Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, freelance writer Corey Atad, who has written in such publications as Esquire, Slate, Hazlitt, and The Baffler, joins the show to discuss his piece in Welcome to Hellworld on Jonathan Glazer's Oscar speech and the reaction to said speech. Glazer decided to bring up the Gaza War when accepting the award for his Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest. He was accused of saying he was "refuting his Jewishness and the memory of the Holocaust" even though the clip was taken out of context. What he said was actually a commentary on the hijacking of Jewish identity and Holocaust memory for political purposes (which is what he sought to refute), a warning/call to resistance against dehumanization. As Glazer explained, he felt that Zone of Interest was not just a film about the past, but also the present. In other words: we need to be aware of where dehumanization has led in the past and where it could lead in the present. Glazer also made reference to Israel's Occupation of Palestinian territories during this speech.
This has all sparked backlash and the aforementioned distortion of Glazer's words. A letter signed by at least a thousand people in Hollywood (some, like Jennifer Jason Leigh, recognizable, but many not) denouncing Glazer. Other, such as playwright Tony Kushner and the Auschwitz Memorial director Piotr Cywiński, have come to Glazer's defense.
Corey joins the show to give his take on the speech as well as to offer his commentary on The Zone of Interest and relaying the tale of actress Vanessa Redgrave's 1978 Oscar speech which cause a similar controversy when she called out the extremist Jewish Defense League (referring to them as "Zionist hoodlums). We'll also delve into The Zone of Interest from the perspective of Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil" concept, Corey's criticism of The Zone of Interest, and the themes of alienation at the heart of The Zone of Interest's story centered on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, his wife Hedwig, and their family against the backdrop of the Third Reich's exterminatory horrors. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.
Israel, Biden, and the FBI’s Shireen Abu Akleh Investigation w/ Mitchell Plitnick
The Iran Protests and The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran w/ Assal Rad
The FTX/SBF Crypto Scandal & Elon’s Twitter Takeover w/ Mike Swanson/A Critique of Psychedelic Capitalism w/ Daniel Pinchbeck
The Russia-Ukraine War w/ Patrick Cockburn/The Kyrie Irving Controversy and Black Hebrew Israelites w/ Jacob S. Dorman
The ADL and the FBI w/ Grant F. Smith
FIFA Uncovered and the Qatar World Cup w/ Miles Coleman/The World Cup & Qatar’s Soft Power Foreign Policy w/ James M. Dorsey
The Peaceful Transfer of Power w/ David Marchick/The Hidden History of Neoliberalism w/ Thom Hartmann
Bridge to the Sun: The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II w/ Bruce Henderson
The Far-Right’s Electoral Victory in Israel w/ Richard Silverstein
The Israeli Election and What Netanyahu’s Victory Entails w/ Yossi Gurvitz
Horror Cinema from the Italian Giallo to John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN w/ Troy Howarth
Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi w/ Sandra Niemi
Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters w/ Kevin J. Wetmore
Tod Browning and the Unmade 1930s Zombie Apocalypse Movie THE REVOLT OF THE DEAD w/ Gary D. Rhodes and Robert Guffey
The Wild Cinema of Spanish Horror Icon Paul Naschy w/ Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn
Rondo and Bob, the Parallel Lives of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE’s Art Director and a 1940s Monster Movie Star w/ Joe O’Connell
Jason Voorhess Back With a VENGEANCE in New Friday the 13th Fan Film w/ Jason Brooks/The Forgotten Nightmare on Elm Street TV Series w/ Henrique Couto and David Denoyer
Scream Queens, Teenage Exorcists, & Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama! w/ Brinke Stevens
Harvard’s Quixotic Pursuit of a New Science: The Rise and Fall of the Department of Social Relations w/ Patrick L. Schmidt
Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted By Delusion And Greed w/ Andrew Koppelman
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