In this episode, Rob and Don explore how war is presented in popular culture – from books, to music, movies, and games. Working from the difference between Protest stories and Propaganda stories, they discuss how this dichotomy shapes almost all stories related to war. From there, they talk a lot about heavy metal, fantasy literature, and Sylvester Stallone. All this, and Rob’s mind being blown about the song 99 Red Balloons, is waiting for you in this episode of The Department of Nerdly Affairs.
Closing Music:
Ode to Joy performed by Oliver Eckelt
Things Discussed:
“War! It’s FAAAAN-tastic!”
Marshall MacLuhan
The Ballad of the Green Berets
Jingo and THUD! by Terry Pratchett
CATCH 22
Johnny Got His Gun
Horatio Hornblower by C.S. Forrester
Aubrey-Maturin Novels by Patrick O’Brian
Sabaton
Bismarck (Sabaton)
Night Witches (Sabaton)
Snoopy vs The Red Baron
Billy Don’t Be a Hero by Paper Lace
Horse Soldier Horse Soldier
99 Luft Balloons
Born in the USA
Frank Stallone – Peace in Our Life
So Long Mom
Christmas at Ground Zero
Sink the Bismarck
Battle of New Orleans
Antiwarsongs.org
Birth of a Nation
Wonder Bar (1934) featuring Al Jolson
First Blood
The Park is Mine
Sgt. Rock
Enemy Ace
Joe Kubert
COMBAT TV Series
Kriegsspiel
Bucky O’Hare
The Price of Freedom RPG
Little Wars by HG Wells
Not quite finished and really interesting. I disagreed at first with your assumption that people bring whatever they want from a movie, but I think you convinced me otherwise… at least partially. I’ll agree that academics and ideologues definitively come back with the message. But, if everyone just gets wha they want out of something, then why so much backlash? Remember how much backlash against WAL-E for the heavy message on environmentalism?
The average viewer may be savvier than the viewer of the past, but they still pretty much take the message in front of them.
As for Shakespeare, it pains me to no end that you didn’t like him in High School Don.
As someone who has read extensively, performed in, and did a ton of read-throughs with other actors with plays from Shakespeare’s contemporaries. I can tell you WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that they aren’t by-in-large anything but worse.
Seriously, ol’ Billy had such a better concept of human beings and their frailties. Thomas Middleton, William Congreve, William Wycherley, John Webster, hell even the big one of the time- Christopher Marlowe and his famous “Doctor Faustus” or “The Massacre of Paris” etc… just don’t really hold a candle to Shakespeare’s work today.
Funny that you mention Macbeth as I am teaching it, and it’s the LEAST favourite of mine of his big tragedies. Probably because it is the shortest (King James had a terrible attention span.)
So we don’t teach Shakespeare because… dah, history… We teach Shakespeare, and honestly it’s my experience that good literature wins out SIMPLY because it goes beyond it’s initial popularity. Why is Harry Potter still being read but nobody nowadays reads “Twilight”? Because even though I’m personally not a fan of either… Harry Potter is much better written.
Good writing is pulled through the Ages.
We often forget that over 20% of our English Language comes from Shakespeare. Not that he was the first person to create the words (he did in some cases) but because English was such a hodge-podge back in the day, (like trying to understand Newfoundland accents from town-to-town) he would take some words from one town and some from another so his travelling shows would be understood where ever they went. Shakespeare and his later popularity is certainly one of the reasons English got effectively standardised.
I should make swag based on that.
But then Shakespeare invented the word “swag”. He’s probably want a piece of it.
>But, if everyone just gets wha they want out of something, then why so much backlash?
It’s part of the expectations they bring with them into the story. If they don’t get it, they’re disappointed. Hell; nowadays there are whole INDUSTRIES based on fermenting that sort of thing…. check out how many “How X RUINED Y!!!” or “Why Z is the WORST THING EVER!!!!” articles are on the internets. But that’s another episode…. (THIS one, actually: http://obeythedna.com/podcast/dna-podcast-057-culture-war-profiteering/ )
It’s also why the so many people who grew up with, and still love the original Star Trek can complain so vehemently about “forced BS PC SJW inclusiveness!” in current pop culture. Stuff like multicultural casts are framed differently nowadays…. depending on which parts of the net you frequent. (And often how old you are.) The entertainment PRODUCT hasn’t changed as much as the audience.
>Remember how much backlash against WAL-E for the heavy message on environmentalism?
The average viewer may be savvier than the viewer of the past, but they still pretty much take the message in front of them.
Sort of. I can remember when the environmental message on WAL-E WOULDN’T have offended people. Also; it’s funny that the same sort of folks complaining about the hippie propaganda in the movie didn’t notice it’s overt message is basically the same as “Fight Club.”
>As for Shakespeare, it pains me to no end that you didn’t like him in High School Don.
He used to look at me funny in the cafeteria….
>Why is Harry Potter still being read but nobody nowadays reads “Twilight”?
“Twilight” doesn’t have a theme park. Or a Lego set. Durability of modern properties is hard to quantify ‘cos there are SO MANY external factors contributing to it’s longevity. Like marketing. Bit that ties in with the first bit; that outside stuff…. like a slick marketing campaign or good branding…. can affect what you get out of a story.
>We often forget that over 20% of our English Language comes from Shakespeare.
‘Cos he’d make up words like a rapper?
Don C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTs6a0ORdQU&ab_channel=TheWarriorSongProject
Hee heee…. That is a classic! I’ve seen a few different takes for videos; this one being my favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZpLUDgIAc
The Imperial Space Marines are one of my all time fave sci-fi armies. (Although I sometimes still miss the beaks….)
Don C.
how not to summon a demon lord season 2
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord season 1, comprising of 12 scenes, was delivered on July 5, 2018, and ran till September 20 of that very year. Season 1 just adjusted a couple of volumes of the source material, so there’s a very sizable amount of material briefly season.