Culture Club - Gen Z’s Horror Obsession, Taylor Swift Does Disney & The Rise Of Phone-Free Concerts

00:00:00.000 The rise of phone-free shows, Taylor Swift's new Disney song, and what's behind Jen said's

00:00:10.040 obsession with horror movies. I'm Maggie Zhao. And I'm Jasmine Wallace, and you're listening

00:00:14.760 to Culture Club, where two writers and editors chat about pop culture, current affairs, the

00:00:19.520 internet, and our lives. Today, we're on the land of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of

00:00:24.180 the Kulin Nations. We would like to pay our respects to elders past and present and extend

00:00:28.700 that to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today.

00:00:35.860 It's a special day for Culture Club today. It is Jazzy's 30th birthday. 30. Oh my gosh. 30.

00:00:45.880 I'm so relieved. Thriving. Relieved. Relieved. Happy birthday Jazzy. Thank you so much. Maybe

00:00:52.320 i would even say happy birthday to you we actually have a little cupcake with a candle in the studio

00:01:01.780 today you can actually watch this on youtube by the way yeah this video um and make your first

00:01:08.600 wish of the of the year what do i wish for oh my god thank you this is so beautiful

00:01:14.620 yay it's like some asmr perhaps yeah the candle blow the candle blow thank you oh my god i feel

00:01:24.080 so spoiled it's a little berry velvet cupcake little berry velvet cupcake that we got this

00:01:30.840 morning and i'm going to have that later yeah that's that's something for later leave that

00:01:35.800 later no thank you so much i'm feeling so good today yeah i haven't had any birthday blues yet

00:01:41.280 but I feel like being 29 was actually so hard yeah in so many different ways like I live a

00:01:49.660 lovely life but it was um I just feel like there's so much pressure leading up to your 30th it's like

00:01:55.680 it's the end of the decade and like you're 30 and this morning I woke up and I my sister called me

00:02:02.840 and she was like do you feel any different lol like kind of you know what that's just what you

00:02:06.980 say and I was like I actually do I feel better I feel lighter I know it's like obviously a fun day

00:02:13.200 and we've got a fun day planned after this we're going for lunch we're going to sense of self

00:02:16.960 Laurie's taking me out for dinner I think I'm just it feels like a new era and a new decade

00:02:21.860 it literally is a new decade genuinely something so like light and glowy about you

00:02:26.100 like they're like you genuinely feel different in a way yeah it's like a really beautiful way

00:02:32.720 i don't know what it is well it's funny because you're going from your late 20s like finishing

00:02:38.220 a chapter to becoming a baby again in like the new decade like you're the youngest 30 year old

00:02:43.280 out there you're the youngest person ever i that's how i feel too like 29 it's like crawling

00:02:49.900 and people like make the most for your 20s like one year left lots of pressure i felt like i was

00:02:55.740 crawling to the finish line of something and this morning i've woken up and i'm like i'm at the

00:02:59.600 starting line and like I feel like I'm more myself I know what I want I know what I'm going to put up

00:03:04.600 with and I have woken up feeling even more excited to like really go after my dream it's like this is

00:03:11.140 go time now it's always been go time but like it's really go time I don't know I feel it it's

00:03:16.540 literally radiating off you this is so nice so nice I had a beautiful morning yeah with my best

00:03:22.540 friend Emma she took me out for brekkie with her and her little baby had brekkie and a coffee and

00:03:27.760 then now I get to do this which doesn't even feel like work like so so nice and yeah we've got a

00:03:34.680 fun day planned so thank you for the warm messages and I'm very lucky yay I can't stop beaming it's

00:03:41.180 like it's my birthday but I'm so happy and we're both in our jumpers cozy vibes it's so wintry

00:03:47.860 here in Melbourne and I literally got drenched if you're watching this on camera I have a slick

00:03:52.840 back today which I never normally do because I got drenched on the way here I forgot to pack my

00:03:58.960 umbrella it's in my other handbag I just packed a brand new bag today winter vibes all around yeah

00:04:02.800 I actually went back for my umbrella that I left at the bus stop because I'm quite attached to this

00:04:08.000 umbrella so like came to the studio all the way then realized I forgot it went halfway back to

00:04:13.960 where I was it was only an extra like 30 minute trip to do so but I I'm attached and when you're

00:04:20.680 umbrella-less it's as a whole there's an umbrella shaped hole in my heart but 30 minutes for an

00:04:26.700 umbrella that is commitment thank you and I realized because I was going to be like I'll

00:04:30.380 just leave it because I lose things quite a lot but I don't want to treat these things as like

00:04:34.480 disposable or whatever I do want to care for my items and like I think it's good that I'm a bit

00:04:40.800 attached to it because it shows I care and we don't have this throwaway culture even though

00:04:45.860 Loki I bought this umbrella in Japan and while I was in Japan I lost it so this is the second one

00:04:50.240 i've actually re-bought so but yeah it shows that you value it which is so nice especially for

00:04:55.700 something as like menial as an umbrella one thing sorry sad note about umbrellas okay yeah why

