Political Fictions: political drama on screen and on the page

Aidan Byrne joins Mark and Cory to watch the classic Mr Smith Goes to Washington. It's a film full of shameless emotional manipulation, especially from some of the children in it. They marvel at the performances of Jimmy Stewart, Claude Rains and especially Jean Arthur, wonder if this film has an anti-FDR message, and Mark takes handwriting experts to task.

You can find Aidan on Blue Sky as Plashing Vole.

Next time, we're reading Ellen Wilkinson's The Division Bell Mystery.

You can view the IMDb page for Mr Smith Goes To Washington here.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

Subscribe to our newsletter for some additional bonus content and to get alerted whenever a new episode comes out.

Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

To coincide with the men's football World Cup, Mark and Cory talk about the 2006 Iranian film Offside, about a group of Iranian women who disguise themselves as men to sneak into a stadium. Mark gets to deploy some football knowledge, they discuss how the film isn't a great advert for national service and ponder the symbolism of Iranian toilet graffiti.

You can view Offside on IMDb here.

Next time, we're watching the classic Mr Smith Goes To Washington.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

To mark ten years since the Brexit referendum, Cory and Mark talk about James Graham's TV movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Brexit: The Uncivil War. They talk about the ability of Mark Gatiss to chew scenery without actually being on screen, how the story the film tells of how Leave won has aged rather badly, and Cory has a rant about the most shambolic doorknocking encounter he's ever seen. 

You can view Brexit: The Uncivil War on IMDb here.

Next time, we're watching the 2006 Iranian film Offside.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Mark and Cory talk about the O.G. of British Political Sitcoms: Yes, Minister. They marvel at the genial Machiavellian genius that is Jim Hacker exploiting the British sausage to win a leadership contest, explain why this episode is a good guide for would-be leadership contenders, and lay it on a bit thick with their marmalade discussion.

If you're in the UK then you can watch this on BBC iPlayer.

Next time, we're watching Brexit: The Uncivil War.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

In a scheduling choice completely unconnected to any contemporary political events, Mark and Cory talk about the 2004 Danish film full of leadership plotting, King's Game. This is a proper conspiracy thriller, where even the children are Machiavellian geniuses. They question whether it really makes sense for plotters to document their evil schemes in such meticulous detail, bemoan the bad use of political polling in the film and debate how useful this film is as a how-to guide for potential leadership candidates.

You can view the IMDb page for King's Game here.

Next time we're talking about the Yes, Minister special "Party Games". If you're in the UK then you can watch this on BBC iplayer.

Cory’s email newsletter is Paperback Rioter and Mark has a family of email newsletters.

Our theme tune is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).