In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia dive into Francis Ford Coppola's polarizing Megalopolis—a film that has audiences and critics split on whether it's a visionary masterpiece or a confusing mess. Shayna offers a revelation that reframes everything:

Megalopolis is a self-portrait of Coppola himself, a meditation on having a grand dream that doesn't quite work out the way you imagined.
When the Dream Doesn't Match Reality: Shayna's insight cuts to the heart of why Megalopolis feels the way it does—ambitious, sprawling, sometimes incoherent, deeply personal. Coppola spent decades trying to make this film, pouring his vision of utopia and artistic ambition into a project that, by many accounts, doesn't fully cohere.
But maybe that's the point. The film becomes a mirror of its creator: an artist who dreamed impossibly big, who fought against industry constraints, and who ultimately delivered something that feels incomplete—not because of failure, but because some dreams are too vast to fully realize.

Why This Matters: For artists, especially Black creators and independent filmmakers who pour everything into projects that may never get the resources or recognition they deserve, Megalopolis is painfully relatable. It's about the gap between vision and execution, the courage to create even when you know it might not land, and the bittersweet reality of chasing dreams that sometimes feel impossible. Shayna's reading transforms the film from a curiosity into a deeply human document about artistic ambition and acceptance.

Watch the full conversation as Shayna and Julia debate whether Megalopolis succeeds on its own terms and what it means to create art that refuses to compromise—even when the dream doesn't fully materialize.

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