00:05:01.960 have umbrellas not been updated in like a hundred years wait wait that's so funny because did you

00:05:08.060 know that the small umbrellas like the ones that like go it's sucking together not just like the

00:05:13.420 long ones that was actually invented by an australian woman really it was a player watch

00:05:18.680 I can't tell you any more ideas like things oh and then secondly to that I actually have more

00:05:22.740 umbrella law when I was in China the umbrellas there are so much smarter they look the same

00:05:27.300 but it like kind of collects the water like it looks exactly the same but it collects the water

00:05:32.760 so it doesn't drip everywhere and you can kind of like pour it out kind of thing yeah I don't know

00:05:36.960 why we don't have that here I just think like everything else in our lives is like techified

00:05:41.080 except for umbrellas okay so you want an AI umbrella babes yeah what's it gonna do like

00:05:46.000 whisper things in your ear like in the aquamarine starfish earrings or something i don't know it's

00:05:50.240 just a thought okay we love that thought thank you for the umbrella tangent first little pop

00:05:56.220 culture tidbit of the day taylor swift has written a song for toy story 5 how do we feel about this

00:06:02.480 you and i cared so little that we didn't even send this to each other why would we care i would never

00:06:08.400 fangirl about this well i think we care because we are swifties yes and it's pop culture so we

00:06:13.380 should care but I just don't care my first thought was like it feels so loudy sorry why I wonder why

00:06:20.860 she's done like okay creative license of like working with a beloved franchise yes and it is

00:06:27.940 beloved it is very beloved I think with all the talk around her at the moment of all the variants

00:06:33.320 of her already life of a showgirl it's an interesting move yeah to me it just reads like

00:06:38.320 is a cheesy thing to do but I do like the way that this story came about like when she announced

00:06:45.400 this on Instagram she said it's a toy story like it's a love story you knew it my new original

00:06:51.020 song I knew it I knew you for Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5 will be yours on June 5. I've always

00:06:58.500 dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I've adored since I was five years old

00:07:02.420 watching the first Toy Story movie. I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was

00:07:07.220 lucky enough to see it in its early stages and i wrote this song as soon as i got home from the

00:07:11.780 screening sometimes you just know right so it does feel kind of organic at least that's what

00:07:16.940 we're being told she wrote the song with longtime collaborator jack antonoff and it's going to mark

00:07:23.040 a return to the country genre which i'm really excited about i love country tale swift and it

00:07:28.040 was inspired by jesse the cowgirl character controversial though because what you could be

00:07:35.980 like jesse the cowboy is mega look we can't have anything these days no controversial it's for

00:07:45.460 jesse because in toy story 2 jesse also has an original song yeah the best called when she loved

00:07:51.540 me by sarah mclaughlin the saddest song i reckon it's like up there with like one of the saddest

00:07:58.940 scenes of a children's movie it's basically when jesse's owner is like getting older and there's

00:08:06.680 like a montage where she gets older older older and jesse is like under the bed getting dust on

00:08:12.160 her and it's just so and it's like such a beautiful tragic song so she's got some big cowgirl boots to

00:08:19.580 fill with another jesse original i think it's going to be not as sad as when she loved me

00:08:25.040 but I think it's gonna be a sadder song a little game because this song will be out by the time

00:08:31.660 this episode is out we know it's called I knew it I knew you I think we should give it a shot

00:08:36.860 how's it gonna go I feel like it's gonna be almost like a pop country ballad not super tragic like

00:08:45.440 when she loved me or so long London or something but kind of like I knew you I knew all along that

00:08:51.160 you were my friend or something so do I just sing yeah yeah I think we should just like the trend

00:08:55.980 the title okay let's try because I knew it I knew you something like that like that vibe

00:09:04.360 like upbeat but like heartfelt lyrics okay I'm thinking way more chill like but like more

00:09:11.220 Disney-ified like theater kid almost being like I knew it I knew you no no let me do that again

00:09:19.920 a redo because it was pitchy like what am I trying to say like something like

00:09:24.660 die I got stage fright okay one more time I knew it and I knew you something like that sorry that

00:09:34.460 was so bad I promise I'm better I'm picturing like a high action like friendship scene where

00:09:39.320 they're like I don't know running around like having fun but it's like we're best friends and

00:09:44.180 I love you so much like that okay wait I see your vision yeah and stay tuned we'll find out

00:09:49.220 Should we put money on this on Toy Story 5? 0.98

00:10:00.900 Phoebe Bridges has been playing a string of phone-free pop-up shows 1.00

00:10:04.780 across small cities and college towns across the US,

00:10:07.980 playing both familiar and unreleased music.

00:10:10.820 I actually didn't know about this,

00:10:13.200 and I think it's actually because they weren't allowed to record

00:10:17.060 or take photos at the concerts.

00:10:19.220 There you go.

00:10:19.880 Underground culture.

00:10:21.260 What broke through this though and what I did see this week

00:10:24.340 was that she was putting on another phone-free show

00:10:26.900 but the tickets are only $1 and it's at Madison Square Gardens.

