This summer's hottest trend? Monoculture.

(upbeat music) - What is the most unhinged thing that you sincerely believe? - I do. (laughs) - The conspiracy theory I kind of love is the one that Disney created Frozen so that it would bork the SEO so you would never Google. - Do you ever Google the conspiracy theory that Walt Disney is cryogenically frozen? - Yes. - You've gagged me. I mean like this is based on literally nothing concrete to please don't see us. (laughs) - There has been something for everyone this summer. We started off strong with films like obsession and back rooms taking over the box office. Then the nix, finally when the NBA championship, the World Cup starts and at the same time, Serena Williams comes out of retirement. And just when you think the hubbub has died down, the Odyssey drops, we, my friends, have hit a flow state. It felt like we as a culture were finally on the same page. In fact, it felt like a return to monoculture, the idea of having a shared understanding and experience of culture with common reference points, values and opportunities to connect. But if we're all in this together for the good, we're definitely all in this together for the bad. Heat waves, wildfire smog, explosive diarrhea, political machinations between the US and FIFA. I can't help but wonder, are we the drama? My guest today says we absolutely are. Friend of the show and senior correspondent at fox.com, Alex Abad Santos joins it's been a minute to walk us through our post-monoculture hangover. Alex, welcome back to it's been a minute. - Thank you so much. Hello, hello, I'm Brittany Loose and you're listening to it's been a minute from NPR. A show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Summer, 2026. A lot of people have been saying this is one for the books. They might have started up by saying that for one reason and we may be ending up saying that for another reason. I will say this summer has had something for literally everybody to enjoy. Whether you like minions or messy or Madonna, there has been some way for you to feel plugged in the summer. But I want to know, what have been the major highlights of your summer? - I would say, well, my highlight was very, very short-lived. It was three new Williams coming back for one match and then getting injured. So I live for the height. - Sorry. - No, it was fun, everyone's like, oh my god, Serena's coming back. What a mystery. And then it was like, she was on Wimbledon's and then she lost and it was, what do we do now? I guess, World Cup. - Okay, listen, okay, I'm pro World Cup. I'm not even pro sports. I should say that because my opinion on sports is really improved over the past couple of years. - Yeah, I watch X/formerly Twitter and you're very into sports now. - I'm very into sports now, I know, I'm like sports spice. I know and it's like, I've never been that before. I got into the World Cup and also, I mean, I think all of America got into the World Cup. - All of the world. - I mean, as it were, at least in America for the first time because I've watched the World Cup for most of the past 20 years and people usually don't care. - Yeah, I would say that's true. And it's also, I think being in America kind of heightened the stakes. - Totally heightened the stakes. I mean, I didn't go to any of the games but I could feel the power, I could feel the power. This was definitely like a magical summer for sports. I think we can all agree on that. I wonder, what do you think made it so magical this summer? Like for me, the next championship win and watching Nick's games in random places in the street. It kind of led into watching World Cup matches in random places in the street in a way that I really enjoyed, but I don't know. What about that? We're so magical, it felt so unique. - So I think like the next was amazing because of two things. One, it's like the Neverwin, right? It's like, listen to that. I hadn't been here before, I'm like, okay, that's interesting. - So they never win. And then, but I think one of the things that was so amazing was that you had this comeback. Jalen Brunson, going up against, I guess, this archetypal prodigy, Victor Webinyama, who's like, - 20 feet tall, yeah. - 20 feet tall, they look like they're gonna win. They look unbeatable after they beat this thunder. And then the next go in and just kind of like have that amazing 22 point, Zora and Mum Donnie speech. Cheers to our eyes. So they come back and win and they beat this gigantic French guy. And then all of the Europeans come to America and they're like, oh my God, it's so hot. And we're just like, ha ha. We're like, we love ranch. - Yeah, we're used to you now. We know what to do now. It's like, Europeans can't handle America. Again, part two. - Part two. - That was a good one. There was a lot of cultural, a lot of underdog, a lot of good storylines coming out of it. And then like, you had like this like wacky storyline of America and everyone coming to America and experiencing American culture, which is also air conditioning and heat and climate change and smog. But also ranch dressing, the cheesecake factory. - Yeah. - Right. - I mean, I had to laugh because they were like, wow, the food here is really good. And I'm duh. There's a lot of things that we don't have together over here, but like the food is not one of the problems. That's never been one of the problems ever. - Right. - Well, also like I think like when you say that like our problem is quotation mark, right? Like it's always been the separate art from artists. Like this is America's cool stuff this year. Cooler than the not so great stuff. - Yeah. - Yeah. - It's interesting that sort of America 250 was like the backdrop for all of this. I forgot, I totally forgot. Because the world cup felt to me in some ways like the real America 250. All of these people coming to America and being like, wow, I can cool down indoors. I can go to chilies, I get three refills. What's better than this? That to me felt the real America 250. Actually being celebrated as we are as opposed to sort of like this other weird thing that I'm not sure is even real. - We're rarely like ever in the presence of people being, oh my gosh, America's cool and then posting it on