Episoder
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In her new FX docuseries âSocial Studies,â the artist and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield delves into the post-pandemic livesâand phonesâof a group of L.A. teens. Screen recordings of the kidsâ social-media use reveal how these platforms have reshaped their experience of the world in alarming ways. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss how the show paints a vivid, empathetic portrait of modern adolescence while also tapping into the long tradition of fretting about what the youths of the day are up to. The hosts consider moral panics throughout history, from the 1971 book âGo Ask Alice,â which was first marketed as the true story of a drug-addicted girlâs downfall in a bid to scare kids straight, to the hand-wringing that surrounded trends like rock and roll and the postwar comic-book craze. Anxieties around social-media use, by contrast, are warranted. Mounting research shows how screen time correlates with spikes in depression, loneliness, and suicide among teens. Itâs a problem that has come to define all our lives, not just those of the youth. âThis whole crust of societyâpeople joining trade unions and other kinds of things, lodges and guilds, having hobbies,â Cunningham says, âthat layer of society is shrinking. And parallel to our crusade against the ills of social media is, how do we rebuild that sector of society?â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âSocial Studiesâ (2024)
âInto the Phones of Teens,â by Naomi Fry (The New Yorker)
âGeneration Wealthâ (2018)
Marilyn Manson
âReviving Ophelia,â by Mary Pipher
âGo Ask Alice,â by Beatrice Sparks
âForrest Gumpâ (1994)
âThe Rules of Attraction,â by Bret Easton Ellis
âLess Than Zero,â by Bret Easton Ellis
âThe Sorrows of Young Werther,â by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
âSeduction of the Innocent,â by Fredric Wertham
âHas Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis?,â by Andrew Solomon (The New Yorker)
âThe Anxious Generation,â by Jonathan Haidt
âBowling Alone,â by Robert D. PutnamNew episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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One of the most fundamental features of art is its ability to meet us during times of distress. In the early days of the pandemic, many people turned to comfort reads and beloved films as a form of escapism; more recently, in the wake of the election, shows such as âThe Great British Bake Offâ have been offered up on group chats as a balm. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider the valueâand limitsâof seeking solace in culture. Comfort art has flourished in recent years, as evidenced by the rise of genres such asâromantasyâ and the âcozy thriller.â But where is the line between using art as a salve and tuning out at a moment when politics demands our engagement? âOne of the purposes of the comfort we seek is to sustain us,â Schwartz says. âThatâs what we all are going to need: sustenance to move forward.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âThe Crownâ (2016-2023)
âSesame Streetâ (1969-)
âThe Great British Bake Offâ (2010-)
âIn Tumultuous Times, Readers Turn to âHealing Fiction,â â by Alexandra Alter (The New York Times)
Charles Schulzâs âPeanutsâ (1950-2000)
âUncut Gemsâ (2019)
âSomebody Somewhereâ (2022-)
â3 Terrific Specials to Distract You from the News,â by Jason Zinoman (The New York Times)
âTom Papa: Home Freeâ (2024)
âAmerica, Donât Succumb to Escapism,â by Kristen Ghodsee (The New Republic)
âCandide,â by Voltaire
Beth Sternâs Instagram
âJanet Planetâ (2023)
Marvin Gayeâs âWhat's Going Onâ
Donny Hathawayâs âExtension of a ManâNew episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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Since the comedian Julio Torres came to America from El Salvador, more than a decade ago, his fantastical style has made him a singular presence in the entertainment landscape. An early stint writing for âSaturday Night Liveâ yielded some of the showâs weirdest and most memorable sketches; soon after that, Torresâs work on the HBO series âLos Espookys,â which he co-wrote and starred in, cemented his status as a beloved odd-child of the comedy scene. In his most recent work, heâs applied his dreamy sensibility to very real bureaucratic nightmares. âProblemista,â his first feature film, draws on Torresâs own Kafkaesque experience navigating the U.S. immigration system; in his new HBO show, âFantasmas,â the protagonist considers whether to acquire a document called a âproof of existence,â without which everyday tasks like renting an apartment are rendered impossible. In a live taping at The New Yorker Festival, the hosts of Critics at Large talk with Torres about his creative influences, and about using abstraction to put our most impenetrable systems into tangible terms. âLife today is so riddled with these man-made labyrinths that are life-or-death ⊠thereâs something very lonely about it,â Torres says. âThese flourishes are there in service of the humanity.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âProblemistaâ (2023)