00:10:33.060 Financially, how does that work?

00:10:34.380 Like Madison Square Gardens is a massive venue,

00:10:36.880 like one of the biggest music venues in New York.

00:10:40.420 So true.

00:10:41.760 Like is she covering the cost?

00:10:43.260 And she's so indie vibes. 0.87

00:10:44.940 Yeah. 0.89

00:10:45.800 Like she's not a Taylor Swift who could do that.

00:10:47.280 Well, I don't know, actually.

00:10:49.660 That's a good question.

00:10:50.200 I did not even think about that.

00:10:52.000 What I do know about the tickets is that it's like a balloting process

00:10:55.520 because obviously these tickets are in high demand.

00:10:58.080 So it's randomly distributed, kind of like a marathon.

00:11:02.180 And this concept will have actually happened by the time this episode has come out.

00:11:06.080 But it's caused a lot of talk online, I think mainly because that it is completely phone free.

00:11:12.740 So proceeds from the tickets are actually going to go to the Community Justice Exchange Immigration Bond Freedom Fund, it's a long name, which helps secure the release of people from ICE detention while they navigate the legal proceedings.

00:11:27.240 So very, very important cause in the US at the moment.

00:11:29.860 And the event info says, per the artist's request, no recording devices will be allowed at the event, including but not limited to no cell phones, no cameras, no tablets, no laptops, no smartwatches, no Bluetooth enabled headphones.

00:11:44.800 Upon arrival, small devices will be secured in pouches that will be unlocked at the end of the event.

00:11:50.080 We appreciate your cooperation in creating a device free viewing experience.

00:11:53.460 you experienced this recently spoke about it on tiktok as well um at audrey hobart's melbourne

00:11:59.760 concert at the forum yes at that concert it was the last song of hers she asked everybody to put

00:12:06.180 away their phones and this is something that she often does so most people were like we're doing

00:12:09.900 it already before she announced it and she does it with one of her biggest songs but the thing is

00:12:14.280 she plays that song maybe two songs before that and everyone's like allowed to film it or whatever

00:12:20.000 and then she on calls it without phones and it was such a beautiful experience because I think

00:12:26.840 people were just letting go being present really relishing in that moment rather than

00:12:32.040 thinking about what it's going to look like on a camera so when I hear about something like

00:12:37.320 Phoebe Bridges's concert I'm like that would be just such a lovely wholesome experience and just

00:12:45.040 so special because every concert is unique one of a kind but it that feeling is amplified when

00:12:50.460 you don't have any recording devices yes I also find that the culture of recording concerts can

00:12:58.600 sometimes ruin it like especially when they're doing a world tour the artist is doing a world

00:13:02.380 tour like I purposely avoided Lady Gaga's Mayhem Ball videos when they would come up on my feed

00:13:08.160 because I was like I also don't look at set lists before shows because I'm like I want to be in the

00:13:12.700 moment I want to be like oh what song's next or like I know that like I don't know where she's

00:13:17.100 gonna come out of the stage from or like which uh dancers are dancing on stage at what time

00:13:23.020 um do you do that or are you more like a planner who's like I want to see the set list

00:13:27.400 no I often don't see the set list and I like that kind of mystique and I feel like that's

00:13:32.640 what makes a concert special like this Phoebe Bridges one it's like an inner circle private

00:13:37.520 club like if you've been you know yeah and that creates something so nice and intimate with her

00:13:42.520 fans she's also not the only artist that does this there's actually so many that have previously

00:13:47.740 I want to focus on two examples from this year though so Fred again in London in February

00:13:53.500 staff placed a small black sticker with the show's location and date on it over fans

00:14:00.220 smartphones camera lenses so that's what we see in a lot of nightclubs in Europe as well like

00:14:05.220 Bergheim do that which is pretty cool have you ever been to an event in Melbourne where they've

00:14:09.280 because sometimes i've seen at like event launches like people talking about like oh my camera got

00:14:14.240 blacked out but i've never been to one i've not been cool enough harry styles also for his one

00:14:20.700 night in manchester in february um people got a disposable camera which is cute with 20 um shots

00:14:27.660 like in it and they also asked attendees to put their phones in a recyclable smart bag these bags

00:14:33.920 are so interesting because i've never used it right because what happens it still allows people

00:14:38.300 to use their phones like basic settings through the bag but not their camera like function isn't

00:14:44.380 that so cool how does that work i don't know some sort of tech stuff i haven't had a chance to watch

00:14:50.400 one night in manchester yet it's on netflix but i thought it was really cool that we didn't get to

00:14:55.140 see any like videos from the crowd it was only like released on netflix within like was a day

00:15:01.480 or two of the concert actually happening and i think people are just craving more of those

00:15:07.540 experiences like people want to be told which is what you said in your tiktok right like people

00:15:11.180 want to be told or like want an excuse to get off their phones it's almost you have to opt into this

00:15:17.880 collective agreement that we are not going to be on our phones otherwise if you're if you're

