Culture Gabfest

Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!

Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, Nadira and Felix take a trip to a bathhouse for spirits in 2001’s Spirited Away.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film follows a girl named Chihiro, who becomes trapped in the spirit world and must save her parents, encountering soot sprites, river spirits, a giant baby, and many more wonderful and terrifying beings along the way.

The film is a masterpiece of storytelling and technical animation, but as Felix explains, it also works as a highly developed metaphor for capital and the Japanese economy at the close of the millennium: the bathhouse stands in for a stable but exploitative economic system, beset by outside capital forces, with workers stripped of their names and identities.

This is the final episode of the Money On Film miniseries. Thanks for listening!

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This week, Dana, Julia (fresh from the launch of her new media venture L.A. Material), and guest host Dan Kois set their gaze to the heavens with a discussion of the lost-in-space adventure yarn Project Hail Mary. Based on the book by Andy Weir and directed by genre movie savants Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the sci-fi blockbuster stars Ryan Gosling and a big rock creature puppet.

Next, they hop across the pond for the launch of SNL UK, the British revamp of the venerable American comedy institution. Slate UK contributor and author of Deep Down, Imogen West-Knights joins to share her two pence on the show’s local reception.

Finally, the panel turns to Dan Kois’s epic, 8,500 word Slate essay on… bar soap. His opus—or “soapus," if you will— makes a persuasive case for why bar soap is a superior form of foam.

In an exclusive Slate Plus bonus segment, the gang gets into a listener question about analog media.

Endorsements

Julia: In addition to subscribing to L.A. Material, the great American junk food that is the corndog—the vibes and graphic design of Hot Dog on a Stick at the Santa Monica Pier are swell but seeking listener recommendations for the very best place to get a corndog.

Dan: For some '"higher gossip " and a bit of 1800s history, the book Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose.

Dana: The work of voice actor Ray Porter in the audiobook of Project Hail Mary and the interview Porter gives on the book podcast Off the Shelf.

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Email us your thoughts at [email protected].

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!

Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, Felix and Nadira discuss dating and money in Celine Song’s 2025 romantic comedy Materialists, which centers on a love triangle between a millionaire matchmaker (Dakota Johnson), a hunky financier (Pedro Pascal), and an old flame and out-of-work actor (Chris Evans). While not particularly romantic or comedic, the film raises questions about the role money plays in modern dating, how we select partners based on financial viability, and whether romance itself might be a bit overrated.

Next time on Money On Film: Spirited Away. See you then!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!

Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, we’re headed to Wall Street to watch a Felix Salmon favorite: Margin Call, the 2011 thriller-drama starring a long list of famous people, including Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, and yes, Kevin Spacey.

Directed by J. C. Chandor, the film takes place at an investment bank on the brink of the Great Financial Crisis, as financiers struggle to maintain their balance sheets against the greatest villain of the aughts: mortgage-backed securities.

Coming up on Money On Film: the 2025 rom-com Materialists, followed by the animated masterpiece Spirited Away from 2001. See you next time!
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On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by long-time FOP Isaac Butler (and author of the forthcoming book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars.) They step into this week’s cultural trenches by way of an animatronic beaver den in Pixar’s Hoppers. Does the kooky eco-romp revive Pixar from its much-discussed slump? They discuss.

Next, they step to the frontlines of middle-age malaise in the new HBO limited series DTF St. Louis, a sex comedy and meditation on male friendship mashed up with a murder mystery starring Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini.

Finally, they debrief on the various battles for golden men in a recap and analysis of the 98th Academy Awards. Are the Oscars a real measure of artistic value? What do this year’s ceremony and winners say about the state of cinema? Why are they so long? Your questions answered here.

In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel takes up a recent excerpt from Michael Pollan’s new book A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.

Endorsements
Isaac: An earlier instance of Jason Bateman playing sinister, the 2015 thriller The Gift, directed by Joel Edgerton. (Also, don’t forget to pre-order The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars)

Steve: The work of the recently deceased philosopher Jürgen Habermas. As a starting off point, read the Wikipedia page of his early work The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere.

Dana: For more beaver-related slapstick, the exceedingly low-budget 2022 debut—produced for just $150,000— of director Mike Cheslik Hundreds of Beavers.

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Email us your thoughts at [email protected].

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.