Pop & Locke
Libertarianism.org
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Political ideas meet pop culture. Hosted by Landry Ayres and Natalie Dowzicky.
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3 days ago
Wonder Woman 1984
After months of delay, Wonder Woman 1984 was finally released on HBO Max in addition to select theaters. There was plenty of anticipation for the sequel, but ultimately it was less than impressive. With a wishing stone, the introduction of the villain Cheetah, and the return of Steve Trevor the movie jumped around leaving the audience confused. With a third movie already approved, we hope director Patty Jenkins can learn from some of her mistakes.
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Jan 6, 2021
The Mandalorian
Michael Cannon, Stephen Kent, Pat Eddington, and Nick Armstrong join the show to discuss how The Mandalorian focused on character development. The show has let us discover much more of the galaxy and introduces even more opportunities for story-telling. Ultimately the show is about the travels of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic.
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Dec 23, 2020
M*A*S*H
There was one TV show that was able to show the horrors of war, incisively critique it, but still inspire compassion for those affected by it. M*A*S*H creators understood the power of comedy to hit just the right laughable notes between moment of introspection. Throughout this special episode of Pop & Locke we ask Mike Farrell, who plays BJ Hunnicutt on the show, about his time with the cast and how he was inspired to create his character.
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Dec 9, 2020
Starship Troopers
Humans in a fascist, militaristic future wage war with giant alien bugs is truly the best way to describe Starship Troopers. This was the third movie in a trio directed by Paul Verhoeven throughout the late 80s and 90s. When the movie was first released in 1997, it received mixed reviews because a large portion of the audience did not conclude that the movie was satirical.
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Nov 25, 2020
Blade Runner
In 2019 Los Angeles, Deckard is a blade runner who is tasked with the job of hunting down humanoids known as "replicants" who are illegally on Earth. Fast forward to 2049, when Officer K is a new blade runner who discovers a well-kept secret that leads him to Deckard, who has been missing for 30 years.
What is the difference between being "born" and being "created"? Who gets to decide whether or not robots or humanoids have rights? How do you know your memories are yours and not someone else's?
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Nov 11, 2020
V for Vendetta
Evey Hammond is a regular U.K. citizen, which is under the rule of the fascist and tyrannical Norsefire Party. Every become the enemy of the state by teaming up with an enigmatic and larger-than-life freedom fighter known only by the letter "V". What is the meaning of the Guy Fawke's mask?
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Nov 4, 2020
All the President's Men
The 1976 film, All the President's Men, follows The Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, as they uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
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Oct 21, 2020
The Purge: Election Year
The Purge: Election Year is not a good movie, but it is ripe with social commentary. The dystopia film is set in the not so distant future where the New Founding Fathers of America are the dominant political party. But a young newcomer, Senator Charlie Roan is trying to unseat the incumbent to put a stop to government-sanctioned violence. The movie attempts to critique grotesque violence, but ends up just being extremely hypocritical.
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Oct 7, 2020
Get Out & Us
Get Out cleverly uses common horror tropes to reveal truths about how damaging racism still is in our modern world. Us, as the title suggests, tells a story about how neglecting to come to grips with our past makes us our own worst enemies. Alissa Wilkinson and Ciara Wardlow help us unpack both thriller films.
Why is horror considered a primarily white genre? How did Jordan Peele connect with his audience through the combination of horror and comedy? What is the connection between comedy and horror?
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Sep 23, 2020
Christopher Nolan's Batman
Christopher Nolan's Batman operates within the state in a very strange way. Nolan believes that his trilogy of movies are actually each in their own genre. Batman Begins is a classic origin story broken down in three parts. The Dark Knight exists as a crime movie with the Joker as a terrorist who seeks chaos. The Dark Knight Rises is an epic film with a militaristic enemy.
How are the Joker and Bane different? How do the villains in Nolan's Batman trilogy enhance the movies?
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Sep 9, 2020
Jurassic Park
Peter Suderman and Sean Malone join the show today to talk about one of the most famous summer blockbusters ever. Jurassic Park is more than a movie about the misuse of innovation that ends up creating vicious dinosaurs. The movie itself was an innovation in of itself.
