This Week in Pop Culture: April 19, 2024
Taylor Swift's 11th album, Civil War, Lisa Frankenstein, some books in unusual genres for me, and much more in this week's pop culture round-up.
Happy Friday, friends. Happy The Tortured Poet’s Department release day to all who celebrate! We’ll get into preliminary thoughts on Taylor’s 11th studio album in a bit - but let’s start with some other fun stuff. This week’s newsletter is a long one, so please be prepared to have to click through if it gets cut off in your email.
Have you seen Ryan Gosling’s opening monologue from last weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live? Ostensibly there to promote his new movie, The Fall Guy,1 he spent a majority of the time singing (to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well”) about how hard it is to let go of Ken. His TFG co-star Emily Blunt also made an iconic cameo. It’s very fun:
Here’s something that has taken up A LOT of my pop culture brain space this week: Time Magazine published their 100 Most Influential People of 2024, and it’s a real doozy of a list. I always cry when I read the brief blurbs that accompany each notable person, written by their peers, because I often find them very moving. Notably for me, this year’s list includes Dev Patel, who is so hot I can hardly stand it:
The list is always worth a perusal, because I always learn about people I don’t know, and I love to see what kind of connections there are between the people on the list and the people who write about them.2
At any rate, here’s all the other pop culture that took up space in my brain this week:
What I Read:
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer: When Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor, he realizes that he’s alone in space with only the company of another teenage boy named Kodiak - his sworn enemy - to help him navigate the ship and complete the mission to investigate a distress signal on the settler colony on Titan. The two must work together and learn to trust one another, especially when they realize they might be up against more than they ever bargained for.
Both this book’s cover and its summary make it seem like it’s mostly a YA romance about two boys in space. At least, that’s what I thought I was getting into when I picked this up. But it’s very much a twisty, surprising survival story set in space with just a hint of a romance, and the marketing does it a disservice, I think.3 I found the mystery of how the two characters ended up on the ship to be very compelling, and found that the pacing was excellent - this is a page-turner. I was not sold on the romance (sorry!) and ALSO thought it was about 50 pages too long. There’s a sequel planned - I do not anticipate picking it up. Recommended for people who like sci-fi, though! The world-building was very good.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon: When the Kenebec River freezes, it entombs a man in ice. The town’s midwife and healer Martha Ballard is brought forth to examine the body - and she determines that he was murdered. She’s no stranger to the townpeople’s secrets, and she chronicles many of them in her diary. But when a local doctor undermines her findings, she finds that she must investigate the murder on her own.
It’s been a week of delving into genres that I generally avoid! This historical fiction novel is inspired by the life and diaries of Martha Ballard of Hallowell, Maine. I found the story very compelling and the characters richly developed. I found the portrayal of her (good) marriage to her husband Ephraim to be a nice touch, especially because they are surrounded by unhappy couples. I loved the historical detail and while I don’t think I’ll be immediately delving into Lawhon’s back catalog, I would read another book by her in the future. A really solid historical novel, and excellent on audio.
You Get What You Pay For: Essays by Morgan Parker: In a collection of essays, Parker examines America’s relationship and history to Black Americans through the ages. Topics such as the exclusion of Black women from beauty culture to what Bill Cosby’s downfall says about the larger society trace the complicated place that Black Americans have within American society.
I love Parker’s poetry, and she brings that same lyricism and craft to this excellent collection of essays in which she examines herself through the lens of race. She returns to several images and metaphors throughout the collection, and one of the central images she evokes is a slave ship - deftly weaving stories of her own life and the lives of other Black Americans into larger commentary about the state and history of America. I went through this faster than I really should have and would like to revisit it at a slower pace. There’s a ton to think about and unpack here, and this is definitely a book I’ll buy so I can reference it often. Highly recommended - Parker is a powerful contemporary writer and her work is worth digging into.
What I Watched:
Fallout, Season 1 (Prime): In a future post-apocalyptic California, citizens live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants, and bandits. When a union between two bunkers goes awry, a woman travels to the surface and discovers that not everything she’s been told about the world is true.
My husband and I started this series on a whim, despite neither of us having played the video game on which its based. The first episode was a little rocky for me - there’s a prolonged scene of such incredible, visceral violence I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it through - but after that, the show opens up into a well-acted, deeply funny, and gorgeously designed piece of media that I’m kind of obsessed with? I think it’s an incredible adaptation of a beloved franchise and I’m stoked to see what season two brings. Highly recommended if you like post-apocalyptic adventure (with the caveat that I am not exaggerating about the on-screen violence).
Civil War (Theaters): In a dystopian future America, a team of journalists (with the help of heavy military support) race to Washington, D.C. before rebel factions breach the White House and depose the president.
