This first part in the Jerry Cornelius saga is literary science-fiction that challenges the politics of its time through transgression. But we find eerie parallels to our current zeitgeist and wonder if Cornelius is the perfect device to question our thoughts about subversion and morality.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• The Final Programme
• Casanova
• The Adventures of Luther Arkwright & Heart of The Empire
• The Prisoner
• The Invisibles
• Sebastian O.
• The Time Traveler’s Wife
• Money

Additional Resources:

• Harrison, A. (2015). “I think Tolkien was a crypto-fascist”. New Statesman, 144(5272), 40-43.
• Moorcock's Achievement and Promise in the Jerry Cornelius Books
• Interview with SFWA Grand Master Michael Moorcock
• The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock
• How we met: 43. Michael Moorcock and Andrea Dworkin

This psychological thriller about an unethical photojournalist has us asking all kinds of questions. Are we complicit in the horrible narratives of the news? Do supportive families enable creative storytelling? And if the qualities of a villain are synonymous with "success" now, how do we tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy?  

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Nightcrawler
• There Will Be Blood
• The Master
• Michael Clayton
• Heat
• Get Shorty

Additional Resources:

• Nightcrawler: a moral dilemma of our own making
• 'Nightcrawler' Reminds Us That Capitalism and the Media Have Gotten Worse
• Dan and Tony Gilroy of ‘Nightcrawler’ Talk Media Ugliness In The Digital Age: Q&A
• ‘Nightcrawler’ and the new face of entitlement
• Rembrandt Lighting
• Through the Lens Glass: ‘Nightcrawler’ Filmmaker Dan Gilroy on Car Chases, Screenwriting, and the Internet’s Latchkey Kids
• Oscars: Dan Gilroy Taking Creepy ‘Nightcrawler’ Deep Into Race With Sterling Directorial Debut
• "This Is a Cautionary Tale": An Interview With Dan Gilroy of 'Nightcrawler'
• Nightcrawler: How Dan Gilroy Made The Most Original Film Of The Year
• Interview: Dan Gilroy
• Interview: ‘Nightcrawler’ Director Dan Gilroy Talks Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Elswit & Sociopaths
• “I Did Not Want a Character With an Arc”: ‘Nightcrawler’ Filmmaker Dan Gilroy on His Oscar Nomination, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Crime Scene Photography
• Riz Ahmed winning rave reviews for new film role
• Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘Nightcrawler’ Gets California Incentive
• Cannes: Jake Gyllenhaal's 'Nightcrawler' Sparks Bidding War
• Rene Russo on Nightcrawler, Career Regrets, and Not Having a Sex Scene With Jake Gyllenhaal

This deconstruction of the superhero genre was mired in legal debacles and intellectual property battles for decades before we could get a chance to read it. We look at that convoluted history, in light of Alan Moore's attempt to reimagine and criticize the themes of superhero comics.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Miracleman: A Dream of Flying
• Planetary
• Supreme: Blue Rose
• The Vision
• Understanding Comics

Additional Resources:

• https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2011/09/miracleman-neil-gaimans-writers.html
• https://icv2.com/articles/comics/view/1057/miracleman-heads-court
• http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/02/last-legal-post-for-long-time.asp
• https://www.cbr.com/mcfarlane-responds-to-marvelman-news/
• http://forbiddenplanet.blog/2009/the-mighty-moore-marathon-part-three-of-padraigs-talk-with-alan-moore/
• https://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/10/17/the-original-writer-formerly-known-as-alan-moore/
• https://nerdist.com/why-alan-moores-miracleman-still-matters/
• https://www.tor.com/2011/10/31/the-great-alan-moore-reread-marvelman-miracleman-part-1/
• https://observationdeck.kinja.com/why-marvels-miracleman-isnt-alan-moores-marvelman-1447594301
• https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/69fm5n/what_are_the_best_deconstructionist_and/?st=jijj8nlu&sh=9182a032
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090905013308/http://www.mania.com/alan-moore-reflects-marvelman_article_117413.html
• http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/miracleman-marvelman-alan-moore-comics-dream-of-flying.html

This eighteen-hour continuation of a beloved twenty-five year old television series evokes emotions of both love and hate. So we discuss how Mark Frost, David Lynch and Showtime made and distributed this project while adhering to the original themes of good-versus-evil and unconventional storytelling.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Twin Peaks: The Return
• Fortitude 
• Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
• Pretty as a Picture
• Lost Highway
• Archie

Additional Resources:

• Ma, Aliza. Film Comment. Nov/Dec2017, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p36-39. 4p. 1
• Ewins, M. (2018). 2 TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN: DAVID LYNCH & MARK FROST. Sight & Sound, 28(1), 33-36.
• LUCCA, VIOLET, Film Comment. Nov/Dec2017, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p40-41. 2p
• SYME, RACHEL. New Republic. Aug/Sep2017, Vol. 248 Issue 8/9, p66-68. 3p.
• Twin Peaks Revival Back On for 'More Than' 9 Episodes as David Lynch, Showtime Resolve Stalemate
• Is Twin Peaks a movie or a TV show? The answer’s more complicated than you’d think.
• David Lynch on Bowie and the Music that Inspired the New “Twin Peaks”
• ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ Proves David Lynch Still Has a Woman Problem
• Has 'Twin Peaks' Been a Hit for Showtime?
• How, and why, Showtime resurrected “Twin Peaks”
• Was Twin Peaks: The Return Worth It for Showtime?

