Anyways, in regards to the podcast itself, I just watched Us this weekend and the only things I left the theater certain of is Jordan Peele and the folks he worked on this film with are incredibly talented, and I wanted to watch and listen to tons of critisism of the film. I’m not going to lie, the ending blindsighted even if I should have seen it coming a mile away, and while I was starting to feel bad for the tethered in the third act I can’t say I had much of an idea what social commentary this film was making.
Hearing the waypoint staff talk about this film was just as eye-opening and fun as I was hoping it would be. In particular the discussion at the end regarding how there isn’t a 1 to 1 Marxist reading on the film was insightful for me, and perhaps why I was having a difficult time making sense of trying to find the allegory in this film.
I will be missing this pod, but then again I still have have the checks notes um… 16 hours of Pride and Prejudice discussions to listen to?
Chucking my voice on the pile for anyone it might matter to at Vice - I love Be Good and Rewatch It, and their Pride & Prejudice series was a highlight of the last month for me, something I listened to the moment it was available every episode. Ditto their Purge series before that, and I’ll listen to this episode on the way home tonight.
Deep dives on culture are where this team excels, and while I think they do an amazing job of contextually relating lots of things to gaming (and I want them to keep doing that), it’s a real treat to let them cut loose on other topics sometimes too. I also want to second Schlabz in saying that Waypoints and BG&RWI are really valuable crossover points for gamers and non-gamers. I’ve referred plenty of people who would never listen to a gaming podcast to both of those sub-shows, and they’ve thanked me for it.
This is one of the smartest teams working in this weird, cool space we all live in, and I’ll keep showing up for just about anything you’ll let them do.
Be Good and Rewatch It never really caught my personal interest but I know it did for a lot of people and it’s a bummer that Waypoint is less free to do neat non-game spin offs for the time being.
I’m glad the EVA (re)watch is still on the table though, that’s what I was looking the most forward to, and I hope you get the avenue to unpack it as much as it probably needs.
I mean, I can imagine some Vice higher-up logging into Waypoint and seeing a bunch of stories about Jane Austen, professional wrestling, football, and anime, and their first response being “hey, don’t we pay you to write about video games?”
That being said, I really love the variety of topics we’ve been seeing from Waypoint. I tune into Waypoint Radio and Be Good and Rewatch it to hear some of the smartest people on the internet have really entertaining conversations, and I’d hate for those conversations to be limited to only video games.
As a Waypoint fan and a criticism nerd, I’m very sad to hear Be Good and Rewatch It will be taking a sudden break, and will be keeping a keen eye out for its triumphant return.
As for Us, I’m so glad a variety of readings were brought to the table. My thoughts during viewing were exclusively “the tethered are the subaltern.” They couldn’t speak, had to live in a facsimile of daily life, and were unseen (and for that matter, subterranean). This really limited my ability to engage with the movie, having believed I’d solved it and becoming frustrated when my understanding did not generate a fulfilling reading. In comes the Waypoint crew with a vibrant discussion and a well presented Marxist reading. Now I have unresolved questions about the movie. The tethered are no longer the literalization of the unseen, but their position in society is not guaranteed - they could remain subaltern despite revolution. This reading is not more optimistic than my own, or necessarily more complete, but it opens a space for understanding the movie less myopically and I am now excited to return to Us and see how my feelings about the work as a whole develop.
Much love to all of you. Not to kick you while you’re down but maybe don’t do a six part series on Pride and Prejudice? I literally only listen to you guys, Vinny Caravella (read: Beastcast), and audiobooks. And I didn’t have the time to make it through most of it despite my best efforts (and chuckling alongside Cado and Austin). You never mentioned where to watch the version of the show you’re talking about and, I don’t know, I guess I should have read the book? It’s a brilliant be good and rewatch series buried under information that I couldn’t find. Please go back to single movies/shows so that I can keep up.
Edit: I want to be clear since I’ve been flagged and never intended any speculation about “why” the series is on hiatus. I love this series but I personally couldn’t get through the Pride and Prejudice 6-parter because it’s locked behind a subscription service instead of a one time payment. When I get a Waypoint podcast push notice I’m always excited but during this particular series I didn’t feel I had access to the conversation because I don’t have an income stable enough to sign up for a proper subscription. [I just backed out of this comment and did a search to see if the series was available for purchase and it is if you expand the results. That’s on me.] My comment was specifically about focusing the show. With the individual films I could rent and watch along, with this series I didn’t feel I could. Apologies to all offended and, again, much love to the Waypoint staff. Also, Rob, your Shift F1 cast rules.
Highly unlikely based on what Austin said near the end of last year. BG&RWI was hitting their growth targets, per the end of the podcast. So presumably they are still going to focus on podcast content but with a topic shift.
Hey all, the mods would just like to remind everyone that the reasons for BG&RI going on hiatus were expressed very clearly on the podcast, and alternate explanations for why BG&RI is going away are not an appropriate topic of conversation here.
I listened to a bit of the first episode (even though I wasn’t interested in Pride & Prejudice), got hooked enough to finish it, and immediately made plans to binge the entire miniseries before the rest of the BG&RWI episodes came out. And it was fantastic, 5 stars! I’m so glad I listened, excited for Us and EVA, and looking forward to whatever unexpected pods you release next
Did they go this whole podcast thinking Santa Cruz is in Southern California?
Alright, re-record this podcast with Danielle on and have her explain why the rathole that is Santa Cruz, CA and it’s dingy boardwalk with its drug coated beach was the perfect tone setter for this movie.
Such a bummer. It feels like all the features I like the most are always getting left behind (BG&RW and game streams, especially XCOM and Stellaris). I love Waypoint Radio and the Waypoints, but so far all the “cancelled” things have been my favorite content from Waypoint so far (I don’t read a lot of articles).
I hope it all gets figured out and Vice lets Waypoint do things their way in the future, whether its about games or not.
Outside of the Savepoint marathon stream happening next week, we unfortunately do not have any plans to resume streaming regularly as of right now. I miss the streams too!
Doubly bummed that the show is going on a hiatus and that I won’t be able to listen to the last one for a while as I’m not going to be able to catch Us in theaters. We’ll meet again, some sunny day.
