The Death Of Criticism, Cornell Seven, & Influencer “Girls”

Neighbours is Being Re-released for vertical video, Taylor Swift Fan Culture Gone Wild and the Cornell 7 Case.  In today's episode, we begin with the news that the Australian soap, *Neighbours*, is returning to our screens. Our vertical screens, that is. Pete Davidson is being dragged for not understanding the influencer economy in our big year of 2026. Does he have a point?  A trigger warning for sexual assault and rape in our first major segment as we discuss the Cornell 7 case. We reference a piece in the Women's Agenda titled, Cornell asked for essays from 7 students who allegedly raped a woman. Women are asking for accountability by Rita Nasr and the important student journalism work by Cornell's own paper, The Cornell Daily Sun. **If you'd prefer to skip ahead, the segment starts and ends at 14:40–25:07.**  Next, Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl Encore tracks are officially out in the world. The internet has been ablaze with conversations surrounding it, including in our own comments section. We break down the criticism and discuss why fan culture has reached dizzying heights.  In this segment we hear from writer and musician Bianca Davino, who reads from her 2025 Refinery29 Australia piece titled Stan Expectation & The Allure Of Cultural Clout: Why Has The Reaction To The Life Of A Showgirl Been So Heated? and we hear her thoughts on the Encore discourse. We also play a TikTok from user Fa2Chainz who theorises why fans are becoming the industry experts online.  In Bookmarked, we hear from Holly, our first listener recommendation! Thanks for the idea, Holly. If you'd like to share your own Bookmarked recommendation, simply record a voice memo <90 seconds with something you've loved watching, reading or listening to to [cultureclubmail@gmail.com](mailto:cultureclubmail@gmail.com) to potentially be featured in an ep!  Jas recommends The Housemaid film while Maggie enjoyed The Ruiners by Ellena Savage.  Thank you SO much for listening! And remember, you can find us on Substack and YouTube. Jas & Mags xo  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.