There are ways today in which our topics are interconnected. Actress and writer MelliniKantayya, wants to talk about the issues of diversity in casting. One of our other topics involves the fallout from Ira Glass's recent tweet that "Shakespeare sucks." New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead joins us to discuss her article deploring the modern vogue for relatability, a word Ira Glass used to characterize what Shakespeare was --for him -- lacking.
I find the two issues wind around each other like snakes on a caduceus, and one place they intersect is in the amazing story of Ira Aldridge, an American black actor who shook up London audiences in 1833 by playing Othello. Imagine that: a black actor playing a Moor. London audiences said they couldn't relate to a non-white actor. Relatability: The Scourge Across the Centuries.
Kantayya also touches on memoirs that are "kinda, sorta, mostly true, actually 97 percent true, the other three percent to protect identities and construct punchlines." She's got some methadone for binge-watchers who need alternatives to their favorite TV drugs until they return with new shows. She shares lesser-known shows to get you through to the next season.
Last, Caitlin Doughty, licensed mortician and writer, says our history with death is complicated. Historically, we used to see death all the time. Humans died quickly and often, violently from all sorts of diseases eradicated from modern life-influenza, smallpox, typhoid, polio, and the list goes on. Today, we hardly ever see a dead body. Our dead are quickly whisked away, cleaned, and buried. So, our fascination with death is no surprise. Photos of those killed in Gaza and on Malaysian Flight 17 horrify, yet fascinate us. Caitlyn says it's okay to wonder about the dead. It makes us human, and it makes us understand.
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GUESTS:
- Mellini Kantayya is a writer, actor, humorist and the author of "Actor. Writer. Whatever. (essays on my rise to the top of the bottom of the entertainment industry)"
- Caitlin Doughty is a mortician in Los Angeles, known for her video series, “Ask A Mortician”. She is the founder of The Order of the Good Death dot com and author of the forthcoming "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory"
- Rebecca Mead is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of "My Life in Middlemarch."
