Latest / Think Twice Show / The Morality of Pop Culture
Transcript
- 0:00The Met Gala, no one is forcing these people to give them their
- 0:03money. It's private, OK?
- 0:04Take it away what these rich people are going to spend their
- 0:07money on. Spend it directly on social
- 0:09change, How about that? That would be the perfect thing.
- 0:10But are they going to actually do that?
- 0:13What it does is it funds cultural preservation.
- 0:16This art has meaning to people. Capitalism is at a point where
- 0:19it can absorb the critique of itself and re commodify it back
- 0:23to us. Where does that leave us?
- 0:37Welcome. Welcome to Think Twice.
- 0:38This is your favourite show's favourite show.
- 0:41My name is Benz. My name is Santa.
- 0:44And today is another net positive or not, it's kind of
- 0:48worked well for us, so we're sticking with it.
- 0:50You haven't told us you hate it, so here we go.
- 0:54And we're going to start off with the Met Gala.
- 0:57To discuss the Met Gala is probably best I give some like,
- 0:59historical context. Essentially, there is something
- 1:02called the Costume Institute. The Costume Institute basically
- 1:05preserves and looks after like costumes, essentially art.
- 1:09It puts on exhibitions of fashion.
- 1:12And the Costume Institute got moved into the Metropolitan
- 1:16Museum of Art in about 1947, but it had to fund itself.
- 1:21So how did it fund itself? It, it thought, OK, let's
- 1:24fundraise for people that care about this, this bit of art,
- 1:28these costumes. And that's how the Met Gala sort
- 1:31of began in the first few years of it, like people didn't really
- 1:35dress up to a theme. It was just there, they, they
- 1:37give money, they support this 'cause they support, they care
- 1:41about the costumes. And, and then as the years of
- 1:44like sort of continued in 2015, ran a war like a particular
- 1:48dress and that dress sort of changed things and people
- 1:52started to care more about what people were wearing.
- 1:56And as of today, that is a lot of what the conversation is
- 2:00about. Yeah, as of recently, I think
- 2:02it's made more than $30 million. Per event.
- 2:05Per event. So it makes a lot of money for
- 2:07the Costume Institute, and that is sort of a quick historical
- 2:12reflection of the Met Gala. Whatever the Met Gala was
- 2:16before, right now is a celebration of celebrity
- 2:20culture, a display of like opulence and excess.
- 2:25And for that reason, for me is a net negative.
- 2:27I think we don't need that display of wealth and like that
- 2:31excess. And ultimately the way I judge
- 2:33these things, especially on net negative or not, is is this a
- 2:38net positive for society? Is the overall impact of this
- 2:42event or what the Institute of Costume, the Costume Institute
- 2:45does, is it doing something to impact society in a positive
- 2:50way? And this is basically just a
- 2:52private fundraiser for the Costume Institute.
- 2:57It's not explicitly for positive social change.
- 3:01So I don't see how it can benefit us to have the Met Gala.
- 3:06Now that said, I think there's one particular exception which
- 3:11is a 2024 Met Gala that I will discuss in a bit more detail.
- 3:14But before we get into that, I want to, I want to hear what do
- 3:17you think is it net positive or net negative that?
- 3:20Was a compelling argument, but I think it's a net positive.
- 3:24Really. You're going to struggle, bro.
- 3:27You're going to struggle to justify this one.
- 3:30I thought it went backwards. I was like, why would it be a
- 3:32net negative, right? Like right.
- 3:34So the the display of wealth is probably like the the major
- 3:39issue as to why it's in it negative, right?
- 3:41Yeah, yeah. And I would say the celebration
- 3:43of celebrity culture, so like the idealisation of the Rihanna
- 3:48in the dress photo that that moment and elevating people to
- 3:53that sort of status I think has negative impacts, of course,
- 3:57particularly for young people. But what it does is it funds
- 4:01cultural preservation, right? Like that's, that's basically
- 4:03what that's the idea behind it. This art has meaning to people.
