Swords and Satire

Okja is a classic tale about a girl and her super pig, just palin’ around, sleeping in the sun, eating persimmons, until one day an evil corporation comes in to take her pig, which they consider to be their property, and she goes on an epic quest to save her piggy friend. And what we thought was going to be a nostalgic tale about friendship and a coming of age story, was something very different indeed, even though those elements were technically in there. Instead we got a brutal look at the nature of corporate greed and global influence, and couldn’t look away from the mirror that was held up to our own complicity in the cruelty of the animal mega-farming and meat industries. So this is sure to create a fun and light atmosphere in our discussion this week, right? (Yeesh!)

(Trigger warning: This is a very heavy film that we are discussing this week, so we wanted to give a trigger warning for folx, including for child endangerment, sexual violence, animal cruelty, and other disturbing content. Please take care for yourself when engaging with this episode, considering the difficult nature of these topics. Thank you.)

We were once again tricked by the Wheel of Time into thinking we would get to follow a character with a more interesting plotline, and we were again left with narrative blue balls. And what we’re left with is following along with the Fellowship of the Wheel as they make their way to stop the dark forces that threaten to take over the world. And our poor dark friend Mat has a blocked solar plexus chakra, but we all know what that feels like sometimes, right?

This epic historical fantasy masterpiece set in the 1920s, centers around two legendary and historical revolutionary figures and follows their separate and joined efforts to stop the oppressive English rule over their homeland of India. We relish in the melodrama of this film, and delight in the supernatural, godlike abilities of our heroes Raju and Bheem. The anti-colonialist themes set a fire in our hearts and the epic bromance between our heroes was a watery balm for our souls. Listen in to hear our hot takes and why we think these two epic bros are like Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

(Also we hope you enjoy our new theme song that we purchased with the help of our patrons! “Paradise Lost (Rock Mix)” by Pierre Gerwig Langer via Pond5) (intro skit sounds obtained from Zapsplat.com)

This week we cover episode six of The Wheel of Time, about healing and reconciliation, family strife (which we can all relate to), and being punished in public by your domi mommy. But it seems like Moiraine (the sub) and Suaine (the dom) are super into that kind of thing and it was probably just foreplay to them, so that makes it okay. But in the end we always love seeing healthy relationships, even if they are forced apart by an epic level evil that threatens to consume the world in darkness. It’s a tale as old as time.

This week we cover a gothic fantasy romance in which two totally hetero friends co-parent their cherubic daughter, who can never age. But we suppose there’s no point to being catty about this, like the movie is, so we’ll just come out and say that those two friends are clearly gay vampires in a loving, yet tumultuous relationship. Oh, and their daughter is totally a child vampire that went insane somewhere along the way. Also, there’s nothing wrong with coding the only gay characters as vampires right? Right? (Oh, shit. Maybe there is something wrong there after all.)

(intro skit sounds obtained from Zapsplat.com, Intro skit music: “Tone Deaf” by Gigakoops, obtained from the Free Music Archive)

Our traveling companions from the Two Rivers finally make it to Tar Valon to meet their fates at the White Tower, but not before some of them run into the best villain of the series so far, Child Valda, and his not-so-merry men. He makes a crucial mistake about his assumption that only women are able to channel, which puts him in a real bind. But we satirists could have warned that it’s a mistake to assume things about people’s gender, since some of our members take an unconventional approach to that form of identity. We help draw real world comparisons to The Aes Sedai and The Children of the Light, and make a case for dethroning the gods, so hop on in and listen to our hot takes, and maybe even share your own with us on social media, with @swordsandsatire!

This week we decided to change up our usual pattern and cover a fantasy video game, and we chose Monster Prom, the fantastical dating sim game, in honor of Pride month! This is a game with more open identity types than is typical (three pronoun types is at least better than two), and you are free to woo whoever you wish, regardless of gender, as long as it’s consensual, because we all know that consent is sexy. We were also pleasantly surprised by other queer representation in the game as well, like Damien’s dads. Listen in to find out who we each wooed for our prom dates and our thoughts about the game, and share in the public coming out of one of our members! Happy Pride Month everyone!

We finally get to discuss the typology of the factions of Aes Sedai - highlighted by each faction wearing different colors of the rainbow - and their relationship to their Warders, and just like we thought, it’s sexy. But alas, the Aes Sedai are also problematic and we can’t just love these characters unconditionally, because they are part of the powerful elite and do cringy things to maintain their power. At the same time we get to see more of their humanity in this episode. Listen in to hear our thoughts about these complicated characters, and which characters we want to ship from this series.

This being the perfect post-apocalyptic fantasy movie for Swords and Satire - complete with a prophecy, legends, class struggle, and bodily excretions - we wondered, why did it do so poorly when it was first released? Check out the episode to discover our potentially controversial conclusion, and our hot takes on the people of Waterworld, including who we would really be rooting for. We also explain what fuels post-apocalyptic stories, for those of you who had a burning desire to know that. So yeah, you’re welcome.

(intro skit sounds are from Zapsplat.com)

In this episode we follow the three separated groups of friends (?) experiencing their trials and tribulations as they try to find their way back to each other and The White Tower. In our discussion we get to focus on the darkness within, which we all know is the best kind of darkness. And when you focus on that darkness, you must ask yourself, Is the Wheel worth preserving? Listen in to find out!