Media Mothership

Tag: Tropes in Media

  • Evil Characters and Karmic Retribution

    Evil Characters and Karmic Retribution

    Join us for a thrilling episode as we dive into the latest news and intriguing events in media and pop culture! This week, we’re continuing our unpacking Film Courage’s Guide to Guide to Writing Evil Characters and exploring the fascinating trope of the Karma Deflector. Discover how villains often dodge consequences while their henchmen take the fall—only to face poetic justice in the third act! Tune in to hear us discuss why karmic retribution delivers such satisfying payoffs and the joy it brings to audiences.

    Listen to our previous discussion of Empathy for the villain, Crafting memorable evil characters, and Empathy for the villain.

    Links

    Concept Borrowed From Video Games Leads To Fusion Energy Breakthrough – GameSpot

    TV Executives Worried ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Might Be Too Highbrow | Cracked.com

    Here’s Why the ‘Danny DeVito Rule’ Is the Best Way to Judge Rom-coms | Cracked.com

    Starbucks South Korea bans use of presidential candidate names for orders – ABC News

    This episode was first aired on 29 May, 2025 at Edge Radio studios Hobart, Tasmania.

    📝 Show Full Transcription
    This is an AI-generated audio transcript, and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode.
    There is nothing wrong with your radio. Do not attempt to adjust the volume. We are controlling the broadcaster for the next hour. We will control all that you hear. You are about to experience the knowledge and insights of the medium mothership. Craig All right, welcome here to Edge Radio 99.3 FM. You’re now tuned in to media mothership, exploring everything in and around the world. Of media, as always, we explore how media can shape our world around us, hopefully giving us some critical tools to unpack that in our own daily viewing and listening experiences, we’re streaming on edgeradio.org dot AU as well as on YouTube and Twitch. Just search for media matters. Chip, you can message us on the chat at YouTube or Twitch or shoot us an SMS. On 0488811707 I’m your host, Craig Norris, and on today’s show we’ll cover some strange news stories around media cultures as well as diving further into our understanding on how to write evil characters. In popular culture and movies and TV, so all that and more coming up on media mothership. Alright, welcome back to a musical. Notes accompanying the transition to a little bit of strange news that I’ve come across searching for bizarre oddities on the Internet with media cultures first article quite intriguing, posted to say the 28th of May. Oh, sorry. Yesterday 28th of May. In GameSpot reporting that a concept borrowed from video games leads to fusion energy, breakthrough, scientists have used collision detection, which has pioneered has been pioneered in video games to achieve. Huge efficiency gains. In nuclear fission. Yes, this article goes to discuss how. Well, the South Korean scientists have made this huge breakthrough in nuclear fission fusion. Sorry by adapting a concept from video game. Play and it’s this collision detection algorithm, so this idea of collision detection is typically used in video games to simulate objects interacting with each other and through applying that video game. Algorithm or algorithms developed in video games around perfecting collision detection. They’ve been able to get a 15 fold increase in computation speeds for predicting particle collisions in fusion reactions, so of course, I guess if we’re talking about nuclear. Fusion. Which at its heart is this idea of particle collisions being able to have an effective algorithm that can predict and detect collisions is pretty critical. So as the article goes on to say, this advancement is crucial because fusion reactors. Require extremely high energy particles, and while collisions between particles are necessary, unintended collisions with reactor walls can destabilise the. Action by improving predictive capabilities, this innovation may lead to safer and more efficient fusion reactors, the article goes on to say that fusion energy, often seen as promising alternative to traditional nuclear fusion, fission faces challenges due to its. High energy requirements and expensive operational costs. However, recent breakthroughs such as this one. Continue to bring commercially viable fusion energy closer to reality. Commercially viable fusion energy. So rather than traditional nuclear fission. Here we’re talking about fusion energy. Just trying to think about what video games have particularly good or have to, you know, kind of really crunched the numbers and the maths to get their collisions effectively. Down up to 11 I. I guess Grand Theft Auto 5, I mean that involves. A lot of guns, a lot of cars that are speeding, motorcycles that are speeding. It’s quite a chaotic game. Grand Theft Auto 5, where you’re, as the name suggests, able to commit all number of larcenies and crimes within which there are many explosions. We think crashing into each other probably. Really. Another great one would be Super Smash brothers. You know, you’ve got a game geared around collisions there, as you’re combatting against another player, probably actually the one I was thinking is the best. Collision. Algorithm creator is is the portal games where you’re. Train not only to kind of use the portal technology to go from one spot to another, but but really that kind of precise physics calculations that are at the heart of that game in terms of how these different objects are going to interact with each other, what the different portals and surfaces will be. In fact, if we let’s let’s let’s set the mood quickly in terms of how that is quite an effective. Example. Here’s here’s the here’s a trailer for for Portal 2, a bit more ominous. Maybe. Let’s hope they don’t take. Necessarily this direction in. Fusion reactions. Those people that have played Portal 2 will know it’s it’s a very dystopic game. Example Text It’s been a long time. How have you been? I think we can put our differences behind us. For science, you monster. Craig Put our differences behind us for science. You monster. So that was Portal 2. Of course, the next article I’d like to go into IS, is is a kind of unusual one in terms of it’s about a classic 1970s TV show, Gilligan’s Island. We’ll put ourselves in the mood in case you’ve never seen the wonders of Gilligan’s Island, I’m sure. No worries, we’ll remember this. Wonderful theme song. Speaker 5 Trip that started from this topic, this tiny ship by passengers set sail that day. Three hour tour, a three hour tour. Craig So what’s great about this intro is that it tells the story. Of this intrepid crew who are on a pleasure trip, and then they. Get. You know, swept off in a storm. Speaker 5 Round on the shore. Craig Onto an island deserted island. About Gilligan, the skipper. The millionaire. And his wife. Speaker 5 The star the professor, Marianne. Craig And the professor and Marianne. So what’s interesting about this was an article reported in Cracked recently, which was going over some of the original show notes and the pitch. For this TV series way back in the 70s. And the initial pitch was a little more serious than the comic goofy oddball sitcom that Gilligan Island’s got fondly remembered as the creator, Sherwood Schwartz. Presented his idea initially to CBS executives. As this social microcosm, which would explore how people from different societal backgrounds interact when stranded together, so a kind of sociological anthropological experiment in this. TV show and you know, I guess if we think about the characters that are in Gilligan’s Island, you know, you’ve got the skipper who’s a kind of working class authority type guy, you know, symbolising this, you know, can do attitude, practical knowledge. The millionaire, you know, Thurston Howell the third? Yeah, this kind of 1 percenter, the wealthy elite of America and that privilege and status. The idea also that this character is kind of a little bit detached. From. The ability to actually survive in this world, right, that his his wealth has has protected him that that is the survival tasks. If they’re not going to involve. And, you know, privilege aren’t really going to make this character very useful. The movie star that’s there, you know, representing that celebrity glamour vibe, particularly that 1960s allure of Hollywood, maybe the superficiality. That the shareowner was thinking that character could represent. 1960s and 70s. Interesting to think of the character of the professor. We’re talking Cold War period here. So the idea of you know again, this this still utopia maybe of of faith around scientific progress. Right. You’re in the middle of the space race during this period. Technological advancements seeming to be endless, so there are that professor character kind of symbolising that that utopic. Cold War era fate and scientific progression. Marianne, you know, forgettable character, but I guess that’s what she is. She’s a kind of every, every, every girl farm American girl, wholesome, hard working person, resilient. And then finally, Gilligan, you know, a bumbling, naive but well meaning. Every man. Often episodes, if you remember, involve a stupid thing he’s done and then people trying to. Fix it but. Yeah, certainly a memorable character. Probably the one that is most fondly remembered. So anyway, that’s those. Yeah, you could see pitch there that he initially gave. As social microcosms, what’s interesting is crack.com has got a hold of some of the initial reactions to that were CBS executives at the time were very worried that this concept would be way too sophisticated for a comedy show. And indeed, what’s interesting, though, is despite the fact that the showrunner, Sherwood Schwartz, pitched it as this maybe more complicated idea of social microcosms, the reactions to it were super harsh. The critical reaction was. Very brutal to towards Gilligan’s Island, so I don’t think the CBS executives had anything to worry about. In fact, most critics at the Times dismissed it as very absurd and poorly written. The actress that played the Hollywood starlet, Ginger Grant, said she was disappointed when she saw the first episodes feeling like it was more of a cartoon than a TV