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Aug 26, 2020
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski has spurred a cult-like following revolving around The Dude. In 1998 the Coen brothers released "The Big Lebowski" and the theaters were half-empty. The movie was a follow up to their Oscar-winning film "Fargo". The movie follows a dopey but profound slacker noir about a guy — a conscientious objector to all human conflict — whose quest to avenge a soiled rug unravels into a wild goose chase involving all sorts of inherent vice.
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Aug 12, 2020
Dr. Strangelove
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb hit theaters in 1964 a mere few months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not to mention it was also the height of the Cold War when Americans were worried about nuclear annihilation and mutually assured destruction. This satire lives on today as the best black comedy about nuclear warfare ever written.
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Jul 29, 2020
The Hunger Games
In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided into 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is not only serves as entertainment for the Capitol, but it also serves as a reminder to the Districts about how much power the Capitol actually has to suppress them.
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Jul 15, 2020
Gattaca
Gattaca highlights a the future where eugenics is common. A genetic registry database uses biometrics to classify those so created as “valids” while those conceived by traditional means and more susceptible to genetic disorders are known as “invalids”. In this world genetic discrimination is illegal, but valids qualify for professional employment while invalids are relegated to menial tasks and jobs. The main character, Vincent, is an invalid and hopes to break the system where the genetically enhanced run the show.
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Jul 1, 2020
The Matrix
The Wachowski sisters directed one of the most famous science fiction films ever that has influenced the entire genre since its’ release in 1999. The Matrix is much more than a movie about a hacker who discovers the real nature of this reality.
Why do you think the Matrix has stuck around as part of our cultural vernacular for so long? How did the Matrix change the sci‐fi genre forever?
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Jun 17, 2020
Mrs. America
In Mrs. America, Cate Blanchett brilliantly plays conservative culture warrior Phyllis Schlafly, who built a coalition of housewives that ultimately kept the Equal Rights Amendment out of the US Constitution. In addition to Schlafly, the relationships between Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus are the focus of Hulu’s new mini-series. The show does not leave you sympathetic to Phyllis Schlafly, but it certainly opens your eyes to the impact of her success.
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Jun 3, 2020
The X-Files
We asked Anthony Comegna and Jesse Walker to join the show to crack open unexplained phenomena and paranormal activity cases that are explored throughout The X-Files. The X-Files is perhaps the very first, long-running, science fiction show to earn a primetime slot. FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully take on open cases that involve extraterrestrial life, alien abductions, future tellers, and so much more. Come seek the truth with us.
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May 20, 2020
Harry Potter
Our three favorite muggles; Emma Ashford, Lauren Sander, and Trish Beck-Peter, join the show to discuss the Wizarding World of Harry Potter created by J.K. Rowling. With the existence of magic, the Harry Potter series tackles many question about immense power and good versus evil. Is Hogwarts a public school? What is the role of the Ministry of Magic?
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May 6, 2020
Hackers
If you were to boil down the 1995 film Hackers, it’s a “wired ride with teenage cybercowboys” claimed Joe Brown in a 1995 Washington Post article. On today’s show we’re joined by the Cato Institute’s own Aaron Ross Powell and Julian Sanchez, as well as Eva Galperin, Director of Cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We hope it inspires you to hack the planet.
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Apr 22, 2020
Tiger King
The focus of our show today is no other than the self-proclaimed gun-toting gay cowboy who is the owner of the G.W. Exotic Animal Park. Joe Exotic is the main character in the new hit Netflix documentary, Tiger King, and throughout the show we see his very public feud with another small private zoo-owner, Carole Baskin. Their love for tigers in particular starts a feud that proves that there can only be one king in the world of big cats.
Do we learn anything about the exotic animal trade in Tiger King? Is Joe Exotic a good example of a libertarian? How does the show sensationalize the characters?
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Apr 8, 2020
The Good Place
The Good Place is a show that lays out a moral vision for the world that’s surprisingly sophisticated and deeply informed by academic philosophy — a vision that puts learning, and trying to do good front and center. We follow the journey of four characters who thought they were in The Good Place, but they are actually in The Bad Place because they did not earn enough points on Earth by doing good things. In four seasons they show how faulty a point system to earn your way to heaven truly is.
