The Netflix feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Mike Rianda, 2021) gets the Fantasy/Animation treatment, as Chris and Alex offer up a discussion in this episode of the film’s dysfunctional family dynamics, road movie structure, and its spectacular sentient robots techno-narrative. Topics include the contribution of Sony Pictures Animation to the Hollywood computer-animated film industry and stylistic links to both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, 2009) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman, 2018); The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ critique of technology that seemingly sits at odds with its own visual enjoyment of the pleasures of screen culture; timeless vs. timely storytelling via the contemporaneity of the film’s intertextual referencing and depiction of digital natives; the historical whiteness of AI and the racialising of voice-activated virtual digital assistants; the realisation of Katie’s queerness and the fraught logic of equating screen visibility with progress; the potential to read the family through neurodivergent frameworks; and how Mike Rianda’s film provides an ultimately uneven and highly performative portrayal of ‘madcap’ antics, female creativity, and outsiderdom.
**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**
Coco (2017) (with Eavesdropping at the Movies)
Tron (1982)
(Bonus) Live from London Anime & Gaming Con 2019
Animal Farm (1954) (with Jez Stewart)
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Disenchantment (2018-)
Moana (2016) (with Catherine Wheatley)
Mary Poppins (1964)
Black Panther (2018)
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
The Greatest Showman (2017) (with Martha Shearer)
Yellow Submarine (1968)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Multiverse Fancast
Cinema: A to B
I Finally Watched...
Pod Meets World
Pop Culture Happy Hour