âFantasmasâ (2024-)
âLos Espookysâ (2019-22)
âI Want to Be a Vase,â by Julio Torres
âMy Favorite Shapesâ (2019)
âSaturday Night Liveâ (1975-)
âJulio Torresâs âFantasmasâ Finds Truth in Fantasy,â by Vinson Cunningham (The New Yorker)
âThe Hunchback of Notre Dameâ (1996)
âCharlieâs Angels: Full Throttleâ (2003)
âThe Substanceâ (2024)
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
The art of advice-giving, championed over the years by such figures as Ann Landers and Cheryl Strayed, has lately undergone a transformation. As traditional columns have continued to proliferate, social-media platforms have created new venues for those seekingâand doling outâcounsel, from the users of the popular subreddit âAm I the Assholeâ to the countless âexpertsâ who peddle their takes on Instagram and TikTok. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz try their hands at the trade, advising listeners on a variety of cultural conundrums. The hosts trace the form from early examples such as Advice for Living, the short-lived column written by Martin Luther King, Jr., in the late nineteen-fifties, through to the Internet age. The genre has long functioned as a forum for parsing the ethics of the era, and its enduring appeal might be explained by our inherent curiosity about the way others live. âThere is a sort of plurality of approaches to life itself, which means that we are all passing into and out of other peopleâs moral universes,â Cunningham says. âI think it causes more troubleâcauses more questions.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âThe Witch Elm,â by Tana French
âCrime and Punishment,â by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
âPride and Prejudice,â by Jane Austen
âIntermezzo,â by Sally Rooney
âThe Guest,â by Emma Cline
âIâm a Fan,â by Sheena Patel
âMy Husband,â by Maud Ventura
âThe Anthropologists,â by AyĆegĂŒl SavaĆ
âSmall Rain,â by Garth Greenwell
âBrightness Falls,â by Jay McInerney
Richard Linklaterâs âBeforeâ trilogy
William Shakespeareâs âHamletâ
âGhost World,â by Dan Clowes
The Ethicist (The New York Times)
Dear Sugar (The Rumpus)
âThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,â by Robert Louis Stevenson
âLisa Frankensteinâ (2024)
âThe Turn of the Screw,â by Henry James
âCarrie,â by Stephen King
âLittle Labors,â by Rivka Galchen
âMatrescence,â by Lucy Jones
âThe Mother Artist,â by Catherine Ricketts
âActs of Creation,â by Hettie Judah
r/AmItheAsshole
Advice for Living (Ebony Magazine)
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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âThe Apprentice,â a new film directed by Ali Abbasi, depicts the rise of a young Donald Trump under the wing of the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn. The film is, in many ways, an origin story for a man who has overtaken contemporary politics. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the movie and other works that explore Trumpâs and Cohnâs psychologies, from duelling family memoirs to documentaries. The sheer number of such texts raises the question: Why are we so interested in the backstories of people who have done wrong, and what do we stand to gain (or lose) by humanizing them? âDo we want to see our villains, our absolute villainsâpeople who have caused much harm to the worldâas weak little boys whoâve undergone trauma and have had their reasons for becoming the monsters they later turn into?â Fry asks. âOr do we not?â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âThe Apprenticeâ (2024)
âWho Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir,â by Mary Trump
âAll in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way,â by Fred C. Trump III
âWhereâs My Roy Cohn?â (2019)
âRoy Cohn and the Making of a Winner-Take-All America,â by Naomi Fry (The New Yorker)
âAngels in Americaâ (2003)
âJokerâ (2019)
âWickedâ (2024)
âRatchedâ (2020)
âElephantâ (2003)
âCruellaâ (2021)
âThe Sopranosâ (1991-2007)
âMad Menâ (2007-15)
The âHarry Potterâ novels, by J. K. Rowling
âParadise Lost,â by John Milton
âBe Ready When the Luck Happens,â by Ina Garten
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