00:15:23.080 because other people might argue you can just choose not to be your phone on your phone at a

00:15:27.260 concert but you can still experience that FOMO but once it's a collective agreement where you

00:15:33.440 almost trusting one another then it creates something special to that point about harry

00:15:38.480 styles and not watching the doco i haven't seen it either and i actually think this proves a point

00:15:42.800 we don't necessarily want to watch a concert being replayed on a screen we want to be there

00:15:48.780 so it's so much more special to be at that concert yes i did not watch the eras tour

00:15:54.520 disney plus show before i went to the show i don't even know if i've watched after because

00:15:59.700 i'm like i have such good memories of like actually being there but understanding accessibility for

00:16:05.680 people who might live regionally or who can't attend those concerts for various different

00:16:10.120 reasons i think there is a place for as well for sure

00:16:13.060 have you noticed that so many movies and tv shows have the same villain right now in a piece titled

00:16:29.600 bogeyman of the moment why every tv show seems to have the same villain for the age michael

00:16:35.600 lallo makes a claim that ai is a villain we're all seeing everywhere right now michael references

00:16:40.980 the tv shows hacks the comeback abbott elementary rooster morning wars the capture and paradise

00:16:48.300 and notes that they've all explored the potentially quote sinister consequences of

00:16:53.580 this ai technology michael says some are light-hearted comedies while others are political

00:16:58.620 thrillers but all of them are making a villain of AI. I noticed this trend in kids movies over the

00:17:06.280 last like five years that so many of them were focusing on like robots and future and technology

00:17:12.200 kind of what our what WALL-E was for our generation I guess there's like a dozen new movies that are

00:17:19.860 kind of tackling similar eco-climate anxiety as well as this like tech AI stuff at the same time

00:17:26.620 have you seen that yeah well going back to um toy story 5 the plot of the new toy story movie

00:17:33.020 is that the what do you even call them analog toys like physical toys are competing with

00:17:39.560 electronics like ipads and video games so i think that's interesting that's being explored in the

00:17:45.960 franchise the toy story franchise so true in this age article michael like pulls out these examples

00:17:52.340 So in Morning Wars, the character Stella Back is a media conglomerate CEO who embraces AI to stay

00:17:58.780 ahead, but only for her lookalike chatbot to go rogue and destroy her reputation, lol. In Hacks, 0.99

00:18:05.780 the superstar comedian Deborah Vance is tempted by a lucrative offer from a tech bro who wants 0.89

00:18:11.560 to use her material and voice to train his AI program, but then she realizes that she doesn't 0.77

00:18:16.300 want to do that. I want to play the clip that is kind of going viral at the moment from Hacks,

00:18:22.340 where the characters are talking to an AI tech CEO executive person

00:18:26.740 and basically saying, like, how people don't want it

00:18:30.140 and why they're trying to push it on us.

00:18:32.660 Yes.

00:18:33.280 AI is here and it's here to stay.

00:18:35.920 So you either get on board or you get left in the past.

00:18:38.520 See, that is a big part of why I hate it, this forced inevitability.

00:18:44.660 People like you are always saying that it's happening

00:18:46.980 whether you like it or not, but you're the ones making it happen, okay?

00:18:50.840 and you could easily stop it if people could say that they didn't want it but you don't want to

00:18:54.640 give people a choice so you just say oh the train's already on the tracks and you don't let

00:18:58.760 people decide for themselves i think it's obvious why this content is out there there's so much

00:19:04.460 fatigue and fear around ai especially from creatives and when creatives are the ones

00:19:09.880 creating these pieces of art no wonder it's front of mind and no wonder they're essentially

00:19:14.860 pushing a message of sorts in a way i'm finding the fact that the villains in these tv shows and

00:19:20.640 movies are ai as a good sign because it means that the people the executives and the people in the

00:19:28.980 writing rooms still have a voice and power to be kind of pushing against it and like critiquing it

00:19:37.640 whereas if it was like there's only ai executives in the room and like all the scripts are being

00:19:43.860 written with ai there wouldn't be that critique of it so in a way i'm like this is good that

00:19:49.580 tv and like if people are watching it there shows an appetite people are agreeing with it like this

00:19:54.800 hacks thing going viral as well I think that's a heartwarming sign to me that humans and creatives

00:20:02.620 are pushing back against this tech I do wonder though that there is we feel it ourselves the

00:20:11.340 difference between like working in the staff room with like your peers versus the higher-ups the

00:20:17.500 C-suites who actually don't care right they're there to make money and often these are the people

00:20:22.400 who are pushing AI pushing big tech so they get to potentially benefit financially from these I

00:20:31.560 guess more progressive ideas but they might not hold it right or we can see two things happening

00:20:36.320 at once where people are putting out content that is vehemently like anti-AI but behind the scenes

00:20:42.700 we know the truth like the AI is being pushed more and more regularly and oftentimes it's a reason

00:20:48.460 for redundancies too. Another AI conversation was brought up between you and I this week which I

