As Depicted on Film

U.S. President Donald Trump triumphantly announced his so-called Deal of the Century for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clapping alongside him. But what is actually in the deal? What's not there? How does it correlate to reality? Who wins? Who lost? Why is the Israeli government rejecting its own deal? Gil Kidron and Rutger Vos break...

The Expanse season 5 highlighted two historical processes: 1. the Belter factions fighting for independence in different ways, reminiscent of many fights for freedom against colonial and post-colonial powers; 2. The American War on Terror. We also discuss the science of vacuum.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

The coronavirus 2019-nCov has been spreading out in the world and in the headlines. But what is a coronavirus anyway? Should we be worried? In this episode, Gil Kidron and Dr Rutger Vos (a biologist) discuss some of the basics of this thing that's going around (Is it alive? How is it structured?) and the search for some of the essential facts-on-the-ground (How fast does it spread? How lethal is i...

As the Democratic primaries in the United States kick off, we break down the candidates positions on Israel and the Palestinians: who is repeating talking points? Who is pandering? Who is taking it seriously? Who can really affect change? Political activist and data expert Benjy Cook, himself an Israeli-American, joins Gil Kidron to unpack the empty rhetoric, provide context, parcel the different...

Harry Potter's three main characters are the heroes of the story, but in vastly different ways, which can teach us a lot about ourselves and how to face injustices in our societies. We welcome back huge Potterhead and patron Lireza Elezaj to join Gil Kidron in breaking down Harry's heroism in facing his inevitable fate with his head held high, Ron's decision to endanger his privileges and family t...

World War 1 has left an undeniable mark on the world, and in many ways shaped it, even though it is relatively under-represented on screen. It could be because of the lack of clear narrative for the war, the anti-Hollywood elements in trench wars and lack of goodies and baddies, or the fact that it preceded a much more interesting and important war. In this History in Movies podcast Gil Kidron wel...

In an offhand remark, The Expanse claims that other forms of life are possible, such as forms based on silicon rather than carbon. How plausible is that? And what else would need to be in place? You'd need liquid water, for one. In fact, a whole bunch of things would need to fall exactly into place. Things that are on the one hand rare - but given the enormous numbers of stars and exoplanets would...

The Expanse might be set in the 2300s, but it is written by 21st-century people and inspired in many ways from history and current political contexts. In this episode patron Omri Goldshtrom, history buff, joins Gil Kidron to find the very many similarities between The Expanse, the path towards the independent Belter nation and the histories of the United States and Israel. We will get into the fou...

In this episode, we dive into The Expanse season 4 and its many layers. As humans travel farther than ever before, to a new world - new evolutionary opportunities arise. And pitfalls. Rutger and Gil break down the evolutionary opportunities and pitfalls that await organisms that move to new habitats. In our own world, new environments sometimes open up either because they suddenly appear - like vo...

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 in which the ideology of the guy they execut...

The Expanse season 4 has been out on Amazon Prime since December 13, and it is the best season of this scifi story, rife with historical elements, such as Mars collapsing after reaching a truce with Earth in the same vein that the USSR collapsed after the end of the cold war, the expansion out to the American west or Age of exploration elements, all the way to compelling scientific questions such...

The UK elections will be held on Thursday, December 12, and the results will impact not only the British people but Europeans at large - for decades to come. Will unelected incumbent conservative Boris Johnson win an outright majority? What will that mean? Will opposition leader and beleaguered head of Labor Jeremy Corbyn shock the world by tiptoeing around Brexit and focusing on social programs?...

The Expanse is a political story about a society set 200 years in the future, led by humans who are making the same sort of calculations leaders today make - weighing options, trying to figure out what other people will do in all kinds of situations. Rutger joins Gil to talk about game theory, the thinking behind it and its applications in all walks of life, including when dealing with a trans-pla...

After long years of on-and-off investigations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted for corruption charges - including bribery. His upcoming trial changes the political situation in Israel after 10 years of solid reign for King Bibi, which increasingly now seem like they will soon be in the past. Therapist Noga Ariel Galor is joining Gil Kidron on the podcast to break down B...

The King (2019) is a Netflix movie adapting a play from William Shakespeare's Henriad, about Henry V of England, who united the realm and went to successful wars in France. Rutger joins Gil to talk about the political relevance of The King in the UK's shattered politics in the age of Brexit, as the union is breaking apart at the seams. We go into detail about the actual historical context of the 1...

Game of Thrones turned several gay side characters from the books into caricatures of contemporary gay people, weak gay men and butchy gay women, while the gender fluidity in the books of characters like Cersei and Daenerys was left in the editing room. Gotributor John Taggart, with a BA Film and Television Studies and currently working on his Masters, joins Gil Kidron for a pleasant conversation...

Is Severus Snape a horrible person who abused a traumatized child or a fighter against the dark forces? Is he a cynical person who only saw the light when the darkness consumed his loved one, or is he a victim of his upbringing? Anke Bosma, a long time patron of Got Academy with a Masters in Literary Studies and an ardent Potterhead, is coming to defend Snape against the evil forces who want to di...

One of the best things about The Expanse is the language spoken by the Belters, who live in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Saturn. Belters are made up of Americans, Chinese, Russians, South Africans and more, and the society that they have created, under the oppression of Earth and Mars, is very much represented in their common language, that unifies people who live millions of kms (or mile...

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? In this History in Movies podcast Gil Kidron welcomes again Rutger Vos, this t...

Is Dumbledore really to blame for the flaws in the wizarding world? Should he have done better? After last week's podcast with writer Ariella Yashar, airing out her beef with the great Albus Dumbledore, huge Potterhead and patron Lireza Elezaj comes to his defense with very compelling arguments. He is a powerful wizard, but not a deity, so he doesn't know everything that is going on in Hogwarts; h...

Hogwarts principle Dumbledore is a revered wizard and beloved character in the Harry Potter series, but is he any good? Harry Potter is a timeless story that has captivated millions and millions of people, with its world-building, loveable characters, steady narrative through the years and holistic feel. Even though we admire it and its writer, JK Rowling, we need to talk about Albus. Writer Ariel...

In this Science in Movies podcast Gil again welcomes Rutger, this time to talk about how global epidemics (known as pandemics) have been portrayed in movies. We talk about Outbreak (1993), Contagion (2011), Philadelphia (1993), and Black Death (2010). We discuss the scientific aspects of these epidemics, fact-check their movie versions, how they have affected society in the past or will affect us...

For the second time in 2019 - Israelis went to the polls, to elections that were unlike any previous elections. Thankfully, we evaded the worst and acting prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to get the majority he needed to evade corruption charges. And not for lack of trying: he tried to postpone the elections by initiating a war, broke election laws several times and incited against the Isr...

For the second time in 2019 - Israelis are headed to the polls, but these elections are unlike any previous elections, because if current prime minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu gets his way - he'll be able to form a ruling coalition with the most racist, vile and violent parts of Israeli society in a coordinated effort to avoid standing trial on corruption charges, while dismantling what is left o...

Mindhunter by David Fincher is a Netflix show about the history of profiling serial killers by the FBI. There are clear psychological and historical elements to it, but in our conversation with contributor Mallory Aler, who is doing her Masters in linguistics, we want to focus on the linguistic aspects: language, performance, procedures, and the politics and society from which those are born. Host...