The End of the World with Michael and Stu
The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.
The End of the World with Michael and Stu
58: Where Strangers are as Family and Loneliness Can't Hide
This week we are discussing Todd Haynes's film Safe (1995). We get into how the movie explores the creeping sense of meaning being sapped out of suburban life in the late 1980s, focusing on the ways this parallels dilemmas that are manifesting in our contemporary moment. We also go over the film's consideration of "environmental illness" and how this notion of being poisoned by the world in which one lives brings with it attendant psychological challenges. This is one of the best pictures we've covered, but the episode should be legible even if you haven't seen the movie yet, as the plot of the film is really secondary to the beautiful way in which it was made.
We open the episode briefly touching on the latest US-Ukraine oval office debacle while also considering the about-to-be-instituted tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico.
This episode contains spoilers for Safe.
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