- 4:07It don't have meaning to me, don't have meaning to you.
- 4:09And but it has meaning to someone, obviously, because
- 4:11they've been making a lot of money.
- 4:13And I feel that cultural preservation is something I hold
- 4:17in quite high regard. But you said that it doesn't
- 4:20mean much to you. So like, why would you hold that
- 4:22particular not that? Particular one, but like
- 4:24cultural preservation. As a whole.
- 4:26Yeah, because like when we discuss net positive or not,
- 4:28we're not discussing like my own.
- 4:31How I feel about it, it's supposed to weigh.
- 4:34We're supposed to factor in everything, right?
- 4:35Yeah. Of course, of course.
- 4:37Exactly. And it uses the, it uses the
- 4:39money to sort of support a public institution, which is the
- 4:42museum. So when I like factor all of
- 4:47that in, I'm like, is that a bad thing?
- 4:49It's not, it's no one is forcing these people to give them their
- 4:52money. The all the money is private, is
- 4:55private. It's not, it's not public
- 4:57funding. It goes to public funding.
- 5:00It's a donation. And it's sort of like, OK, take
- 5:02it away. What are these rich people going
- 5:04to spend their money on? They've got plenty of things
- 5:07they can spend their money on, spend directly on social change.
- 5:09How about that? That would be the that would be
- 5:11the perfect thing. But are they going to actually
- 5:13do that? That's what I'm basically
- 5:15saying. It's sort of like, well, these
- 5:16rich people have this money that they want to spend and it's not
- 5:20going to something like bad. I don't, I don't think it's the
- 5:23best use of the money, but I never mind to tell someone else
- 5:25how to spend their money. And that's why I think it has to
- 5:28kind of, you know, really like I, I was going back and forth
- 5:31back and forth like, is this a net positive or not?
- 5:34Because it, because really truly, it's not for the
- 5:36betterment of society. Society isn't better as a result
- 5:38of it, but it's to call it a net negative.
- 5:41Just it didn't feel right to me because it's private people
- 5:45giving their money to A cause to help preserve art.
- 5:50Do you know specifically how they preserve art?
- 5:52Like what are they actually doing with that money?
- 5:54Do you know? Because like, the materials
- 5:55degrades because it's like wearable costumes, right?
- 5:58The costumes that the celebs wear, no.
- 5:59No, no, it's not the costumes that the celebs wear.
- 6:01It's like there's like, it's not simply just that, it's like
- 6:04there's other. They basically put on
- 6:06exhibitions of art from pre, like many generations ago till
- 6:12today. And it's supposed to like
- 6:15intersect with identity, history, politics and you
- 6:19basically create art around that.
- 6:21And they basically have to preserve that, and it costs
- 6:23money to do that. 30 Ms a year. This is way too much money.
- 6:27You know what I mean? That's a lot of cash.
- 6:28That's a lot of. Money.
- 6:30And I think going back to that question you asked about like
- 6:32what would this, what would these people spend their money
- 6:34on? And I think to be clear, I think
- 6:37it's also companies as well that donate to the Met Gala in, in.
- 6:43It's not just like private rich individuals.
- 6:46I think it's also a company, yeah.
- 6:47In 1999 they started. So before 1999, it was sort of
- 6:52a, it was a individual sort of thing.
- 6:55And in 1999 came and Anna Wintour took over.
- 6:58Well, she didn't take over them, but that's the first time that
- 7:00she started the sponsorships. OK, So like companies could buy
- 7:03a table? Yeah, and these tables are going
- 7:06for like 400 K 300K today. Which is.
- 7:10Stupid amount of money. It's always been like a sort of
- 7:14elitist function. Before it was just for like
- 7:18social acts, right? Like New York social acts.
- 7:21And they come along and they pay this money and they're involved
- 7:24in this sort of society, this community, whilst like now it's
- 7:29a bit more corporate. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 7:32But I think, I think going back to what you, you were saying
- 7:34about this money, this 30 million, what, what can we do
- 7:37with the 30 million if then, if they weren't going to spend it
- 7:40there in a realistic sense. Last year there was a Tik toker
- 7:46called Haley Khalil, right? She goes to the Met Gala.