In âThe Substance,â a darkly satirical horror movie directed by Coralie Fargeat, Demi Moore plays an aging Hollywood actress who strikes a tech-infused Faustian bargain to unleash a younger, âmore perfectâ version of herself. Gruesome side effects ensue. Fargeatâs film plays on the fact that female aging is often seen as its own brand of horrorâand that weâve devised increasingly extreme methods of combating it. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss âThe Substanceâ and âA Different Man,â another new release that questions our cultureâs obsession with perfecting our physical forms. In recent years, the smorgasbord of products and procedures promising to enhance our bodies and preserve our youth has only grown; social media has us looking at ourselves more than ever before. No wonder, then, that horror as a genre has been increasingly preoccupied with our uneasy relationship to our own exteriors. âWe are embodied. It is a struggle. It is beautiful. Itâs something to wrestle with forever. Just as you think that youâve caught up to your current embodiment, something changes,â Schwartz says. âAnd so how do we make our peace with it?â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âA Clockwork Orangeâ (1971)
âThe Substanceâ (2024)
âA Different Manâ (2024)
âPsychoâ (1960)
âThe Ren & Stimpy Showâ (1991-96)
âThe Bluest Eye,â by Toni Morrison
âPassing,â by Nella Larsen
âThe Power of Positive Thinking,â by Norman Vincent Peale
âTitaneâ (2021)
âThe Age of Instagram Face,â by Jia Tolentino (The New Yorker)New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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From classic eighties films like âWall Streetâ to Bret Easton Ellisâs 1991 novel âAmerican Psycho,â the world of finance has long provided a seductive backdrop for meditations on wealth and power. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the many portrayals of this Ă©lite realm, and how its image has evolved over time. Where earlier texts glorified Wall Street types as roguish heroes, the Great Recession ushered in more critical fare, seeking to explain the inner workings of a system that benefitted the few at the expense of the many. In 2024, as TikTokkers and personal essayists search for âa man in finance,â things seem to be shifting again. HBOâs âIndustry,â now in its third season, depicts a cadre of young investment bankers clawing their way to the top of a soulless meritocracyâand may even engender some sympathy for the new finance bro. Why are audiences and creators alike so easily seduced by these stories even after the disillusionment of the Occupy Wall Street era? âWe're talking about somethingâmoneyâthat is fun, and that we all on some level do want,â Cunningham says. âItâs always going to make us feel.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âIndustryâ (2020â)
âWall Streetâ (1987)
âYou donât have to look for a âman in finance.â Heâs everywhere,â by Rachel Tashjian (The Washington Post)
Joel Sternfeldâs âSummer Interns, Wall Street, New Yorkâ
âAmerican Psychoâ (2000)
âAmerican Psycho,â by Bret Easton Ellis
âWall Street: Money Never Sleepsâ (2010)
âThe Big Shortâ (2015)
âThe Wolf of Wall Streetâ (2013)
âMargin Callâ (2011)
âThe Case for Marrying an Older Man,â by Grazie Sophia Christie (The Cut)
âMy Year of Finance Boys,â by Daniel Lefferts (The Paris Review)
âWays and Means,â by Daniel Lefferts
âCustom of the Country,â by Edith Wharton
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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Almost immediately after the publication of Sally Rooneyâs âNormal People,â in 2018, Rooney-mania hit a fever pitch. Her work struck a cord among a generation of readers who responded to evocative descriptions of young peopleâs lives and relationships. Before long, Rooney hadâsomewhat reluctantlyâbeen dubbed âthe first great millennial author.â On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss âIntermezzo,â Rooneyâs hotly anticipated fourth novel, which explores the dynamic between two brothers grieving the death of their father. The book is a sadder, more mature read than Rooneyâs fans may have come to expect, but it retains her characteristic flair for making consciousness itself into a bingeable experience. âThat is the great achievement of the realist novel for me,â Fry says. âThe fact that Rooney is making this enjoyable for a new generationâamazing. Maybe itâs a conservative impulse, but thereâs something reassuring for me about that.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âConversations with Friends,â by Sally Rooney
âNormal People,â by Sally Rooney
âBeautiful World, Where Are You,â by Sally Rooney
âIntermezzo,â by Sally Rooney
âThose Winter Sundays,â by Robert Hayden
William Shakespeareâs âHamletâ
âNormal Novels,â by Becca Rothfeld (The Point)
âThe Corrections,â by Jonathan Franzen
âMy Struggle,â by Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Neapolitan novels, by Elena Ferrante
âSally Rooney on the Hell of Fame,â by Emma Brockes (The Guardian)
