Show Notes
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This week, the DPP lads are joined by writer, critic and marketing director at publishing house Deep Vellum (and friend of the pod) Jon Repetti [https://x.com/pourfairelevide] — to discuss Spike Lee's 1999 crime thriller Summer of Sam [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Sam].
Summer of Sam revolves around the fallout from a real-life killing spree committed by David Berkowitz between 1975 and 1977.
Lee's 1999 feature is an odd combination of 1970s nostalgia aimed at a young Gen X, combined with subcultural analysis and crime thriller tropes. The film delves into the urban psychogeography of New York City's outer boroughs and ethnic neighbourhoods — at a time when NYC was widely considered to be in decline, yet also experiencing a huge cultural flourishing of underground scenes, musical creativity, and club life.
Does Gen X's childhood fear of the city and the urban, in the 1970s, translate into today's pervasive paranoia about large American cities? Find out in today's episode.
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More from Death is a Photograph
Patreon here. [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod]
After a year, your hosts are ready to wrap Gen X. Season One is at a close. What did we learn about the self-professedly forgotten generation? What has Banksy to do with the spirit of the age? And, most importantly we answer the question that started it all: how did the dirty girls end up in the K-Hive?
DPP is back, baby — and this time for an encore. Chase and Sam thought they'd round out the season — find a 'capstone', if you will — for the last year. That pediment takes the form of Chris Smith's fly-on-the-wall documentary American Movie (1999).
Fear the coming of the trilby. Yes, that's right — today, in the last episode of our first season, we're looking at Gen X accelerating towards middle age and a crash encounter with those coming up behind them: millennials.