- 7:51She dresses up as Marie Antoinette.
- 7:53That's her costume. For a bit of context, Marie
- 7:55Antoinette was the last queen of France, right?
- 7:58She spent loads of money, like I think it was in today's money,
- 8:03it'd be like £3,000,000 on clothes.
- 8:05And around the time that she was queen, there was starvation in
- 8:08France, right? This was like the precursor to
- 8:11the French Revolution. So the people are are upset.
- 8:14They want political change and they're starving.
- 8:17They don't have bread. She's told that the French
- 8:19people are starving. They don't have bread.
- 8:21And she very famously says let them eat cake.
- 8:24And that sort of story, whenever she actually said that or not,
- 8:28is very debatable. But it showed that story was
- 8:31meant to highlight the disconnect that the French
- 8:33monarchy had with the people, but not only the disconnect, but
- 8:36the disdain that the ruling class had for working class
- 8:40people and peasantry. That story encapsulated the sort
- 8:43of inequality and like the divide between the haves and the
- 8:47have nots. Now going back to Met Gala 2024,
- 8:51Hayley Khalil, she's dressed up as Marie Antoinette.
- 8:54She does a dance and a TikTok sound and she says let them eat
- 8:58cake right into the camera and she posts it on TikTok.
- 9:01Now that caused a massive backlash, right it?
- 9:06Wasn't that satire? Or like, it wasn't satire.
- 9:08It was like she was doing, she was flexing.
- 9:11Oh, she was flexing as Marie Antoinette, playing the part of
- 9:15Marie Antoinette and saying let them eat, you know?
- 9:17You know, I thought that story was going like, in a way that
- 9:22she was like symbolising how wrong this thing is.
- 9:26I thought. I thought you no.
- 9:27No, no, it was literally just, it was straight down the bar of
- 9:32the camera. Let them eat cake.
- 9:33And people just thought like, violated, like you're laughing
- 9:36in our faces. Do you know what I mean?
- 9:38Basically, there was a bit of a like digital revolution that
- 9:41started off with that. That was the trigger.
- 9:43But a lot of people sort of were trying to divest from celebrity
- 9:47culture as as a as a result of like, and rightly so.
- 9:50Yeah, rightly so. A lot of people described it as
- 9:53The Hunger Games, and it resulted in something called
- 9:55Blackout 2024. You might have remembered it
- 9:57when loads of people would block and unfollow all of the
- 10:00celebrities that they felt weren't voicing the political
- 10:04opinion that they they felt that the celebrity should have
- 10:08because they've got massive platforms.
- 10:10You had the Met Gala and while you're saying let them eat cake
- 10:13down the barrel of the camera, people are dying in Palestine,
- 10:16like, and a lot of people wanted them to donate money to the
- 10:21cause in Palestine. So part of that 2020, the the
- 10:25blackout, 2024 was trying to get celebrities to do the thing that
- 10:29people felt that they needed to. So I guess my point is that
- 10:35through that sort of, you know, action, it's a micro action,
- 10:38It's not, it's not much, but you can get the celebrities and the
- 10:42companies and the people at the Met Gala to highlight the
- 10:45problems that you feel are important.
- 10:47You can direct that that money to the Gaza Relief Fund.
- 10:52Do you know what I'm trying to say?
- 10:53And people did actually do that. As a result, celebrities came
- 10:56out, they apologised. They're like, I'm so sorry
- 10:59because they're looking at their comments, they're looking at
- 11:01their follow up accounts go down.
- 11:03And yes, Blackout 2024 didn't change the world.
- 11:06And the place that we're at right now is not much different
- 11:10from where we were in 2024. But in today's Met Gala 2025,
- 11:14we're definitely going to have a bit more of a political slant,
- 11:16like the way that celebrities are going to conduct themselves
- 11:19at the Met Gala. This year is definitely going to
- 11:21be different as a result of what happened last year, so I think
- 11:26it's fine for the people to voice their concern and try to
- 11:29adapt the behaviour of that 30 million, try and get it to point
- 11:33it to to the things that they care about.