âA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,â by James Joyce
The Harry Potter novels, by J. K. Rowling
âWhy Bother?â by Jonathan Franzen (Harperâs Magazine)
âMiddlemarch,â by George Eliot
âDaniel Deronda,â by George Eliot
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
The writer Carl Sandburg, in his 1926 biography of Abraham Lincoln, made a provocative claimâthat the Presidentâs relationship with the Kentucky state representative Joshua Speed held âstreaks of lavender.â The insinuation fuelled a debate that has continued ever since: Was Lincoln gay? On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss a new documentary that tries to settle the question. âLover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincolnâ is part of a growing body of work that looks at the past through the lens of identityâa process that can reveal hidden truths or involve a deliberate departure from the facts. The hosts consider other distinctly modern takes on U.S. history, including the farcical Broadway sensation âOh, Mary!,â which depicts Mary Todd Lincoln as a failed cabaret star and her husband as a neurotic closet case, and Lin-Manuel Mirandaâs smash hit âHamilton,â which reimagines the Founding Fathers as people of color. In the end, the way we locate ourselves in the past is inextricable from the culture wars of today. âIt is a political necessity for every generation to be, like, No, this is what the past was like,â Cunningham says. âIt points to a struggle that weâre having right now to redefine, What is America?â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âLover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincolnâ (2024)
âAbraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years,â by Carl Sandburg
Cole Escolaâs âOh, Mary!â
Lin-Manuel Mirandaâs âHamiltonâ
âThe Celluloid Closetâ (1995)
âHidden Figuresâ (2016)
âIâm Coming Out,â by Diana Ross
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
This summer, scrutiny of the figure of the âtrad wifeâ hit a fever pitch. These influencersâ accounts feature kempt, feminine women embracing hyper-traditional roles in marriage and home-makingâand, in doing so, garnering millions of followers. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss standout practitioners of the âtradâ life style, including the twenty-two-year-old Nara Smith, who makes cereal and toothpaste from scratch, and Hannah Neeleman, who, posting under the handle @ballerinafarm, presents a life caring for eight children in rural Utah as a bucolic fantasy. The hosts also discuss âThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,â a new reality-television show on Hulu about a group of Mormon influencers engulfed in scandal, whose notions of female empowerment read as a quaint reversal of the trad-wife trend. A common defense of a life style that some would call regressive is that itâs a personal choice, devoid of political meaning. But this gloss is complicated by societal changes such as the erosion of womenâs rights in America and skyrocketing child-care costs. âIn American society, the way choice works has everything to do with child-care options, financial options,â Schwartz says. âWhen you talk about the idea of choice, are we just talking about false choices?â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
@ballerinafarm
@gwenthemilkmaid
@naraazizasmith
âHow Lucky Blue and Nara Aziza Smith Made Viral Internet Fame From Scratch,â by Carrie Battan (GQ)âThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wivesâ (2024)
@esteecwilliamsâMad Menâ (2007-15)
The Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
âWilder Women,â by Judith Thurman (The New Yorker)
âMeet the Queen of the âTrad Wivesâ (and Her Eight Children),â by Megan Agnew (The Times of London)
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
Until recently, tarot, astrology, and spiritualismâpractices often shorthanded simply as woo-wooâwere the stuff of dusty psychic parlors and seventies nostalgia. But today, mysticism has permeated mainstream culture. In the third and final installment of the Critics at Large interview series, Vinson Cunningham talks with Jennifer Wilson, a contributing writer at The New Yorker, about this new age of magical thinking. They discuss how âwooâ has seeped into our everyday lives through apps such as Co-Star, and how recent TV shows and novels have embraced supernatural themes. With the rise of cryptocurrency and sports betting, speculation about the future has become a fundamental part of our economy, too. âMaybe people would feel less uncertainty that pushes them to consult with astrology and tarot-card readers if there were more security in the present,â Wilson says. âIn so many ways, this is a problem weâve created.â And a bonus: Vinson gets a tarot reading of his own.
