Performance Anxiety
By Alex Dale and Maren Thom
Performance AnxietyAug 14, 2023
S03E01// Why the Oscars still matter
Everyone is wrong – the Oscars are still relevant. Maren and Alex are back and kicking off season 3 in style! In this episode they explain why the Oscars, as a celebration of a populist art form, are the only game in town. They also ask why, in spite of everything, the Academy keeps rewarding films no-one has seen.
S02E12// Emma Stone & Poor Things
Maren and Alex ask why everyone is raving about Emma Stone's performance as Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos's new film Poor Things and why its success is so hard to pin down. What does Emma Stone stand for as a performer? The team use Freud and Žižek to explain Stone's unique quality and appeal, and why her performance is bigger than the film itself.
S02E11// Vibe Check with Jacob Elordi
In this episode, Maren and Alex analyse why vibes are gaining such prominence when it comes to understanding culture. Is story is getting lost as a casualty in a culture war over meaning? Maybe, but sensation and emotional affect still exist and still make for artistic experiences.
The duo then look at the performances of up-and-coming vibe exemplar Jacob Elordi to see how vibes work on screen, and how an actor's persona are affected by – and help create – vibes.
S2E10// Ridley Scott's Napoleon
In this episode, Maren and Alex ask why so many historians are upset with Ridley Scott's Napoleon, explore the different requirements of artistic and historical representations, and ask what the film Napoleon call tell us about Ridley Scott's film-making and preoccupations. Why did Scott chose to dramatise Napoleon's story, and why is Napoleon the archetypal Ridley Scott film? Why cast Joaquin Phoenix? Listen and find out!
S2E09// Maestro, Live! from the Battle of Ideas, ft Timandra Harkness
A very special episode, live from the Battle of Ideas, discussing the meaning of performance and "cultural cosplay"!
In this first ever live episode of Performance Anxiety, Maren and Alex are delighted to welcome their first ever guest host and interlocutor, writer and broadcaster Timandra Harkness.
Timandra helps the team explain why they started the podcast and why they chose to analyse performance in particular.
The team then use their particular set of skills to analyse the Bradley Cooper film Maestro, looking especially at whether or not Cooper's prosthetic nose is "cultural cosplay".
This episode contains one reference to the sitcom Larry Sanders. A special prize awaits the listener who spots it!
S2E08// Unhappy Christmas from Marks and Spencer
In this episode, Maren and Alex analyse why so many people hated the Marks and Spencer Christmas advert by examining the meaning of each performer, look at why Christmas adverts are such a phenomenon in the first place, and use Kant to explain the clash of values in the culture war arguments around the ad. Warning: this episode contains two bad impressions.
S2E07// How creative is The Creator?
In this episode, which ranges from Stanislavsky to Futurama, Maren and Alex ask: how creative is the Creator? What do actors inherit as part of an acting dynasty? What do the central performances reveal about humanity and AI? And will this film encourage Hollywood to be more original?
S2E06// What kind of film is Oppenheimer?
S2E05// Is the Barbie movie really about Ken?
Is the Barbie movie about a culture war? Is it feminist? Or is Barbie actually about Ken? And what is Kenergy anyway? In this episode Maren and Alex discuss the Barbie movie and pay particular attention to Margot Robbie’s and Ryan Gosling’s performances as a way of understanding how the film does and doesn’t work.
S2E04// A24 and Beau is Afraid
Alex and Maren ask why A24 are so popular with critics, taste makers and Hollywood, and discuss how Beau’s nightmare in Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid is the nightmare our thought leaders are living though.
S2E03// Guardians of the Galaxy and the MCU
Maren and Alex describe the phenomenon of the MCU, use Immanuel Kant to show why Guardians of the Galaxy is the most popular gang, and explain why some MCU roles are impossible to play.
S2E02// Queen Cleopatra
In this especially deep episode, Maren and Alex discuss a performance that transcends its political constraints, what art can and can’t do, and ask if Cleopatra is a Kween.
S2E01// Daddy Issues with Pedro Pascal
April 30, 2023
10// 2023 OSCARS, BUMPER EDITION!
In this special bumper edition, Alex and Maren discuss the Academy Awards; where they came from, what the 2023 ceremony represents today, and what kind of films the Academy may nurture in future. They also establish what Brendan Fraser’s best film really is.
09// Bond ... Which Bond?
08// All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
07// Tár
Alex and Maren discuss what makes a performance Oscar-worthy, what it means to be cancelled, and why Cate Blanchett is an alien queen.
06// Minisode -M3gan
In this special taster minisode Maren and Alex discuss Freud, the uncanny and comedians as actors - all within 6 minutes.
05// I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Maren and Alex talk about biopics, analyse the difference between screen presence and a performer’s real life qualities, and show why only Whitney Houston should sing One Moment in Time.
04// Avatar: The Way of Water
03// Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
Maren and Alex discuss Emma Corrin's performance as a non-binary person in the new Netflix adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022), and wonder "why is the past so cold?".
02// BROS
Why did Billy Eichner's gay romcom Bros (2022) underperform at the box office? Should gay roles only be played by gay actors? And what's all this got to do with performance? Maren and Alex talk about the nitty gritty of acting, the relationship between performance and identity, and share their love of Luke Macfarlane.
00 // Introductions / Black Adam
Maren Thom and Alex Dale introduce themselves and the podcast before analysing Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson's performance in Black Adam.