- 11:37You can get the money in the right places.
- 11:41It's tough though. Like right?
- 11:42I know it's tough, I know it's tough and it.
- 11:44Well, just because like, it was set up for something.
- 11:49But the Met Gala has always been a place for, like, performative
- 11:52political action. There was a year that AOC turned
- 11:55up to the Met Gala. She had on a white dress and
- 11:57across the white dress, it said eat the rich.
- 12:00You might remember that. I think so.
- 12:02Yeah, I think caused a massive stir because like some people
- 12:05were like, oh, like AOC, like she's for the people and other
- 12:09people are like. Well, you're there.
- 12:11Yeah, you're at the Medgar, you're with the rich people,
- 12:13like you're kind of rich yourself.
- 12:15So like it's always been a place for some sort of performative
- 12:18political action. I guess the question is do we
- 12:21want the them to to do that performance and potentially not
- 12:25actually do the thing of activism or do we or do we want
- 12:31them to just like if you're not going to be about it, then don't
- 12:34talk about it because I think they should perform.
- 12:37They don't think the performance.
- 12:39Yeah, they should. They might as well they should.
- 12:40At least perform. Yeah, yeah, at the very.
- 12:42Least perform. You know what I mean?
- 12:44And I think, I think if we can get the money directed as well,
- 12:47if they can do actual things on top of that, that's, that's
- 12:50great. But you can't get the money
- 12:51directed. This is what I mean.
- 12:53Like I don't, I don't get to that point because like the
- 12:57purpose of the Met Gala is to fundraise or a Costume
- 13:02Institute. That is the that is the problem.
- 13:05I get that, and I'm not saying that it's the Met Gala's fault,
- 13:08but I'm saying the fund, the people who actually donate to
- 13:10the Met Gala can donate to other things.
- 13:13That's right. Yeah.
- 13:14It's not the Met Gala's fault necessarily.
- 13:16Yeah. OK.
- 13:16Because they they, you know, that's their event.
- 13:17Like what? I think that's.
- 13:19What they think is a need, you know.
- 13:21What I mean, I also think there's an additional question
- 13:23as to what the Costume Institute can can do for social change
- 13:27outside of fashion, right? And within fashion, like can
- 13:32they help change some of the exploitative practises within
- 13:36fashion because that's their realm of expertise, you know
- 13:39what I mean? But also the people were
- 13:43donating the money like surely and, and some celebs did they
- 13:48posted like fundraisers for like causes that they felt they
- 13:50needed to after the fact. But I.
- 13:54Just don't know. I actually it's like, OK, that
- 13:58is 1 issue that you're solving that I don't really get, but you
- 14:02it's important to you man, Solve, you know, like solve
- 14:07another issue elsewhere. Do you get what I mean?
- 14:09Like I just don't know about the convergence of loads of
- 14:13different issues coming to this place.
- 14:14Like that's that issue being solved there.
- 14:17Take initiative and solve another issue.
- 14:18Like what? Do you mean are you talking
- 14:20about who you talking about there Met Gala or?
- 14:22Well, because you're talking about the people, right?
- 14:24The people that donate this money like.
- 14:27And I guess the celebrities as well.
- 14:29Yeah. And I'm sort of like in a sense
- 14:32someone has to create something else in which funds another
- 14:37problem. Do you know what I mean?
- 14:38Like. Yeah, I hear it.
- 14:39I hear it. Obviously there's a there's
- 14:40another side to Black Out 2024, which is the celebrities, right?
- 14:45People looked at those celebrities and they're like, we
- 14:49made you famous. Like especially someone like
- 14:51Hayley Khalil who like came up on TikTok.
- 14:54I think people looked at that and they were like, you're using
- 14:56this platform for bullshit. Like you're using this platform
- 14:59to shit back on us. And I'm not having that,
- 15:03especially when we're talking about the, you know, the
- 15:05historical context of Marie Antoinette.