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âThe Curseâ (2023)
@astropoets
âTrue Detectiveâ (2014-)
âThis Is Me . . . Now: A Love Storyâ (2024)
âThe White Lotusâ (2021-)
âLong Island Compromise,â by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
â âThe Curseâ and the Magical Thinking of the Speculative Economy,â by Jennifer Wilson
âLook Into My Eyesâ (2024)
âSpeculative Communities: Living with Uncertainty in a Financialized World,â by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
Cities have always been romanticized, but few of them have embracedâor actively engineeredâtheir reputations as thoroughly as Las Vegas. On the second in a series of Critics at Large interview episodes, Alexandra Schwartz talks with her fellow staff writer Nick Paumgarten about how the desert town first branded itself as an entertainment capital, and how that image has been reified in pop culture ever since. The two consider seminal Vegas texts, from Hunter S. Thompsonâs 1971 novel, âFear and Loathing in Las Vegas,â to the bro comedy âThe Hangover,â and Paumgarten reflects on his recent pilgrimage to see Dead & Company, the latest iteration of the Grateful Dead, during the bandâs residency at the Sphere. In theory, a Vegas residency should be a career highâbut the expectations around them can also leave an artist trapped in amber. Itâs a danger that applies to places as much as people. âHow do you reinvent yourself when youâve achieved this cultural-icon status?â Schwartz asks. âIn some ways, I wonder if thatâs also a question for the city itself.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âReckoning with the Dead at the Sphere,â by Nick Paumgarten (The New Yorker)
âSwingersâ (1996)
âDouble or Quits,â by Dave Hickey (Frieze)
âLearning from Las Vegas,â by Robert Venturi, Steven Izenour, and Denise Scott Brown
âViva Las Vegasâ (1964)
âLeaving Las Vegasâ (1995)
âFear and Loathing in Las Vegas,â by Hunter S. Thompson
âThe Hangoverâ (2009)
âViva Las Vegas: Elvis Returns to the Stage,â by Ellen Willis (The New Yorker)
âElvisâ (2022)
âHacksâ (2021â)
âSex and the Cityâ (1998-2004)
âFriendsâ (1994-2004)
âSeinfeldâ (1989-1998)
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
â âBRATâ summerââso named for the Charli XCX album thatâs become the soundtrack of Kamala Harrisâs Presidential runâhas given pop fans much to discuss, from Charliâs own flirtation with mainstream stardom to the meteoric rise of Chappell Roan. On the first in a series of Critics at Large interview episodes, Naomi Fry talks with her fellow staff writer Kelefa Sanneh about the state of the music landscape. The two consider the breakout successes of the momentâincluding âEspresso,â the Sabrina Carpenter song that launched a thousand memesâand the catastrophic failures, namely Katy Perryâs new single, âWomanâs World.â These highs and lows speak to the nature of the genre, in which artists can be cast aside as quickly as they were embraced. âPop music, in particular, tends to be quite cutthroat,â Sanneh says. âIf itâs not working, itâs flopping. And when itâs time for people to jump off the bandwagon, people jump off.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âBRAT,â by Charli XCX
âWomanâs World,â by Katy Perry
â âWomanâs Worldâ Track Review,â by Shaad DâSouza (Pitchfork)
âMean girls,â by Charli XCX
âGood Luck, Babe!,â by Chappell Roan
âI Kissed a Girl,â by Katy Perry
âSOUR,â by Olivia Rodrigo
âemails i canât send,â by Sabrina Carpenter
âEspresso,â by Sabrina Carpenter
âPlease Please Please,â by Sabrina Carpenter
âNot Like Us,â by Kendrick Lamar
âThe Night We Met,â by Lord Huron
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
