Saturday Night Live is Over?, Beyoncé "Canceled" For Being Happy?, Star Wars Goes Full Jason Bourne?, Predator Prequel a Suprise Hit (The Five for 08/04/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Kicking off with just a bit of personal news…my wife and I welcomed daughter #2 this week, one of the best moments of my life.
I’m pretty stingy with posting personal info online…but both mom and baby are doing great.
As a reminder, The Five will publish 1x week through August, and return to 2x/week in September.
With that being said, let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Keenan Thompson, the longest running cast member on Saturday Night Live, hinted that the groundbreaking sketch comedy show may end in 2025, after season 50.
For much of my life, I was a huge SNL fan, but I have to admit that I only know the name of one cast member currently, Pete Davidson.
It’s too late for the iconic comedy program to go out on top, but perhaps NBC wants to wrap things up before the show goes out dragging along the bottom of the ratings barrel.
Over the past 48 years, SNL has produced an unprecedented number of cultural moments—in both comedy and music, and provided the moment that told Americans we had to get back to living after the 9/11 attacks. If it’s truly going to end, we’re losing a pop culture institution.
But here’s the best reason I can see to let the show die…legacy media are afraid to do comedy in the cancel culture era. I have no idea where the current ratings are for SNL, but the show’s cultural footprint is miniscule compared to the 00’s and early 10’s.
Or, to state it another way, I know nobody is watching because I don’t see any social media banter or video clips going around.
Legacy media has created an environment where comedy can no longer be dangerous and must not be offensive to anyone…and no one is laughing (or tuning in) anymore.
So maybe it’s better to take this horse out back and shoot it than to let it limp along lame for years to come.
Still, I’ll miss the appointment viewing and the unique way SNL could break new music onto the scene by featuring killer live performances.
[two]
I rarely cross over into the realm of the personal when writing The Five, but a recent news event hit so close to home in my life that it must be shared.
My college roommate was at the Greenwood Mall in Indianapolis minutes before the mass shooting that was stopped by a 22-year-old hero who learned to shoot “from his grandpa.”
Elijah Dickenson was carrying a Glock under Indiana’s new “Constitutional Carry” law, which allows individuals to carry a concealed firearm as a Constitutional rights, no state mandated training classes required.
This law is obviously controversial…but it also saved the life of my friend’s niece, who was still at the food court when the shooting started (my friend left minutes before, with his 10-year-old son) and was being fired upon when the murderer died.
You can see in the photo rendering above, Dickenson hit the murderer 8 out of 10 times at distance of 40 yards. The mall was a “gun free” zone, which is likely why the murderer selected it. He didn’t expect to face opposition.
I doubt this will change the minds of staunchly anti-gun individuals, but if you’re on the fence…I would encourage you to consider if firearm ownership and training could be right for you. Dickenson had no formal training and it worked out…but I would HIGHLY recommend training courses. You’re probably worse off just “buying a shotgun and throwing it in the closet” than doing nothing, as a first timer, because you would then own a deadly weapon without knowing how to operate (and store) it safely.
If you’ve never owned a gun and would like a tip or two, you can always email me at sethtowerhurd[at]gmail[dot]com.
[three]
Apparently Beyonce made a…pretty happy new album and NBC News is big mad about it.
In this climate, music about feeling good and the dreamy escapes of the uber wealthy is hard to get too excited about — even if we have a less critical opinion of Beyoncé’s celebrity and meteoric success as the late bell hooks. Beyoncé might be a musical genius, as evidenced by unexpected collaborations such as working with Grace Jones on the track “Move.” She mixes and samples across genres, and her sheer determination is compelling. But this is just not quite the flavor of cultural reawakening we’re sorely in need of right now.
Because here’s the thing about renaissances: They refer to collective change and social transformation, not personal private evolutions. The Italian Renaissance wasn’t just about the great works and achievements of figures like Leonardo da Vinci or Galileo Galileo but more importantly about a definitive break from older traditional ways of thinking and organizing society. Closer to home, few would pin the Harlem Renaissance on the shoulders of any single person, even the formidable ones of Langston Hughes or Zora Neal Hurston. No, the Harlem Renaissance was about a fundamental reorganization of everyday life and social space boldly centered around Black life. In order to not just dream up but sustain lasting personal evolution, we need wider social transformations and protections that allow for that greater personal expression.
For the record, I’m not a Beyonce fan, and I don’t like the new album at all.
But I can also recognize the musical genius of the project without being offended that Beyonce is rich and famous and I’m not.
Pop culture has always been aspirational. I wasn’t filled with rage at the new James Bond movie just because he had a $25,000 watch and sports car…and I keep the time on a G-Shock and drive a 14 year old Honda.
Much of the Toxic Wokeness movement is fueled by jealousy…and now the mob has com for the head of the Queen they once adored for her social justice themed messaging.
Don’t let them.
Refuse to reject a piece of art just because the artist’s life doesn’t look exactly like yours.
Or because they’re not as miserable as you are.
Because that’s a stupid, joyless way to live.
[four]
Now that I’ve defended Beyonce…time to tear the singer down.
