Sophie Gilbert, Spencer Kornhaber, and Shirley Li discuss the Hulu series about “the greatest love story ever sold” and ask: Is Pam & Tommy just repeating the exploitation it depicts? Or is its retelling of internet history revealing something new about our current culture?
The sex tape at the core of the show is effectively the first instance of revenge porn online. It opened up questions of celebrity and privacy that we’re still grappling today. Now, shows like Pam & Tommy (with which Pamela Anderson was not involved) similarly raise questions about where the line is with telling a public person’s private story.
The series also falls into a familiar category these days of the modern reconsideration of 90s culture: Framing Britney Spears, several American Crime Story iterations, even Girls5Eva and Yellowjackets. What is it about this era that’s drawing us to it? 
[Note: Spoilers through episode 6 of Pam & Tommy.]
Further reading: Sophie Gilbert’s review: Pam & Tommy and the Curse of the '90s Bombshell
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Pam & Tommy

Don’t just watch a movie; understand it. Don’t just hear a song; consider what it has to say. On The Review, writers and guests discuss how we entertain ourselves, and how that defines the way we see the world. Join The Atlantic’s writers as they break down a work of pop culture each week, exploring the big questions that great art can provoke, making some recommendations for you, and having a little fun along the way.

TV & Film

Film Reviews

TV Reviews

Top Gun: Maverick is out soon! But can any movie with fast planes, Tom Cruise, and beach volleyball truly compare to the classic fighter pilot movie about, as writer Shirley Li puts it, "cute boys calling each other cute names"? Find out with Shirley, Megan Garber, and David Sims, and explore the moral (but fictional) simplicity of an earlier era: the Cold War 80s.
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Top Gun

In a possibly-soon-to-be-post-Roe v Wade world, our hosts Sophie Gilbert, Megan Garber, and Hannah Giorgis thought it'd be worth re-examining the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogan comedy "Knocked Up," to discuss the way the movie treats women's bodily autonomy, angry reactions from men, and abortion.
Megan also wrote recently on what it says that the movie simply edits direct mention of abortion out — and what that portended for the future of Roe, even fifteen years ago.
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Knocked Up

The 1980s Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most dominant teams in sports. At a time when professional basketball was on its heels, the Lakers dynasty brought new excitement: Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, Jerry Buss and the glitzy Forum Club, and an uptempo flow offense. That’s the story of HBO’s big-budget series Winning Time, whose season 1 finale aired on Sunday, May 8th.
David Sims, Vann Newkirk, and Ross Andersen—three of The Atlantic’s biggest basketball fans—get together to discuss the series. Does it manage to weave together the era’s many storylines? Does producer Adam McKay’s style energize or distract? And why is the story of the Showtime-era Lakers called “Winning Time”?

Ross Andersen: It Had to Be the Lakers (Oct 2020)

Ross Andersen: Fight Night With LeBron (Oct 2018)


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Winning Time

The Apple TV+ dystopian thriller Severance is one of the most acclaimed shows of the year. Its grim take on the furthest extreme of "work-life balance" speaks to our strained pandemic-era relationship with the workplace and, according to our critics, offers a gripping throwback to an era of prestige TV before (as David Sims sees it) Netflix ruined everything. 
Spencer Kornhaber, Sophie Gilbert, and David Sims go down the elevator to Lumon’s basement to talk waffle parties, real-life workplace anxieties, and what dystopian sci-fis they recommend besides Severance.
Further reading:

Sophie: 'Severance' Makes the Workplace Eerily Dystopian


David: The Netflix Bubble Is Finally Bursting



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Severance

Shirley Li, David Sims, and Sophie Gilbert discuss the brutal new blockbuster The Northman. From the director of The Lighthouse and The Witch and based on the viking legend that inspired Hamlet, the film is a visceral experience that’s hard to summarize: Is it an arthouse revenge epic? A viking myth about toxic-masculinity? Shakespeare for people who love crossfit?
The Northman joins The Green Knight and The Last Duel as part of a trend of recent films recontextualizing medieval tales. David, Shirley, and Sophie unpack that trend. They discuss the 10th century tale the film is based on, how both Shakespeare and director Robert Eggers adapted it, and how modern storytelling has tried to bring the historical experiences of women into these hypermasculine myths.
Further reading:
The Northman Is an Unsentimental Portrait of a Hero

Coming Soon: 
Severance
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Pam & Tommy

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