What movies (do and don't) show us about places before we travel there

“When we don't foster local filmmaking traditions, we end up making movies about what we think life is like in the cities we do see movies about.” – Jason Bailey

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Jason talk about how being from Kansas influenced their careers as travel writers and film critics, and the long cultural shadow of The Wizard of Oz (2:30); how Jason's career started by making independent movies in Wichita, what those movies were like, and how he remembers them now (9:00); how many New York movies were shot in Los Angeles in the early part of the 20th century (19:00); how filmmaking moved back to New York during a less-than-glamorous time in the city's history, and how it's important to tell one more story about a place (26:00); and how technology might change the way movies are made and watched in the future (32:00).

Jason Bailey (@jasondashbailey) is an author and film critic, whose writing has appeared in such publications as the New York Times and Rolling Stone. He is the author of six books, including Fun City Cinema: New York City and the Movies that Made It, and Pulp Fiction: The Complete Story of Quentin Tarantino’s Masterpiece. 

Notable Links:

• Kansas Never Plays Itself (video essay)
• Celebrating the genius of Pulp Fiction (Deviate episode)
• Joan Didion (American author and essayist)
• Lady Bird (2017 film)
• Fargo (1996 film)
• The Wizard of Oz at Sphere (4D AI film in Las Vegas)
• Alissa Wilkinson (American film critic)
• Richard Brody (American critic)
• Pauline Kael (American critic)
• My Day in the Barrel (1998 Jason Bailey movie)
• Salvage anthropology (method of documenting declining cultures)
• Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003 essay film)
• Actuality film (early type of nonfiction motion picture)
• Martin Scorsese (American filmmaker)
• The Naked City (1948 film)
• Fame (1980 film)
• Jim Jarmusch (American filmmaker)
• John Cassavetes (American filmmaker)
• Media 100 (video editing system)
• Microdrama (serialized short-form online video)
• Mumblecore (subgenre of independent film)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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