00:20:54.860 think is so cool. We are seeing a wave of new art and creatives pushing for human-made art and one

00:21:04.800 producer Adam Faze shared on Twitter a really cool idea. He actually hosted a birthday party and

00:21:12.340 told his friends to leave their phones at home and he had a sketch artist come in for the night

00:21:18.160 and like capture the scenes. The art was by Madeline Goddard and we'll post it on socials

00:21:23.920 so you can have a look at yourself and link it in the show notes but I thought it was such a fun and

00:21:28.240 cute idea. It's so sweet and there's something very special about the works of art that have

00:21:34.200 been created from these moments. I love seeing people really lean into skill building right

00:21:39.900 because these things take time that's the whole point that's why it's hard to do like that's why

00:21:44.560 you know drawing and creating it doesn't just take an idea which is what ai wants you to believe but

00:21:49.980 it actually takes you to practice to spend time on it to labor over it to be bad at it to then

00:21:55.660 perhaps be good you posted a tiktok as well this week about hobby maxing you went to a ballet class

00:22:00.600 yes i actually feel very conflicted about that term i've actually said in the past at least

00:22:06.160 internally that i don't like the use of these like 4chan uh manosphere terms and how they're

00:22:14.560 being brought into the mainstream like looks maxing right and i think i was doing it because

00:22:18.700 i'm like oh hobby maxing ha ha ha but sorry that was a very random tangent but yes i am wanting to

00:22:25.660 embrace more hobbies this year you actually said to me i think last week that i should take up

00:22:31.600 piano lessons yes I did it when I was like 14 um and then gave it up because I was more interested

00:22:37.140 in boys but babes but you said that you think it would be really good for me so I actually started

00:22:43.160 googling piano lessons the other night I couldn't find any in my area so many people like we'll come

00:22:48.460 to you but I was like oh my gosh I I'm really digging on google to like find a place that's

00:22:54.080 like within a five kilometer I guess maybe 10 kilometer radius of where I live so that I can

00:23:00.100 go there and be like on this night yes doing piano lessons but I do think it's nice to invest

00:23:05.760 in something like that I can't wait for this for you because you're so musically inclined you love

00:23:10.680 music and I personally love playing piano and it's one of my favorite things to do

00:23:15.100 and I see this for you so fingers crossed we find you a place

00:23:19.260 two gen z horror directors are the talk of the internet this month creating conversations about

00:23:34.000 a new era of filmmaking yep back rooms and obsession are topping box offices around the

00:23:40.240 world and creating headlines for being directed by two gen z's famously we aren't horror fans here

00:23:46.660 at culture club but we are fascinated by this shift and rise in popularity in our movies it's

00:23:52.660 almost making me watch these movies i said to laurie this week i really want to watch this

00:23:57.460 movies for like the cultural impact but i'm scared will you watch with me we'll see variety noted that

00:24:04.040 the past weekend has created a tectonic shift in hollywood that sent quote shockwaves across the

00:24:09.920 industry and that is Backrooms which was produced for around 10 million dollars and opened with 81

00:24:17.220 million dollars. It's smashing records for A24 as well as Obsession which was made with a budget of

00:24:23.780 only 750,000 dollars and it's grossed 26.4 million in its third weekend of release. That's wild I

00:24:32.220 can't believe Obsession was created using under a million dollars like that's very unheard of

00:24:37.060 for a hollywood film it's actually smashing um star wars which is released seventh movie this

00:24:43.020 week and it's tumbled 70 in its second weekend and it's the lowest ever opening weekend for a

00:24:49.560 star wars film under disney and i think that's why we want to talk about it too is because

00:24:52.900 these are two indie independent horror movies that are smashing the big studios yeah let's first

00:24:59.660 talk about back rooms i find this story so fascinating because it actually originated

00:25:04.280 from the internet this whole idea stemmed from a photo that was posted to 4chan and it was this

00:25:12.220 post of like a low-grade photo of like a slightly tilted yellowing office space it just looks eerie

00:25:19.920 right the the prompt was like show us an eerie space from that people started adding to the law

00:25:26.860 of this space so this is a concept called creepypasta creepypasta is like a horror related

00:25:33.500 legend that's been shared around the internet yeah it's like slender man who started as an

00:25:40.320 internet law and then has gone through different formats and gone into the mainstream as well

00:25:46.280 yeah so back in 2022 the director of the movie backrooms Kane Parsons was just a teenager he was

00:25:54.240 a teenage boy and he made a short film after seeing this pic the youtube video he uploaded

00:25:59.280 it's called the back rooms bracket found footage it is incredible what he did he made it in a month

00:26:06.320 and in like two days it hit millions and millions of views on youtube yes on youtube it became a

00:26:14.380 20 episode web series and then it turned into what is this movie when he was 16 years old he

00:26:21.620 was approached to make this film what it's crazy i saw um you know the it's almost like a barb

00:26:28.280 Oppenheimer moment of like back rooms and obsession I did a bit of digging and I was like

00:26:32.160 Maggie this guy is 20 years old he was born in 2005 I know it's cooked so I was like that's also

