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

Special Episode – Gerontocracy in America (2026) w/Samuel Moyn

Patreon and full episode here. [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod] In the second of DPP's special book episodes, Sam and Chase interview Yale Law and History professor Samuel Moyn on his new book Gerontocracy in America: How the Old are Hoarding Power and Wealth – and What to Do About It [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374607647/gerontocracyinamerica/] (2026). For how much longer will the Boomers and Silent Generation rule America? And how does their dominance differ from historical gerontocracies from Sparta to the Soviet Union? What levers does the US government and US democracy actually have to prevent gerontocracy from continuing? Find out in today's episode.

Season 1, Gen X — Episode 29 — Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

Patreon here. [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod] This week, DPP explores the cult film — Tom Green's Freddy Got Fingered (2001). Panned at the time by venerable critics like Roger Ebert — Freddy Got Fingered has only grown in influence in the last two decades, generating a reputation as the ur-Gen X slacker and freak-out comedy. Is this a piece of Dada genius or a symptom of the Hollywood studio system indulging the worst tendencies of a generation? Find out in today's episode.

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.