- 15:07And I think I think in that sense, like that event and the
- 15:10backlash to that event, I think for a lot of people, especially
- 15:13like white America, it was probably the first time they
- 15:16were like, I'm actually going to try to do something about this.
- 15:19And I think obviously prior to that, a lot of people, there's a
- 15:22lot of activism online. There's a lot of people that
- 15:24were trying to protest against some brands and companies that
- 15:29supported the genocide in Palestine, right?
- 15:33But I think white millennial America for the first time
- 15:38looked at their screens and they were like, they were violating
- 15:40us in a way that I don't think they did prior to that, that
- 15:43moment. And I think in that sense, Met
- 15:45Gala 2024 was a net positive. Like accidentally in their
- 15:51positive, yeah. They didn't mean for it to
- 15:53happen like that. But honestly, I felt like what
- 15:56happened after that, it was like people were like, oh, I can
- 15:59actually do shit. Like and now again of of, you
- 16:04know, 1 celebrity's 30 million followers, if she lost like 300
- 16:07K 1%, it's like, yeah, it doesn't really matter to them.
- 16:12But there were certain celebrities that came out and
- 16:15apologised and were like, I haven't been politically active.
- 16:18I think the famous 1 was Lizzo. Lizzo came out and said sorry
- 16:22guys. Like it's been a really like
- 16:23dark time for me, which is why I haven't been politically active.
- 16:27Everyone was like, shut up. But I feel like celebrities felt
- 16:33it a little bit. Do you know what I mean?
- 16:34And I and I think that was a generally a good thing for the
- 16:37Internet, even if it didn't really do much because who
- 16:40knows, like a few years down the line, like instead of blocking
- 16:44people, people might hit the streets.
- 16:47You know, it's a progression. You hit the streets that don't
- 16:49work and there's escalations past that.
- 16:51Point that happens, man, the internet's not a real place.
- 16:53Rough. That's very real.
- 16:56That's enough. You read the comments.
- 16:57No, that's. Not a real place.
- 16:58No, it's a real place. Not a real place.
- 17:01Guys, you read the comments all. Right, cool, cool, cool.
- 17:12On to the second one. Net positive or not.
- 17:14And this is the Cannes Film Festival, which was founded in
- 17:191946. I'm sure, like in the title,
- 17:24it's kind of obvious what it is. It's a Film Festival, but it's
- 17:27sort of different. It's sort of goes against
- 17:30Hollywood norms and sort of champions interesting
- 17:35storytelling and political ideas.
- 17:38But it does have a diversity problem.
- 17:42Only two black women have ever had films in a competition.
- 17:45And in regards to women, in 2018, it was only 9%.
- 17:49But in 2020 three, it was at its highest of 33%.
- 17:55So you know, that's some change not for. 33% of films celebrated
- 18:00were like, produced by women, yeah.
- 18:03Were made by women but there was no black film makers in 2024,
- 18:09which is tight, but it has given us classics like Fahrenheit
- 18:129/11, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist. So theft.
- 18:19Is the Cannes Film Festival a net positive or not?
- 18:24You know, just based off what you said about 2024 and the
- 18:27amount of black produced in 2024, it's a net negative.
- 18:32I ain't having that. That's.
- 18:35Awful. I was kind of on the fence going
- 18:37into this, but that that's. It we'll pull back the curtain
- 18:40before the episode, tell us like, I'm not sure what I'm
- 18:42going to say it was. Like it's come to.
- 18:43Me though, and I probably said that and it was like, OK, it's
- 18:46come to me. Yeah, I just think something
- 18:50like film or a Film Festival, the extent to which like I'm,
- 18:55I'm going to think is a positive or not is the extent to which it
- 18:58can highlight marginalised stories.
- 19:01Can it highlight the, the, you know, the stories of people that
- 19:04aren't going to get recognition in mainstream like media and who
- 19:10aren't going to necessarily get massive audiences just because
- 19:13of the way, you know, the capitalism around media works?
