The Long Walk - Class Solidarity and Foot Pain

MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

Kathryn joins Melvin to discuss The Long Walk, a film whose premise is extremely simple yet whose content is incredibly challenging. Based on a novel influenced by the woes of the Vietnam War, this film adaptation from Francis Lawrence is updated for a modern yet not-so-different demographic. Class solidarity, the importance of beauty, the vile oppression of facism; The Long Walk has it all! 

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 25-minutes discussing LA Comic-Con's inclusion of an AI Stan Lee sideshow attraction where-in guests may pay to "talk" to "Stan Lee", and how this is actually the scariest thing we could talk about during the spookiest month of the year. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Melvin found The Long Walk extremely affecting, and says it's his favorite movie of 2025.
• Kathryn read the book, so she brings some reader-insights to the table.
• Why Melvin feels the film is prescient, and also seemingly unmakeable outside of releasing Summer 2025.
• Kathryn on how some may consider The Long Walk an exploitation movie, but in reality it's a movie about how these young men are being exploited.
• Talking about the characters and how the system exploits them differently.
• Talking about the ending, both the film & the book ending, and what makes them both satisfying.

Recommendations:

• Night of the Living Dead (1968) (Movie)
• David Romero (YouTuber)