The Antisocial Socialist

Warning! This is a very half-assed theory post about some thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head lately and should not be taken as any more than that. It's punching up but since it has to do with public shaming, humiliation, and embarrassment, as well as discussions of transphobia and racism, I am putting it all under a cut in case that's a trigger for folks.

If you want to read about how I'm a good person, this isn't a post about that. And if you want a more deeply considered opinion from a smart person, check out ContraPoints' video about cringe, which a better blogger would have rewatched before wading back into this Discourse.

( brace yourself, discourse is coming )

 It's time for a Podcast Friday! 

Today's episode is "Subverting the Dying Earth and Vancian Fantasy" on DEATH // SENTENCE. DEATH // SENTENCE is one of my favourite new-to-me podcasts because it is about:

• Science fiction and fantasy
• Anti-capitalism
• Extreme metal

Also the hosts are very funny. I wanted to recommend the one two episodes before this one, "The Seas," because it starts with an extended intro about the death of the author and "yassified Sauron and Melkor" that is absolutely hysterical, but I have the Dying Earth on my brain right now, given that two days ago we heard that industrialized countries have 250 days to curb greenhouse emissions before we blow right past 2°C. Which is not really what Dying Earth is about, but it's not irrelevant to it.

Dying Earth is a genre of stories set in the distant future, generally where the sun is dying, there's civilization collapse, and now is the age of monsters. It was pioneered by Jack Vance in his titular series and has had a profound impact on fantasy writing and D&D. If you've read any fantasy at all, you have been affected by Vance. Of course, he was also a man of his time, so there's a Not Unproblematic element to his work, which Langdon and Eden also explore in an intelligent, critical way. 

What I really love about this podcast is the quality of the critique. When they talk about something being "problematic," they are using the original intent of the term—it includes reactionary elements but is not actually completely garbage, and as critics and creators we have to tease out these complications. The same idea can spawn both Gor and Elric of Melniboné. To give a spoiler for the next episode, you and a Nazi can both like black metal, and you are required to explore what about this is compelling rather than ignore and avoid. They reject simplistic categories of "safe" and "harmful" in favour of examining the aesthetics and philosophical implications of the work that they discuss.

Also they're very much into Adventure Time (which I didn't know was a Dying Earth story!) and it's adorable.

I have a weird relationship with extreme metal where I like it, I always enjoy going to metal shows, but I don't really follow individual bands or what exciting music is out these days. So I really like the musical interludes on this show because they expose me to an entire world of music to which I otherwise have very limited exposure.

This is one of the more exciting shows I've listened to lately, and this episode typifies the deep analysis, considered politics, and humour that you'll find in it.

Non-spoilery review:

The problem with Star Wars* as a franchise and this Star War in particular is that it attempts to marry fundamentally incompatible conceptions of duality in Eastern and Western philosophy. Balancing the Force makes sense if the Light Side and Dark Side are, respectively, order vs. chaos, or collective good vs. individual will. But not if they're good vs. evil or, in this case, Space Nazis vs. Not Space Nazis. Ironically this is the one thing the prequels did right.

But they didn't do that because you need to sell toys. Of Space Nazis.

* The movies. I know nothing about the EU or the video games or whatever.

I saw it! At the AGO, at a glamorous gala event for which I was rather underdressed and unprepared. :)

Taking a break from updating my job application package to write about some more fun things, like the TV, movies, books, and music I have appreciated this year. Let's see how far I get.

Telly is the easiest to talk about because I'm a lazy bastard and I enjoy long-form narratives. In addition to things I've enjoyed in the past, like Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, and Peaky Blinders, here are some of the things that I got obsessive over this year.

Cleverman: The best show you've probably never heard of, unless you're Australian. Erroneously billed as an Aboriginal superhero show starring the whiny Nice Guy from Game of Thrones, it is actually a brilliant, subversive fantasy about racism, allyship, and indigenous identity. God, I made it sound boring and political, didn't I? It's very political, but it's also jam-packed with intriguing anti-heroes, redemption arcs, dystopian worldbuilding, and surprisingly decent special effects.

Black Sails: I just started watching it this year, although it's been going since 2014. I started watching it because it was apparently a decent pirate show with Anne Bonny as a major character, and I guess it's sort of marketed as a prequel to Treasure Island, but neither of those are things that I fell in love with. It's jaw-droppingly good. Michael Bay is the executive producer and this show singlehandedly makes everything he's done, including all the Transformers movies, okay, because it balances them out. It is as good as Transformers is bad; that's how good it is. Think of all the things we don't get to see often on television: intelligent, complex political maneuvering, well-written, complicated female antiheroes, queer characters, poly characters, lesbians who don't die horribly, anti-imperialism. I almost want to stop there because there are a whole bunch of reasons I like it that would give away critical plot points. Non-spoilery reason to watch it: Jack Rackham as a pirate Nick Cave—once you see it, you won't be able to un-see it. Season four airs soon and I'm a wee bit scared because the fates of most of my favourite characters are a foregone conclusion.

Class: I started watching this because, as a result of this being the Darkest Possible Timeline, there was no Doctor Who in 2016 other than the Christmas special. The trailers made it look like utter crap and no one was talking about it, but Peter Capaldi was in the first episode, so I gave it a whirl. It is 1000x better than the trailers would lead you to believe—hidden in the Monster of the Week premise is a surprisingly intelligent take on trauma, abuse, war, and genocide. The teacher character has to be one of my favourite fictional teachers and she is basically my Id that I shall carry around in my heart for particularly rough days at work. Also, joy of joys, there are no straight white guys in the main cast.