00:26:39.340 why I was like I'm so intrigued by this let's go into the actual plot line of this movie now

00:26:44.700 it follows Clark who is a middle-aged recently divorced man who owns a strip mall furniture

00:26:50.240 outlet in California one day he's having like a sleepless night he decides to explore the store's

00:26:56.240 basement level showroom and then he like slips through this wall like a ghost like a ghost and

00:27:02.100 he enters this like maze of a like wasteland there's like beige carpets molding yellow wallpaper

00:27:09.080 just like again very eerie vibe he explores he even hires a team to help him explore it and then

00:27:16.880 he goes missing so his therapist who's played by Renat Reinsfer enters the back room to try and

00:27:22.980 find him and it ends up trapped in this liminal space so it's very much like sci-fi thriller

00:27:31.540 psychological thriller moment meanwhile obsession is more of a supernatural kind of gory horror

00:27:38.860 written and directed by 26 year old curry barker so curry is also a youtuber turned director and

00:27:45.940 obsession is a new take on the classic like be careful what you wish for yeah in this research

00:27:50.420 I learned a new phrase for me, monkey paw, which refers to a situation where a wish or desire is

00:27:57.100 granted, but at like a terrible, ironic or unintended cost. So a little bit of background

00:28:02.680 on Curry. He was 18 when he formed the sketch comedy group, That's a Bad Idea, with a New York

00:28:09.160 Film Academy classmate. They then uploaded their videos to YouTube and TikTok. He also wrote a

00:28:15.160 horror short the chair that went viral on youtube in 2023 it attract 5.5 million views and a deal

00:28:22.340 with t-shop productions and this is where he pitched obsession so it is a similar trajectory

00:28:28.020 of like young guys creative like creating their own stuff putting it on a youtube platform

00:28:34.380 getting found and that's how they have been gone on to make movies i actually love hearing this i

00:28:40.640 know it sounds a bit neoliberal being like anyone can pursue their dreams if they just work hard

00:28:45.520 enough right and I know that's not true but it is freaking cool to see people get interested in

00:28:51.400 something get obsessed with it learn skills make things and just like do the thing yeah no it sounds

00:28:57.880 like girl boss for me but like yeah I agree and obviously like there's a lot of privilege in this

00:29:02.840 like they're young white American guys but I think that's why I was so excited to talk about as well

00:29:08.260 it's really refreshing especially in an era where we are seeing like the gap between creative and

00:29:14.680 working class people and the c-suite executives like we're talking about earlier widen and widen

00:29:19.220 it's harder to find that middle ground i think it's a nice heartwarming story for like the film

00:29:25.820 and culture industries it's true let's talk about the plot of obsession at our book club last week

00:29:31.320 we actually talked to a lot of our friends who went and saw their big horror buffs and we got

00:29:35.760 them to explain the whole plot like front to the end because i love hearing the story but it's very

00:29:41.260 very scary to actually watch i need to tell everybody as well our friends were like explaining

00:29:47.220 the plot and maggie was like don't i'm so scared to stop but then like they kept going and at one

00:29:52.440 point she turned to me and our friend grace and she's like guys i literally have goosebumps like

00:29:56.220 just hearing the plot let alone seeing any of it i'm an empath i know poor thing so let's talk

00:30:03.900 about it so follows the main character bear who is suffering from some unrequited love and has

00:30:09.400 intense feelings towards his childhood friend nikki nikki might be receptive to his feelings

00:30:14.780 but we never get to find out because bear is too cowardly to tell her the truth after visiting 0.96

00:30:20.720 like kind of a woo-woo new age store bear picks up a gift called the one wish willow and makes 0.90

00:30:27.180 a choice that instead of giving the gift to nikki he's going to snap it and wish that nikki would 0.89

00:30:32.900 love him quote more than anyone else in the world the wish immediately begins and from that moment

00:30:39.440 on nikki is just madly in love with bear and then we realize that something is deeply wrong with

00:30:46.760 nikki yeah i my introduction to this movie was like a tiktok clip of like her at the restaurant

00:30:52.620 and it's just like no no like it's just it's intense acting and it's so like not quite right

00:31:00.140 like something's wrong right it's a bit uncanny valley it she there's something so sinister about

00:31:05.620 the way she's acting like it doesn't feel like almost human in a way big shout out to the actress

00:31:10.580 who plays nikki indy never it she's getting such high praise for her acting ability our producer

00:31:17.760 audio producer in the room jayden was saying that um she was speaking in an interview talking about

00:31:23.440 how she's done some like she incorporated some like hip-hop like almost like popping and locking

00:31:27.780 as part of her physical manifestations of her acting and I will say again not a spoiler but

00:31:34.780 our friends at book club were like there's a scene where she's like scuttering around the room

00:31:39.060 and that has stayed with me that's like the scariest part to me. So why is horror so popular

00:31:44.380 at the moment? I will say boyfriend Tom has always had this hypothesis that what comedy movies were

