ENVIRONMENT — all episodes — Fantasy/Animation

Episode 76 - Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) (with Rupert Read)

The politics and proxies of James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster Avatar provide the focus for Chris and Alex in Episode 76, as they plug into Pandora to make sense of the relationships between the film’s ecological sensibilities and its technological prowess. Joining them is Rupert Read, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia who specialises in everything from the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein to the contemporary climate crisis. Rupert was also a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion (authoring the 2020 book Extinction Rebellion: Insights from the Inside), and was a Green Party councillor from 2004-2011 (having stood for both national parliamentary and European elections).

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJune 21, 2021ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, REPRESENTATION, RACE, VISUAL EFFECTS, CGIComment

Episode 29 - Mr. Bug Goes to Town (Dave Fleischer, 1941)

Chris and Alex return to the work of the Fleischer studios for episode 29, following up their discussion of Gulliver’s Travels with Mr. Bug Goes to Town (Dave Fleischer, 1941), similar in concept and design to its predecessor and loosely inspired by Belgian poet Maurice Maeterlinck's book The Life of the Bee (1901). The second (and final) cel-animated feature film produced by the Fleischers, Mr. Bug Goes to Town negotiates the conflict between an insect community and the threatening human world, all framed by an environmental narrative of modernisation, redevelopment and urban sprawl.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantSeptember 9, 2019CEL-ANIMATION, HOLLYWOOD, SCALE, ENVIRONMENT, RACEComment