Once an archetype has been constructed, it's really difficult to dismantle it. And one of the prevailing archetypes of the 20th century was that of the American Hero. From World War II to the genre of the Western, the idea of the Great American as someone principled but reluctant to intervene, with a complicated past but a good heart, and setting right a problem not of his own doing is firmly ingrained in our culture. But what is more worthwhile: tearing down the idea of "greatness" in a complicated figure like Abraham Lincoln or doing away with heroes altogether? Jessa and Nico discuss how difficult it is to critique an archetype and why propaganda works.

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In the new book Motherland, Julia Ioffe discusses how the Soviet feminist revolution was state sponsored. During and after 1917, the government mandated several rights that the women hadn't even gotten around really to demanding yet. The result was a kind of trickle down feminism, the opportunity and demand to be equal. It led to advances in women's careers in medicine and the sciences, but entrenched rather regressive gender roles in relationships and society. Because you can't dictate progress from above. Jessa and Nico discuss whether MeToo was another moment of Trickle Down Morality, and how a stupid movie like After the Hunt looks nuanced after such a stilted movement.

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Nico's got that funny feeling again, that the program the United States ran in South America for decades has come home. We talk about the uncanny feeling that has taken over the United States and how it has manifested itself in films, from John Frankenheimer's Seven Days in May to Alan Pakula's Parallax View to Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. When the mirror is reflected only distortion, where does one go?

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In the industrial age, there was a widespread disruption of communities. Traditional methods of charity and redistribution of resources were undermined by the changing policies of the church, the military whims of the government severed trade routes and exchanges of money, and families were scattered as people looked for work. In Charlotte Bronte's Shirley, Caroline Helstone is trying to figure out what to do with her existence as she suffers the disappointment of being prevented from finding vocation. She and the other members of her community find themselves out of work, out of sorts, and in and out of respectable love, and try to make do with what is left over.

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In the creative economy, it is more profitable to be a dead creator than a living working writer. Or that is the lesson learned from the lawsuit the Michael Crichton estate filed against The Pitt. Crichton, who earned a quarter of a billion dollars for his contribution to the NBC show ER -- his contribution being a film script that was later adapted by someone else into a network pilot -- while the actual writers, actors, and crew made considerably less. Jessa and Nico talk about the writers who filed suit against AI, why Basquiat is in his most prolific era yet (37 years after his death), and the curse of the Frida Kahlo Barbie doll.

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One of the bestselling nonfiction books of the moment is a memoir about a wealthy and successful woman dealing with memories of horrific sexual assault by her teacher when she was in middle school. The only problem: her memories were "recovered" in therapy with the use of hallucinogens. Meaning they probably aren't real. And the author just so happens to have a stake in a company that is trying to get hallucinogens approved by the FDA for use in therapy to treat PTSD. Jessa and Nico talk about how the recovered memories craze of the 1980s led to our last great Satanic Panic, why everyone has PTSD now, and why women's media loves wishywashy fake memoirs about sexual assault.

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The political right has been looking for a George Floyd figure, a martyr they can name streets after and get protests around and use to pass sweeping legislation. But they have overplayed their hand with Charlie Kirk's death. Jessa and Nico sort through this cards-on-the-table moment on the right, where everyone is suddenly more sincere about where they stand than usual. So, Ted Cruz, Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson: welcome to the resistance.

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When Cindy Bi hired a surrogate to carry her baby, she neglected to tell her that she had health issues that could put her life in danger. It turns out, she's not required to do so by law. And when the pregnancy went wrong and the child was lost, as reported in Wired Magazine, it opened up a legal, ethical hellmouth. Jessa and Nico discuss the gig economy's takeover of the womb, why the surrogacy industry is powerful yet almost entirely unregulated, and the baby market.

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