As Depicted on Film

Strong artificial intelligence is the term for machines that have generalized intelligence similar to humans, such that they might be able to fool people into believing that the machines are people too. The hypothetical test for distinguishing strong AI from humans is the Turing Test, and in this episode, we look at the application of such tests in sci-fi movies. Gil and Rutger discuss Blade Runne...

In our third installment of Ancient Rome in movies - we move from the centers of power to the most distant province - Britannia, annexed in the year 47 CE. It is a fabled and mysterious land full of Celtic-type peoples who do their best to stop the Roman advance - and fail. Until 400 years later they cut and run when other so-called barbarians are encroaching on the Roman mainland. Hosted on Acast...

We bring in a special guest to talk about Morocco, its internal politics, its geopolitical game, its history and the many Moroccan communities that live outside the country. Special guest: longtime patron Younes Al Alami! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Gil has a new podcast with his former partner in Got Academy, looking at the stories of the bible from the perspective of the people who wrote and listened to it. It's an engaging journey! Check out the website https://podcastofbiblicalproportions.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

In our second episode about the depictions of Julius Caesar in movies and shows, we go over the most compelling episodes of his life - the conquests, the incursions, the ingenuity, the civil war - and the dramatic assassination. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Julius Caesar might be the most iconic historical figure of all time, yet since he was such a complex and interesting man of flesh and blood, each movie or TV version of him depicts him in a different way, emphasizing one or several sides of him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

How the animated fantasy children's movie How To Train Your Dragon accurately reflects the views of white privileged liberals who are living in an intractable conflict. Guest appearance: Omri Cohen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

The Americans is ostensibly a spy thriller set during the Cold War, but it is also a story of the struggles of immigration to the US, and negotiating your old and new identities. Linguist Mallory Aler joins Gil to talk languages. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Reposting the episode from Christmas 2019: To mark Christmas, we look at movies depicting the life and times of perhaps the most controversial rabbi of the Second Temple period: Jesus of Nazareth. We rewatch the Life of Brian and are reminded of Empire and of the brutality with which the Romans imposed their will homogenously across enormous swathes of land, ironically setting up the environment i...

The Expanse is back on Amazon for its fifth season. We go back to the sci-fi show to explore its rich historical themes and its Solar System geopolitics to talk about those, as well as science. This is a review for episodes 1 through 3 (that were dropped together), but from this coming Thursday, we'll post on Thursdays episode reviews for the new episode aired on Wednesdays. Those will be on top o...

In our first episode on Rome in antiquity, we look at the rise of the eternal city from an insignificant hamlet ruled by petty kings to an empire spanning much of the known world. Gil and Rutger watch The First King (2019, about the founders Romulus and Remus; Coriolanus (2011), on the warfare between city-states during the early republican era; and Hannibal (2006), where Rome defeats its last exi...

In our fourth installment in the series, we review the 2012 Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln and its portrayal of America's most iconic president. But is it actually a movie about Lincoln? Or is it a movie about Barack Obama? Gil and Rutger dive in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

In our third instalment of The Downfall of the U.S. in Movies, we go back to the most iconic Hollywood movie ever made: Gone With The Wind. How does the highest-grossing movie in history (adjusted for inflation) tell the story of the American Civil War and the following Reconstruction? Gil and Rutger dive in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go t...

In our second installment of The Downfall of the U.S. in Movies, we go back to the official and popular stories of the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, which led to the formation of a new nation. The movie we chose for that dramatic event is A More Perfect Union (1989), with a sprinkle of Hamilton the musical (2015). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support th...

In so many countries and societies around the world, social unrest is flowing out from homes social media into the streets. In this episode, Dr Noga Ariel Galor joins Gil Kidron to break down the psychoanalytical perspective of this very tense moment in history, through a wide array of movies depicting fictional and real civil unrests and revolts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

We launch a new series of episodes titled The Downfall of the U.S. in Movies to draw a line from American history - and more importantly, their depiction of American history - to the political, social, and economic crisis it is living through now. The first episode is about America's creation story - its War of Independence. Its so-called Revolutionary War. The movie we chose for that momentous oc...

The 2020 elections in the United States have rocked the nation and the world. How do these recent events inform us about the world's empire? Should we look differently at its history and meteoric rise to world superpower status? Gil and Rutger rant, scream and cry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

To prepare for the upcoming presidential elections in the United States, we tackle movies that depict elections, from the 1970s all the way to this past decade. What can we learn about the way the Americans hold this process? About the lead characters? In this episode, Rutger and Gil start with the most recent movie, and then move back in time: The Ides of March (2011), The Manchurian Candidate (2...

Amazon's The Boys season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off and takes it up a notch: portraying America as a capitalist empire that will cooperate with Nazis to make a buck, and corrupt ideas such as feminism, racial equality and gay right to sell more merchandise and movie tickets. Writer Dana Schweppe joins Gil Kidron for a very enthusiastic review. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

With the elections in the United States coming up this November, we map out five different archetypes of fictional TV and movie presidents ( Frank Underwood , Jed Bartlet , Charles Lindberg , the president from Independence Day  and Dave ), and what they tell us about how America sees itself through its president, what it wants to imagine about itself and what kind of image it wants to send to the...

Imperial China has survived from antiquity all the way to the beginning of the 20th century - an unequalled historical feat. How do Chinese filmmakers view that? Are there differences between directors from Hong Kong, from Taiwan, and from the mainland? What does Hollywood do with it? Rutger and Gil glide through 2000 years of rich history through a Pod Academy record of 9 movies: Hero (2002), Red...

Human imagination has been rife with creatures that are part human and part animal ever since we started to express ourselves artistically as a species, and all the way to modern sci-fi stories. Centaurs, satyrs, the minotaur, mermaids, werewolves, Ganesha, and on and on. In this episode, Gil Kidron and Dr Rutger Vos review three movies that depict human-animal hybrids: Prometheus (2012), Splice (...

The tension between the big city and the bucolic village has existed since settled societies were formed. In this episode, we explore the depiction of the European countryside in movies: the clichés, imaginations, and twists. PhD candidate Anke Bosma joins Rutger and Gil to share about her research, which covers that topic and was turned into the idea for this episode by Anke. We rely on the movie...

The story of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones begins in an interbellum period, meaning: a period between two great wars. Looking back, there are interesting parallels between the first part of the story and the view towards the White Walkers and the views that some politicians in Europe espoused to avoid another conflict at all cost. Rutger and Gil discuss the similarities as well as the...

Compared to movies about male-female romantic relationships and movies about female friendships, there's a dearth of movies about male friendships. We highlighted three of those movies to explore what they teach us about male relationships throughout life, from childhood friends ( Good Will Hunting , 1997), through their early 30s ( I Love You, Man , 2009) and then into full-blown adulthood ( The...