Hollywood's Last Dance: Time Warner and the Death of the American Dream Machine
So what does the latest Time Warner brouhaha tell us about the state of America? According to Daniel Bessner, host of the American Prestige podcast, it reflects the imminent death of Hollywood itself. Having written a recent Harper’s cover story about “The Life and Death of Hollywood”, Bessner is no stranger to the existential struggle of America’s dream machine. And for Bessner, the latest Netflix-Paramount drama is just one proof point not just of Hollywood’s last dance, but also the imminent crisis of American capitalism. It’s the canary in the coal mine, he argues, about the future of every industry. His apocalyptic take would, of course, make a great movie. The only problem is that Hollywood won’t be around to make it.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Are We Still Fighting the Hundred Years War? Why Joan of Arc, Agincourt, and the Black Death Aren't Quite Dead
From Cancelled Students to Coddled Autocrats: The Crisis of Free Speech in America
The Deliveroo Effect: Why Instant Delivery Politics and Economics Is Harming Democracy and Making Us Miserable
A Giant Crypto Grift: Xbox Chief on His New Blockchain Thriller and Why Web3 Still Matters
An American Epidemic of Speculation: Bubble Blowing in Silicon Valley and Washington DC
Should a College be a Museum or a Startup? Why Universities Need to Teach Failure
American Advocates of Foreign Devils: How Rudy Giuliani and Hunter Biden Sold Access to US Foreign Policy
Sometimes We Need a Calamity: How to Save the American Experiment
The Frankenstein Version of Neo-Liberalism: When American Business Overtook Government
America as a Contradiction Trapped Inside an even Bigger Contradiction: Princeton Historian's Explanation for Everything, Everywhere All at Once
Jeffrey Archer: How Margaret Thatcher would have disciplined a Naughty Donald Trump
Sam Altman's Rigged Imperial Gambit: Too Important to Fail & Too Well-Financed to Go Public
America's Most Wounded Generation: Returning Home after World War II