00:31:52.400 to gen x's horror movies are to gen z's the one of the um theories he posits is that like at some

00:32:00.740 certain time hollywood really just stopped making the comedy movies that they made in like the 90s

00:32:05.100 early 2000s like think about adam sandler movies right that kind of fell off the track even the

00:32:10.340 2010s like super bad 22 jump street like they are golden era comedies so why do we think it's

00:32:17.160 switched? I think society's switched. I think it's like a post-pandemic thing. I think it's so

00:32:22.520 interesting that Kane is exploring liminal space, getting lost, the world kind of being turned

00:32:29.560 upside down when he was in peak adolescent development during COVID. This reminds me of

00:32:37.140 an ABC article I read. This is from a few years back, but it talks about this. So one, horror has

00:32:44.080 always been primarily aimed at young people but you're right these past few years things have

00:32:50.400 felt differently in the article the writer interviews um like a horror critic and filmmaker

00:32:55.700 who's you know gen z and they were literally like being born post 9 11 in a world where we've never

00:33:01.260 really been necessarily safe i think can cause a lot of anxiety um and then this person who lives

00:33:06.960 in america was like yeah i literally grew up thinking that school shootings like it could

00:33:10.500 happen to me any day right well gen z are called doomers right so i think this is a manifestation

00:33:17.680 of the world that they grew up in yeah weirdly though in the piece they refer to this peer

00:33:24.780 reviewed research published back in 2021 and it actually said that horror fans exhibited less

00:33:30.760 psychological distress during the pandemic so it's almost like a prepping thing right like you're

00:33:35.880 preparing yourself to deal with like the worst things ever in terms of like watching horror

00:33:40.740 movies that maybe you're more well equipped to deal with your actual life your jaw's open

00:33:45.060 you're like I'm like way well because that's why I don't like horror movies because I think

00:33:50.340 I don't want to be stressed I don't want to be like feel fear feel scared have adrenaline running

00:33:56.640 through my body when I'm supposed to be like relaxing or consuming something or switching

00:34:02.980 off i don't enjoy it i try to push myself i think being married to laurie who's a huge movie fan

00:34:08.800 has helped expand my horizons of movies that's really interesting that horror fans experience

00:34:16.800 less psychological distress during the pandemic yeah also in the study um people described as

00:34:22.340 quote morbidly curious we're more resilient in general and i think i understand why because

00:34:28.380 you're right we live in such a chaotic scary time but when somebody chooses themselves and like has

00:34:34.260 control and chooses to opt in to watch a horror movie you have some semblance of power and control

00:34:39.860 there right whereas the real world feels chaotic and like you don't have a choice to opt in i was

00:34:44.820 getting some commentary on twitter this week from fans of the genre and some users were saying a lot

00:34:52.560 of movies right now are about dealing with distorted reality or not believing what you're

00:34:56.660 seeing. Backrooms, Obsession, Iron Lung, wonder what could possibly be going on in the zeitgeist

00:35:02.700 that has people feeling like they can't trust what they're seeing. Another said, having seen

00:35:07.080 both films, I noticed they both tackle themes of loneliness, which is increasingly relevant in a

00:35:12.080 post-COVID social media saturated world. The success of both of them says a lot about what

00:35:17.520 the younger generation is feeling. There's something powerful, I think, about seeing

00:35:22.080 your biggest emotions your biggest fears on a screen that you are watching with other people

00:35:27.240 I feel like that shows like you are not alone in feeling like this way or they're scared

00:35:31.340 there's something quite human about that experience another reason that horror could

00:35:36.540 be so popular at the moment is its budget constraints so movies like comedies or dramas

00:35:44.040 can cost more but when you have these like lo-fi indie youtube creators who can make

00:35:49.980 something out of essentially nothing then that is another reason why there's like more of them

00:35:54.840 being made basically a cost of living crisis in the film industry so in the article to youtube

00:36:01.760 and beyond how online gen z directors stormed hollywood by jesse hasinger for the guardian

00:36:07.000 they say that quote for a while the more whimsical or irreverent superhero movies served as a comedy

00:36:12.700 substitute now horror and comedy natural bedfellows in their desire to produce a visceral reaction

00:36:18.140 are sharing that space, and horror has often thrived with up-and-coming voices from outside

00:36:23.600 the Hollywood system with its less risky budgets. Also in an article for Variety,

00:36:29.040 Why YouTubers Are Turning Hollywood Upside Down by Marlo Stern, they interview the co-producer

00:36:34.780 of Backrooms, James Wan, who's also the man behind some other incredible low-budget that

00:36:40.620 have turned into amazing franchise horror films, Saw, Insidious, Conjuring, and The Meghan

00:36:45.920 franchises. He told Variety, quote, the YouTube generation has finally come of age. They grew up

00:36:52.660 creating their own content with no money and just by being as creative as possible, this spirit ends

00:36:58.380 up fostering a new wave of filmmakers and storytellers. He continues, every generation we

00:37:04.440 see young people shoot and experiment with short films but the big advantage today's generation has