Shortly after the release of Beyoncé's highly-anticipated seventh studio album "Renaissance," the singer agreed to change one of the lyrics in the song "Heated," after fans called out the word "spaz" for being ableist and offensive to those in the disabled community with cerebral palsy.
Now, activist and TV personality Monica Lewinsky is requesting the Grammy-winning superstar to adjust another lyric from a 2013 song.
Here’s the lyrics Lewinsky is referring to, from Beyonce’s 2013 song “Partitian”
Now my mascara running, red lipstick smudged
Oh he so horny, yeah he want to ****
He bucked all my buttons, he ripped my blouse
He Monica Lewinski'd all on my gown
This is now the second time a pop artist has been called out for using the word “spaz” in a song, Lizzo also changed one of her songs for using the word after being called out on Twitter.
But, as I wrote about in the June 17th, 2022 issue of The Five, “spaz” seems to be a slang term that’s used in Australia. Sure, Beyonce is a global artist, so it’s not a bad thing to drop the lyric, but there’s also no reason Beyonce or Lizzo should have known the term was offensive in a foreign country.
But as long as we’re in the business of “editing” songs in 2022…Monica Lewinsky is right. For over 20 years, Lewinsky has been used as a cultural punching bag, with dozens (maybe hundreds) of hip hop and R&B songs referencing her affair with President Clinton that led to the 42nd POTUS’ impeachment.
Lewinsky was just 22 during the Clinton scandal while Bill was 49, more than double her age. In the #MeToo era, I’m not sure why society hasn’t properly re-examined this situation to see the most powerful man in the world grooming and abusing a female barely out of adolescence.
Now we have a perfect A/B test for whether Beyonce cares about making amends, or just aims to bow to the woke mob. “Spaz” refers to no one in particular, and isn’t a slur 99% of the globes population even understand in order to be offended by.
Lewinsky, on the other hand, is a flesh-and-blood person who has spent the last 20 years doing charity work, starting businesses and advocating against online bullying.
Which is exactly what Beyonce is doing by leaving up a song online that’s so demeaning to the victim of the world’s most powerful man.
This makes it VERY difficult for me to defend Beyonce, but free speech is free speech, bad speech included.
I stand by my decision to defend Beyonce from the long knives of the Woke Mob.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
Prey, the eighth movie in the sci-fi/action/horror Predator franchise, is getting REALLY good reviews. Set in 1719, the movie follows a teenage girl in the Commanche tribe who’s being hunted by an Alien race that travel to earth to trophy hunt humans for their skulls.
The original 1987 film was the first R-rated movie I got to see (unbeknownst to my parents) and is still considered one of the most influential flicks in the genre. Unfortunately, the IP has been plagued with mediocre sequels for decades…but apparently this story recaptures the tone and tension of the original.
Oh, and one more thing I’m pumped about, the movie score is by Sarah Schachner, the same composer who created the stunning soundtrack for Assassins Creed: Valhalla.
Steaming today on Hulu.
Expect more fighter jet movies after the insane success of Top Gun Maverick, which I’m very good with.
The follow up entry into the action sub-genre is Devotion, a Korean War fighter jet movie based on a true story.
In theaters November 23rd.
Keanu Reeves (John Wick, The Matrix) officially joins the cast of Devil in the White City. The 2003 book became one of the early true crime viral hits, and was originally fast-tracked to be a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio set to star and Martin Scorsese directing.
For some reason, that never happened, and Hulu published the rights to turn the story of a serial killer at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair into a limited run TV series.
Hat Tip: Craig at Second Drafts
Andor, the next Star Wars show to hit Disney+, looks to lean more towards Jason Bourne than the the sci-fi of the original trilogy.
Streaming on Disney+ September 23rd.
The Creed movies, a spinoff of the Rocky franchise, is spinning off it’s own spin off with Drago. This new film will follow the son of Ivan Drago, aka the baddie from Rocky IV, the one where Sylvester Stallone defeats Communism in the ring or something.
Well, this is weird/sad. Tomb Raider, the 2018 film version of the popular video game series, won’t be getting a second movie with Alicia Vikander in the role of Lara Croft…because MGM forgot to make a sequel in time, so the studio's rights the the Intellectual Property are forfeit.
The title role will be recast and made a by a new studio. Ugh.
Untold: The Rise and Fall of And 1 may be worth it just for the story of a company that went viral BEFORE the age of the internet, via sending out video tapes that were a mix of ESPN highlights and music videos.
MUSIC/MY PICK:
It’s rare for a music video to capture my attention (as my screentime is pretty limited these days), but the new Whiskey Myers video is absolutely bonkers.
In a hybrid Western/Star Wars plot, the band battles with actor Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn, Heat).
It’s a fitting visual workup of a band that’s equal parts southern-fried Skynyrd and Texas Red Dirt.
NEW MUSIC:
Jack White is a long way from the clangy garage rock of The White Stripes with his new album Entering Heaven Alive. The Detroit born rocker leans into a vocal style’s clearly influenced by Robert Plant (both the Led Zepplin era, as well as Plant’s recent work with Patty Griffin, etc.)
Until the next one,
-sth