As Depicted on Film

In our first podcast review of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood we talk about the death instinct in this movie and in the Tarantino filmography in general. And for this happy occasion, we host our very own Noga Ariel Galor, on her first podcast appearance! She gives us the psychoanalytical angle on the various deaths in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: the death of careers, characte...

Welcome to another conversation with novelist, Literature Prof. and Writing Professor Theo Gangi and Gil Kidron. In this podcast, we review The Amazon Prime show - The Boys. The Boys takes a subversive take on the superhero genre and injects realism into it - how would these kinds of people be like if they were real. How would their existence affect our society, politically, geopolitically and eco...

There are so many ways to looks at stories, and in this podcast, we're looking at a couple of them from a linguistic point of view, with Mallory Aler, who is doing her Masters in linguistics. We're talking about the hit HBO show Chernobyl, that takes place in Ukraine, with Russian-speaking people talking in British English, and about a couple of Tarantino movies that have several languages in them...

Welcome Avi K. to the Got Academy Podcast to talk to Gil Kidron as part of Got Academy Gotributor special offer! Avi harnesses military philosophers such as Carl von Clausewitz and Sun Tsu, the ancient Greek terms of strategy and tactics, and concepts of offense and defense, as well as the power of religion - to think about the best way to fight the Others / White Walkers. Hosted on Acast. See aca...

What are the main differences between the American and the European comic book? Their history, their political context, topics they choose to focus on, the culture they represent, and social commentary. Gil talks with Theo and Rutger about Asterix, Tintin, Superman, Marvel, Stan Lee, Herge, Thorgal, Manga and much more. We discuss the context in which the art form first boomed. The role of the Sec...

In this History in Movies podcast, Gil Kidron and Dr. Rutger Vos are breaking down three Robin Hood movies, to learn how the image of Robin Hood has changed since its inception, throughout the centuries, and more specifically since its popular portrayal in the 1991 Kevin Costner Prince of Thieves, the 2010 Russel Crowe Robin Hood and the super political 2018 version. The presentation of a legendar...

Welcome Mitchell Dale to the Got Academy Podcast to talk to Gil Kidron as part of Got Academy Gotributor special offer! Mitchell is into machine learning, and he applies this knowledge to breakdown how computers tried to predict the conclusion of Game of Thrones, and why they failed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Are 1980s shopping malls the best breeding grounds for capitalist monsters and zombies? With divorce rates peaking, were the sickly sweet boy-gets-girl-in-the-end movies of that time even believable for the kids living through it? Is there any ideology there or should we just crack open a (new!) Coke and enjoy the ride? Gil and Rutger have a love fest over Stranger Things 3. Alert: spoilers. And a...

In our Inaugural The Expanse podcast we take a look at the reality presented to us in The Expanse's year 2350 solar system. The evolution of human societies, cultures, languages, political establishments, media and religion. Rutger joins Gil yet again, to dip our toes in everything The Expanse has to offer, with more yet to come.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To sup...

Welcome Francesca Lewis to the podcast to talk to Gil. Francesca has studied creative writing, psychology and existentialism, and she applies the latter to the conclusion of Game of Thrones, being that the only reason Bran Stark becomes king is that the meaning we ascribe to his story are the most meaningful, at least according to Tyrion. Through existentialism, or absurdism, as Albert Camus' outl...

Welcome to another conversation with Theo and Gil. In this podcast, we review Spider-Man Far From Home, the new spider-man instalment, which has Peter Parker and friends travel to Europe and then fight Mysterio. Gil and Theo disagree, as Gil gives his non-American perspective of the depiction of Europe, with Rutger, a Dutchman, coming in as a guest to lament the way The Netherlands was portrayed....

Welcome Teodor Zhelyazkov to the podcast to talk to Gil! Teodor has been a diehard fan of JRR Tolkien's work, way beyond Lord of the Rings, and stayed away from Game of Thrones. Until he didn't. Then he binged five seasons in ONE WEEKEND (please consult your physicians before doing that) and never looked back, his appreciation for both stories only growing. We also dive into the immigrant experien...

