An Actor Despairs

CAN HOLLYWOOD SURVIVE THE DEATH OF MASS CULTURE? | Daniel Bessner & Neal Bledsoe

September 16, 2026·58 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Join your host Ryan M. Perez and guests Daniel Bessner and Neal Bledsoe for Part One of a wide-ranging conversation centered around Daniel's new book, IMPERIALIST REALISM.Together, they examine what Daniel describes as a moment of American "decomposition and decay," and how the decline of American hegemony intersects with a rapidly changing entertainment industry.They discuss the disappearance of a shared mass culture, the atomization of audiences, why Hollywood is still structured around a mass-media model that may no longer exist, and what happens to movies and television when they're competing for attention with content made 90 seconds at a time.They also explore the economics of filmmaking, the changing role of actors and other artists, the collapse of old industry structures, and whether new, more localized models of cultural production can take their place.This is Part One of our conversation with Daniel Bessner and Neal Bledsoe on IMPERIALIST REALISM. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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