The Podcast for Social Research · The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 14: Things of the Year 2024 — Part II

·1 hr 49 min·5 clips

The Brutalist is called "middle brow schlock" tailored to the Academy.

Episode 14 is the second part of Pop Cultural Marxism's 2024 "things of the year" retrospective. Jason Chaudhry and Izzy Litka return to items they already raised, add several new ones, and also stretch the frame to include older material that still felt worth revisiting. The episode opens with news. David Lynch's death is the first major subject, and the hosts treat it as a sad moment before moving back toward criticism and reconsideration. The conversation stays loose and reflective throughout. Instead of rushing through a checklist, the hosts pause to restate what they have just said and tighten the question they are asking. That gives the episode a talkative, in-the-moment feel. *The Brutalist* becomes the central object of discussion. The hosts talk through reports that AI was used to improve the Hungarian dialogue and to generate drawings shown at the end of the film, and they fold those details into a broader suspicion about authenticity, presentation, and the way cultural objects get packaged. The lobby display around the film matters too. The poster and the surrounding display become part of the critique, because the hosts are interested in how quickly a film gets turned into a landmark before anyone has really settled what it is. The episode keeps looping back on itself. What starts as a year-end retrospective becomes a set of arguments about revision, short shrift, and why some objects deserve another pass. The hosts are comfortable with correction. Small false starts, mid-sentence repairs, and little bursts of irritation stay in the mix, but they work to clarify the argument rather than distract from it. The tone remains conversational. The show sounds like people thinking aloud in public, with enough theory to stay rigorous and enough ordinary speech to keep the listener oriented. The ending is practical and direct. Jason and Izzy say the next episode will likely return to a regular topic or a single object, then ask listeners to subscribe, support BISR, join Patreon, and send email through the show's usual channel. The episode is less about a final verdict than about revisiting, revising, and working through cultural material in public.

As heard by us

A 2024 retrospective that reopens old picks, folds in new ones, and saves its sharpest argument for The Brutalist.

The episode treats a 2024 retrospective as a second pass, not a tidy recap. It returns to earlier picks, adds new ones, and keeps reopening the arguments that still feel worth having, with a David Lynch remembrance at the front.

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Why you'd press play

A year-end retrospective that starts with David Lynch's passing and moves into Brutalist AI, lobby posters, and reconsidered picks.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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