show. But of course, you know, did go on to become a classic. Amusingly, at the end of the article, the showrunner says. You know, after getting ripped apart by the critics as being as having created a a stupid show, you know, fondly remember fondly, you know, very popular, but nevertheless not the hypertension S initially was pitched at the showrunner said next year the intellectual critics will probably take another look at Gilligan’s Island. Then they’re right treaties on a social satire on many levels. So I have not come across in my own research any articles written on Gilligan’s Island Society. At all. Confrontation with Cold War America. It’s a great article in the making, though it’s certainly something to probably circle back to. And yeah, maybe put something together as well. Next piece of news. OK, next piece of news. Yeah, one last article on Cracked funny piece. On these tail, it’s like these tests like you do the batch stool test on a movie, you know which is all out trying to unpack. You know, ideological questions that are baked into a film. So the digital test has limitations. But I like the idea of it where you can assess the full roundedness of female characters by asking certain questions. Do the female characters. Talk about anything except for a male character. Various questions you can ask which start to at least you know well. They’re they’re a bit lacking of nuance. They will, they will still nevertheless get you to ask some interesting questions about film. Latest one is the Danny DeVito rule. Danny DeVito, of course, the 80s, nineties, various films he was in, he was. The. Who’s in the Batman movie as the Penguin most commonly known now for always Sunny in. In Philadelphia, it’s always sunny in Philadelphia. Will you please a really toxic Father character anyway? The the test here is the Danny DeVito rule is the best way to Judge ROM Coms. These are romantic comedy films and this was posted on Reddit. The idea being that. UM. Could you imagine in a romantic comedy? Tony de Vito’s character, that is, you know, is is the romantic comedy actually effective? Right. If if the romcom is truly romantic, it should still work even if you cast. If you replace the male lead with a really toxic. Act or or performance. You know notoriously often delivered by Danny DeVito, or will that turn the film into a horror movie? Or an absurd comedy rather than a real romance. This rule, originally coined by a Reddit user way back in 2017, is part of a broader article highlighting how many romcoms rely more on conventional, attractive leads than genuine emotional connections. So the idea is if if it wasn’t. Richard Gere. Here. Or you know Hugh Jackman in the role. If it was the quirky looking Danny DeVito, would it still work? And if it doesn’t, does that suggest that the romantic comedy only worked because it was an attractive male lead and there weren’t really any genuine emotional connections there? So there were a couple of films that I tested, like when Harry met Sally. Which it claims would pass the test. Other movies wouldn’t like Gigi and. And yeah, it’s an interesting idea. You know, taking an actor or a performance. And saying, you know what, if this was played by a different actor, that is diametrically. Aesthetically different or known for playing different roles, would that still work in this way? I wonder what other films you could have apply that to. One further little interesting piece let’s. Talk now about, I guess a little bit away from media. Interesting article there on ABC News talking about how Starbucks in South Korea has banned the use of presidential candidate names for orders. So this was an unusual article talking about how much like in Starbucks. Everywhere when you order coffee, you can give your name. Many people were using that call. My name service after they make your beverage where they call your name to use the name of various failed presidential candidates or candidates that have since been impeached. So it seems, yeah, bizarre form of of censorship. I wonder what type of culture jamming, cultural resistance, political resistance was going on using these political names as the Starbucks order. And then, of course, it being banned. It’s it’s it’s truly, truly bizarre little piece of of news there. So that’s this week’s news discussion some, some intriguing little pieces of of news there. Let’s now pick up where we were last week. Discussing how to write good villains. I want to look at this concept called the. Moment where in a movie The villain experiences. Comma, right? They’re comeuppance. They’re poetic justice that the villain faces where they get what they deserve, picking up from the guide to writing evil characters. Let’s listen about this concept called the. Harmor deflector. Speaker 5 To you. Speaker 6 It’s said in a lot of the magical, mystical, metaphysical lore that those who work on the dark side, you know the dark magicians as opposed to the white magicians, and think again, Lord of the Rings. You know, Gandalf versus Saruman, right? So you think, well, OK, what about Karma? You do all these horrible things, you wipe out people, you kill whole planets and worlds. Well, where’s the karma there? Where’s the retribution? Because. We want life to be in balance. Seldom is it, but that’s what we like. So it’s said that the dark magicians are able to deflect their karma. It’s like they have a a deflector shield around them and they are protected from the bounce back of what they do, what they can also have. Is a group of devotees, apostles, followers, fans who take the hit for them. And usually the people don’t know that that’s what they’re doing. But you start working for a dark magician. Guess what? Your life starts falling apart. May not be just what you’re doing. You’re you’re getting some of his deflected karma or, you know, she is directly pointing that shield to you. So it it goes off of her and bounces down to the other people. But. Ultimately, there comes a time in the life of a dark magician in their career through the dark side that it just doesn’t work anymore. And then all that they have been holding back, whether it’s ageing, you know someone who’s had the youth spell, whether it’s rotting from the inside out, whether it’s being slain by the tools that you used to slay other people, it eventually comes back. But that karma deflector. Is a really good story tool. Craig So I was trying to think of a good example about that. I reckon one of the best examples is probably The Lion King 1994. You’ve got the character of scar, the villain, the serper of the throne, who’s been able to manipulate his way all the way into now ruling the Kingdom. But at the end of the movie spoilers. But it it’s 94, so I think people have seen it by now. He’s betrayed by his own hyena allies at Meat Sea. Dire fate and again, that’s that idea of the karma justice, that kind of karma deflector where the hyenas, of course, had been used as the the Allies, the henchman, and then that come up. Since that moment of karmic. Speaker 5 That’s. Craig Have a listen. So this is the scene. So we’ll see how it plays out. How heavy handed, the karmic retribution. The poetic justice, particularly with the henchman of the hyenas. Speaker 8 Ohh my friend. Speaker 7 Friends, I thought he said we were the enemy. Yeah, that’s what I heard. Speaker 8 No, no, let, let, let let me explain. No, you don’t understand. No, I didn’t mean no. No. Craig OK, great. Seeing there from The Lion King. Probably any other one again another Disney example would be that great scene where? In Aladdin, so you’ve got the the evil character, Jafar, who’s? You know, being able to finally get the genie, but then of course it backfires when he decides to wish to become the genie. And let’s see, we’ll see how that pans out. We’ll have a quick listen to this scene of of karmic justice. How Jafar, the main villain in Aladdin from 92. His quest for ultimate power through villainy finally backfires in this scene, so he’s trapped Aladdin, you know, he’s become a. Huge snake creature. He’s shipped Aladdin here and Aladdin’s trying to talk his way out of it. So let’s listen to how he uses that karmic. Justice to get some poetic revenge justly deserved on Jafar. Speaker 8 The genie. Speaker 7 The Genie, the Genie has more power than you’ll ever have. What he gave you your power. He could take it away. Speaker What are you doing? Why are you bringing? Craig Me into this. Speaker 7 Face it, Jafar, you’re still just second best. Speaker 8 You’re right, his power does exceed my own. Speaker 1 However. Example Text That’s no long the boy. Speaker Is crazy. Craig There’s a little punch drunk one too many hit for. Speaker 7 The snake I make my sandwich. I wish to be. Speaker All right. Craig Your wish is my command way to go, Al. Speaker 8 You know it. Speaker 7 You. Trust me. Speaker 5 Mind the command. Speaker 7 Not so fast. Aren’t you forgetting something? You wanna be a genie you got. Everything that with it. Speaker No. Speaker 7 The no little cosmic powers. Speaker 80 bitty living space. Speaker 7 Hell, you little genius here. Craig All right. There we go. Great example there of karmic justice hitting the villain in the third Act, Aladdins 1992, where Jafar gets turned into a genie and doesn’t realise that. Ohh, sweet. Poetic justice. It then shackles him into all the rules of being a genie in terms of having to go back. Into the. Lamp. I mean, you know. Storytelling can be a fun way, I guess, of that desire we all have when we face some corporate accountability issue, some political scandal, some environmental neglect that the companies done where we want to see. Some form of justice done against those moments of scandal, some form of consequence from those actions which may, in a way conform to as movies like that portray a comic retribution which could play. Out in real life. Well, that’s the media mothership for another week. We’ll be back next week with some more explorations into the way media shapes, our understanding of the world around us. Next week, if you’ve enjoyed listening to the show, check us out on your podcast provider of choice. You can also see previous episodes on YouTube or Twitch. This has been Craig Norris for another week, signing off. Keep listening now to Edge radio. So as we’ll. Have some really cool tunes right now.

