DeepSummary
This episode covers Taylor Swift's 11th studio album 'The Tortured Poets Department', which is a departure from her usual meticulous style with 31 messy and overflowing tracks. The panel discusses whether this represents a cry for help or a calculated artistic choice amid Swift's massive success and fame. They also analyze the Amazon Prime series 'Fallout', adapted from the popular video game franchise, exploring its world-building and character development.
The episode features an interview with Becca Rothfeld, the Washington Post's book critic, about her new book 'All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess'. Rothfeld makes a case for embracing maximalism and rejecting the cultural obsession with minimalism, drawing from various art forms and philosophical perspectives.
In the Slate Plus segment, the panel continues their discussion from a previous episode on the tension between ambition and contentment, specifically addressing how parents should approach cultivating ambition in their children.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Taylor Swift's new album 'The Tortured Poets Department' is a messy, overflowing departure from her usual polished songcraft, with 31 tracks that oscillate between self-awareness and retreading old ground.
- The 'Fallout' TV adaptation struggles to translate the immersive world of the popular video game into a compelling narrative with engaging characters, despite impressive production values.
- Becca Rothfeld's book 'All Things Are Too Small' makes a philosophical case for embracing maximalism and excess over cultural pressures towards minimalism and decluttering.
- The panel continues exploring the tension between ambition and contentment, focusing on how parents can cultivate a healthy drive in children without being overbearing.
- Carl Wilson provides nuanced musical analysis, both appreciating and critiquing aspects of Swift's maximalist artistic statement.
- Perspectives on the merits and flaws of the 'Fallout' adaptation highlight the challenges of adapting expansive video game worlds into linear television narratives.
- Rothfeld advocates grounding philosophical ideas in personal experience and valuing objects/experiences for their own sake rather than instrumentalizing them.
- The episode covers a range of artistic mediums - music, television, literature - through a cultural criticism lens.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “And so there's all of that formlessness, which is distressing and, you know, makes one hearken back to the days of Red in 1989, when her songs were sort of carefully crafted and formed.“ by Carl Wilson
- “And I think that there are moments of sort of real self knowledge and sophistication here, battling with those old instincts to find somebody to be the victim of and then be able to righteously complain about in ways that do feel like retreading ground.“ by Carl Wilson
- “You know, I think if you don't think that, if you don't think philosophy actually applies to your life and is relevant for you, you're not doing philosophy right.“ by Becca Rothfeld
- “They're valuable in their own right, regardless of whether they're for anything else.“ by Becca Rothfeld
- “It feels like a bit of a regression in some ways compared to some of the writing on folklore and evermore, for example. And that's emotionally understandable.“ by Carl Wilson
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Episode Information
Culture Gabfest
Slate Podcasts
4/24/24
On this week’s episode, the panel is first joined by Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, to puzzle over The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated 11th studio album. Stuffed with 31 tracks, the two-part album is a departure from the billionaire pop star’s otherwise perfectly crafted oeuvre: it’s messy and drippy, and at times, manic and frenetic. Is this secretly a cry for help? And more importantly, when did she find the time to record this thing? Then, the three explore Fallout, a post-apocalyptic drama series adapted from the extremely popular role-playing video game of the same name. Executive produced by Jonathan Nolan (Westworld, Person of Interest) and streaming on Prime Video, Fallout certainly achieves a high level of immersive world-building, but do the stories and characters fare the same? Finally, Becca Rothfeld, the Washington Post’s non-fiction book critic, joins to discuss her triumphant first book, All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess, in which she rebukes the culture’s affinity for minimalism and makes the case for living in a maximalist world.
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, it’s part two of the Ambition versus Contentment discussion (courtesy of a listener question from Gretel): How should a parent approach cultivating ambition in a child, if at all? The hosts discuss.
Email us at culturefest@slate.com.
Outro music: "Ruins (Instrumental Version)" by Origo
Endorsements:
Dana: The Teacher’s Lounge, a film by German-Turkish director Ilker Çatak. It was a Best International Film nominee at the 96th Academy Awards. (Also, Ebertfest in Champaign, Illinois!)
Julia: Kristen Wiig’s Jumanji sketch on Saturday Night Live, inspired by Dana.
Stephen: The British band Jungle, introduced to him by his daughter. A few favorite songs: “Back on 74,” “Dominoes,” and “All of the Time.”
Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
Hosts
Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
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