On Pretty Much Pop, a philosopher, an actor, and a sci-fi writer (often with entertainment industry guests) talk about media and how we consume it: TV, film, music, novels, games, comics, comedy, theater, podcasts, and more. Most of what (other) people like is pretty weird when you think about it, so thinking about it is what we do.
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Wes Alwan joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to discuss Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood in the context of Tarantino’s other films. Wes thinks the film is great, even though he’s not actually a Tarantino fan, and is working on a very long essay on it. We consider T’s strange sense of pacing, his comic violence, his historical revisionism, and casting choices. Is this a brilliant film or a fundamentally misguided idea badly in need of an editor?
Some articles we drew on:
- “On the Troubling Subtext of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” by Jen Chaney
- “A Battle For Creative Freedom: Why The Tarantino Backlash Is Bad For Hollywood” by Travis Bean
- “Tarantino’s Gruesome Revenge Fantasies Are Growing More Puerile and Misogynistic” by Casper Salmon
Wes’s essay on this topic isn’t done, but he’s written plenty of long things about the media and has recorded several episodes of his own relevant PEL spin-off show, (sub)Text: Get it all here.
This episode includes bonus discussion that you can only hear by supporting the podcast at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life podcast network and is curated by openculture.com.
I really liked the recreated atmosphere of the late 60s, music, fashion, cars, attributes of that time, everything is recreated here very cool. As for the dynamics of the narrative, as is the case in Tarantino’s films, here in some places there are some scenes that go on for a very long time, but I wouldn’t say that this is a minus of the film, thanks to them you can better immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a bygone era.
In general, ‘Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood’ turned out to be an unusual work of Tarantino, it’s a movie that gives an opportunity to look behind the scenes of a bygone era, plunge into the atmosphere of a bygone film industry. I cannot say that this is a movie for a mass audience, although why not. Tarantino’s new film deserves attention, especially movie ‘Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood’ has a great cast, great actors, which you can watch for days!