- 19:17If you're a marginalised producer and you're doing a
- 19:19marginalised story, it's just difficult to get mass appeal.
- 19:22The diversity problem is kind of Trump's all other problems.
- 19:27I do appreciate though, that Cannes Film Festival does do a
- 19:30little bit to like they, they try, they try.
- 19:33It's not like they're they're completely exclusionary.
- 19:35So the part of me always feels that it's always tough because
- 19:38when when we talk about these sort of issues, I'm always like,
- 19:43is this an arm of a larger system or is the arm infected as
- 19:48well? Does that make sense?
- 19:49Like is this the fault of capitalism or is it the fault of
- 19:56the Cannes Film Festival? And it seems like it's more the
- 20:00fault of capitalism and white supremacy, whilst like Cannes
- 20:06Film Festival trying to affect that.
- 20:09That's what it feels like to me. Yeah, yeah.
- 20:12But when we're sitting here discussing it, there has to be
- 20:15an appreciation that if they exist within that system and
- 20:22they benefit from existing within that system as an arm of
- 20:25that system, they still have to bear responsibility.
- 20:29It's not just that capitalism's at fault.
- 20:31And we can we can say the Cannes Film Festival don't have
- 20:35responsibility because they're just operating within this one
- 20:37they have. Responsibility.
- 20:38But that's why I think they're trying to do what they do to
- 20:42attack that. Do you get what I mean?
- 20:43Like understanding that they have that responsibility and
- 20:47then producing films like Fahrenheit 9/11 for example,
- 20:50which is like. A did they produce that or are
- 20:53you saying oh? Sorry, not produced.
- 20:55Celebrated. OK, Yeah, cool.
- 20:57And I think that won like the highest award there.
- 20:58And it's, it might be the only documentary to actually do that,
- 21:01but that is the idea that's they're so politically charged
- 21:05and it's supposed to be against Hollywood's norms and against
- 21:08what Hollywood sort of stands for with like the formulaic
- 21:11structure. And it's supposed to push art,
- 21:13push boundaries. I feel like it's doing the right
- 21:17thing, which for me then makes it a net positive.
- 21:20Obviously it has issues, but like for example the women, it
- 21:24was 9% in 2018 and now it's 33% in 2024.
- 21:28Like sorry, 2023 it was 29% of 23.
- 21:32That's a pretty significant drop.
- 21:33Around that time was the Me Too movement, right?
- 21:35So like what happens in this sort of society that we live in,
- 21:40this capitalistic, white supremacist patriarchy, right?
- 21:43You don't realise that you are a benefit of it until it's kind of
- 21:48too late. And then in around 2018 people
- 21:52realised they were benefiting from patriarchy in a way they
- 21:55probably didn't realise, and white men in particular.
- 22:00And then as a result has changed that and try to to improve.
- 22:05That I, I see what you're pointing at, like is that
- 22:07increase as a result of Me Too? Or is it?
- 22:11Can we give Cannes some credit for adapting their the way they
- 22:16operate in response to Me too. Once they know something to be
- 22:20true, they they make a change, if you understand what I mean.
- 22:23And as a result for me, obviously, like if you haven't
- 22:26clogged it, it's a net positive. Is there a part of you?
- 22:30Is there a cynic within you, though?
- 22:32That's like can have just cynically responded to me too
- 22:36because they've been forced to. It's like they knew what they
- 22:40were doing beforehand, they got nabbed and now they're just
- 22:43correcting it. Is there not part of you that
- 22:46thinks that's a possibility too? Didn't really consider that.
- 22:51I think that's probably that is. A that is a yeah, that is a
- 22:54that's a fair argument. Like we don't know, but that is
- 22:56a fair argument. But then I also always argue
- 23:00like, well, the benefits still happening, isn't it like, yeah,
- 23:04you know what I mean? It's like Clack, whether whether
- 23:06they got nabbed or not, like, well, women are now benefiting
- 23:10from it, so that's a good. Thing yes, yes, that's that's
- 23:13that's a completely fair all. Right.
