Death is a Photograph

Season 1, Gen X — Episode 28 — Brat (1997)

Patreon here. [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod] This week, the DPP lads head east — to the wild years of Russia in the 1990s after the fall of communism. That's right — we're talking about 1997's gangster coming-of-age feature Brat by Aleksei Balabanov [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksei_Balabanov], a film that explores Russia at a turning point: between the drunken post-Communist years of Yeltsin and the rising authoritarianism of Putin. To paraphrase Gramsci — "the crisis consists precisely in the fact that Boris is dying and Vladimir cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear."

Season 1, Gen X — Episode 27 — Sixteen Candles (1984)

DPP ventures into the North Chicago suburbs as it broaches its first John Hughes film — Sixteen Candles (1984). What does adolescence look like in the affluent upper middle classes for Gen X? What role does the family play? What did dating look like for those coming of age in the epoch? Find out in today's episode.

Season 1, Gen X — Episode 26 — House Party (1990)

Patreon here. [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod]  This week, the DPP boys check out Reginald Hudlin's 1990 House Party [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Party_(1990_film)]. The film launched a long-running series of coming-of-age comedies under the House Party title, terminating in 2023. Centring around the exploits of rap duo Kid n' Play, the film did much to introduce hip-hop into the American mainstream. It also foregrounds African American middle-class suburban life on film in a groundbreaking way. Where did the film's subtle hints at pan-Africanism and 1990s affluence lead in the 2000s and 2010s? Find out in today's episode.

Special Episode – Hyperpolitics (2026) w/Anton Jäger

To access the full episode — subscribe to our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod].  In the first of DPP's special book episodes, Sam interviews Oxford politics lecturer and NYT contributing writer Anton Jäger [https://x.com/AntonJaegermm] on his new book: Hyperpolitics (2026, Verso) [https://www.versobooks.com/products/3460-hyperpolitics?srsltid=AfmBOopYUZB5Wc4sLyLqyXbVWML5kkZobmawbVshSiSdz8dIcBMCWFJZ]. Jäger's text is an expansion of two essays: 'From Bowling Alone to Posting Alone [https://jacobin.com/2022/12/from-bowling-alone-to-posting-alone]' (2022) and 'Everything is Hyperpolitical [https://thepointmag.com/politics/everything-is-hyperpolitical/]' (2023). Through an analysis of political change in the late 20th and 21st centuries and the curation of various cultural objects: the novels of Michel Houellebecq and Annie Ernaux, plus the photos of Wolfgang Tillmans, Jäger makes the case for five types of politics immediately before, and after, the 'end of history.' These sequential stages are 1920s-1940s mass politics (high politicisation and high institutionalisation), 1950s institutional politics (medium politicisation and high institutionalisation), 1990s and 2000s post-politics (low politicisation and low institutionalisation), 2010s anti-politics (medium politicisation and low institutionalisation), and, finally, 2020s hyperpolitics (high politicisation and low institutionalisation). Has the 'end of history' really ended — or are the 2020s just a continuation of 1990s deinstitutionalisation with more posting? Find out in today's episode.

Season 1, Gen X — Episode 25 — Fresh Kill (1994)

Patreon is here.  [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod] Today's DPP episode explores the little-known 1994 feature by multi-media artist Jessica Hagedorn – Fresh Kill. Recycling, sushi, yuppies, toxic waste, nameless megacorporations, ethical hacking – Staten Island – Fresh Kill has it all, wrapped up in a dissonant prose-poem of a script. But did the world really turn into the endlessly diffused and globalised set of networks that Hagedorn predicts? Find out in today's episode.