I ventured out to the movie theaters this week to see Civil War, a thing that I rarely do in our post-Covid world.4 I really wanted to see this on the big screen, so I convinced my husband to go to a late afternoon matinee on a weekday, and there were only two other people in the theater with us.5 Reviews on this one seem to be fairly polarized, but I thought this was brilliant and timely and upsetting and horrifying and moving. Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny are both phenomenal (actually, so is Wagner Moura, who is also so, so hot), and I disagree with critics who say that Alex Garland made a movie whose only message is “war is bad.”6
In my opinion, the movie is not apolitical, as many people are claiming, but offers a much more subtle approach to the politics its critiquing. I also think that the movie intentionally chooses to focus on the photojournalists, whose literal job is not to pick a side but instead is to provide images and let the viewers decide. I was so tense watching this movie that my heart was actually pounding - it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever watched but I also have not stopped thinking about it since seeing it - which is remarkable in and of itself. When I first left the theater, I thought “I will never watch that again,” but with some distance and time I’m finding that that isn’t true - I’d like to revisit this and see if once the shock wears off, I find more meaning and nuance in the film’s themes.
Highly recommend reading articles by people much smarter and more articulate than me for more criticism about what the movie does and doesn’t accomplish.
Under the Bridge (Hulu): When Reena Virk is killed after a brutal assault by fellow teens, a reporter enters the world of the teens in an attempt to find answers.
The jury is still out for me on this true-crime adaptation of a 2005 book by Rebecca Godfrey. Two episodes have aired so far, and I think the show is well acted (this is kind of a “duh” thing to say when you have Lily Gladstone, Archie Panjabi, and Riley Keogh in your project). But I also feel like the choice to focus on a lot of different characters, including the stand-in character for Godfrey (played here by Keogh in a very bad wig) has diluted the power of the story, and maybe also its particular point of view? I actually think the young actors in this are very good, but we haven’t had enough time with them yet to really get a sense of who they are. I’m going to stick with this, but it’s not as good as I was hoping so far (but it is extremely bleak).
The Greatest Hits (Hulu): While still grieving the loss of her former boyfriend, a woman discovers that she can transport through time by listening to certain songs. While she revels in reliving her past, she starts to realize that it’s interfering with a new love interest in the present.
Oh, I don’t know about this one! I went into it really hoping that I would love it, but everything about it fell pretty flat for me. I found the script to be oddly lifeless and found the scenes to be flat. It struggled to hold my attention, even though everyone in this movie is extremely hot and the soundtrack is great. I didn’t hate this - and I actually think the last 10-15 minutes are the movie’s strongest parts - but it wasn’t a standout.
Lisa Frankenstein (Peacock): An outcast teenage girl accidentally reanimates a Victorian corpse and the two go on a murderous journey together while also falling in love.
This was wild! I didn’t really know what to expect (except that I knew the script would be weird because it’s Diablo Cody), and while I’m not sure I loved this, I was extremely entertained from start to finish. Katherine Newton is excellent as Lisa, the clothes and the soundtrack are absolutely pitch-perfect, and the movie as a whole is darkly funny and gross. I think this could find a cult following in the next few years - it definitely begs to be re-watched!
What I Listened To:
Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department: Let me start this by saying that while I have never fully endulged in the theater of the days leading up to a Swift album drop, I found myself exceedingly uninterested in - and exhausted by - what has been happening for the last week or so. I could not give less of a shit about the capitalized letters in the lyrics of her songs on Spotify, nor can I be bothered to care about the QR codes appearing on sides of buildings7 or whatever. I also don’t care about the multiple versions of the upcoming album that you can buy on her website! It feels like a blatant cash grab, is environmentally unconscionable,8 and does not interest me in the slightest. I just want to listen to her music and let it destroy me - I do not want to drop hundreds of dollars on CDs with a “bonus track” that I can barely play (because who has a CD player anymore?) or on ugly merchandise that was made by eight-year-olds in, like, Malaysia.9
The most generous thing I can offer about this promo cycle is that the visuals that she teased for the first music video, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, from the album (out at 8pm ET tonight) are pretty stunning:
And then? Big sigh. The planned album dropped at midnight last night. At 2am, she followed it up with a surprise:
Turns out, The Tortured Poets Department is actually a double album, containing 31 songs, because if there’s one thing Taylor Alison Swift is, it’s prolific.10 The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology is a staggering 2 hours, 2 minutes long. As a result, I have spent an inordinate amount of time today trying to digest as much of it as I can while also, you know, working and living my life.
The album’s 31 songs were produced by Swift, Aaron Dessner (of The National), and longtime collaborator and bestie, Jack Antonoff. It’s very clear to me which songs had Dessner’s hands on them and which ones had Antonoff’s: their sounds are very different, and while both have their fans and detractors, I like the synth-pop that Antonoff is known for, and I like Dessner’s more downbeat acoustic stuff. But the problem is that we’ve heard all these sounds from her work with them before, and I’m starting to get very bored with it all. I wonder about what kinds of sounds she might be able to create if she expanded her working relationships a bit. I do not think this is going down in the annals of time as one of her greatest albums. I think for some of us, the writing has been on the wall for a while that she needs to tap into new creative outlets with producers and that her work with Antonoff especially has run its course, and this album really underscores that.
