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Critics at Large | The New Yorker

The New Yorker
Critics at Large | The New Yorker
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  • How the Trad Wife Took Over
    Scrutiny of the figure of the “trad wife” has hit a fever pitch. These influencers’ accounts feature kempt, feminine women embracing hyper-traditional roles in marriage and home-making—and, in doing so, garnering millions of followers. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss standout practitioners of the “trad” life style, including Nara Smith, who makes cereal and toothpaste from scratch, and Hannah Neeleman, who, posting under the handle @ballerinafarm, presents a life caring for eight children in rural Utah as a bucolic fantasy. The hosts also discuss “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a reality-television show on Hulu about a group of Mormon influencers engulfed in scandal, whose notions of female empowerment read as a quaint reversal of the trad-wife trend. A common defense of a life style that some would call regressive is that it’s a personal choice, devoid of political meaning. But this gloss is complicated by societal changes such as the erosion of women’s rights in America and skyrocketing child-care costs. “In American society, the way choice works has everything to do with child-care options, financial options,” Schwartz says. “When you talk about the idea of choice, are we just talking about false choices?” This episode originally aired on Sept. 5, 2024. Read, watch, and listen with the critics:@ballerinafarm@gwenthemilkmaid@naraazizasmith“How Lucky Blue and Nara Aziza Smith Made Viral Internet Fame From Scratch,” by Carrie Battan (GQ)“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” (2024–)@esteecwilliams“Mad Men” (2007-15)The Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder“Wilder Women,” by Judith Thurman (The New Yorker)“Meet the Queen of the “Trad Wives” (and Her Eight Children),” by Megan Agnew (The Times of London) New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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  • One Paul Thomas Anderson Film After Another
    Over the course of his three-decade career, the director Paul Thomas Anderson has dramatized the nineteen-seventies porn industry (“Boogie Nights”), the Californian oil boom (“There Will Be Blood”), and a mid-century London fashion house (“Phantom Thread”). Now he’s trained his gaze on present-day America. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss Anderson’s latest: the sprawling, surprisingly political blockbuster “One Battle After Another.” They contextualize the new work within his œuvre—and debate what his portrayal of militant left-wing activists and the white-supremacist right has to say about the state of the nation. “I think our present reality has far outstripped most depictions of it,” Schwartz says. “Slipping it into this kind of caper—is that delivering us to somewhere that gets people to think or to look or to feel?”Read, watch, and listen with the critics:“One Battle After Another” (2025)“Vineland,” by Thomas Pynchon“Inherent Vice” (2014)“Boogie Nights” (1997)“The Master” (2012)“Punch-Drunk Love” (2002)“There Will Be Blood” (2007)“Phantom Thread” (2017)“ ‘Eddington’ and the American Berserk” (The New Yorker)Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not be Televised”New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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  • What's Cooking?
    In contemporary cookbooks—and in the burgeoning realm of online cooking content—there’s often a life style on display alongside the recipes. Samin Nosrat is a fixture of this landscape, and her new book, “Good Things,” aims to pick up where her mega-best-seller “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” left off, giving people a new framework for feeding themselves and loved ones. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz share their personal experiences making dishes from “Good Things.” Then, New Yorker staff writer Helen Rosner joins them to explain the state of home cooking today, from the rise of culinary influencers and the New York Times Cooking app to the aspirational dimension of what’s on offer. “Not only is cooking supposed to be part of a life, but, specifically, it can be a part of the life of the mind,” Cunningham says. “Your choices in the kitchen can be deeply connected to your desires outside of the kitchen.”Read, watch, and cook with the critics:“Tender at the Bone,” by Ruth Reichl“Heartburn,” by Nora Ephron“Good Things,” by Samin Nosrat“Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,” by Samin Nosrat“The Joylessness of Cooking,” by Helen Rosner (The New Yorker)“All-Consuming,” by Ruby Tandoh@wishbonekitchen“Jerusalem,” by Yotam Ottolenghi“Ottolenghi Simple,” by Yotam Ottolenghi“Dining In,” by Alison Roman“Nothing Fancy,” by Alison Roman“Alison Roman Cooks Thanksgiving in a (Very) Small Kitchen” (The New York Times)“Let’s Party,” by Dan Pelosi“How to Cook Everything,” by Mark Bittman“Serial Monogamy,” by Nora Ephron (The New Yorker)New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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  • “The Paper,” “The Lowdown,” and the Drama of Journalism
    In the past twenty years, more than a third of all American newspapers have shuttered; trust in media institutions is now at a historic low. And yet we’re still drawn to depictions of reporters onscreen. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss two recent entries into the genre: “The Paper,” a workplace comedy from Greg Daniels and Michael Koman set at a failing local newspaper, and “The Lowdown,” a crime noir from Sterlin Harjo about a freelancer and self-styled “truthstorian.” They compare these new works with earlier examples to illuminate how the practice—and perception—of journalism has changed. In classics such as “All the President’s Men,” Fry notes, “The airing of the facts via the news, via this character of the journalist, makes us feel like it’s gonna be O.K. Like, the truth is out!” Today, she says, “I’m not sure we treat newsmaking the same way.”Read, watch, and listen with the critics:“The Paper” (2025–)“The Lowdown” (2025–)“All the President’s Men” (1976)“The China Syndrome” (1979)“Citizen Kane” (1941)“The Gilded Age” (2022–)“The Office” (2005–13)“‘The Paper’ Is Old News,” by Inkoo Kang (The New Yorker)Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources newsletter“Spotlight” (2015)“Succession” (2018–23)“My Undesirable Friends” (2025)404 MediaNew episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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  • Why We're All In on Gambling
    Last week, it was announced that Polymarket—a site where you can bet on basically anything, from the likelihood of a government shutdown to the winner of New York City’s mayoral race—will be allowed to operate in the U.S. The decision was the culmination of a broader trend: since 2018, some thirty-nine states have legalized sports betting, and the rise of online gambling has made the practice a part of daily life. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider how platforms like Polymarket and DraftKings have changed our relationship to what we’re wagering on. They also examine the way games of chance have been depicted in literature and film—and our enduring susceptibility, in art and otherwise, to the promise of a hot streak. “Gambling is a way for the individual to test themselves,” Schwartz says. “It comes back to this fundamental question everyone has about themselves, which is: do I got it, or don’t I?”Read, watch, and listen with the critics:“Shayne Coplan’s Big Bet Is Paying Off,” by Jen Wieczner (New York Magazine)“Online Gambling Is Changing Sports for the Worse,” by Jay Caspian Kang (The New Yorker)“Daniel Deronda,” by George Eliot“The Noble Hustle,” by Colson Whitehead“Rounders” (1998)“War and Peace,” by Leo Tolstoy“The Sopranos” (1999–2007)“Uncut Gems” (2019)“The Big Short” (2015)“To Catch a Thief” (1955)“Casino Royale” (2006)New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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About Critics at Large | The New Yorker

Critics at Large is a weekly culture podcast from The New Yorker. Every Thursday, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss current obsessions, classic texts they’re revisiting with fresh eyes, and trends that are emerging across books, television, film, and more. The show runs the gamut of the arts and pop culture, with lively, surprising conversations about everything from Salman Rushdie to “The Real Housewives.” Through rigorous analysis and behind-the-scenes insights into The New Yorker’s reporting, the magazine’s critics help listeners make sense of our moment—and how we got here.
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