This treatise on climate change argues that we should just accept that our civilization is going to die. We might survive however, by remembering our cultural heritage. We discuss Scranton's experience at war, as well as the variety of reactions to his claim that we should just confront our own mortality, even when we're posting to social media.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Learning to Die in the Anthropocene
• Scatter, Adapt, and Remember
• The Better Angels of Our Nature
• It's a Disaster
• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
• Melancholia

Additional Resources:

• 28 Authors on the Books That Changed Their Lives
• Impurity: Two Books on the Anthropocene
• LEARNING TO DIE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: INTERVIEW WITH ROY SCRANTON
• Ison, Ray and Shelley, Monica. “Governing in the Anthropocene: Contributions from Systems Thinking in Practice?”
• Whitington, Jerome. “What Does Climate Change Demand of Anthropology?” Political and Legal Anthropology Review, May 2016.

We discuss the history of this influential record in light of the band's breakup and subsequent reformation. We also examine their rhetoric of anti-capitalism in relation to the production and distribution of this album.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• The Shape of Punk to Come
• Plays Pretty For Baby
• The Lipstick Game
• Turn
• Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Additional Resources:

• Refused New Noise Spawns Nu Shame
• Fauteux, B. (2012). “New Noise” versus the Old Sound: Manifestos and The Shape of Punk to Come. Popular Music & Society, 35(4), 465. doi:10.1080/03007766.2011.578523
• REFUSED's 'The Shape Of Punk To Come' To Be Released As A Deluxe Edition - Apr. 7, 2010
• Refused – “The Shape of Punk to Come”
• WHY 'THE SHAPE OF PUNK TO COME' WAS WRONG
• Refused is making a new album 17 years after The Shape of Punk to Come
• Refused Are Fucking Dead (The Last Official Press Release)
• REFUSED: Pop Songs for the Revolution

This 2008 military film claims to be about realism and a soldier's addiction to war. But we learn that despite writer Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow's best intentions, it doesn't accurately reflect the experience of veterans.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• The Hurt Locker
• Near Dark
• Blue Steel
• Point Break
• Sheriff of Babylon
• Pride of Baghdad
• The Night Porter
• Eat the Apple

Additional Resources:

• Here’s Why ‘The Hurt Locker’ Is The Worst War Movie Of All Time
• U.S. bomb expert says "Hurt Locker" stole his story
• Iraq War Vet Ordered to Pay $187,000 in Failed Lawsuit Against 'Hurt Locker' Producers
• The Hurt Locker: interview with Mark Boal
• The Hurt Locker: So Right About Men, So Wrong About Addiction
• What's Wrong With 'The Hurt Locker'
• First sight: Mark Boal
• Driscoll, S. (2013). The Hurt Locker (film). Salem Press Encyclopedia,
• TAUBIN, A. (2009). hard wired. Film Comment, 45(3), 30-35.
• The Iraq war -- from the troops' point of view
• Kathryn Bigelow

 

This 12-year running comedy game show features celebrities from the entertainment industry celebrating their love of cinema. But it's also a fascinating intersection between business and marijuana culture. We discuss its trajectory alongside the legalization of the drug here in parts of the United States.   Check out Doug Loves Movies here.   Additional Resources:

• Podcast Review: Doug Loves Movies
• Listen Up: The 20 Best Comedy Podcasts Right Now
• https://tv.avclub.com/doug-benson-is-probably-high-right-now-1798258344
• Doug Benson on comedy, high concepts and Doug Loves Movies
• Doug Benson's Total Scam of a Life
• Listen Notes
• Talk show host's stoner dream comes true, and it's high time
• Doug Benson On 420 Comedy, Post-Legalization

   

 

This controversial comic series about terrorism and identity politics predicts a dystopia that not everyone is willing to agree with. We look at the angry arguments from both Howard Chaykin and his detractors about whether this is artistic expression or just shock value. And... we ask what no one else seems to address. Does Chaykin's story successfully meet its intended goal?

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• The Divided States of Hysteria
• Black Kiss
• American Flagg
• The Homeland Directive
• Dead Babies
• Mr. A

Additional Resources:

• The Divided States of Hysteria controversy, and what it means for trans characters in comics
• “Conversation” Sparked By Second Print Of ‘Divided States Of Hysteria’
• Transmyscira: Why I’m Boycotting Image Comics
• On Free Speech, Censorship, And Howard Chaykin’s Divided States Of Hysteria
• Howard Chaykin Responds To Controversy
• Image Comics & Chaykin respond to sensitivity feedback, pull THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA cover
• HOWARD CHAYKIN RESPONDS
• INTERVIEW: Howard Chaykin on ‘Divided States of Hysteria’ controversy
• There Is Absolutely No Excuse for Image Comics’ Divided States of Hysteria Hate Crime Cover
• Let’s All Calm Down Over Howard Chaykin’s ‘Divided States’ Cover Art Swap

As long-time listeners know, one of our hosts is moving across the country, and our production schedule has been disrupted.

To ease the transition, this week's Supercontext is a shortened, totally subjective chat about what media we have been consuming and enjoying.

If anything caught your interest, please consider buying through our Amazon links below to support the show!

PROSE

• Newsletters: Warren Ellis, Unladylike, Hot Pod, Jim Gibbons, Ken Lowery, Live Wire
• Men in the Off Hours

AUDIO

• Jimmywine Majestic
• Until Your Heart Stops

COMICS

• Shiver
• Juni Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu
• The Coldest City

TV

• Hap and Leonard
• Legion
• Halt and Catch Fire

MOVIES

• Alien: Covenant
• Atomic Blonde