Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
For the penultimate episode of our Parallax Views Halloween series, John Cussans joins us to discuss his book Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror, and the Zombie Complex. Believe it or not, the zombie wasn't always simply a figure of flesh-ripping, brain eating apocalyptical disease and undead horror. The zombie begins as a figure within Haitian folklore and Voodoo (Voudon) before eventually coming to Western pop culture. John argues that the zombie's migration to the West was underpinned by white Western fears of voodoo-fueled black slave uprisings in Haiti and has evolved from there. In addition, he makes the case that the myths of Haitian voodoo has been used, at least in terms of its imagery and cultural power, as a weapon of control by Western elements such as intelligence agencies (WWII black ops; see: Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die), journalists, white liberals who seek to "carebearize" the religion, and transgressive revolutionaries like George Bataille, etc. We delve into all these topics as well as the connection between mesmerism and the early zombie in pop culture, Wade Davis' The Serpent and the Rainbow and John's critique of it, thoughts on Frank Wilderson III and Afropessimism, conspiracy theories and Videodrome, the dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier, Western "ju ju journalism", Baron Samedi, the Bizango secret society, and much, much more.
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Lula Goes to Washington: What Lies Ahead for U.S.-Brazil Relations, Lula’s Foreign Policy, & the Recent Lula/Biden Meeting w/ Andre Pagliarini
The Chinese Spy Balloon Incident & U.S.-China Relations w/ Mel Gurtov
The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis w/ Jared Yates Sexton
The American Surviellance State: How the U.S. Spies on Dissent w/ David H. Price
Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries w/ Rick Emerson
The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy w/ Joseph Fishkin
Violence Erupts in Israel/Palestine (Jenin Massacre & E. Jerusalem Shooting) w/ Richard Silverstein/Did Thomas Friedman Run Cover for an Israeli Nuclear Smuggling Operation? w/ Grant F. Smith
Pro-Social Deep Fakes? w/ Stephanie Lepp
Hannah Arendt, Adolf Eichmann, & the Problems With the Banality of Evil Hypothesis w/ Ramon Glazov
The Empty Wagon: Zionism’s Journey from Identity Crisis to Identity Theft w/ Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro
Permanent Distortion: How the Financial Markets Abandoned the Real Economy Forever w/ Nomi Prins
Behind the Scenes of the Class Warfare, Body-Horor Cult Classic SOCIETY (+ BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR, SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4, & GIRL NEXT) w/ Screenwriter Zeph E. Daniel
The Emirati Lobby and Foreign Influence Operations in the U.S. w/ Ben Freeman
Chatting w/ Casper Kelly of Adult Swim Yule Log, Too Many Cooks, & Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell Fame
The Strange Story of Nazi Satanists, the Feds, & Montenegro’s Orthodox Church w/ Boris & Rey of The Empire Never Ended Podcast
Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia w/ Natasha Lance Rogoff
UNLOCKED: Absurdist Humor and Horror Collide in Butt Boy and Tiny Cinema w/ Tyler Cornack and Ryan Koch
Horror Cult Classic Black Christmas, the It’s Me Billy Fan Film, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare Fan Sequel, and Voice Acting w/ Dave McRae
Gremlinology for the Holidays! w/ Robbie Martin
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