That said! Many of the lyrics here are great. Unsurprisingly, a lot of this album is very sad - Swifties have been speculating for months that this was going to be the ultimate break-up album after she split from Joe Alwyn in 2023 after six years together11 - but I was taken aback by how many songs seemed to be about Taylor’s brief (and based on the content of these songs, intense) relationship with The 1975’s lead singer, Matty Healy.12
Matty Healy is, by all accounts, an incredibly gross human being, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t also kinda get it?
The album as a whole is deeply revealing, full of grief and self-loathing and also a lot of pretty specific details about her relationships. It’s interesting to listen to “But Daddy I Love Him,” a song that is definitely about Healy - and about how pissed off she was at all of the negative attention their brief relationship had - and then listen to “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” which is also about Healy after the relationship ended (he definitely did the dumping). Her anger on that one is palpable (and relatable), and they are two standouts for me after listening to the album two times through.
There are almost no bops on this album! What we have instead are a lot of very sad, slow songs (some are overwritten and I’d argue most are overproduced). We’ve got lots of mournful piano and even more literary references.13 Some of the songs are clearly about Joe, at least one is definitely about Travis, and many more feel like they’re mostly fiction, much like her songs on Folklore and Evermore. Will this stop her fandom from parsing every single lyric and attributing it to her actual, real life? Absolutely not!
One of the more sonically upbeat songs on the album is the (crushing) “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” a song I have listened to approximately six times already today:
Another standout is the (hysterically) named “Florida!!!” featuring Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine. It’s fantastic:
On the whole, I think the album’s first half is stronger than the second - I’m not sure how many of the songs from the double album portion are songs that are going to end up in regular rotation for me - but it’s also the first day and I might change my tune when I’ve had more time to digest the full thing. At any rate, she has blessed (or cursed) us with an abundance of content today, and that’s not nothing. If you’ve listened, I’d love to know what you think!
What I’m Looking Forward To:
Fly Me to the Moon (Trailers, July): A marketing executive brought into NASA to help with promotions ahead of the Apollo 11 space mission falls for an astronaut preparing for the trip. This looks maybe a little silly, but y’all know I love Charming Potato! Also, directed by Greg Berlanti, who created/wrote/produced a lot of my favorite teen dramas.
I Used to Be Funny (VOD, June): An aspiring comedian and nanny struggling with PTSD tries to decide if she wants to join the search for a missing teenage girl - one she used to care for. I love Rachel Sennott and this (extremely) indie movie looks really intriguing!
That’s it for this week! I’ll be back next week with a hodge-podge of pop culture for you (it’s looking like a pretty light release week, so we’ll see what I get into). I hope you have a great weekend, and thanks, as always, for reading!
How are we feeling about this movie? I’m not feeling great about it, tbh!
Did I scream when I saw that Patti Smith did the blurb for Dua Lipa? Yes. Yes I did.
My hottest take about this book is that it shouldn’t be YA at all - I actually think the characters should have been aged up and this could have been marketed as adult sci-fi - and it would find a much bigger audience.
I have never been a fan of crowds and that has worsened over the past few years. But also, people do not know how to act right in theaters! I love going to movies but I’m not dropping $$ to be miserable the entire time. Bring back common courtesy 2024!
Clear across on the other side of the theater. Perfection!
This is a lazy take!
That apparently counted down to a CD single with Post Malone that you can buy on her merch website? Ma’am, sit DOWN.
We’ve already established that climate change is not a Taylor Swift Industrial Complex (TM) priority.
This is not limited to Swift, obviously - this is a systemic capitalistic issue. Invite me to your next social gathering! I’m FUN!
My spiciest take about Blondie is that she could often benefit from an editor, and that feels especially true here.
True Heads know that it was probably earlier than that, but that’s the official party line.
I’ve said it before, but whomst amongst us hasn’t made a very bad choice and dated someone who was extremely bad for them and then lost their minds for a little while after it exploded spectacularly? If I had Swift’s talent for songwriting, my mid-twenties would be littered with songs like this.
Excited for more people to discover Patti Smith!
Ooooh I Used to be Funny sounds riiiiight up my alley. Bummer about The Greatest Hits.
and I also hate crowds/typically avoid movie theaters especially post-COVID. But I miss it at the same time. My favorite is the Landmark in Edina but alas, my schedule these days does not typically allow me to bounce during the middle of the day to see a sad, slow film and be the youngest person in the theater. Still, maybe I need to take PTO to do this, because those were the days.
Still digesting the entirety of TTPD but really appreciate the breakdown. My first thoughts were wow, wordy. And yes, we’ve heard these melodies before. She’s mature, she’s angry. I need more time but appreciate this recap very much! 😘😘