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 anthropophagy, the consumption of the flesh of the dead. We discuss the responsibilities of rescue services and the survival strategies of the individuals.

We talk about human resilience, teamwork, friendship between men, and mutual support in the face of extreme trauma. We also consider the role of faith and religion in the survival of the crash victims.

We discuss the ethics of survival and wider attitudes to anthropophagy, colonialist impact on the taboo of cannibalism, and the rights of the dead, with particular focus on the place of consent in the case of the deceased.

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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.

We look at the depiction of motherhood, family, and women's friendships. We talk about societal responsibility, the role of the state, and abnegating responsibility. 

Let us know your thoughts about the ethics of the choices Jodie Comer's character makes, Joel Fry's character and how he reacts to trauma, and the depiction of the commune.

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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 free-will.

We link this with ideas of meritocracy and social mobility, and cite ideas and statistics from Michael Sandel's books, Justice and The Tyranny of Merit.

If you have ideas to add to our discussion, please do contact us. You can find all our links in the link-tree on our Instagram.

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 Mikaela Loach discussing the hero narrative in climate activism and Hannah Ritchie's positive vision of change in Not the End of the World.

We also reference a number of articles on the efficacy of disruptive action, including Damien Gayle in the Guardian, Hanan Badr in the Diplomatic Courier, and Kevin A Young & Laura Thomas-Walters in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

If you enjoy this episode, please do rate and review. We'd also love to hear from you, and you can message us via Instagram.

In our 20th episode, Masha and Clare are discussing the 2019 film Joker, looking at its presentation of societal impact on mental health, its depiction of the consequences of wealth disparity, and how it reflects ableism in our society.

In this episode, we draw on some of the ideas in Daraiseh and Booker's 2020 article: 'Jokes from Underground: The Disintegration of the Bourgeois Subject and the Progress of Capitalist Modernization from Dostoevsky to Todd Phillips’s Joker'.

We critique some of the arguments in Justin Edgar's 2019 article: 'Joker makes great disability art by letting its hero bite back'.

We also use the definition of the neoliberal creed from Monbiot/Hutchison's The Invisible Doctrine, and statistics on wealth inequality from The Equality Trust.

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Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs is back! Masha and Clare have returned from our summer break, and we have a new episode out for you on the tv drama Fallout (Amazon Prime). 

In this episode, we discuss depiction of post-nuclear apocalypse, and the formation of societies within this.

We talk about the Golden Rule vs immoral lawlessness, and whether trust and community can survive societal destruction.

We are especially interested in the show's depiction of war-profiteering, late capitalism, privatization of government projects, and the power of corporations.

Also dogs: dogs feature quite a lot.

Among other references, in this episode we recommend the new book by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison, The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life).

If you enjoy this podcast, you may be interested in our project Being Society. You can donate to support our work, or you can support us by sharing our Substack or following us on Instagram.

Thanks for listening!

In Episode 18 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha are discussing the iconic and much-beloved 1998 film, The Truman Show.

In this episode we discuss the appeal of reality television and what it says about our society.

We look at how The Truman Show posits Seahaven as a 'utopia' and the price that Truman is made to pay for his so-called safe and comfortable existence, with reference to the social contract. We also consider what is 'utopian' about the constructed reality of the show.

We look at the character of Christof, in particular, as creator, protector, god-figure, and megalomaniac. We discuss the parallels with freedom within or beyond religion, the prisons we make or accept for ourselves, and the extent to which we are the produce of our social environments.

We reference the following books and articles in our discussion:

Simone Knox, Reading "The Truman Show" Inside Out

Alex Fitch ‘Dark City and The Truman Show: Surveillance and the Destabilization of Identity’  FILM CRITICISM

Peter Marks ‘6 Identities’ Imagining Surveillance: Eutopian and Dystopian Literature and Film 

Tony E Jackson, Televisual Realism: "The Truman Show"

Keeping a Sense of Wonder: Interview with Peter Weir

Slavoj Žižek  ‘Welcome to the Desert of the Real!’ Cultures of Fear: A Critical Reader, 2009, pp. 70-78 

Christopher Falzon ‘Peter Weir’s The Truman Show and Sartrean Freedom' in Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema: A Sartrean Perspective 

If you enjoy the podcast, please do rate and review, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to our Substack.

In this episode of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha are discussing the incredible yet harrowing 1984 film, Threads, a graphic depiction of the aftermath of nuclear attack, set in Sheffield (where Masha lives!).

Content warning: violence and sexual violence; still-birth

In this episode we discuss the impacts of nuclear attack on infrastructure and human bodies, along with the history of nuclear weapons. We look at the documentary style of the film, and its human-eye view, as well as the realism and horror that the film-makers managed to achieve.

We look at the humanizing of the experience of disaster through the story of Jimmy and Ruth, and how they are representative of real people in the world today and their disenfranchisement from global affairs. At the same time, we consider the role of governments including the use of gaslighting, the failure of government and law and order in such a catastrophic situation, and the ultimate breakdown of society.

We compare Threads with the extraordinary graphic novel When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, the contemporary impact of the film, and its relevance today when the Doomsday Clock stands at 90 seconds to midnight.

Within the few days between us recording this episode and posting it, we can also report that the Traffic Warden has been found, so our public service announcement is sadly redundant!

We reference a number of articles, books, and interviews offering commentary on the film, and you can find these here:

Discover the post-apocalyptic nightmare of this landmark social drama

How we made the nuclear apocalypse TV drama Threads | Culture | The Guardian

Threads served up a bleakly British depiction of our impending nuclear doom

Threads – remembering an influential moment in that 1984 film

Here come the bombs: the making of Threads, the nuclear war film that shocked a generation

Toni A Perrine (1998) Film and the Nuclear Age: Representing Cultural Anxiety

Dorian Lynskey (2024) Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World

In Episode 16 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare Coombe and Masha Yakovleva are discussing the mind-bending physics-filled Netflix Drama, 3 Body Problem.

In this episode, we look at the depiction of Mao's China and the Cultural Revolution, and the Chinese novel on which the show is based. We mention articles from The Guardian, New York Times, and Radio Free Asia.

We discuss the likelihood of extra-terrestrial life and communicating across the universe, including the Fermi Paradox and everything Clare knows about science from The Infinite Monkey Cage podcast.

We've done our very best to tackle the science and explain the titular 3 body problem, relying a bit on this Netflix article. We touch on theoretical physics, applied physics, cryonics, nano-technology, and the potential of VR.

Perhaps most importantly in our discussions, we consider the ethics and procedures behind planetary defence and interstellar communications, the nature of being human, the metaphors for the climate crisis, and the refugee vs colonizer narratives.

If you enjoy this podcast, please do let us know by rating and reviewing, or by getting in touch to let us know your thoughts! You can email us or follow us on Instagram, and you may also like to sign up to our fortnightly Substack.

In Episode 15 of Dystopian Fiction Has Been Moved to Current Affairs, Clare and Masha are discussing Oscar-winning film Poor Things, which we absolutely loved.

Content Warning: suicide, sexual content, FGM

Themes in this episode include:

• brain transplants, animal and human testing, and medical ethics

In this episode we reference a couple of the many reviews of the film, which you can find here and here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please do rate and review it. You can find out what's coming up on our Podbean website, subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter, donate via our sister project on Ko-Fi, and follow us on Instagram.