In her 1955 novel, âThe Talented Mr. Ripley,â Patricia Highsmith introduced readers to the figure of Tom Ripley, an antihero who covets the good life, and achieves itâby stealing it from someone else. On this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the long tail of Highsmithâs work, which has been revived in adaptations like RenĂ© ClĂ©mentâs 1960 classic, âPurple Noonâ; the definitive 1999 film starring Matt Damon and Jude Law; and this yearâs Netflix series, âRipley,â which casts its protagonist as a lonely middle-aged con man. In all three versions, Dickie Greenleaf, a wealthy acquaintance of Ripleyâs, becomes his obsession and eventually his victim. The story resonates today in part because weâre all in the habit of observingâand covetingâthe life styles of the rich and famous. Social media gives users endless opportunities to study how others live, such as the places they go, the meals they consume, and the objects they possess. âOne of the reasons that the character of Ripley is forever sympathetic is the yearning and striving to be something other than himself, following an example thatâs set out to him,â Fry says. âFor him, itâs someone like Dickie. For us, it might be someone online.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âThe Talented Mr. Ripley,â by Patricia Highsmith
âThe Talented Mr. Ripleyâ (1999)
âPurple Noonâ (1960)
âRipleyâ (2024)
âSaltburnâ (2023)
âThe White Lotusâ (2021â)
This episode originally aired on April 4, 2024. New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
The announcement of Kamala Harrisâs Presidential run has set off one of the most pronounced vibe shifts in recent memory. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz make sense of the torrent of memes; the âunholy, immediate allianceâ between the Harris campaign and the British pop artist Charli XCXâs album âBRATâ; and the endless comparisons to Armando Iannucciâs political satire âVeep.â This chaotic but mostly cheerful embrace of Harrisâs candidacy stands in contrast to the national mood even a few days prior, when a pervasive sense of doom was dominant. How might we reconcile this moment of boosterism with the very real, long-term reasons for despair? âItâs really no use being a fan, because you tie yourself to something you have no control over,â Cunningham says. âRecenter your ideas of the future in things that you can feel and touch. I think that that is the imaginative problem of our time, especially when it comes to doom or not doom.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âDirty Dancingâ (1987)
âBRAT,â by Charli XCX
âVeepâ (2012-19)
âI Created âVeep.â The Real-Life Version Isnât So Funny,â by Armando Iannucci (The New York Times)
âShould We Go Extinct?: A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Unbearable Times,â by Todd May
âThe Case for Being Unburdened by What Has Been,â by Rebecca Traister (New York Magazine)
âAre We Doomed? Hereâs How to Think About It,â by Rivka Galchen (The New Yorker)
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
Critics at Large is off this week. In the meantime, enjoy a recent episode from Vanity Fairâs âDynasty,â hosted by the executive editor Claire Howorth, along with the correspondents Katie Nicholl and Erin Vanderhoof. Itâs been four years since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry walked away from their royal roles, sparking an endless stream of media attention and second-guessing from tabloids in the U.K. In the time since, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been carving out a semi-royal path in the court of Montecito, California. Theyâve struck big-ticket Hollywood deals worth millions of dollars. Is their newfound celebrity status sustainable?
