We Love the Beach, We Hate the Beach

Cannonball with Wesley Morris

The New York Times

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.8 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2017

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, the Baywatch franchise returned — this time on the big screen — with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron leading a cast of tan, muscled lifeguards. But the film isn’t just a goofy romp; it presents the beach as a place of danger that needs to be patrolled, raising questions about who beaches are for. Jenna spends as much time at the beach as she can, while Wesley has always resisted going. As they try to untangle why that is, they discuss the history of American beaches and American beach movies, and the beach as a place of infinite possibility and mystery, as bearing the traces of racial segregation and as being one of the most liberating environments in the world.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jenna Wertham. I'm Wesley Morris and we're two writers for the New York Times.
0:06.0	I'm mostly right about how humans relate to technology.
0:09.0	And I mostly write about how movies and popular culture relate to humans.
0:13.0	This is still processing.
0:17.0	Hi.
0:26.0	Hi.
0:27.0	This is our pop culture confession booth.
0:30.0	So what's on your mind for this week?
0:32.0	Okay, first of all, Tiger.
0:35.0	Tiger.
0:36.0	Tiger Woods.
0:37.0	Tiger Woods.
0:38.0	I arrested for DUI over the weekend.
0:40.0	I mean, listen.
0:42.0	I can't imagine what this is like being the best in the world at something for a long time.
0:46.0	Doing one really bad thing, maybe over and over and over again.
0:51.0	And then your punishment for life is never being as good as you were.
0:55.0	And it's probably driving him insane.
0:58.0	What else is on my mind?
1:00.0	I saw the Baywatch movie.
1:02.0	I don't know why it exists.
1:04.0	It is a good opportunity to look at a very good looking people,
	...

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