POP ART SAYS HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY–EP94 – POP ART, WHERE WE FIND THE POP CULTURE IN ART AND THE ART IN POP CULTURE.

LOVE AND DEATH: Join podcast, movie lover, and critic Aaron Neuwirth and me as we discuss two love stories that take place, for the most part, in the afterlife, Defending Your Life/Orpheus.

“Orphée. you can’t spend your life in a talking car”. The singer Cher once asked “do you believe in life after love?” Perhaps the more important question is, do you believe in love after death?…Sounds like it’s time for Episode 94 of Pop Art, where we find the pop culture in art and the art in pop culture. It’s the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture, and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic/indie side of cinema with a connection to it. For Pop Art’s Valentine’s Day episode, I am happy to welcome as my guest, podcaster, movie lover, and critic Aaron Neuwirth, who has chosen as his film the Albert Brooks love after death comedy, Defending Your Life, while I have chosen as my film Jean Cocteau’s love after death drama, Orpheus, or Orphee, if you are French, but I’m not, so Orpheus it is, both films about dealing with love after death.

And in this episode, we deal with such questions as: Why is the afterlife so often dramatized as a huge bureaucracy? What is it about love after death movies? Who is Shirley MacLaine and why is she in the movie? Who gives the better performance in Orpheus—Jean Marais or his hair? Why hasn’t Albert Brooks made a movie lately? What are some problematical aspects of both films? How were the special effects done in Orpheus? What is the connection to Roger Corman’s The Trip? Where does Jean-Pierre Melville appear?