plus, David continues his journey through 90s pop culture and considers the confluence of South Park, first person shooters like Quake and Duke Nukem, and the development of an "extremely online" cultural and political sensibility. Go to patreon.com/nostalgiatrap for full episode.

The 1990 Martin Scorsese-directed gangster saga Goodfellas remains one of the most rewatchable films of the 20th century, a kaleidoscopic ride through the ups and downs of mafia life that’s as exhausting as it is entertaining. For David and Danny, Goodfellas occupies a space of both personal and cultural connection–a nostalgia trap that functions on multiple levels. In this conversation, we explore the film’s unique power in the context of 20th century history, from the development of working class white ethnic gang culture to its long decline in the shadow of suburbanization and gentrification, from spaghetti and marinara to egg noodles and ketchup. What story is Goodfellas really telling us? Go to patreon.com/nostalgiatrap to hear the full episode.

Jon Wiener is an American historian and the author of a number of books on the 1960s and 1970s, including Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Seven. Jon returns to the Trap to talk with David and Danny about the Netflix film Trial of the Chicago 7, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. From questionable casting choices to an outrageously ahistorical happy ending, how does Sorkin’s notoriously rosy, liberal take on American history color his depiction of 1960s radicalism?

I wanted to take the Thanksgiving holiday, when very few were likely to be watching, to try something new on the livestream...I hope you enjoy it. Since we've begun talking so much about movies on the podcast lately, I thought I would start reflecting on my own connection to cinema and pop culture more widely, as a way of exploring larger questions of politics, art, spirituality, drugs, and so many other Nostalgia Trap obsessions. In this first installment I describe my attachment to an HBO "Guide to Movies" book in 1990, and how it acted as a kind of Biblical text, and an entryway to a world of movies about which I knew very little. To listen, subscribe at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Justin Rogers-Cooper and Bill Black join us for our very first episode specifically dedicated to the JFK assassination, an event that connects a number of Nostalgia Trap obsessions, from deep state conspiracies and political violence to pop culture and generational division. To hear the full episode subscribe at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.