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  • Empathy for the Villain: Crafting Memorable Evil Characters

    Empathy for the Villain: Crafting Memorable Evil Characters

    We continue our discussion of Film Courage’s “A Guide to Writing Evil Characters.” In this segment, we explore the tropes of “Evil Characters We Root For” and “Techniques for Creating Empathy.” We take a closer look at characters such as Conquest from the Invincible series, Agent Smith from The Matrix, and Davros from Doctor Who. And, of course, we cover the latest news in media and popular culture.

    Read part 1 of our chat here.

    Links

    Superman Toy Confirms Identity of a Mysterious Character Fans Have Been Debating For Months

    Here’s Why You Can’t Kill Animals In Assassin’s Creed Shadows

    Ghost of Yotei Director Vows to Deliver ‘A Respectful Representation’ of Japan on Par With Ghost of Tsushima – IGN

    The empire strikes back with F-bombs: AI Darth Vader goes rogue with profanity, slurs – Ars Technica

    MrBeast Youtuber James Donaldson denies wrongdoing over Mayan ruins video – ABC News

    Star Wars’ Darth Jar Jar Now Available in Fortnite, but Fans Can’t Believe You Must Earn 1 million XP Before You Can Buy Him – IGN

    Explore the episodes

    Podcast

    📝 Show Full Transcription
    This is an AI-generated audio transcript, and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode.
    Speaker Do not attempt to adjust the volume. For the next hour, we will control all that you hear. Speaker 1 You are about to experience the knowledge and insights of the medium mothership. Craig Alright, welcome here to media mothership on Edge radio. 99.3 FM. I’m your host Craig Norris, joined by the. Taylor Go to. Craig Then, well, I think I I thought I’d just do. I don’t really know what I’m talking about tonight, so I thought, you know, I’m not really leaning on the doctor part. OK, I’m more of the consumer part in terms of, I don’t know what. I’m talking about tonight. We’re we’re engaging with movie screen writing and character development, and while I’ve never written a film. I have. I have been an extra in a student film. And well, and and an indie film. Yeah, right. The big, big love studio guys. Here in Hobart and I watch a lot of movies and I did study in my undergraduate European cinema at the unit European cinema for a semester needed two cinema study subjects anyway, so I’m Craig Norris. I joined my co-host Taylor Taylor. What’s your world? What’s that world? What’s? Taylor Up. Craig Your background in. Movies. Taylor I don’t know. I’ve never been in one. Oh, yeah, I have. Craig I mean, you’ve acted, at least you’ve done theatre acting. Taylor Been in one. Yeah, yes, the theatre acting and film acting the Nightingale. Speaker Yeah, OK. What was? Craig Your role in the Nightingale, Nightingale, of course. As a Tasmanian movie filmed in Tasmania about the convict period to really. Dark heart wrenching emotional journey. Taylor Yeah, I was in it. I’ve never. Watched it. Really, yeah. Craig What was the in the filming that you did? What was? Taylor Yeah. Craig The role you were playing. Taylor I was playing Ohh. What is it? Launceston townsfolk? Craig Right. So you had. Era appropriate clothing for the. Taylor Ohh yeah, I was ninja. I had sideburns which I grew out for six months. Craig For the sold really great. Really. Yeah. So you played the role of a British soldier? Yes or yeah, one of and. You were an extra, though, so you were. You weren’t. You didn’t have any. Taylor Speaking roles, not not a speaking role. No, but but it was a credited extra. Craig OK. Taylor Which is. That’s why I’m on IMDb, etcetera. Craig No kidding, Taylor. IMDb is that the one role at the moment? Taylor That appears, yeah, yeah. Craig Yeah, we’ll have to add a couple of episodes. Taylor Of course. Craig All right, great. So. In a way, you’ve played a type of villain. Would you say that? Identity was from the point of view of some characters, would be seen. As a villain, no. Really. I mean wouldn’t, wouldn’t, wouldn’t there be some characters in that film that would see? The British. Army as villains though. Taylor Yeah, but yeah, well, I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m just guessing from history. There is like so it’s it’s difficult because there’s the the main villain played by Sam Claflin, the fellow who plays Finnick in The Hunger Games. He’s the main villain and. Speaker 4 OK. Craig Is he British officer? Speaker That’s. Taylor Irish. Craig Right. Is this soldier or? Taylor Well, sort of like Irish sort of thing. And we basically he gets found out to have molested this sort of slave girl, I guess. And we all just look at him and he’s being publicly humiliated through that. So technically against the villain, I guess in a way. Craig That was the scene you’re in, right? So the scene you’re in, you want part of villainous Hanks. OK, OK, well, villain adjacent. Taylor Sort of thing. Yeah, yeah. Villains Jason. Well, actually no, for that role I had to. They gave us a pipe and we had. To smoke a pipe. Craig How did you smoke a pipe? Do you smoke? No. So how did you do the? Taylor Fake smoke. I just like drew it into my cheeks and then puffed it. Out. Craig Well, ruining the magic of movies your own media mothership. Taylor Oh yeah. Craig So indeed, as that little segue to introduce the show has foretold, omnium mothership we look at how the media shapes our world around us and we love these moments of behind the scenes how the sausage is made experiences so not actual smoking, but fake smoking. Taylor OK. Craig For that scene. We’ll be continuing last week’s discussion of villains, so we’ll unpack a little bit more. What makes a good villain? Taylor So just give me a moment I’ve forgotten to pay for parking. Craig And. That’s a villainous act, isn’t it? Yeah. You’re still in character. I notice. And in your acting, I know you played good guys. You were a detective in an Agatha Christie. Taylor It is. Yeah, that was on stage. Craig Yeah, on stage. Have you done any stage performances which are villain bees? Taylor I’m trying to think. Yes, I was murderer too in Macbeth. Craig Great. Alright, so that’s. Taylor I was in. I was in. Craig A sword fight that is so fantastic, drawing upon those experiences or that experience. Yeah, we’re going to explore your thoughts on what makes some good villains in cinema. Probably you’ve not seen most of. The movies, so that’s part of. The fun? Yeah, of course, Harry Potter. Taylor Is this? I’ve seen it. Craig You have right so you can as we’re talking about this topic. Feel free to SMS US on 0488811707. We’re also on YouTube and Twitch. You can post a message on the chat there well in the future in the future, yeah. So all that more. But before we do that, let’s cover. Taylor Patreon. Of beer. Craig Some some news. Oh, that’s not cheat. Taylor It is tuned. You just played it wrong. Craig Alright, really interesting article from Cydia. What’s that comic book were you all? The same thing. Taylor OK. Speaker Yeah. Craig Anyway, Superman Toy confirms identity of a mysterious character. Fans have been debating for months. The reason why I quite like this article was it’s one of these classic movements with the with the paratext. So you’ve got the text, the film, the new Superman movie that’s around the corner, and then you got these spin-off properties, right. So the movie poster, the Happy Meal, McDonald’s meal thing, games. Taylor Game. Is there a thing? Craig All that stuff usually comes out with a big movie. And they’re referred to as paratext. Or maybe a bit of transmedia, right? It goes to a different format like. In this case, the toy line. And it’s one of these wonderful moments where, again, you have the forensic fandom ideas, so fans are out there forensically sorting through content to get the kind of gotcha moment or the reveal moment to get a little bit of cultural capital from their other fans to say, hey, look what I’ve discovered. This one is is a toy line, right? And it’s happened numerous occasions where the toy line has a bit of publicity leading up to the film, and lo and behold, it reveals a character which had been, you know, rumoured or held off on in the. Taylor Trailer. So is it like a character? That’s suited up and then you can take the helmet off. Craig Or something. I know in the past there’s been cases of of that level of reveal in terms of, OK, bringing this character back. Even though the producers had hoped to keep it a secret, so it’s a big surprise when you’re watching the film. I won’t. I won’t spoil it for people by going into what this article proclaims. Taylor Really. Really. Do you think anyone in Hobart is actually going to be buying one of these? Craig The toy line has revealed. Global reach man for Kansas, Kansas listeners in America. OK, but yeah, nevertheless, fun moment where you know, you’re kind of big. See where it gets revealed. From a flyer. Taylor I mean, this is just great radio, you could. You’ve just said that there’s this big secret of something and then you haven’t revealed anything of it. Wow. Craig Kotaku next article from Kotaku. Ubisoft explains. Taylor Is there anything from Gizmondo today? Craig I got IGN and and anyway OK. Sorry, that’s spoiling. Ubisoft explains why you can’t kill animals in assassin Creed Shadows. The game. Taylor I mean, that’s just basic. You should be able. To kill everything in it. Craig The game director decides. OK, so why do you why do you think it is that in the latest Assassin’s Creed, the one that’s set in Japan, the. Game designers made an effort so. Taylor Is it something to do with animal spirits? No, no, OK. They just couldn’t be bothered to animate it. Craig Very practical. The games director cites a lack of predators in Japan and a desire to create a more Zen like open one. Speaker Yeah, that’s a. Taylor Lack of predators in Japan, so