To discover more from âDynastyâ and other Vanity Fair podcasts, visit vanityfair.com/podcasts. -
In an essay published earlier this month, Andrea Skinner, the daughter of the lauded writer Alice Munro, detailed the sexual abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of Munroâs second husband, Gerald Fremlin. The piece goes on to describe how, even after Skinner told her of the abuse, years later, Munro chose to stay with him until his death, in 2013. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the revelations, which have raised familiar questions about what to do when beloved artists are found to have done unforgivable things. Theyâre joined by fellow staff writer Jiayang Fan, an avid reader of Munroâs work whoâs been grappling with the news in real time. Together they revisit the 1993 story âVandals,â which contains unsettling parallels to the scenario that played out in the Munro home. Have the years since the #MeToo movement given us more nuanced ways of addressing these flare-ups than full-out cancellation? âItâs not a moral loosening that Iâm sensing,â Schwartz says. âItâs more of a sense of, Maybe I donât want to throw out the work altogetherâbut I do need to wrestle.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âMy Stepfather Sexually Abused Me When I Was a Child. My Mother, Alice Munro, Chose to Stay with Him,â by Andrea Skinner (The Toronto Star)
âVandals,â by Alice Munro (The New Yorker)
âHow My Mother and I Became Chinese Propaganda,â by Jiayang Fan (The New Yorker)
âThe Love Album: Off the Grid,â by Diddy
âIgnition (Remix),â by R. Kelly
âMonsters: A Fanâs Dilemma,â by Claire Dederer
âManhattanâ (1979)
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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In 1954, a young David Attenborough made his dĂ©but as the star of a new nature show called âZoo Quest.â The docuseries, which ran for nearly a decade on the BBC, was a sensation that set Attenborough down the path of his lifeâs work: exposing viewers to our planetâs most miraculous creatures and landscapes from the comfort of their living rooms. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz trace Attenboroughâs filmography from âZoo Questâ to his newest program, âMammals,â a six-part series on BBC America narrated by the now- ninety-eight-year-old presenter. In the seventy years since âZoo Questâ first aired, the genre it helped create has had to reckon with the effects of the climate crisisâand to figure out how to address such hot-button issues onscreen. By highlighting conservation efforts that have been successful, the best of these programs affirm our continued agency in the planetâs future. âOne thing I got from âMammalsâ was not pure doom,â Schwartz says. âThere are some options here. We have choices to make.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âMammalsâ (2024)
âZoo Questâ (1954-63)
âAre We Changing Planet Earth?â (2006)
âThe Snow Leopard,â by Peter Matthiessen
âMy Octopus Teacherâ (2020)
âLife on Our Planetâ (2023)
âI Like to Get High at Night and Think About Whales,â by Samantha Irby
New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. -
Reality television has generally got a bad rap, but Emily Nussbaumâwho received a Pulitzer Prize, in 2016, for her work as The New Yorkerâs TV criticâsees that the genre has its own history and craft. Nussbaumâs new book âCue the Sun!â is a history of reality TV, and roughly half the book covers the era before âSurvivor,â which is often considered the starting point of the genre. She picks three formative examples from the Before Time to discuss with David Remnick: âCandid Camera,â âAn American Family,â and âCops.â Sheâs not trying to get you to like reality TV, but rather, she says, âI'm trying to get you to understand it.â
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Thereâs arguably no better time for falling down a cultural rabbit hole than the languid, transitory summer months. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss how the season allows us to foster a particular relationship with a work of artâwhether itâs the soundtrack to a summer fling or a book that helps make sense of a new locale. Listeners divulge the texts that have consumed them over the years, and the hosts share their own formative obsessions, recalling how Brandyâs 1998 album, âNever Say Never,â defined a first experience at camp, and how a love of Jim Morrisonâs music resulted in a teen-age pilgrimage to see his grave in Paris. But how do we square our past obsessions with our tastes and identities today? âWhatever we quote, whatever we make reference to, on so many levels is who we are,â Cunningham says. âIt seems, to me, so precious.â
Read, watch, and listen with the critics:
âHeathersâ (1988)
âPump Up the Volumeâ (1990)
The poetry of Sergei Yesenin
The poetry of Alexander Pushkin
GoldenEye 007 (1997)
âElvisâ (2022)
âJailhouse Rockâ (1957)
âPride & Prejudiceâ (2005)
The Neapolitan Novels, by Elena Ferrante
âRamble On,â by Led Zeppelin
âNever Say Never,â by Brandy
âThe Boy Is Mine,â by Brandy and Monica
âThe End,â by The Doors
âThe Last Waltzâ (1978)
âThe Witches of Eastwick,â by John Updike
âAtlas Shrugged,â by Ayn Rand
âPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearlâ (2003)
âPostcards from the Edgeâ (1990)
âRentâ (1996)New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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