In this Science in Movies podcast Gil again welcomes Rutger - this time to talk about natural disasters on an unprecedented scale: asteroids, sudden climate change, and the eruption of a supervolcano. We break down the science, fact check it and review the way movies portrayed these disasters at the time they were made. The movies are Armageddon (1998), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Supervolca...

Welcome Mathematician Nets Katz to the Podcast to talk to Gil! Nets is a veteran of several fantasy and sci-fi fandoms, since he was a kid in the 70s, and he has strong opinions on George R R Martin's role in those fandoms, and the basic flaw in the very concept of fandoms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

Welcome Ganna to the podcast to talk to Gil! Ganna, a twice immigrant Russian Ukranian, who lived in the US and now lives in Tokyo, explores the ideas of ingroup and outgroup, shares about The Russian Soul concept, and life in Japan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

In this History in Movies podcast, Gil Kidron and Dr. Rutger Vos, a huge history buff, are breaking down three movies centered around the Arthurian Myth, to learn more about the different legends are Arthur, the historical details, the mythical additions, the way the story changed throughout history, what it says about the 3rd-century Roman-era Britain, about the time these movies were made, and a...

Welcome Casey Koons to the podcast to talk to Gil! Casey, a cloud engineer, shares a meeting that he had with HBO in 2016, about remaking Game of Thrones as a more faithful adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, through scanning the books, using the likeness of the actors and the existing art and locations to produce a live-action show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. T...

In our second Social Justice in Movies podcast, Gil Kidron welcomes new collaborator Dr. Ashley Phillips. In this conversation, we talk about the "nice guy" archetype in movies, and not the kind of nice guy we automatically think about, the teddy bear kind who just wants to help and then finishes last. More like the guy who thinks that if he does certain things that are considered "...

Welcome Michael Talley to our podcast to talk to Gil! Michael, an economics major, focused on the Iron Bank, its role in Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire and its parallels to medieval economic history and how it connects to our modern economy and politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support the podcast, go to our Patreon page

HBO's Chernobyl mini-series has been a smash hit with audiences and critics alike, lauded for its brutal realism, historical accuracy, cinematography and great acting. In this podcast, Gil and Rutger break down the main political messages in Chernobyl, the depiction of the USSR in light of the (mis)handling of the disaster, relate it to current politics and geopolitics in the age of climate change...

Welcome to another conversation with novelist, Literature Prof. and Writing Prof. Theo Gangi and Gil Kidron. In this podcast we talk about the bigger picture of the Game of Thrones season 8 disaster, what it means for HBO now that they have stiff competition from streaming outlets like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and very soon - Disney. How bad is the damage to the Game of Thrones and HBO brand with lo...

Welcome to our inaugural conversation with patron Mallory Aller! Mallory, who's doing her Masters in linguistics, opens up for us a new way to look at Game of Thrones, through the power of language and the way that Game of Thrones characters use it. We talk about Daenerys' Common Tongue problem, Sansa's natural ability to speak the King's Landing dialect, how (book) Arya must be multilingual in th...

Now that Game of Thrones season 8 is behind us and the conclusion is that the 7 kingdoms are now two kingdoms made up of 6+1, with Bran Stark king in the south and Sansa Stark Queen in the North, Rutger and Gil break down the conclusion from a historical and political point of view. What happened to the decline in feudalism? To British history? Is Bran the Dalai Lama or the Fisher King? Is Daenery...

We launch our new series of podcast episodes - science in movies! With Dr. Rutger Vos, an evolutionary biologist from Leiden University and Naturalis Biodiversity Center, both in The Netherlands. In our inaugural science podcast episode, we talk about the evolution of humans from apes, and how this theme is portrayed in movies. Our movies of choice: the original Planet of the Apes (1968), 2001: A...

We continue our Avengers Marvel podcast episode series, as Gil Kidron and Theo Gangi debate which one of the Captain America movies is the best one - Captain America The First Avenger, Captain America Winter Soldier or Captain America Civil War. Your answer depends on what you put a premium on: history, storytelling, villains? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To support...