you should be able to slice a. Craig Rabbit in half predators. Except for humans, the ultimate predator. Or maybe the predator, right? So again, two things there. Zenlike approached the world. So they took a A. And moral, philosophical stance to this film that they want animal lovers to enjoy. This right? No animals been harmed in the creation of this game kind of vibe that that you can’t. You know, there’s a lot of kittens, right? The screen capture, for instance that they’ve got is a kitten. Taylor Absolute rubbish. Craig The your, your your neck it seems I I agree it seems I mean this game has hasn’t creed. Shadow has been bedevilled. That’s true by issues around. You know, dealing inappropriately with sensitive topics, for instance shrines also are non damageable and this was based on controversy earlier on where you know I think there’s been some incorrect lettering, the strains. You’re incorrect anyway, a whole series of issues have before in this in terms of, you know, kind of political economy, a sense that this is politically insensitive or cultural preparation. Anyway, this is the latest one that the game review was saying. They were surprised to find the player can never attack or kill any animals in the games. Virtual recreation of feudal Japan. And they would have pride. Taylor That’s crazy. I mean, even in the earliest links like Zelda games, you could cut the grass. You could eat a. Craig Chicken well, yeah, they say you can. However pet them and draw pictures of them. Speaker 1 Ohh. Craig Unlike so many other open world games, including previous Ubisoft projects, there aren’t even any aggressive predators, so I guess. Taylor Like bears and. Craig Yeah, like in Red Dead Redemption. It’s not Ubisoft, but other game open world game spaces like Red Dead Redemption. You’ll have, you know, grizzly bears. Wildcats that you know, are predators and will attack you, and so you can battle and kill them. Yeah. This one has taken the view that because the only animals you’re going to encounter are are non predator based, right? So cats and stuff. Taylor Medic through CNN. Craig You’re not going to be in a situation where you’re forced to survive in that scenario like you’re not gonna be encountering. A wolf. Or a bear. I mean, there are wolves and bears in Japan, but nevertheless in the in the locations you’re in, I guess the temples and so forth. So yeah. Yeah. They want to send like a bridge. Speaker 5 Hmm. Craig Yeah, yeah. I don’t know if it’s a selling points, if it’s taking the moral high ground here. If animal lovers are really going to embrace that. Taylor I think it’s just. Another nail in the coffin of that. Craig Game. Well, on that point, keeping the kind of video game set in Japan, IGN has an article about the the follow up series to what is it the consumer? Right, so this is ghosts of yottaa. So this is the. Next follow on game from Ghosts of Tsushima, which is set during the ****** attempted invasion in Japan. This one is the follow up, so ghost of Yokai director Val’s to deliver a respectful representation of Japan on par. Speaker 5 OK. Craig With ghosts of tashina. And again, that’s in conversation with the failure of the Assassin’s Creed shadows game. To effective to I mean it costs so much backlash. Hmm. So there it’s interesting. They’re selling point for this game is that, hey, we are the respect for game designers. We’re going to take a lot of care to this. So again, a lot of nervousness, a lot of egg shells around the representation of Japan, which is interesting. Even I guess the prominence that period of Japan reached with the Shogun series from last year, which was a huge success. One all these awards. So you can see these game studios jumping into this space to represent it. But yeah, because of the bad publicity around. Incorrectly getting some of the details or being seen as insensitive to the handling of it. I wonder if they’re gonna allow you to kill animals in this. Is that a? Are we being kind of? Baby cuddled a bit. You know Nanny state a bit in terms of not seeing the repercussions. I mean, the fact that humans do kill animals and that maybe we should. Taylor See you. Craig Sense the wrongness. Of that little rightness of that times. Taylor I mean in Skyrim for example, I got a mod which allows you to sever the parts of animals if you want. So you can then put the different parts into a pot to cook that particular part. Craig And I guess if you’re trying to immerse yourself into a reality. Taylor Yeah. Craig Well, yeah, I guess I wouldn’t do that. And there is this whole thing of what farm to plate in the real world, right? People have lost the idea of where food comes from, if they’re just going to willies and seeing mints. Taylor Exactly. Craig That that we need to bring back that sense of of what the actual reality of it is, is. Has that helped you in terms of your eating habits? Do you now look at food differently? Taylor Yeah, yeah, I eat more meat than ever. Craig The meat lobby would love. Love you, all right, AIS, Technica. Taylor From pork on your. Craig Technica the Empire Strikes Back with F bombs AI Darth Vader. Taylor Ohh that that’s all I wanted to talk about. There was something I I knew there was something I had. Speaker 1 Yeah. Taylor This week and I wanted to talk about it. Craig Yeah, it’s a big story. We we, Yep. So the subtitle here is Sith happens. This is funny. Brilliant. The Empire strike spec with F bombs AI Darth Vader goes rogue with profanity slurs Fortnite AI voice trained on James Earl Jones spoke curse words and insults before it was patched, so this of course is in a very very popular Fortnite game where you’re. Third person well, not shooter. Third person kind of fighter. Incredibly popular. They’ve dropped in some Star Wars characters, including Darth Vader that you can encounter. We’ll play a clip. Taylor Ohh really brilliant. Great idea. Craig Ohh, hold on, I haven’t. I haven’t hooked it up. Well, eventually will. And what was your? How did you come across? Taylor This story ohh this was this just appeared in my sort of like news feed because that’s what happened. You have a Samsung phone, you just swipe it to the left and it’s got all the news that’s been tailored specifically for you. And so yeah, I’ve watched. I’ve watched a couple of the. The videos, and not only did they did it speak curse words and things like that, but it started saying, oh, what did it say? Something along the lines. They always make it so they talk about Hitler and so it said something around Hitler being right, that sort of thing, I think and. Speaker 5 Right, right, right. Craig OK, well I’ve. Queued it. I’ve kind of cued it up. Taylor OK. Yeah. Speaker What freaking ******* food is that? Darth Vader? Tell me. Ohh my God. Speaker 1 Cool down. Speaker 7 Freaking ******* such vulgarity does not become you, Patty. You inquire about sustenance and yet speak like a common thug. Speaker 1 What you’re not allowed. Speaker 6 Oh my God. Oh my God. Craig So what’s that? Speaker 7 What sustains me? Speaker Oh my God, no. Speaker 7 You. No, no, that is and it’s composition it is. Speaker You made him swear. Craig So what’s happening there is a gamer is making the AI Darth Vader swear because they engage in the conversation by swearing to begin with. Yeah. So she says, you know, freaking ****** eating. Food and then the Darth Vader character incorporates that language. Taylor Yeah. Craig Those words in their response to make it appear as if you’re actually talking to something vaguely realistic. But unfortunately it hadn’t been patched at all. They hadn’t realised that if people swear that swearing gets incorporated into the answer that Darth Vader replies. So Darth Vader said something like. You know, while he recognises it’s inappropriate, like, that’s inappropriate, he had made to say this freaking ****** word. But he says freaking ******. So this was the controversy that it was also using the fact that it’s James L Jones’s voice. Right. So they’re trained, they’ve got the estates permission. Speaker Yeah. Craig To allow them to create a language model based on the archive of genes or juice’s real voice. Put it in the. Team, of course, part of the conditions since. Yeah, there’s I think there’s legal action now being taken against them from the estate that they’re in breach of the terms and conditions for allowing this to happen. That of course it’s brought into some disrespect. James Silver, James’s voice. Speaker Hmm. Taylor That is the tip of the iceberg of the bad things that it said though. I’m pretty sure someone asked it to rank skin. Colour. No, they did and it put white as acceptable. Craig Really. Speaker So. Taylor Brown as unacceptable. Black is even more unacceptable. That’s the the clip that I saw that they had, which I think is a bit more than swearing. Craig Yeah. It’s horrible, isn’t it? In a way. Taylor A bit more harsh when’s weary? Craig Very villainous, right? So so. Taylor Yes, cases in character. Craig Also, well, yes, but also, yeah, the kind of reality there is taking advantage of the system, right. So the. These these people that are wanting to corrupt and exploit by performing offensiveness. Taylor But from that point it it just shows that it was definitely an AI model that had that did not have the restrictions in place that it needed. And like when they’ve had all of these other ones that they’ve brought out, there was the one that. Twitter brought out, I think it was called, I think it was called Taylor. Actually, and that within two hours it had started swearing and going through all of this. Craig Yeah. I think it was Microsoft’s. Taylor Yeah, yeah, something like that, yeah. Craig Tay, I like how you’ve identified with. Taylor It. Yeah, I know, because it was in the news. I was like, oh, God, another reason. Craig Yeah, yeah. And they basically, yeah, I think it was the the early experiment