How did NBC’s The Good Place teach us how to be good? Does The Good Place make moral philosophy digestible? Is The Good Place about striving for moral change?
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Mar 25, 2020
Parks and Recreation
Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson, April Ludgate, Andy Dwyer, Tom Haverford, Ann Perkins, and the rest of the gang are all loyal employees of the Parks and Recreation Department of the Pawnee local government. Leslie Knope hopes to beautify her town by helping Ann Perkins turn an abandoned construction site (the pit) into a community park, but what should be a fairly simple project is stymied at every turn by oafish bureaucrats, selfish neighbors, and government red tape.
Is Ron Swanson a libertarian? Is Tom Haverford a real entrepreneur? Which Parks and Rec character are you?
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Mar 11, 2020
Westworld
HBO’s Westworld causes you to question the very nature of your reality. In this world, humans interact with AI intelligences, hosts, for the experience of a lifetime, but at times it is challenging to decipher who’s a host and who’s human. In many instances, the hosts seem more human-like than the real humans. What does it mean to be a conscious being?
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Feb 26, 2020
Disney Princesses
The world we live in has changed dramatically since Snow White first hit theaters in 1937. What society expects of women has changed and will continue to change. Disney has tried to evolve it’s princess stories as society has evolved, but have they been successful?
Do young girls still resonate with Disney princesses? Are Disney princesses heroines or damsels in distress? Are any princesses independent?
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Feb 12, 2020
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has mattered deeply to generation after generation of women ever since it was first published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. It inspired film versions in 1933, 1949, 1994 starring Winona Ryder & Kirsten Dunst, 2018, and 2019 with the all-star cast of Saorise Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, and Laura Dern. This story is much more than just four girls growing up in Civil war-era Massachusetts making jam & accidentally burning their dresses in the fireplace.
Is Greta Gerwig’s version of Little Women relatable to women and men? Is Jo March really Louisa May Alcott? What role does romance play in Little Women? How is Little Woman about day to day life? What was the best scene in Little Women?
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Jan 22, 2020
The Rise of Skywalker
With every Star Wars movie comes waves of high expectations. The fanbase is so divided that not everyone can be pleased by JJ Abrams’ decisions. Now that the 9-part story is over, Disney will let the franchise cool for a bit before adding spinoff stories. The Rise of Skywalker tied up many loose ends to the sequel trilogy and paid some lip service to fans, but it still left some of us wanting a more satisfying end.
How does power corrupt in the Star Wars galaxy? Did you expect Rey to be a Palpatine in the Rise of Skywalker? How did Disney add to the Star Wars franchise?
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Jan 8, 2020
Watchmen
Image Credit: Den of GeekSummary:
Alan Moore’s 1986 Watchmen was a condemnation of all forms of authority, mocking the concept of a benevolent superhuman, and portraying masked vigilantes as emotionally unstable. And Damien Lindelof took this story for HBO and refreshed it for a 2019 audience where the origin story is the Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Riots of 1921.
How is HBO’s Watchmen not a typical superhero story? Why is the classic superhero archetype an orphan?
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Dec 4, 2019
Our Holiday Favorites
Summary:
Is It’s a Wonderful Life actually a story about giving up on your dreams? How is A Christmas Carol a larger narrative about corporate welfare and charity? Most importantly, is Jingle All the Way the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movie? We answer all of these questions and more! If you have always wanted to hear a Libertarian rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas, you won’t be disappointed. Transcript:
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Nov 6, 2019
Handmaid's Tale
Summary:
American viewers love dystopias that are just eerie enough. In Gilead, a totalitarian theocratic state, reproduction rates are plummeting and women at-large are having trouble conceiving children. The answer to this problem is to institute child-bearing slavery. Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Marianne March, Tess Terrible, and Natalie Dowzicky unpack this controversial and timely television show.Transcript:
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Nov 6, 2019
Black Mirror
Summary:
On the show today is Peter Suderman and Paul Matzko with our hosts, Natalie Dowzicky & Landry Ayres. Throughout this episode they discuss five distinct Black Mirror episodes and what is or is not scary about the dystopian-thriller. One common theme is that the creators of Black Mirror seem to assume the worst will happen, when many of the technologies introduced in this world could have positive effects as well. Transcript:
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