00:37:10.140 is technology right at their fingertips. As you can tell by this segment, there's a lot to talk

00:37:15.160 about with horror and despite the fact that we haven't seen these films we're so keenly invested

00:37:20.080 and interested i actually think we have to bite the bullet and see one of them i think let's do

00:37:24.960 it okay let's challenge ourselves and we'll report back to the podcast when we watch them yeah but

00:37:30.120 i'm watching it with my husband i think i can watch back rooms you can take obsession no i

00:37:34.120 actually want to see obsession more but i'm too scared okay i'll try both great we'll report back

00:37:41.700 it's now time for bookmarked where we share something we've loved watching reading or

00:37:55.280 listening to this week what do you have for us i'm switching things up with a music recommendation

00:38:00.060 which i rarely do but i want to shout out a deluxe album release that i have been putting

00:38:07.620 on repeat a lot recently and that is teen jesus and the gene teasers glory album wait did you say

00:38:15.140 that right yeah it's teen jesus and the gene teasers that's such a hard name oh have you not

00:38:19.600 heard of them yeah yeah but can you say it again of course so the band is called gene g no the band

00:38:26.960 is called teen jesus and the gene teasers okay like a fun a fun playing words and the album is

00:38:32.560 called Glory and it's a deluxe release I'm talking about so I love this band they're Australian I've

00:38:38.280 listened to them on and off for a few years and I've seen them at festivals they're made up of

00:38:43.020 women and non-binary people there's four of them they're so cool and they're very fun it's like pop

00:38:49.040 punk very Aussie and their deluxe release is great there's a few new singles but they also

00:38:55.180 released a few stripped back versions of their songs I think my favorite song again it's not new

00:39:01.300 but i've been loving it is daylight and i feel like it's a great like early 2000s rom-com movie

00:39:07.880 moment vibe like that's where i'm seeing it so that's my record for the week cute i've heard

00:39:14.740 of them seen them around but have never really listened i will say when i played them in the car

00:39:20.940 for us in cook island you were like whoa they sound so aussie yeah i think just the accents

00:39:28.000 yeah so like that's not a bad thing though no but sometimes I find it funny when you can hear like

00:39:33.180 I love it they really thick Australian accent I love it what is your recommendation for the week

00:39:39.020 I'm kind of doing a backwards recommendation because the only things I've been consuming

00:39:43.340 have been finishing season two of The Pit and watching Rivals which I already recommended

00:39:48.220 so this weekend Laurie and I are going away to the country for my birthday weekend we are spending

00:39:55.380 three days in a cabin, there's a fireplace, there's a bath, there's DVDs, barely any reception. I was

00:40:01.000 like, this is all I freaking want. And as a birthday treat to myself, I went to the bookstore

00:40:05.740 and I bought three brand new books, which felt like such a luxury to buy. And I have a little

00:40:11.940 list. So the first book that I bought for this weekend is Tillinghast, which is by Claire

00:40:18.340 Kavanagh. It's a very wintry book, which is what I wanted. It's actually inspired by the real

00:40:24.360 events of the new england vampire panic of the 19th century so it is like a vampire novel and

00:40:31.420 is described as a atmospheric horror that turns like the vampire monster narrative on its head

00:40:38.000 so it's basically a vampire literary fiction novel which sounds right up my alley and the other two

00:40:43.200 that i am bringing strangers by bell burden which we briefly talked about in another episode it's

00:40:49.240 the memoir of marriage uh about bell's actual marriage that broke down and it circles love

00:40:56.840 privilege wealth it's definitely a book that everyone's talking about and i also bought

00:41:02.420 yesteryear by caro claire burke so i definitely went with the more like these are the hottest

00:41:07.260 books of the year but i was getting fomo and i hadn't bought them yet so why not use your

00:41:11.940 birthday yesteryear tells the story of an american trad wife influencer who wakes up in 1855 and i've

00:41:17.900 you either love it or you hate it except for one colleague who was like I didn't mind it like

00:41:22.800 everyone else has been like it was the best book of the year or like I didn't get it but I think

00:41:27.760 that's what happens when there's so much hype around something like great expectations to put

00:41:31.240 on it so I will report back next episode with a wreck of like which one was my favorite I love

00:41:38.300 that but you're giving yourself like a week week timeline that's pretty tight I plan on reading

00:41:43.580 definitely oh yeah one of them exciting for front to back someone i know read strangers in one

00:41:49.660 sitting so i think it's easy to lap up because it's a non-fiction as well so i'm betting strangers

00:41:55.240 i'll do in one sitting good okay well i look forward to seeing what you come back to us with

00:42:01.100 thank you so much listeners for joining us on another episode of culture club we've loved

00:42:05.620 having you here if you enjoyed this episode maybe share it with a friend share on your instagram

00:42:09.660 story and maybe even give us a little rate and review on apple or spotify we really really

00:42:14.840 appreciate it bye

Culture Club - June 08, 2026

Gen Z’s Horror Obsession, Taylor Swift Does Disney & The Rise Of Phone-Free Concerts

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