Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs
A podcast in association with BeingSociety.com, in which Clare Coombe and Masha Yakovleva explore the politics, ethics, and societal visions of dystopian tv, film, and literature.
Episodes
In this milestone 40th episode, Clare and Masha are discussing the visually-stunning Oscar-winner of 2024, Flow. Despite this animation having no dialogue and minimal explicit narrative, we follow the travels of the Cat and their rag-tag bag of animal companions to see what they might tell us about survival, the climate crisis, found-family, and mutual support between very different characters.
We consider the way in which collabor...
In Episode 39 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha delve into the supposedly-fair society of Arcadia, the Dutch-Belgian series from Walter Presents.
Our discussion looks at the flaws with the score-based system of citizenship in the show, and how it reflects ideas around meritocracy, with reference to Michael Sandel's The Tyranny of Merit. We also look at the way in which subconscious bias plays i...
This episode we are exploring the world of The Pod Generation, a 2023 film about artificial wombs.
CW: this episode includes discussion of death-in-pregnancy and suicide.
Inspired by the discussion surrounding the ultimately-fake news reports that a Chinese company had developed a robot with a uterus, we look at the pros and cons of such a technology, the benefits that it might bring women and people with uteruses, as well as those...
In episode 37 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha are delving into the 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
We start looking at censorship and book-banning, including the worrying spread of pressure-groups from the US to the UK. We consider Bradbury's presentation of books as symbols for free-thinking and intellectual rigour, and its link with the theme of happiness at the cost of liberty i...
Episode 36 takes us to the desert planet of Arrakis for our discussion of Dune, with particular reference to the 2021/2024 films as well as Frank Herbert's books.
Our themes centre on the depiction of colonial power and imperialism, with particular reference to messiah figures, the 'white saviour', and religious messaging for political gain.
We also look at Dune as early cli-fi, the environmental messaging of co-existing with the n...
Episode 35 centres on the 2013 film Snowpiercer, another Bong Joon Ho film to follow Mickey 17, with some reference to the 2020 4-season show.
We discuss the context of hubristic attempts to maintain global capitalism while preventing global heating, and compare the life-raft train with other post-apocalyptic sanctuaries.
We look at the depiction of class and social mobility depicted in the film, with particular reference to Mini...
In episode 34 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha discuss the 2024 Bong Joon Ho film, Mickey 17.
Building on our conversation about Pantheon in episode 33, we discuss the science and ethics of cloning, and the nature of personhood and consciousness.
We look at the film's depiction of colonialism, late-stage capitalism, and mission-leader Marshall as a composite of populist leaders, evangelical pr...
This episode of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs is discussing the Netflix animated sci-fi series Pantheon. This fantastic and somewhat neglected show is well worth a watch, with its fascinating exploration of Uploaded Intelligence, in which human brains are transferred to the Cloud as digital data.
In our analysis, we consider the nature of personhood and corporeality, and whether the brain is sufficient to recr...
In this fortnight's episode of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha are discussing the 2002 film Minority Report, with reference to the Philip K Dick short story on which it was based.
We chose to return to this particular film in response to the recent news of the UK's (since renamed) 'Homicide Prediction Programme' and one of our key themes is crime prevention.
In our 31st episode of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs we return to the 2006 classic dystopian film, V for Vendetta, directed by the Wachowskis and based on Alan Moore's graphic novel.
We explore the film's depiction of the rise of Fascism in the form of Sutler's Norsefire party, elected and granted authoritarian powers in response to fabricated fears and manufactured bio-terrorism. We discuss the role of democr...
In Episode 30, Masha and Clare are talking about the mysterious and important show that is Severance.
While not providing any answers to the many questions posed by the show's complex narrative, we do our best to unpick the ethical implications of the premise: what if a brain-chip could offer the ultimate work-life balance?
As well as discussing ideas around memory and self, we look at the way Severance parodies and amplifies the...
In Episode 29 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Masha and Clare are discussing the 2011 film In Time, and its concept of 'Darwinian Capitalism'.
We look at the metaphor of 'time is money' as made literal in the film. We look at the nature of wealth disparity and how wealth redistribution functions as a step within systemic change. We discuss the ethics of Will and Sylvia's 'Robin Hood' tactics and the theme o...
Masha and Clare are back with Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, and our new season kicks off with an episode on Wicked, specifically the 2024 film, with reference to the current political situation in the USA and UK.
In this episode, we discuss the eradication of the Animals as a metaphor for marginalized peoples. We explore the othering and eventual persecution of Elphaba. We look at the presentation of disabili...
In Episode 27 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Masha and Clare discuss the 1976 film Logan's Run, and its themes of aging, societal control, hedonism, AI, and the nature of freedom. We draw contrasts with other depictions of the allegory of Plato's cave, the apparent rejection of 1960s culture in favour of more conservative values, and the vision of a response to ecological crisis and resource scarcity. We al...
In this post-US election episode, Clare Coombe and Masha Yakovleva are talking about the 2006 Mike Judge comedy film, Idiocracy, called by some 'a documentary' and others (ie. Masha) 'the worst film I've ever seen'.
This film imagines a future in which intelligence has been bred out of the human race, with chaotic social and political consequences. In our discussion, we critique the use of stereotypes and depiction of lower social-...
In our Halloween special, and 25th episode, Clare and Masha are discussing the 2000 film American Psycho and the 1991 novel by Brett Easton Ellis on which it was based.
In our analysis, we approach American Psycho as a dystopia in which Patrick Bateman represents the everyman of 1980s Wall Street, and his construction of his identity is mimetic and post-modern, just like the complex genre of the film and novel.
We discuss the alleg...
In Episode 24 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare Coombe and Masha Yakovleva are discussing Society of the Snow [La Sociedad de la Nieve], the 2023 film dramatizing the events of the Uruguayan plane crash of 1972 and the subsequent survival of 18 victims in the Andes. We also make comparisons with the 1993 film Alive.
Our themes include surviving in inhospitable landscapes, including reliance on anthropoph...
In Episode 23 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare Coombe and Masha Yakovleva are discussing the 2023 film, The End We Start From, starring Jodie Comer.
Our discussion explores flooding and the climate crisis, and how prevalent these issues already are, especially in the global south, but also worsening in Europe and some parts of Britain. We talk crisis response, prevention, and the need for more beavers.
...
In Episode 22, Clare and Masha are discussing the amazing 1997 film, Gattaca.
In our conversation we look at the science and ethics of gene editing, including the advocacy for an update in the law to eliminate hereditary disease.
We explore the fascinating theories of genetics and the impact on us of our DNA, with particular reference to Robert Plomin's book, Blueprint, as well as passing reference to Robert Sapolsky's work on fre...
In Episode 21 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha are discussing the miniseries Last Light.
We focus on responses to the climate crisis, the difference between eco-activism and eco-terrorism, the role of disruption and violence in social justice and driving change, and how we can bring about an end to fossil fuels.
In this episode, Masha talks about Alain de Botton on the media. Clare quotes Mik...
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