Podcast for Social Research, Episode 81: Medium Cool — or, “Jesus, I Love to Shoot Film”

Episode 81 of the Podcast for Social Research is a discussion Haskell Wexler’s 1969 classic of cinéma verité Medium Cool, a film whose exploration of violence, spectacle, and the politics and power of media render it as fresh and powerful today as it was on its controversial release. BISR’s Rebecca Ariel Porte, Andy Battle, and Mark DeLucas and journalist Natasha Lennard dissect the film’s context, formal innovations, and themes, from its integration of narrative and documentary to its treatment of the ethics of journalism in the face of social and political upheaval, violence, and repression. How did Medium Cool emerge out of the specific context of the “New Hollywood”? What exactly was Wexler, cinematographer and first-time director, trying to do? And how does Medium Cool push us to think about media objectivity, and the substance, value, and intentions of “news”? How can we understand the character arc of John, the “cool,” rakish cameraman whose response to film is at once ecstatic (“Jesus, I love to shoot film”) and deeply cynical? Is media ever genuinely critical, or is it always a kind of “soft power”? How do we tell stories that don’t exploit, but instead explain? 

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The Podcast for Social Research is produced by Ryan Lentini. If you like what you’ve heard, consider subscribing to Brooklyn Institute’s Patreon page, where you can enjoy access to all past and future episodes of the podcast, including Practical Criticism, (Pop) Cultural Marxism, and Faculty Spotlight.