{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 13: Things of the Year 2024 \u2014 Part I","description":"In episode 13 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay and Isi ruminate on a largely dismal year in pop culture. Kicking off with a discussion of unexpected developments in the world of health insurance, the conversation turns to a number of broad trends that characterized culture this year: AI, long production cycles, platforms\u2014rather than cultural works\u2014as objects of cathexis, IP art, and the use of IP as trans-media anchors. Along the way, they discuss social bandits, collective effervescence, Leiji Matsumoto\u2019s Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, the Criterion Closet truck, Sony\u2019s push into the television space, Jon Chu\u2019s Wicked, and 2024\u2019s revealing box office numbers. In the second half of the episode, Ajay and Isi discuss the year\u2019s highlights (Metaphor: ReFantazio [GoTY], Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Lies of P, Mati Diop\u2019s Dahomey, Shuchi Talati\u2019s Girls Will Be Girls, a performance of book 1 of The Odyssey by Joseph Medeiros, Edward Berger\u2019s Conclave, Todd Phillip\u2019s divisive Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux, the second season of AMC\u2019s Interview with the Vampire, and True Detective: Night Country) and lowlights (Denis Villeneuve's Dune 2, Luca Guadagnino\u2019s Challengers, and a whole lot of "just okay" television)\u2014with more to come in a follow-up episode after the holidays!  ","author_name":"(Pop) Cultural Marxism","author_url":"http:\/\/thebrooklyninstitute.com","html":"