Microsoft did with AI or language learning models, right? It’s not really AI. Speaker 5 Yeah. Craig And then they they put it into the wild, and a lot of people were able similar to this be able to basically groom the AI to become a a foul racist. And the thing was, I guess it was how quickly the corrupting began of that, that AI model. Speaker Hmm. Taylor But again, it’s it’s just a programme, just put in some things in place to stop it ever getting to that point. Craig And it is a sad reflection on humanity in terms of our desire to troll and to corrupt. And. Taylor But at the same time, like as a teacher. If you tell a student not to throw something, then all they wanna do is just throw throw it across. Craig The room. Maybe this is again another case of this is a reasonably safe space for that type of corruption to occur, right? And it’s interesting listening to that clip as well. Part of the fun. Of doing it was, as we heard in the reaction. Oh my God, I don’t believe I got defeated to say that it it is fun. I mean, the the appeal of the taboo, the. Appeal of saying naughty words. Taylor Or the naboo. Craig The Naboo saying the words you’re not meant to do, and there’s an appeal to that, I mean, I mean a. Lot of. It’s there. Well, yeah. I I’m thinking of a lot of humour. Is scatological a lot of humour is based on using to to do. I mean, I’m not talking about the the racist stuff, it’s more the. Kind of like getting into, say, the F. Weird. Taylor But can you really glean that much humour from? Craig Well, in a way, I mean, I guess, OK, an oppositional reading, right? So dominant reading would be ohh, this is really inappropriate and how bad on these people to exploit the system. A good one is it’s also kind of, you know. Mystifying the scariness of a villain character, right, that you can just kind of hack into the system and get this character that’s meant to be kind of like, Oh my God, I believe I’m battling against Darth Vader and instead you’re lampooning him and turning him into a clown, right, that you’re kind of. Taylor I suppose, yeah. Craig Demasculinization your kind of. Removing all of the villainy of this Darth Vader character and instead he’s yeah, you’re revealing that it’s just a bot and the bots dumb and the bot doesn’t know what to do. And so you can just get the bot to do something stupid and out of character. And I think that’s kind of creative. Speaker Hmm. Craig As well, I think had this is these aspects to this that are actually clever, right? I mean, figuring out that I mean and obviously you know within parameters you know clever in the initial thing you have this huge company spending all this money and taking all this care and usually there’s a huge risk averseness. To you know, carefully making sure all of these are calibrated for the market and they’re going to achieve X. Number of dollars. And it’s going to be great. And then when it’s just an epic fail because of some problem, the scrambling to fix it, you know, how bad can it get? Some of that is is is absurdly comical. Taylor Back on OK. Craig All right, so next next article? Yeah, another. Classically absurd things. So this is Mr Beast. Mr beast. So he’s a incredibly toxic, toxic but very famous and wealthy. YouTube, Mr Beast YouTuber James Donaldson denies wrongdoing over the Mayan ruins video. Taylor Oh, that’s right. Craig Yeah. So it’s some YouTube thing is doing and they got access to them. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. They got access to the main pyramids ads. You know, they’ve denied any wrongdoing. But after that footage became public, this was that. Speaker 5 With that. Taylor Well, he did. He got the steps or something like that. You’re not. Supposed to do that anymore? Yeah. Craig Oh, do you know how to pronounce it? Chichen itza. OK. The Mayan ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, which is considered one of the seven. Taylor Yeah. Teaching it so. Craig Wonders of the world. Legally, visitors are. Welcome to come to the site, but they’re banned from climbing the pyramids or visiting it after nightfall. They appear to have done both, certainly after nightfall, because you know, part of. Speaker For the. Craig The video is that he says nobody gets to go where we’re going. And then he goes there, which suggests that. Taylor Paid off the government, probably. Craig Yeah, well, this is the I guess this is what this maybe is exposing. So yeah, again it’s it’s an interesting. Again, another one of these epic fails of I guess you know so much money. Just put into this, they would have. They would have to have known this would cause some fallout. I guess they thought either they’d they’d been able to pay off everyone who needs to get. Paid off and have. Taylor Yeah, they thought their star power could carry them. Yeah. Craig Well, maybe they just like the publicity, right? I mean. Taylor Any publicity is good publicity. Craig Yeah, this, this, this, this certainly is brought it to my attention and media motherships, listeners and it was on the ABC News. All right, last story last style story Star Wars Darth Jar Jar. Now available in Fortnite, but fans can’t believe you must earn 1,000,000 XP before you can buy him, so it’s one of these. Kind of, yeah. And the subtitle Empire Strikes bank. And it’s just, I mean, again, it’s moral economy question at the other end of that Darth Vader problem, where the fans get to, you know, kind of rewire Darth Vader to show the absurdity of the AI system underpinning it, or the language learning model and defending it. This one is the greed side of it, where the Darth Jar jar. Is a fan favourite character in terms of its bit of fan fiction with Jar Jar Binks the most ridiculed character in the Star Wars pantheon. Fan theory saying that actually he was the mastermind evil villain behind everything as a Sith Lord, so they they’d buy into this with Fortnite setting up a nice novel little idea that you can play as the dark version of this, but you have to grind for it. And it’s an absurd grind and it’s punishing. And it’s interesting at what point fans playing a free game. Push back against that mechanic and say no more. Taylor Yeah. Craig Really. This is greed. This is exploitative. This is taking something, you know fans want and forcing them to to to buy it at a preposterous price. You know that that price label or that time. Cost linked to it. Value is broken from the fans point of view that you know they’re they know this is something fans who. They’re charging an extraordinary price. You’re getting so upset. Thinking about it. Yeah, that there’s an unfairness to it. Right. But I mean, again, how? How effective their complaints can be. You know, who knows? Taylor Well, that just reminds me of when it comes to unfairness, greed and corporate iness we’ve got the new Switch 2 coming out. In is it 7 days or something like that? It’s on June 5th I think. Speaker 1 And. Taylor Mario Kart world, priced at $130.00 or $120.00 or something like that, and it looks like that’s going to be the new normal for switch games, and probably PS2, PS, PS2, PS 5 and Xbox Games. Craig Yeah. Yes, there was another game where the game developers. That I think it’s the latest. Yeah, it’s the latest Borderlands game, Borderlands 4. The CEO has said. Because people are baulking at the price of it saying I feel they’re listed at 4, but the CEO in response to the $80 being charged for this game is is response was. If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way right. Which again, is this moral economy moment, right? What do you do when you get that, let them eat cake moment. From the privileged power holder, right French Revolution. Style that that moral outrage of saying, you know, you just don’t get what it’s like in the cost of living today, that this $80 charge isn’t isn’t what this rich person’s imagining is, right. If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way. Taylor No game should be above $100 is what I think. Craig Well, I guess this is within that $80.00, but yeah, it’s it’s it’s the response is, yeah, well yes, yes. Taylor $80 American. Speaker 8 Yeah. Craig Yeah. So that, that’s yeah that that’s been considered quite tone deaf, alright. Speaker Hmm. Craig You’re. Taylor Talking about tone deaf. Craig You’re listening to its radio 9.3 FM. Stay clear of the platform. Let’s move to the main topic of today, villains, villains. Yep. So as I mentioned last week. Taylor Medusa. Craig Medusa. Yeah. Yeah. Ursula, you can you can flip those interesting female villains. I mean, I think female villains are alright anyway. Well, they. Taylor Jaffa. Craig Let’s pick it up from where we were last listening, just Disney. So what I want to go into now was a actually it was a Reddit post I came across. There’s an interesting Reddit post a few days ago which has its tidal. The question there’s moments in a movie where the the Pure Evil 1 dimensional villain gives a speech that recontextualizes them in the most terrifying way imaginable. OK, so it’s a speech. Well, I’ll play a couple of clips. Taylor I can’t think of any. The top of my head. Now phanos. Craig Yeah, tennis is a great example. Any particular scene from Thanos in particular you think? Taylor Yeah. Ohh, where he’s talking about bringing balance back, that’s what. That’s what I’m. Thinking of yes. Speaker Yeah. Craig Yeah, it’s great. See, I’ll play clip. OK. Play. Play clip right. Here we go for the perfect balance. So we’ll try it. 13 seconds. OK. Speaker 9 Look. Pretty isn’t it? Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. Craig All right. So that’s the same way he meets Kimo. Taylor Ohh that’s we’ve got the the yeah, the knife. Craig Yeah, and and he is. I mean, it’s not. I mean it’s not necessarily it is recontextualizing them because in that scene we see a certain humanising quality to the villain. And an idea of their ideology. Speaker Oh. Taylor I’m talking about the one where he talks about after he’s done his famous snap. Yeah. And then he has the what’s it called then? He’ll look out upon a perfect world or something like that. Perfect human voice. Craig Maybe it’s this one. Speaker 9 OK, brilliant. You could not live with your own failure. Yeah. Where did that bring you? Back to me. You could not live. Where did that bring you? Taylor Just playing random bits from Infinity War now. Speaker 9 To me. Craig How? How about Thanos’s most powerful scene, OK. Speaker 9 Congratulations, you’re a prophet. On the survivor. Speaker 1 Who wants to murder trillions? Speaker 9 With all 6 stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that. Mercy. Speaker And then what? Speaker 9 Finally, rest and watch the sunrise in the Grateful Universe. The hardest choices require the strongest one. Taylor That’s. Speaker Did you do it? Speaker 9 Make it cost. Who wishes? Craig It is a. Great scene and that that scene where. He says, you know where. His kind of surrogate daughter up until that point, asks him, you know, what does it cost everything. Yeah, it is. It is a terrifying explanation of what the character is. So yeah, we want to go a little bit into that. The the Reddit post. Yeah. There’s a couple of really interesting examples it gives. Speaker Hmm. Craig But let’s first set the scene and have a look at maybe. I don’t. Lure of the dark side. Evil characters we root for techniques for creating empathy. Techniques for creating empathy. I think that’s the the the one we’re looking at here. So jumping into this is the film courage clip techniques for creating empathy for your villainous character. OK. OK, here we go. Speaker 8 What is the definition of an antihero? An anti hero is someone who becomes evil for sympathetic reasons. This is why we like him. This is Michael Corleone in the Godfather. This is Harvey Dent in in in Dark Knight. We have to have sympathetic reasons to like an antihero. Speaker 4 There’s a whole bunch of techniques and you can see what they. Do. Craig Alright, so sympathetic reasons to like a. Antihero. So some of the clips. I came across this one is from the new. UM, invincible. Cartoon series superhero series and then the last season in the last few episodes, they bring this new character. In called conquest. And conquest is this super powerful villain character. It’s it’s, you know, we’re talking about kind of evil Superman level and there’s this fantastic monologue that Conquest gives, which is similar to this question of at the moment where a character is pure evil, he’s demonstrated various evil acts. Of killing innocent people in very gory grizzly way. Is this villain? Who, up until this point with this monologue that we’re about to hear, seems to just be pure evil? But then he delivers this monologue, which changes our view of them somewhat, right? Maybe a little more empathy towards that character. So as we heard in that clip, we sometimes want. To create that. Empathy. So let’s listen to this one minute clip of Conquests’s best monologue from the Invincible anime series. This is season 3. Speaker 1 I am so lonely. All the other philtre minds are scared of me. No one talks to me. No one wants to be my friend. They think I am unstable. They send me from planet to planet, committing atrocities in their name. And as I get better at it. They fear me more and more. I am a victim of my own success conquest. I don’t even get a real name. Only on purpose. I am capable of so much more, and no one sees it. Some days I feel so alone. I could cry, but I don’t. I never do, because what would be the point? Speaker 8 I’m going. Craig To so that’s. Dramatic scene of conquest, delivering this really unexpected monologue about his loneliness. He’s so lonely. No one likes me. I have no friends, right? Everyone hates me so much that they’ve given me the name conquest. Which is just a purpose. Right. And it’s such a dramatic scene. The It’s interesting reading the. The quotes some of the the comments underneath it, talking about how dramatic that scene is, if we jump back to the film writing guide just to see how that empathetic moment can work. Speaker 4 To know what the techniques are. For me, it’s like there’s three, three things that you do that I that you do is is make us make us feel sorry for that character. So there’s little moments where you can you can create a moment in the story where a character is unjustly abused or unjustly mistreated or insulted. Or. Betrayed or neglected. And so it it could be any character. And if that moment is there, you’re gonna feel sorry for that character at that moment. Takes an instant. So that’s one. If you show that they’re like us, if you show their humanity, for example, you show that they care about something other than themselves. That’s another technique. Craig So I felt. That that’s kind of the technique there. They’re not. They kind of like conquest. This, this viltrumite alien. Kind of villain character. He’s like a he’s he feels lonely. Right. He doesn’t have any friends, like he’s writing a diary entry. The a diary. I feel so lonely today. I have no friends anyway. It’s just really, profoundly banal, everyday depressing existential model. Speaker 10 Ohh my God. Speaker 4 So there’s a moment in the movie A Leon the professional, which is about a a, a hit man, right? And it opens with him doing a hit and he kills people you don’t know if he’s good or bad, but he goes home and he takes care of a plant. Right. And that right away, you say, oh, well, he cares about the plant, so he’s he’s OK. The other part is admiration. So this is like any. Any kind of you know, if you’re dating somebody or you’re trying to find somebody who was a good match for you, there’s that list of list of things that you like in a person that’s admirable trait. So somebody was funny. Who’s responsible, who’s courageous. That’s a whole list of things you can add to a character to make us say, oh, well, you know, I admire this. Usually they’re like, the best at what they do. They like the best. You know the best ad executive or the best agent or the best cop, or. The best driver? They’re courageous. There’s a whole bunch of them. I have hope. The list. The list is all in. Craig So there’s three characteristics there. One of the ones that was mentioned in the Reddit list of Moments in where a villainous character delivers a monologue which makes you see them a bit differently, is the scene from the matrix with Agent Smith, right? So this is the scene where. Morpheus has been captured. Agent Smith has been interrogating him. And then in this. Moment he takes off his earpiece so he’s no longer connected to the other kind of androids. And delivers this manogue monologue about his. Taylor Feelings manogue. Is that what a man? Craig Man alot. Gives. Well, here’s what a manity gives. So let’s. The. Speaker 5 Going to be honest. With you. I. Hate this place? This. Zoo. Prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can’t stand it any longer. It’s the smell. If there are such things. I feel saturated by it. They can taste your stink. You’re time I do. I fear that I have somehow been infected by it. It’s propulsive, isn’t it? I must get out of here. I must get free. And in this mind is the key my key. Speaker 1 I was happy. Craig Such a such an interesting scene there that then again, that. Idea of humanising the villain. Taylor Yeah. Craig Up until this point, we’ve seen him as a kind of robot, kind of mechanical, villainous character, and then this, I must get free. I hate it here. I hate the smell. Very relatable. Taylor Mr. Anderson. Do you know who my favourite anti villain is? Yes, I don’t. Have a guess. Craig Well, some of the the I guess some of the classic anti villains, you got dirty Harry. Taylor No. It’ll be 1 you don’t expect. Craig Maybe the first act of Star Wars where it’s handsome. Taylor Because because they’re they’re not an anti villain. Sorry, anti hero. Craig Anti hero. Yeah anti villain would be. I hear it. Yeah. You, you, you finally got around to watching the Godfather. Taylor No, no, no. Corleone. It’s it’s an anti hero who is the main character. Craig Right, Harry Potter. Taylor Michael Douglas in falling down. Craig OK. Yeah. OK. Yeah, that’s a yeah. So falling down, there’s a note is the story of a kind of salary man in America. He loses his job, but then so embarrassed. Yeah. So embarrassed about the loss of his job that he can’t tell his wife. And he’s still going. Taylor Guys on the ranch. Craig I mean. You know, dressing up in his suit as if he still got his job and then he has one. Of these. Worst days possible. Taylor Yeah, he gets stuck in traffic. Craig Right and. It gets stuck in traffic, it gets bad service at a fast food restaurants, gets accosted by some some thugs, and he he just he just flips out and and does this weird wishful. So he’s he’s kind of villainous in terms of, you know, his. He he can’t face up to the truth. He. He’s lying. He then does extreme overreactions. Yeah, in these moments, but kind of like, you know, human overreactions, but ones which know, like, he gets a gun at some point, and he’s shooting people. He gets a baseball bat at some point, and he’s finally. Taylor Yeah. Speaker 5 Yeah. Craig Bashing people, you know, it’s just it’s just disproportionate. Yeah. And also a sense of entitlement that that really these are not big problems. Yeah, that he’s facing. But he’s blowing them up. Yeah, it’s a great role. What? What? Was it about that? You, you. You. Taylor Enjoyed. Ohh. It’s it’s really like the movie and I’d I’d like that disproportionate response to it. And I was so sad when he got shot to death at the end. But. Craig Look, it is cause look tip. I mean, you could do a different version of. That movie where? He is redeemed right where it is that kind. Taylor Yeah. Craig Of which which? Is why I think the movie is so good that they don’t concede that trope of, you know, because basically. You know, it’s that kind of, you know what we’re seeing today with Trump saying that, you know, Oh my God, the worst person. And the people in the world are these oppressed, alleged, you know, white genocide sufferers in South South Africa, right. It’s this kind of, you know, the idea that that a, an identity which has been considered. The the patriarchal privileged norm white male in particular is somehow struggling and so not living a life. Which is meant to be the same, similar in falling down. It takes that hypocrisy or that sense of lack of of any sense of a realistic base of what real suffering might look like. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s. Yeah, that’s a great choice. It’s an underprivileged. Watched movie. I feel it is. Taylor Yes. Craig All right. So let’s jump in. Where are we? What’s the time? 2 minutes left. Alright. So we’ll hear a little bit more about the guide. To writing evil characters. Speaker 4 Book there’s all these lists of things you can do, but if you do these three things, and so when I show clips of the of the moment you meet the character and it’s usually like a 3 minute scene. You can see all these things being applied in like 3 minutes. There’s like, you know, the the opening of WALL-E after he’s done with the garbage and he comes to his to his little house. It’s a 3 minute scene and it’s about 20 of these techniques done. This is how you connect with that character in one scene emotionally. Also show a clip of a of A of an ad, a commercial. It’s a one minute. Thing about a lamb. Craig So the next one I mean, is this really interesting scene from well, in a way. Yeah. Some people in the chat mentioned this scene in Star Wars as being one which which. Agendas. Humanising of the of the character. Speaker 7 So you have accepted the truth. Speaker 4 I’ve accepted the truth. Speaker 11 That you will, once Anakin Skywalker my father. Speaker 7 That name no longer has any meaning for me. Speaker 4 It is the name of your true self. You’ve only. Speaker 1 Forgotten? No, there is good. Speaker 5 The Emperor hasn’t driven it from you. Speaker 9 For me to come. Speaker 7 Hobby one, once thought as you do. Speaker 5 I’m sorry, Eric. For all. Speaker 7 Of it, you don’t know the power of the dark side. I must obey. I must. Speaker 5 I will not turn. Speaker And you’ll be forced. Speaker 7 To kill if that is with destiny. Speaker 8 You can’t do this. Speaker 11 I feel the conflict within you. Let go of. Your hate. Speaker 7 We lose too late. Speaker 1 My father is truly. Craig Different. Alright, so that’s the same return of the Jedi defender Luke Skywalker. And again, those moments where Darkseid is delivering those lanes of, you know you don’t know the power of the dark side. Not in terms of where you should join me in the dark side, but a true sense of the oppressiveness of that ideology is is under. And that final scene, you know. It’s too late for me, son. Is quite alright. Well that. Last clip one, I think that you’ll be. Able to respond. To sure. Again, here we have a classic scene. I want to tell you. Taylor Voldemort. Craig It’s not that. One, it’s the it’s, it’s Gollum. It’s something I know you’ve got a background in. It’s a scene where one of the big villains in this series is delivering a kind of justification for their actions. Taylor Let’s call. Craig Them right and. It’s it’s not necessarily humanising or admiring them, but it is providing us with an insight into, OK, well, they’re not just. Taylor MHM. Craig Doing villainy because yeah, they want to. It’s for some other reason. Speaker 10 Now future errors will be eradicated, defeats will become victories. You will have changed the future of the. Craig Universe. So of course this is Doctor Who facing off against. Ross. Yeah, in the classic Tom Baker series. So this is this great kind of face off between the two characters. I’m just waiting until it gets to the scene that I want to. Speaker 6 It’s not the machines, it’s the. Craig Unpack. Taylor This is genesis. Craig Of the dogs genesis. That’s right. Yeah. Genesis Daleks consider one of probably the best episodes in Doctor Who’s history. So there’s a bit of intellectual sparring between what these Daleks represents. Speaker 10 With the darlings of the supreme rulers of the universe there. You will have peace. Wars will end. They are the power, not of evil. But of God. Speaker 6 Davros. If you had created a virus in your laboratory, something contagious and infectious that killed on contact a virus that would destroy all other forms of life. Would you allow its? Speaker 10 Use. It is an interesting conjecture, only living thing. Speaker 6 Would you do? Speaker 4 It. Speaker 10 The microscopic Organism. Speaker 9 Reigning supreme. Speaker 10 Fascinating idea. Speaker 6 But would you do it? Speaker 10 Yes. Speaker 1 Yes. Speaker 10 To hold in my hand a capsule that contained such power. To know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my son enough to break the glass would end. Everything. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 10 I would do it. Speaker 11 That power would sit me up above the gods and through the darlings. I shall have that power. Craig Well, great scene, great scenes. So again, you know, in terms of Dan Ross’s villainy, you know, the Doctor asks that question. Of. You know Dave Ross, if in one of your experiments you created the virus accidentally that you discovered that virus could kill every living being, you know, would you decide to destroy that virus or not? And I guess it’s a test there of because what’s happening in this episode is the doctor is struggling with this. Decision of does he kill the Daleks or not? Like he said, the genesis of the Daleks highly suggest is is the inception point at which the Ducks begin. Doctor is afforded this opportunity to. Taylor Yes. Craig Wipe him out. To eradicate them at the moment of their. And so this question is kind of testing, is Davros really a bad game, right? Is there any remaining empathy or sense of, you know, if Davros answered, for instance, Gee, you know, yeah. Obviously, if I found that I’d accidentally made this virus that kills everyone. Yeah, that’s pretty horrible. I don’t want to kill everyone. I just want to. Taylor I think that’s also a turning point of where the Doctor realises that Davros would destroy if he could. And so therefore the right thing to do would be to not. Craig Destroy that, Davros ultimately is irredeemable in terms of even a hypothetical question. That’s not about creating a master race. Garlic species that are going to bring peace to the world, right? So again, that was just before then, but, you know. Actually, the dogs aren’t an instrument for evil. They like Thanos going to bring a sense of of balance and peace around us. We’re going to wipe out every other, you know, kind of aggressive species. Taylor Yeah. Craig And be left with peace. And yes, the dialects will just happen to be at the top of that space, so again he shifts it by saying OK, we’re not talking about dialects anymore, we’re talking about a virus, a virus that would even kill every other person here. And even with that, we were revealed the idea that DeVos is wants power. He wants at least to be recognised. Eyes. Like a God at being able to decide who lives and dies. So a very Thanos type God complex in terms of you know that it it’s nevertheless an attempt by the script writers to humanise that villain action. Right. Yeah. Why? Would someone want to do this? Why would someone want to create super soldiers? Taylor Daleks slash Nazis, which is what it was based on, yeah. Craig Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it’s such a fantastic unpacking of that, that, that idea. And I guess, yeah. So Davos doesn’t shift into being an anti villain. And to hear. The same thing. Anti hero? Yeah, because it’s potentially a lot a a kind of sequence of thoughts that could change the character. Yeah, right. Where he goes. Yes, I see now, doctor, the error of my ways right. Clearly there should be cheques and balances. I don’t just want to kill everyone, but there’s like. Taylor No, no. Why yes, now I would use that power. Craig One few to decide who lives and dies to be a God. Yeah. So it’s it’s. It’s a nice scene. And again the the the rising of the voice. And of course, yeah. Then the doctor decides. You know, he’s got to get Davros to kill the Daleks, right? You know, to wipe out Davros and the Daleks. Yeah. Think about that in terms of, if you’re finding yourself facing off against a villain, yeah, you know, raising a villain. Is there a moment to humanise them, and does that? Help create a more engaging story if you haven’t seen it, do watch falling down. Yeah worth watching and and yeah, that’s me meeting mothership for another week. We’ll dive into some more unpacking of media around us next week and. Before we sign off, any promotions for the new show, you’re setting up Taylor, no? Taylor Not yet. Craig They’re still Facebook, though. DM for Epley. Taylor There’s still a Facebook at DM for Airplay, but it’s not going to be for the next two weeks because I have exams next. Craig Week so. Ohh yeah. Wow. We, we you could do an exam themed music show. What music to listen to for exams? Taylor Songs to scratch out your eyes too. Craig Yeah, alright. Well, that’s the media mothership for another week. Keep listening now to some really cool tunes on Edge radio. If you want to find out more about the email, so feel free to jump on the Facebook page for us or the Instagram page. Back episodes are also on YouTube. Taylor And you can buy cracker coffee. Craig If you want coffee, it’s not a not a cheap option these days, or you can go podcast you can you can search for us on on the podcast provider or. Taylor Www.podcast.com.
  • Evil Characters: When Humanity Breaks

