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Dec 19, 2022·edited Dec 19, 2022

It was a great interview. Very interested in seeing the film.

But, unlike Sarah, I am skeptical of Gen-Z. Very skeptical. I live in a very liberal University town (and worked there for 17 years) so I am awash with the generation. Of course, many are completely amazing, particularly the women of the generation. I have seen the traits Lori talks about in several Gen-Z folks I know. That said, I am not pleased how they vote locally (and elsewhere), their view of free speech (happy to quash voices they don't like - without even listening at all), the amount of sexism that the men show (which is a profound change from the 90s, when most male students I knew were very comfortably feminist) and their lack of empathy and understanding for those who are conservative or, even, moderates. This article lines up, as well, to what I have observed: https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3682216-why-generation-z-might-not-be-as-woke-as-most-think/ I hope the best part of the generation wins out, but I see no evidence that it will. And much evidence to the contrary. Mostly it is their authoritarian streak that I see consistently and worry about the most.

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I enjoyed this but Sarah's lack of ... irreverence made me realise how much I appreciate this podcast's usual choice of guest. I admired how Meghan didn't go there with any of the tricky stuff, I don't think Sarah would have coped well

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Really Meghan? Almost 1.5 hours and barely a mention of cult classic Dawn of the Dead? I imagine that has to be by far Sarah's highest grossing film.

Just kidding, great work as usual.

But I do admit to chuckling at Sarah's straight-face use of "BIPOC", "diversity", "world-ending climate change" and "intersectionality.

And I have to agree with comnenter Robin who noted that Gen Z may be the most censorious in modern American

history. I'm a member of a couple of free speech advocacy groups so I get frequent email alerts detailing the atrocious disregard for free speech and academic freedom on campus ( and increasingly the white collar workplace).

I dont think you are missing much by not being well-acquainted with 25 year olds.

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Dec 18, 2022·edited Dec 18, 2022

Great interview. I've seen Stories We Tell three times. It's a great documentary.

On GenZ -- my kids (boys) are 19 and 22 and they are interesting characters and amazing people. They think it's laughable that my husband and I accrued some consumer debt. They are very invested in never doing so. This generation seems not to be consumerists at all (although my 22-year-old disagrees with me and says they shop just as much as any other generation). They are financially responsible, investors, and savers.

They are informed and curious. My kids know more about what is happening in politics and global events than I do, or ever did. They had to explain to me what was happening in Brazil's elections, for instance.

This generation is probably the most live-and-let-live generation. They are woke in the truest sense of the word. There is no pretending to be tolerant, they just are. I don't know all of the media they are consuming but one of my kids is reading White Noise (before they knew there was a movie) and other older literary fiction. One has read Fredrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (three times so they could understand it) and that leads me to believe they are listening to podcasts that are recommending this title and others like it. They are smart and skeptical. I wouldn't say they are idealistic but this generation is probably going to be the one who saves the world.

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It was not my favorite. Daum has to interview and not push back too much, which I get, but Polley seems like just another (forgive me please) “woke” “elite”. I like that she wants to show they need for discussion with people we don’t agree with on everything. However, and this not verbatim, her attribution to “being at the top of the ladder” to be people pushing back on the identarisnism is as bad as someone rebutting an argument for more diversity to a particular group of people wanting something for nothing.

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Dearest Meghan,

Please pass along my sincerest apologies to "Sarah Polley". I constantly confuse her with "Sarah Paulson".

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I'm listening to this interview a few weeks after you released it, and shaking my head at Polley's delivery of cliches I've heard and read in many places before. "'Cancel culture' is this dog whistle for what really are demands of accountability from people who are not used to being held accountable" or "justice is not always fair to the individual." These lines seem very pleasing to people to whom precarity is something that only ever happens to others -- they're like graceful announcements of their own magnanimity. I appreciate that you asked how she would feel if the "progressive stack" stacked up against her and in a way that meant she could not make a movie she really wanted to make. She led with one of the two magnanimous lines, but really, it seems, she has deep faith that being Sarah Polley would prevail over the recitation of her disqualifying traits ("white woman" being the leading one, probably).

I think I'd feel less bitter had she described her position on #metoo and equity pronouncements in the film industry in language that was actually personal and not made up of repeated cliches. It would have given me more faith that she had actually genuinely thought through these positions and their consequences -- the ones not remotely covered by slogans that are nonetheless real and deeply felt especially by those not famous. It's the repetition, the lack of actual content and individual mark upon the ideas (beyond the well exercised laughter) that makes me think we're in for more grim years.

Thanks for being committed to having a truly diverse set of guests on this podcast. And for being a generous interviewer with all of them.

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Meghan is such a terrific interviewer that I enjoyed this episode even though I find Sarah Polley insufferably woke and humorless.

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founding

What a terrific interview - many thanks!!

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founding
Dec 29, 2022·edited Dec 29, 2022

I watched No Such Thing many years ago and loved it, like all Hal Hartley movies I've seen. I know Sarah said that nobody saw it but I did because I saw "Henry Fool" previously and was bowled over by it. Of course Sarah is fabulous in No Such Thing as always. It's well worth going through Hal Hartley's whole filmography, there's not that many and there's not a single duff one amongst them. You will fall in love with Adrienne Shelly like I did. It still breaks my heart.

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I was introduced to Polley's films at Sundance...I was interviewing for residency and my host took me out on the very cold town!

I'm also such a fan of Stories We Tell.

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