TikTok. Right? We're not really looking for that on TikTok and we're not looking for that on Instagram. Like we're all like, as Americans, we never really get like a reflection of the joky novelty parts of our culture. - Yeah. - That we've gotten so used to. So it's like with fresh European eyes they're just, oh my god, why are we getting refills at the cheesecake factory? Why are these glasses so big? I can really drink Diet Coke after Diet Coke and you're like, yeah, that's amazing, right? - And isn't it good with ice in it? Right? - It's so good. - Isn't that good? - In air conditioning? - Exactly. I also like too that felt like the things that we're appealing to them are not the things that I feel like we're touting. And I say this is someone who's from all country. Heavy has worked at them all, has shopped at many of them all. But I feel like when America's trying to seem cool to other places, like the Chili's is not the top of the list. They're trying to be like Hollywood, Empire State Building, New Orleans. Like we are not Disney World. The stuff that people end up coming here and falling in love with and mass is not the stuff that we usually are sort of like beating our chest about. But I also feel like whether it's like the combination of the World Cup, all of these visitors coming from around the world, felt like there was some real monocultural moments happening. It's harder and harder to come by monocultural moments these days I feel like, especially in American culture. Everybody's very divided and segmented and the country's so big. I wonder how much you think that desire for these monocultural moments that are harder and harder to come by. How much do you think that kind of affected this sort of, previously very sort of collective, lovey vibe of 2026, at least summer, 2026? With, like, monoculture and with the World Cup, right? And then we're using the World Cup as an example. It's, you didn't need to just love sports to be into the World Cup, right? As we were time out, it's just, you like ranch dressing. Look at these Europeans eat ranch dressing. And it was amazing. And then it was like, who are those Europeans rooting for? It's Norway and they do this weird row. And it's just like, wow, I'm like, absolutely fascinated. The world yearns for monoculture. Like, do we miss barbenheimer? I don't know. - Maybe. - I'm like, maybe we, maybe we do miss barbenheimer. - I think we all still are just kind of lonely. We wanna talk about things. We've been talking about the male loneliness crisis. And I was like, maybe you should watch World Cup and talk to people about it and be like, oh my God, look at that cutie pie. - We're gonna take a quick break, but first, if you're a long time listener or brand new to it's been a minute, be sure to come back every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday for brand new episodes. And did you know you can make it even easier to get new episodes by hitting the follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast app, whether you're a new friend or a loyal bestie, join the team by subscribing today. Coming up after the break. - If the lettuce is taking away from us, we can all talk about how much we love Caesar salad. - Stick around. Now we are experiencing a monocultural moment of a different kind. As the World Cup was winding down a cyclospora outbreak with gaining speed, I mean, as of this conversation, I have not had salad in weeks. But I don't know, I mean, you say though, it's not just the lettuce. It's the began to sour the summer. I wonder, when did you see the tie turning away from sort of this moment of collective joy toward whatever it is that we're in now? - If you're following the arc that we've been talking about like America where people were like, oh, We don't know how the World Cup is going to be. to oh my gosh, America's kind of cool. I can get tacos anywhere to oh my gosh, America's winning. My theory, and I don't know if there's no scientific basis, but when Donald Trump called FIFA to get the right card overturned. - Oh, yeah, for the American player that had been issued a red card, that would mean that he was gonna be out for playing the next game, is that right? - He was gonna be out. Everyone was just like, I think the US beat Bosnia, Herzegovina had their star score disqualified, and then all of a sudden, on Sunday night, it was like July 5th, bleak. That is like-- - It's like right after America 250. - 250. They were like, it's actually been overturned, and everyone's just kind of like, well, that kind of was weird. - Yeah, 'cause it kind of ruins the spirit of the competition, if you want things to be fair. With the material fair. - And then Donald Trump, in the morning was just, yeah, I gave a call, and then FIFA was, yeah, he called me, and I get calls from rich people all the time, and you're just like, wow, am I watching something super corrupt right now? And it was just like FIFA. - There have been documentaries on the topic, I'll say, of corruption within FIFA. - I'm not saying that's just to be mean to FIFA, but there was a department of justice indictment, and there was human rights watch, and there's a lot of stuff that FIFA isn't great about, and it kind of made us remember, wait a minute, maybe we aren't watching, like, the pure love of the game. All of a sudden, and it was, oh, here's some diarrhea, let us, your salads tainted. (laughing) - Diary lettuce in the middle of the summer is like, I mean, like, I've been eating bananas, which is like no shade to bananas, it's not my preferred fruit at this time of year. - Right, I don't wanna wedge salad in the winter, I wanna wedge salad right now. - Do you know badly I've wanted to see your salad? I've been losing my mind. - I think the scariest part, 'cause they were just like, it's explosive diarrhea. Why is it gotta be explosive? - I know, it's like, it's uncontrollable. I thought it was one of the news, and she's like, I mean, at one point, I had to lay down to the bathroom before. - Yeah. - I don't wanna deal with that. - Why is a taxonomy of this particular bodily function compared to bombs, right? Like, why are we like, why didn't you just give us a number? Oh, it's like a four on the scale. Like, that sounds much