- 23:14Cool. Thank you for joining us.
- 23:17See you soon. Take care.
- 23:18See you later. Watch out.
- 23:31I think I've got the 160 in the middle.
- 23:33OK, 44, we'll see if they're still recording, all right?
- 23:39Cool. Happy days.
- 23:42It's funny that you spoke about the, the capitalist critique as
- 23:45well. So, and this is slightly away
- 23:46from Cannes specifically, but this is towards like media and
- 23:49in, in general. I wanted to, to, to talk about
- 23:52this like this critique of capitalism being sort of muted
- 23:55or like the potency of it being reduced when it's actually being
- 23:59shown to you via capitalism, if that makes sense.
- 24:02So if you remember in Severance, right, the guys are kind of
- 24:07rebelling against Lumen, right? Lumen is the man, the capitalist
- 24:10structure. Like that's the symbol and the
- 24:13employees are kind of rebelling against Lumen.
- 24:15Lumen is in my sense, like the symbol for capitalism.
- 24:19The the four guys, they rebel. They finally, you know, you
- 24:23know, that switch where they get to come out of their confine and
- 24:28go to the real world. And they kind of complete that
- 24:31rebellion in in season 1, spoiler alert.
- 24:35And in season 2, Lumen sits them all down in a room and shows
- 24:39them a video of their own rebellion against Lumen, right.
- 24:45And in showing them the rebellion and kind of
- 24:49celebrating their own rebellion, I actually think Severance is
- 24:52trying to say this is how capitalism can absorb critiques
- 24:56of itself and commercialise that critique of itself within
- 25:01capitalism. So going back to what we're
- 25:04talking about in Black Mirror episode one, that episode is
- 25:10being shown to us by a capitalist platform for profit.
- 25:15Do you get what I'm trying to say?
- 25:16Capitalism is at a point where it can absorb the critique of
- 25:19itself and re commodify it back to us and sell it back to us.
- 25:22So we get to feel like in some sense we are enjoying a
- 25:27critique, but the capitalists still win.
- 25:30But I'm not. You know, I'm not hugely against
- 25:32capitalism like I'm more against say, unregulated capitalism,
- 25:38like capitalism as like a sort of economic structure.
- 25:43I don't think it's terrible. Like I, I actually don't.
- 25:46Yeah, yeah. But you, you've agreed with me
- 25:48in the past that we are a point where capitalism is on, like
- 25:52we're seeing the, the, the after effects of unregulated
- 25:55capitalism. Yeah, exactly.
- 25:56Yeah, right. So we're both in the same place
- 25:58that we both are in a position where we want to critique it.
- 26:01Yeah, but if the critiques themselves are being absorbed,
- 26:07re commodified and sold back to us, where does that leave us?
- 26:10Now? It's worth saying that in.
- 26:12So you're essentially saying, let me, let me be very clear
- 26:14here, You're saying the shows are exhibiting critiques of
- 26:22capitalism and they're turning it into a show for us to watch.
- 26:26Correct. And, and that that means that
- 26:29you actually can't rebel against capitalism.
- 26:32There are there are academics that say this is actually a sign
- 26:36that we will never actually leave the grips of capitalism.
- 26:39I wouldn't go that far, but it definitely makes it a lot more
- 26:42difficult. And now if we go back to the
- 26:44Severance example, it's kind of like a critique of capitalism
- 26:49that is embedded within another critique of capitalism because
- 26:52it, yes, it's critique in capitalism.
- 26:54But what it also shows is that whenever capitalism commodifies
- 27:01critique and sells it back to us, it takes away the part of
- 27:04the critique that actually made the difference.
- 27:07So the guys, they sit in the the the room and they get to see
- 27:11their own revolution like shown back to them.
- 27:16That's what they're doing technically is what we are doing
- 27:18when we watch Netflix to get my point then.
