The Zeitgeist Tapes

• Capra Double Bill: Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Meet John Doe

  In a Zeitgeist Tapes first, we have a double bill for your delectation.   Given all that is happening in the USA and the wider world, we delve back to the late 1930s and early 1940s to see how one of the most popular directors of the time dealt with populism - positive and negative. We discuss both Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Meet John Doe - both by director Frank Capra.  Political corruption abounds; the little guy is always the hero and the stooge. But Capra - an immigrant and Republican - did not want to break the American system - he wanted to show that it could be great again. Perhaps a lesson for those who oppose Trump now. Watch Meet John Doe on Youtube Find Steve on BlueSky Find Emma on BlueSky. Buy tickets for Emma's play.

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• Brian and Maggie

  This month Steve and Emma discuss Brian and Maggie - the 2 part TV drama about the interview that - according to the drama at least - led to the fall of Margaret Thatcher.  We ask if long-form interviews really are dead? If TV interviews really were as good as the nostalgia would have it and if arch-Thatcerite Brian Walden really did bring down his friend?

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• 1984 (1954)

  This month instead of getting festive, Emma and Steve round off the year looking at the 1954 BBC adaptation of 1984. A dystopian tale of hopelessness and the triumph of evil.  Merry Christmas! 

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• The Contender

  This month - in the wake of the US election and the defeat of  Kamala Harris - Steve and Emma look at The Contender (2000).  This is a film that is posited as a liberal feel-good film about making a woman the Vice President under unusual circumstances. It might be 'of its time' or it might be - as Emma argues - a timeless liberal man's idea of what a feminist film looks like. 

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• Running on Empty

  In this episode Emma and Steve discuss 1988 film Running on Empty. Described by Steve as a 'Hallmark film for terrorists' the film follows the Pope family as the evade the police living in suburban domestic bliss - but only for short periods at a time.  Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsh, Christine Lahti and Martha Plimpton this film combines a discuss of radical politics with a more traditional coming of age family drama.  Link to the New York Times article discussed: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/movies/film-view-sentimentalizing-60-s-radicalism.html?unlocked_article_code=1._U0.Se0R.62RNH6uMNg0H&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb Link to the Dirty Dancing episode discussed: https://audioboom.com/posts/6941048-dirty-podding

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