Bulworth (feat. Vinson Cunningham)

About this episode

The episode discusses the film Bulworth with guest Vinson Cunningham, exploring its political themes and societal critiques.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Vinson Cunningham of the New Yorker to discuss Bulworth , the 1998 black comedy (no pun intended) written, directed by and starring Warren Beatty. After working through their initial shock at the sheer weirdness of the film, Jamelle, John and Vinson explore its politics, its vision of American society, its critique of American media and the fact that the character of Bulworth is, himself, highly prescient. They also explore the strange racial politics of the film, as well as the extent to which it stands as a kind of modern parable. This is a strange film folks! And we had a great time discussing it. On our next episode, we will discuss Roland Emmerich’s 1998 disaster thriller Godzilla , something of a misbegotten attempt to Americanize the storied franchise. But there is a lot to talk about and we are looking forward to doing so.

People in this episode

Hosts: Jamelle Bouie, John Ganz

Guest: Vinson Cunningham

Topics covered

• film analysis
• politics
• American society
• racial politics
• media critique
• comedy

Keywords

• Bulworth
• Warren Beatty
• politics
• American media
• racial politics
• comedy
• 1998 film

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Bulworth, Godzilla

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