As Depicted on Film

Beowulf is an epic poem from 6th c. southern Scandinavia, recorded in Anglo-Saxon a few centuries later. The poem recalls a time when brutal warriors in small kingdoms dominated the North Sea coasts as the transition from paganism to Christianity was unfolding. In this episode, Gil and Rutger review three films based on the plot of the poem: Beowulf (2007), Beowulf & Grendel (2005), and Outlan...

Electronic dance music took Europe by storm in the years following 1989. The music became the soundtrack across the unifying continent for the post-Cold War euphoria of the decade when the world went online. In this episode, Rutger reviews five films that depict events from the "second Summer of Love" in Manchester in the late eighties to the early noughties in Berlin: 24 Hour Party Peop...

It is somewhat perplexing how the basic premise of so many different films across genres have one recurring theme when it comes to men wanting to get back with their exes: male performance, female castration, male domination, female submission. Our films for this episode are: Outbreak (1994), Die Hard (1988), 2012 (2009), War of the Worlds (2005), Crazy Stupid Love (2011), Forgetting Sarah Marshal...

The story of the flood and Noah's ark has been a staple of human storytelling for 2500 years, with the latest version being the avant-garde Darren Aronofsky 2014 Noah film, with its distinct gravitas, starring Russel Crowe, Jennifer Connely, Emma Watson, Ron Winstone, and Anthony Hopkins. How is this 21st-century version of this tale different and what does it tell us about the evolution of storyt...

Time travel is an awesome power that, apparently, is wielded by manchildren in order to groom and gaslight women. Gil and Rutger review the highly similar films, The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) and About Time (2013). As a palate cleanser, the shockingly oedipal Back To The Future (1985). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

In our series on time travel, we treat ourselves to one of the greatest film franchises of all time: Back to the Future. Gil and Rutger explore the evolution of our morals from the depicted 1950s (and 1880s and 2010s) through the time the films were made, and on to our present day. Are time machines just tools for manipulating the world into getting what you want - especially from women - or can w...

How do South African Films portray post-Apartheid crime? Why is there crime? Who are the criminals? What is their life like? Is race more important than class? Gil has South African-raised Jessina Marenga again to look at how South Africans are telling their own stories about crime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Wall Street and its flaws are a common theme in movies, which emphasize the excesses, the risk-taking, and the societal fallout. But once upon a time, banking and finance were boring, steady occupations - and even before that, they were the domain of Florentine family businesses and Venetian Jews. What changed, and why? Gil and Rutger discuss Hollywood portrays the world of finance capitalism over...

The 2020 thriller dark comedy Promising Young Woman breaks new ground on the feminist film continuum, parodying former female revenge movies, narratives about rape as an awesome origin story, and eviscerates the trope of the "nice guy". Lireza Elezaj joins Gil to discuss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

What would happen if time didn't simply move forward linearly, but instead the same trajectory could be taken multiple times? What would the experience be like emotionally, or philosophically? What would the paradoxes be? In this episode, Gil and Rutger explore this scenario through sci-fi films. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon...

How do American movies portray Africans? Has that view changed over time? Special guest Jessina, an African studying politics in the U.S. joins Gil to break it down via Coming to America (1988), Concussion (2015), Black Panther (2019) and Coming 2 America (2021). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

With so many films about Ancient Rome, it's easy to find those that follow the timeline of the Roman rise and fall in the Mediterranean, with a prequel of Alexander (2004): Hannibal (2006) for the Roman destruction of Carthage, the post-war American epic of Cleopatra (1963) for the end of Hellenistic Egypt and North Africa, we then go to the Common Era with some Jesus films, visit Roman Spain and...

Since Rutger and Gil are on a short vacation (separately), here is an episode from Gil's other podcast, A Podcast of Biblical Proportions. After listening, head to that podcast to get all the episodes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

With record heat waves in Canada, and a few weeks ago in Northern Russia, climate change is manifesting more and more clearly. In this episode, we look at how Hollywood depicts it. Gil and Rutger review three films: The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Snowpiercer (2013), and Interstellar (2014). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

To better understand the geopolitics of China, we need to dive into the painful historical memories of this proud all-time global power. Between 1839 and 1949 China found itself divided and ransacked by European powers and Japan, which resulted in the fall of the 2000-year-old Chinese system of government, civil wars and then the rise of the communists. We look at this period through The Opium War...

The Dutch have maintained a colonial presence in what is now Indonesia for over three centuries. What started out as swashbuckling adventures that are still sometimes viewed with chest-puffing pride gradually evolved into increasingly pervasive domination. The final chapters were only written in the mid-twentieth century and still cause lingering trauma. In this podcast, Gil and Rutger review thre...

Humanity is on the brink of cloning itself in a lab. The technology works on non-human primates and other mammals but has not yet been applied to us - though gene editing using CRISPR already has, with the birth of two edited girls in China. Gil and Rutger watch three films around these topics and their applications: the classic thriller The Boys from Brazil (1978), nineties dystopian future in Ga...

The story of New York City is in many ways the story of its waves of immigration between the 1600s and the early 20th century. And the stories of those immigrants are in many ways the story of Europe between the 1600s and the early 20th century. We'll explore the most interesting city in the world through Gangs of New York (Irish mid 19th century), Hester Street and Once Upon a Time in America (Je...

What was the natural environment of the Near East like 3,000 years ago? Did it drive the evolution of monotheistic religions? In this special, Gil and Rutger explore the biological and cultural diversity of the Levant in biblical times, in a cross-over episode with PodcastOfBiblicalProportions.com Extra episode media are here: https://www.ourpodacademy.com/post/natural-history-of-the-bible   Hoste...

For many decades, humans have lived with the alluring idea that it must be possible to design artificial intelligence systems that can advise us on the most critical life and death decisions we may have to take, in warfare, justice, or complex missions that push human boundaries. However, such systems can easily fail, resulting in flawed decisions or analysis paralysis. In this episode, we discuss...

Medieval music has left its DNA in most of the popular music today. It was a storytelling tool, whether to impart history, genealogy, or as a PR tool for nobles and knights. Our movies/shows are Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Witcher. Special guests: violinist Bridget Hall and campsite guitarist Shay Golan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To su...

Developed from a funerary human sacrifice, gladiator gaming became a massive form of entertainment, intimidation and execution in the late republic and early Roman empire. With up to ten per cent of the empire's inhabitants being enslaved, training some of them to become deadly killers became a liability and gladiator uprisings started happening. In this episode, we discuss the historical context...

How do movies portray relationships between sisters? Especially sisters that have no brothers? Dr. Noga Ariel Galor and Lireza Elezaj join Gil to discuss. Visit our website https://www.ourpodacademy.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Greek Heroes have been a staple of western culture for millenias, and are still relevant in contemporary moviemaking. Special guest and expert paleontologist Charalampos Kevrekidis joins us to break down Hercules (1997), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Troy (2004) and the two Wonder Woman movies (2017 and 2020). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, g...

There aren't a lot of movies and shows depicting female solidarity, but those who do shed important light on storytelling from a female perspective. Musician, architect and feminist Lireza Elezaj joins Gil once more on the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page