As you may have heard in last week’s episode, the Culture Gabfest is hanging up its microphones after 18 years of cultural commentary. But before our final episode, we’ve still got much to discuss!

On this special guest-packed show, Steve, Dana, and Nadira Goffe have the power! That is the power to get into it with VSFOP Jamelle Bouie about Masters of the Universe, the latest attempt by Mattel to launch their own cinematic universe. They assess the state of IP-driven superhero movies and whether this newest entry—starring Nicholas Galitzine, as the buff, loin cloth-wearing He-Man, and Jared Leto, as the slightly lascivious Skeletor—is more than brand management.

Next, they turn to the wild, surreal revenge thriller Is God Is, written and directed by Aleshea Harris based on her stageplay. They talk about how this tale of twin sisters seeking vengeance fits into the growing pantheon of Black horror as well as the ancient canon of revenge tragedies.

Finally, and for the final time, it’s time to talk about Taylor Swift. In the wake of her newest release, the song “I Knew It, I Knew You” for the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, the gang assembles one more time to take up the long-simmering Tay debate. Jody Rosen and Julia jump on the call/enter the Thunderdome for this, of course. 

In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel pours one out for the recently shuttered Hampshire College and reflects on the changing landscape of the liberal arts.

Endorsements

Dana: The interactive, Jazz-playing, transit-obsessed, single purpose website Train Jazz. (Hat tip once more to Rusty Foster's Today in Tabs.)

Nadira: The Black Film Archive which showcases Black films made from 1898 to 1999 currently streaming. Also, the year 2016 in music. 

Jody: For some Gabfest replacement therapy, watching academic lectures on YouTube such as the lectures of art historian John Walsh at Yale Art Galleries—including ones on Vincent Van Gogh and Dutch masters— and cultural historian Eric Lott on Racial Masquerade in America and Philippe Petit's legendary tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. 

Julia: Patrick Radden Keefe's new book London Falling and the song "Come Tomorrow" by Patti Scialfa.

Steve: Following up on last week’s endorsement, Steve can confirm that Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee is, in fact, good. Also recommended: Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald.  

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

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