better than, oh, you might die from this lettuce. - Right, which is, I mean, that's stressful. It's stressful, but I feel like we even, like, recently, I feel like we're given another chance, right, to have a sort of, like, another shot at, like, regaining our, like, big American monocultural summer with the Odyssey, right? It's this beautiful rendition of an old familiar tale, and I know that I'm planning a previous episode of this show that people who bought their tickets to see the Odyssey last summer were thirsty. I did say that, but I stand corrected. I ended up seeing the movie twice so we could came out cap and stance, and one of those times I did see it on 70 millimeter IMAX. Don't come for me in the comments. It really is an incredible experience, actually, to see it. It was really good. Like, I know I call the lotty thirsty, but I get it now. I get it. As much as people are, like, enjoying this film and are ready to engrave Oscars, most audiences won't see the movie in its intended format because IMAX screens are so rare and it's still hard in many places to find tickets to see the film during popular times, evenings, weekends. IMAX screenings in so many cities across the country are and have been sold out for a while, like weeks out. What do you think about Odyssey Mania? I wonder, like, do you think it has the potential to fix what's broken this summer? And have you even been able to see it? - Girl, no. - No! (laughing) - I was on your boat and I was like, "Oh, like these people are losers." Like, who's gonna go behind? It's next July. - I know, like, how do you know what you're gonna be doing? Like, you could be in a visa. You don't know. - I started looking for the 70 millimeter on the Upper West side, which is apparently Mecca for IMAX. - It's the biggest IMAX screen in the country. - God bless the AMC app, but it was like, "Oh, there's one spot." And it's like a handicap wheelchair spot. I'm like, "I'm not gonna sit there "and take that from someone." - Yeah. - So I only got a ticket August 17th, 10 AM. Do not tell my boss that that's a Monday. - That's a month after the movie? - Yeah, this is what happens. This is what-- - Wow. - But I was gonna tell you all around the country at the same time was with Madonna had these, like, pop-up club things. Everyone was like, "Can I get a ticket? "Can I get a ticket?" It is easier to get a Madonna club ticket (laughing) a center seat at the Odyssey at the Upper West side in 70 millimeter IMAX. - I've heard that some people stand outside the screenings with their phones, refreshing to see if anybody drops out of the screening and then they can, like, get into the showing of the film. They have been there in the morning, like, early morning showings. - I heard that there were people flying into New York just to go see the Odyssey on that gigantic IMAX. - But, I don't know, that sort of scarcity around that feels like of a similar type of snafu or fiasco, really, to, you know, Trump intervening with FIFA or the fact that, like, we can't have salad in the middle of the summer because of this one major produce company that apparently ships let us everywhere. - Right, and they were like, "It's from Taco Bell." And it was, like, very blame the victim language, and I was like, "What has Taylor Farms done for me "the Taco Bell hasn't?" - It's interesting, whether it's, like, Trump's interference in the World Cup or our mega industrialized food system that is perhaps over-reliant on one major produce company or climate change-induced weather patterns that make us not be able to breathe the air every day or the fetishized scarcity of the IMAX viewing experience. I mean, I don't know, it seems like summer fun often ends with, like, America's particular way of doing business. I wonder, are we the drama or are we the pro? - I mean, the end to the World Cup and everything that's happened after it is very American. More American than ranch dressing. They hold corruption and then, like, we couldn't breathe and then we couldn't eat lettuce and then we couldn't find the movies. We didn't have things built for the movies. We approached the Odyssey like it was, like, the very first movie that's ever been made. - I think, like, one of the things, though, is that at least we're all suffering in whatever experiencing this together. If I'm the only person with explosive diarrhea, that's, like, last fun. - And also, too, even I guess, even with the diarrhea, though, like, I feel like regularly, if you have it, you're like, I don't know anybody to know, but I got going on, you know? But now, maybe because it's, like, a community issue, it's like a national problem. You might feel a little bit more, maybe there's less shame around it where you're just sort of like, I have the cyclospora. And then that people can sort of fill in the blanks. And then they might feel some sympathy for you. They might be like, oh, my gosh, I feel so bad. What are you going through? And a way that maybe the rest of the time you have diarrhea, you have to just, like, take the little peptobizmol tablets and constantly excuse yourself. - Thank God for the cyclospora, because now I can talk to my co-workers about things that I probably wouldn't talk about them about. (laughing) - I appreciate you finding the silver lining of community in here. (laughing) - Oh my gosh, you know, I had to say, Alex, I came to this conversation kind of feeling down about where the summer was going, but strangely, you have given me a little bit of optimism, like, while at least, you know, if Lisa were going through hell going together. - Yeah, if the lettuce is taking away from us, we can all talk about how much we love Caesar salad. (laughing) - Alex, it's always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us today. - Thank you so much. - That was Senior Correspondent at Box.com, Alex Abad Santos. This episode of "It's Been a Minute" was produced by. - Alexis Williams. - This episode was edited by. - Nina Patuck. - Our supervising producer is. - Sheriff Vincent. - Our executive producer is. - Barton Gurdwood. - Our VP of programming is. - Yolanda Sanguini. - All right, that's all for this episode of "It's Been a Minute" from NPR. I'm Brittany Luce. Talk soon. (upbeat music)