- 27:21Yeah. But what happens is PT, the guy
- 27:25who actually died for the revolution, and the Doctor Who
- 27:29killed the brother, right? She employed genuine violence to
- 27:33help that revolution. Those two people are very
- 27:37suspiciously missing from the actual revolution.
- 27:39Those two people started the revolution, right?
- 27:42Without them, it doesn't happen. And that's why we're like us
- 27:45watching the critique is kind of problematic because what we see
- 27:50and enjoy is a bastardised form of the revolution.
- 27:55And if we use that critique to move in the real world, we might
- 28:01never get this done. We might never change
- 28:04capitalism. We might never escape from the
- 28:06grips of excessive capitalism. Nah, obviously you just dropped
- 28:13a bomb on me. Now there's one part ever.
- 28:17So I don't like you. But do you see like how the if
- 28:23if it wasn't for the doctor and severance or PE PE started this
- 28:26whole shit PE like coming out and and trying to contact Mark
- 28:31is the reason why severance starts as a concept, right?
- 28:35If the doctor doesn't kill that brother and he goes back, Mark's
- 28:40done. If she doesn't give him the key
- 28:43off the security guy, I forgot his name and puts it in Mark's
- 28:47pocket and tells him how to navigate within the Lumen
- 28:50building, none of this happens. But they don't get shown in the
- 28:53film. They can't, because the violence
- 28:57of the revolution would then be highlighted, which is the actual
- 29:00problem for Lumen. Do you not think that that
- 29:03speaks, that says something about where we are today?
- 29:07No, I'm always, I'm always cautious to say like 1 show has
- 29:15that much of an impact, if you know what I mean.
- 29:16Sure, sure, sure. I just think it's highlighting
- 29:18something that is in real life, in happening in real life,
- 29:20whether it's severance or like. But how is it happening in real
- 29:24life? Well watching critiques of
- 29:27capitalism on Netflix. Well, enjoying Netflix
- 29:30recreations of. Capitalism, you must understand
- 29:33that, like, not everyone sees it like that.
- 29:35Some people just see it as like, oh, going to work.
- 29:40I could be like a different person.
- 29:41That is genuinely how some people see the show.
- 29:44Or which one? Severance or severance No.
- 29:50And and and the. Yeah, I guess so.
- 29:52But do you know? What I mean and, and the
- 29:53dynamics of that, that's how some people watch the show.
- 29:56They don't watch it as like a critique of capitalism.
- 30:00It's got to be some sort of critique of the workplace at a
- 30:03minimum for some people, right? Yeah.
- 30:05This idea that you need to separate yourself, you know what
- 30:07I mean? You're a different person at at
- 30:09work. Yeah.
- 30:12But like, I can't, I can't help them.
- 30:13People like I'm talking about, I guess, my own perspective, yeah.
- 30:24It's it's really interesting, but I just, I think if anything
- 30:29it like it could, it could spark something in people as.
- 30:36Well. Like particularly the Black
- 30:39Mirror episode. Yeah, I feel like that could
- 30:41like Severance is a little bit more complex.
- 30:44Yeah, it's a bit more complex than nuanced.
- 30:46Yeah. And layered.
- 30:47Exactly, whilst whilst that Black Mirror episode can like
- 30:50sparks out in people. Yeah, 45 minutes like you can,
- 30:53it's, it's definitely digestible.
- 30:56But I, I, I worry that we're just sitting there enjoying
- 31:00capitalist critique and we feel like when we might, we might be
- 31:03doing something when it's actually the opposite.
- 31:07The, the, the thirst for like capitalist critique is quenched.
- 31:11So you go to sleep thinking you've done something or you at
- 31:14least had a revolutionary thought, right?
- 31:18But actually that energy. But do.
- 31:19You think it does take multiple thoughts to get there?
- 31:22Yeah, and you and you recognise it's.
- 31:24A period of time. Like it's at least helping along
- 31:27the way. That's how I kind of saw it
- 31:29because I I do think it takes a while to slightly get there and
- 31:32connect all the dots before you're like, we need a
- 31:35revolution. That's fair, That's fair.