The Get Down: I'm not even sure why I started watching this. I'm not super into Baz Luhrmann but multiple people told me it was good, so I checked it out and then binge-watched it in like two days. It's a semi-fictional semi-musical about the birth of hip hop in New York, and the story and characters are so compelling that I ended up caring about disco. Disco. It's a story about how new art forms get made, and challenged, and co-opted. I take some issue with Luhrmann's editing choices; he needs a lighter hand, since the acting, music, and writing all really speak for themselves, but overall amazing.

Better Call Saul: The second season aired, and I'm pretty sure that it's ultimately going to be better than Breaking Bad. It's a smaller, quieter story, and again with a forgone conclusion, taking the comedic side character from Breaking Bad and giving him a backstory and inner life that is as wrenchingly tragic as it is darkly comedic.

Ash Vs. Evil Dead: I'm really shocked that like two people I know watch this. Didn't we all love Evil Dead? It's like that, only a little more heartwarming. Ash Williams is overweight, aging, and has done nothing meaningful with his life—except saving the world. Which he has done a lot. The second season sees much, much more Lucy Lawless, and also one of the grossest and funniest scenes I've ever witnessed on telly, which I watched with my hands over my eyes.

Black Mirror: I was into this show before it was cool. Thanks to #piggate, Netflix realized that Charlie Brooker was right about everything and revived the show for a third season. Aren't you glad David Cameron fucked a pig so that you could get quality TV? The best episode, of course, is San Junipero, which manages to do what Black Mirror does best—examine the societal impact of technology—while also making me cry like a wee girl.

Westworld: Yeah, everyone watched it. I also watched it. It was wonderful and gripping and upsetting and I can't believe we have to wait two years for another season, WTF?

The Magicians, Preacher, and Luke Cage: I can probably go on and on about why I loved these shows...or you can just read my reviews of each episode at terror_scifi.

What am I leaving out? What did you love this year?

I genuinely liked it. As in into every second of it and applauded various creative decisions and almost, almost forgive J.J. Abrams for screwing up Star Trek.

I had zero expectations, as part of the generation that was betrayed by the prequels, and even though it had good reviews, I did not believe it would be good until:

( spoilers )
Anyway really happy to be wrong.

First, this is a good summary of why the show sucks so far. (Teal deer: There are no superheroics and all the characters are really bland.)

( Opinions about silly TV )

I am mostly watching because new Joss show and I'm willing to give it half a season in the hopes that it gets good, and also because there's a temporary TV void in my life while everything I like is either ended or on hiatus. And also because I enjoy mocking it, but it'd be nice to have something good to watch.

Leigh Phillips joins authors Gwyneth Jones, Marge Piercy, Ken MacLeod and Kim Stanley Robinson to discuss the role of science fiction in extending the radical horizons of our imaginations.

I don't agree with everything in this article, especially in regards to Zizek (Ken MacLeod, you know that's not what he meant) but it's a pretty fascinating read on the radical potential of science fiction and a good starting point for discussion. I particularly liked the last question, about technology and its place in cultural narratives. All of the authors really hit the nail on the head in terms of describing exactly why I feel uncomfortable with the emphasis on anti-GMO/anti-Monsanto/pro-woo stuff on the left:

Gwyneth Jones: Progressives have a right to be cynical about nanotechnology, likewise GM foods and crops, as long as these developments are controlled by ruthless corporate interests. It isn’t about the science; it’s about the tragedy of the commons.

---

On a more mundane (but still futuristic!) note, this article on organizing workers in a service economy (from Macleans, no less!) is also an interesting read. The premise is that traditionally middle class jobs aren't coming back (likely true) and thus minimum wage service sector jobs should be transformed so that one can actually earn a living at them.

Proponents of the idea that service jobs can become the new ticket to the middle class point to sweeping changes in the manufacturing sector in the early 20th century that helped transform factory work from dangerous low-pay jobs into secure careers that could support a family. From 1914, when Henry Ford declared he would pay his employees what was then an exorbitant sum of $5 a day in order to reduce turnover and boost demand for his cars, governments saw higher wages and greater workplace regulation as the start of a virtuous economic cycle. But whether the service industry can follow the same model is far from certain.

Read and discuss.

I finally finished reading Samuel R. Delany’s Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, a.k.a. the rather large brick that’s taken up residency on my nightstand for the past few months. With some caveats, I’d say that it was worth slogging through and that some of you might want to read it (though I think that the handful of people on my friends list who would want to read it most already have).

I’m going to put all my other thoughts under the cut. I don’t believe in trigger warnings and don’t generally employ them on LJ, but if you’re triggered by something, it’s probably somewhere in this book.

( keep reading? )

Hat-tip to nihilistic_kid for sending me a copy since for some reason it wasn't at the library. You can read his much more detailed review here. Jo Walton's is also worth reading.

Oh weird; they're making a movie of The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. I can't quite explain this book's place in my life. I read it at a wayyy too impressionable age, and at some level, it shaped a lot of my ideas about politics and ecology and urban planning. When I read it later, it had aged badly—to say the least—and I found the resolution wholly upsetting in a way that exemplified why I reject pacifism as an ideology even while I agree with a lot of the author's ideas.

...but damn I do kinda want to see it as a movie, if they do a good job. And if they do a bad job, I think it's fodder for the most epic screenshot review since Atlas Shrugged.