Welcome to another conversation from the high/low art divide between opera-singer-turned-experimental-performer Ema Katrovas and comedian-and-TV-writer-turned-novelist Nicholas Anthony. 

I was going to put the film the Sudbury Devil (whose creator I interviewed on this podcast) to rest - but then I stumbled across Susan Sontag’s essay “Notes on Camp” and I realised “camp” kind of explains EVERYTHING about how Nick and I (i.e. a comedian and an opera singer) had very different reactions to this film - namely why Nick HATED it and I didn't.

So what does “camp” have to do with certain corners of YouTube, the piece of outsider cinema called the Sudbury Devil, and how might it explain why two people might have different reactions to a particular work of art?

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:02 Conversation about why Nick didn’t like the Sudbury Devil 

00:34:44 Interlude and disclaimer to the creators of the film (“the opposite of love isn’t hatred, it’s indifference”) 

00:35:66 Understanding Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp” 

00:53:58 Why camp MIGHT explain Nick’s dislike of the Sudbury Devil (disclaimer: this features Ema’s hot take on camp which she may revise) 

01:08:40 So what is camp? (and final thoughts on Sudbury Devil) 

01:12:59 Outro 

My interview with Andrew Rakich on the Sudbury Devil: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/artistsontheverge/episodes/52-A-Friendly-Debate-With-Andrew-Rakich-On-His-Epic-Micro-budget-Film---The-Sudbury-Devil-e2euolq

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