Nostalgia Trap

Oliver Stone’s 1995 film Nixon, starring Anthony Hopkins as the haunted, duplicitous 37th U.S. president, marked both a turning point in the filmmaker’s career and a significant shift in public opinion about Richard Nixon. Historian and writer Michael Koncewicz, author of They Said No to Nixon: Republicans Who Stood Up to the President’s Abuses of Power , joins us for a detailed discussion of the film’s complex engagement with the actual history of the Nixon administration. As we consider Nixon alongside Stone’s numerous other historical films (many of which ruminate on the 1960s), we explore a filmography marked by a sometimes exhilarating, often frustrating mix of wild aesthetic experimentation, paranoid conspiracy mongering, and conventional liberal sentimentalism.   

As we continue our series on 90s L.A. movies, we arrive at the 1995 high school classic Clueless (dir. Amy Heckerling), one of a number of Jane Austen adaptations that dominated 1990s pop culture. Danny Bessner and Courtney Rawlings join us for an exploration of this sunny, satirical vision of affluent teen culture, and we discover that Clueless is a more complicated take on feminism, consumerism, class, and politics than any of us had noticed on first watch. From the mansions of Beverly Hills to the lowland horror that is THE VALLEY, we explore how Clueless offers a vision of Los Angeles and youth culture that continues to resonate in the 21st century. For full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Jared Yates Sexton is a professor and political analyst whose latest book American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World but Failed its People takes on some of the big foundational myths of American history, viewing them through the lens of an increasingly dark, apocalyptic 21st century. In this conversation, we talk about the toxic stew of capitalism, racism, power, and domination that have shaped the nation from its beginning, and discuss how capital's power to absorb its resistance makes neoliberal products out of social and political movements, from #MeToo to Black Lives Matter.

Our journey through 90s Los Angeles with Danny Bessner continues with an exploration of the Jon Favreau/Vince Vaughn indie bromance Swingers (1996). We talk about the film's depiction of pre-gentrification Hollywood, when non-rich people could still afford a social life (or at least a beer and a burger), and analyze the wider historical forces that produced the somewhat bizarre mid-decade pop culture swing revival of which Swingers was a major part. We discuss David's personal experiences with swing culture in Southern California, the blank culture of straight suburban whiteness, and the uneasy gender politics at play in Swingers and Gen X culture more widely. And we learn of Danny's heretofore unacknowledged appreciation of Guy Fieri.

For full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Why are noir detective stories such fitting containers for exploring the greed, corruption, and violence of Los Angeles? As we continue our series with Danny Bessner on 90s L.A. cinema, Will Menaker of Chapo Trap House joins us for a conversation about Curtis Hanson's 1997 neo-noir Hollywood masterpiece L.A. Confidential. Since Will and Danny are confessed James Ellroy fanatics, they explain how the famously enigmatic author's dark, often reactionary vision of Los Angeles translates to the screen. Along the way we reflect on how L.A. Confidential plays with both the image and reality of L.A. history, simultaneously critiquing and participating in the city's toxic, intoxicating mythology of Hollywood glamour and lurid subterranean nightmares.

Are we as trapped by the future as we are by the past? Continuing our exploration of fascism and resistance in the 20th and 21st centuries, Justin Rogers-Cooper returns to offer his insights on the history of Belarus from World War II to the present. We begin with the 1985 Soviet film Come and See, using director Elem Klimov's searing take on Belarus' experience of Nazi occupation to frame our discussion of political culture, violence, and historical memory. We reflect on how Belarus' recent history, from the unfathomable tragedy of Chernobyl to 2020 uprisings against the authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenko, shapes our understanding of power, democracy, and solidarity.