    Evil Characters: When Humanity Breaks

    How to Write Villainous Characters.

    Drawing on Film Courage’s guide to creating evil characters, we explore the concept of “The Conflict in Every Human Heart” and the idea that “every person has a breaking point.” We will discuss this theme through key movies and TV characters, including Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, Michael Corleone from The Godfather, Harvey Dent from Batman, Walter White from Breaking Bad, and various characters from the Harry Potter universe.

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    This is an AI-generated audio transcript, and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode.
    Craig Yes, you’re listening to media mothership now. We’re back. Yeah, I’ve kind of got everything almost set up here in the studio. This is media mothership. As always, we explore how media can shape our understanding of the world around us. We’re streaming on edgeradio.org dot AU as well as YouTube and Twitch. You can find us on YouTube and Twitch. Just search for media mothership. See us in the flesh. On the video. And during the show, if you have any thoughts of your own, feel free to send us a message on the chat. YouTube or Twitch chat or you can SMS us directly in the studio on 0488811707 so. So as I mentioned, we’re going to be exploring the idea of writing villains, writing evil villainous characters, seeing how those villainous characters from movies and television can be crafted so well, I’ve been enjoying the final episodes. Of the Star Wars series and or, and really relishing the juxtaposition that TV series has between the. The. Evil characters from the empire and the kind of morally ambiguous, I guess at times good characters, and there’s quite a lot of kind of comparison between the two characters or the various characters in the in the. In the show that has got me thinking about villains, how best to portray and set up villains. So we’re going to start with a discussion from film Courage, the film Courage YouTube site. It’s an interesting YouTube site, goes over various. Speaker 5 Then the sirens get louder. Craig This tips and advice for film writing and creating films as well as if you’re enjoying films. Some of the analysis of, in this case a guide to writing evil characters. We’ll we’ll listen to the first set up for it, and then we’ll deep dive into some characters I think. Presents similar motifs of effective evil characters and and not so we’ll we’ll hear the intro. The entry sets up this really interesting character, which we may or may not consider at the point at which we’re meeting them is evil. The the character of war. The white from Breaking Bad. So let’s first hear this introduction to I think this is the first episode of Breaking Bad where Walter White’s character is again at the precipice of. Becoming an evil character. Speaker 5 Walter takes a gun from his underwear, steps up to the road, points the pistol right at the at the road, and stands there while the siren gets loud and if cold open. That’s a great cliffhanger and it’s a ticking clock and it doesn’t get resolved. And we go to the credits. Speaker 6 There’s a wonderful speech in Apocalypse now, which is based on heart of darkness, Joseph Conrad’s novel. And when Martin Sheen is getting his mission to go kill Marlon Brando, Colonel Kurtz, the general who’s giving him the mission, says the theme of the story, which is. There is a conflict in every human heart between the light and the dark, between good and evil, and the light does not always win. Sometimes the darkness overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a breaking point. Craig So that was the script writer Pamela J Smith talking about a scene from the Francis Ford Coppola War movie Apocalypse now, set during the Vietnam War and the really fascinating character of. Portraying Kurt. So this is in act one of Apocalypse now as our protagonist, Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen, is being sat down by his kind of CIA mind. And his character describing to him this descent of a previously considered heroic character played by Marlon Brando, who seems to have. Become ill. Let’s actually listen to that scene from the movie to set in this idea of again how to write a a villain character, an evil character. And the idea here that that Pamela J Smith is presenting is that you you want to be able to have. A breaking point. Where this character or one way of developing the villain character is the breaking point moment where the character. Has is, is. Is broken and becomes evil literally in the scene we just heard there described was Walter White from Breaking Bad. Literally the breaking point for a character to break bad. So here we’ll hear from Apocalypse now. That Breaking Bad moment. Speaker 7 I’m good. And you? Does not always triumph sometimes. The dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. Speaker 8 These fools found. Speaker 7 Every man has got a breaking point. You and I have. Speaker 9 Ohh Lord. Craig Interestingly, this idea of breaking points if you search on YouTube for movies with breaking Point moments, a movie that comes up quite. A bit is the. Shawshank Redemption, and again a character refers to breaking points within. Shawshank redemption. So the symbol we’ll hear from now is. Kind of in the third act of the film, where a characters using this phrase, every man has his breaking point. So in the short Shank redemption the we’re going to see here is. Is this moment where an individual, even the strongest individual, will reach this moment of of, of despair or hopelessness? Right. So in in, in Apocalypse now for Colonel Kurtz’s character. The idea they’re trying to grasp get their heads around is is clearly this character has arrived at this breaking point moment. And despair. Hopelessness has driven them over the edge. In this case, in Shawshank Redemption, it’s interesting what that sets up. You know, it’s not setting up a villain turn a heel turn if we’re to use the wrestling parlance, it’s not a a movement that’s breaking the character of Andy. But nevertheless, we’ll hear how this scene gets conveyed with the breaking point moment. Speaker 9 Ohh Lord. Speaker 8 What? Speaker 9 Andy, come down to loading dock today. He asked me for a length of rope bro 6 feet long. You gave it. Speaker 6 Oh God. Speaker 7 Remember Brooks hatlen? No. Speaker 8 And you’d never do that. Speaker 10 Every man has his breaking point. Speaker 11 Man missing on Tier 2 cell 245 New Friday. Get your *** out here, boy. You hold up the show. Don’t make me come down there. I’ll thump your skull for you. Damn it, dude friend, you’re putting me behind. I gotta schedule the cake. You better be sick or dead in there. I sick you not, you hear me? Ohh my holy God. Speaker 2 Michael corleones. Craig So it’s an interesting moment there as we can hear from that scene in the third act, wear red and the other inmates. Are. Are beginning to fear that Andy may. Have lost hope. And that moment that Morgan Freeman’s character reads, referring to the breaking point. Moment is that. Speaker 1 You know. Craig Has has Andy lost hope instead actually here that breaking point dialogue is a misdirection to the audience, whereas rather than a moment of of kind of turning to hopelessness and despair, it’s it’s actually overcoming. That’s the resilience of the character after that scene. As we just heard a little bit of a teaser there. If we think about that idea, though, and jumping back to the writing guide of Breaking Point Moments. It’s interesting to consider those moments where a character. Does have the the character arc is about exploring a breaking point, so one of the best examples of this would be the Godfather and the character of Michael Corleone. Who begins the film initially as a hero? Literally. World War 2 Soldier considered heroic in that first act. He’s on a pathway to to marry. He’s not part of his family business, which turns out to be part of the Mafia, and he doesn’t want anything to do with that. Criminal empire and during the course of the movie, it’s fascinating to see as he reaches a breaking point as he turn, he breaks. Bad he becomes an evil character, or at least a morally compromised character by the end, and this transformation, I guess from from a a heroic character into a ruthless mafia boss represents. For many people, a a fantastic Breaking Bad exploration, let’s listen to a couple of clips. What I’ve created here are some really interesting clips. From a series of YouTube shorts. Where various YouTube movie analysis channels have created short little 1020 second clips of character exploration. The reason why I’m doing these YouTube shorts. And they’re very AI based in terms of, you know, you can hear that distinctly AI voice that’s coming in is that I think it’s really setting up, you know, the dominant way of reading these characters if. We understand audience meaning making through Stuart Hall’s reception theory. You can see it having 3 aspects, 1 the kind of dominant reading which is the reading the mainstream reading, the reading that you know the the director intended you to get. Is the reading that the audience is kind of matching up to, so a lot of these YouTube shorts are pretty much going to be the dominant reading a lot of AI searches you do will give you more often than not a dominant reading in terms of they’ll be looking for something, particularly if the search is not asking for. Or a resistant or a positional reading. It will just give you what it’s been able to dredge through from mainstream sources, often trying to avoid a kind of overt controversial position. You know it will take a neutral tone often the AI. Certs so these little AI clips I’ll play from various YouTube channels. Exploring character identification are fascinating because of the way to set up a dominant reading. Of the Breaking Bad idea for a character development. There is, of course, as Stuart Hall argues, always negotiated and oppositional readings that audiences can play around with. So it’ll be interesting to see whether or not those Breaking Bad ideas that some of these channels suggest are at the core of those characters are not there at all. Or maybe there’s a negotiated reading partially in that. Camp but also saying this character also is sympathetic in. Of. You know the Michael Quarry Leone character is a great one in terms of, yes, well, you could say he breaks bad to become an evil mafia kingpin. You could also say, you know, there’s a lot of family loyalty and and survival, the ability to survive there, which is a kind of negotiated reading of that character, is not completely morally. Bankrupt and evil, he has good aspects. You know, a survival instinct, a a strong loyalty to family. Or an oppositional reading. But. Let’s read. Let’s listen to. This Michael Corleone transformation, Part 1 YouTube short from the Channel character chronicles. Speaker 2 Reluctance to join the family business reveals his inner conflict. See the moment he questions his path. Speaker 12 When when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to this personal service contract. Now Johnny is my father’s. And my father went to see this band and he offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go. But the band leader said no. The next day, my father went to see him, only this time with Luca Brizzy. And within an hour he signed a release or a certified check of $1000. Speaker 6 Why do you do that? Speaker 12 Luca Brazzi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be. On the contract. That’s my family cake. It’s not me. Speaker 13 1. Craig See, that’s my family key. Not me. Again, act one. Heroic character of Michael Polyone. Played by Al Pacino, the idea that he’s actually a a heroic character, not Breaking Bad. That’s his family, his family’s mafia, right. They’ll they’ll send a heavy in to threaten the death of of of this poor guy so that they get what they want. So instead here we have this moment of the character transitioning into something else. So let’s have a look another YouTube short from the cinema craft here again, unpacking those pivotal scenes which made Michael Corleone. Great. Bad. Speaker 10 These moments showcase Michael’s transformation from reluctant outsider to ruthless Mafia leader shaping the film’s tragic arc. Michael introduces Kate to his family but insists he’s different. Speaker 12 That’s my family, Kate. It’s not me. Speaker 10 Distancing himself from the mob life. When his father is nearly killed, Michael realises the family’s vulnerability, starting his pull into the business. Speaker 12 I’m with you now. Speaker 10 Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluskey making his first violent move and committing to the family’s way in hiding Michael Mary’s Appolonia. Speaker 11 No, no. Speaker 10 Her murder hardens him and pushes him further into the criminal world. Vito’s passing cements Michael is the head of the Corleone family, stepping into his father’s shoes. Michael orders the elimination of all rivals during his godson’s baptism, sealing his fate as the ruthless godfather. Speaker 12 Make him an offer you can’t refuse. Speaker 1 Here’s a TV. Craig So there’s a number of steps there that that example of the pivotal scenes that made Michael Corleone evil or the Mafia king around that idea of of a breaking point and the first one, the one. The the death of his his father. And his sense of being brought into the family through killing the corrupt police officer is that that, you know, first kind of breaking point idea of. His, his, his gradually getting pulled into the Mafia so that as we heard in those other clips his he’s making offers that the other character cannot refuse. Let’s get back to film Courage now and hear some other tips on how to write. An evil character. Speaker 5 Then the sirens get louder. Walter takes a. Speaker 6 It’s novel, stubborn. Speaker 14 This came from Cliff Osman. Was my acting coach and he said. He said he had never seen a decent portrayal of Hitler. Because. The the person so vilified by society that no actor had ever played him from a true place. He was always a villain and he said, you know, who didn’t think Hitler was a. Hitler. Hitler didn’t think he was. A villain at all. Hitler thought he was doing amazing things for this race of people, and he said because of that, you don’t get a real, honest portrayal, he said. You cannot. Judge. Your character. In fact, you have to think of yourself as. Your character’s attorney. Ohh wow, you have to plead your case. Or the case of the character to the audience. You can’t do that if you’re judging the character. And I took that with acting. And I also took that into my writing as well. You know, everybody is coming from a place where they think they’re doing the right thing. Speaker 6 Why? Speaker 14 You know, so. That’s. I think that’s really important actually when you’re developing. Characters. There’s a minute you judge character. You’ve got a 2 dimensional. Character. You know you’ve got a flat. You know, it’s like, OK, I know this guy’s story. He’s the bad guy or he’s the good guy. Speaker 6 Whatever it is, even good characters do bad things and I think. Speaker 14 Right. And that’s the thing, it’s that the complexity of life, you know, no one’s. Speaker 3 They’re justified for you. Speaker 14 All bad or all good. Speaker 10 In order to create a. Craig All right. So we’ll pick up some ideas there by the actor and script writer Marcus Redmond, particularly his point of when you’re writing a villain. Think of yourself as a character’s attorney, which is a, you know, a really fascinating way to avoid that mistake. Of just doing A2 dimensional cardboard, cut out villain and instead. Recognise as Marcus Redman says. There’s no good versions of Hitler because everyone sees him as A2 dimensional character rather than not let’s have a look at the idea of Walter White and the change. He goes through. Speaker 1 So here’s a TV character moment that I think was just brilliant writing. When Walter White gets diagnosed with cancer, he worries over financing his treatment and supporting his family. But when a wealthy friend, having heard the news, offers him a good job, seemingly so. On a plate to save he so desperately needs, Walt just stares back at him, insulted by the very idea that he needs someone’s help. So Walt dives into a life of crime, becoming a multimillionaire on a foundation of sin to prove that he is capable until years later, his enemies catch him, beat him, rob him, and leave him for nothing. So defeated Walt calls to turn himself in until he turns on the TV. And sees that same friend giving an interview talking about how little he regards Walter White. And suddenly despite a lifetime having passed, the grizzled Walt is pulled back to. The moment seething at the idea of being looked down on so he gets up, evades the troopers and sets out to correct him. And with just that moment, the show makes overwhelmingly clear that after five seasons of triumphs and losses, that could have helped anyone grow, Walter White remains now, as he has been from the beginning and impressively intelligent man with the fragile ego of a child. Speaker 3 The explosion kills Rachel, which? Craig That was that was the example of of Walter White. There again, a great character in terms of breaking in, breaking a breaking point character where his breaking point as that argument from the reliable narrator channel. Argues. That actually, Walter White’s character is breaks bad because. His ego is. So fragile that he he cannot allow his, you know, ego not to be seen as brilliant, which means throughout. And it’s an interesting Breaking Bad. Have you seen Breaking Bad? Taylor I I haven’t seen anything to do with breaking. Craig Bad. Well, there’s a great moment in this series, right? Characters, very sympathetic at the start. Of course, the character Walter White diagnosed with cancer, decides that he is. Taylor Yeah. Craig All of his earnings are not sufficient to take care of his family, but then through a a school student he’d taught realises there’s a lot of money to be made in drugs, so it’s it kind of is going to pursue that pathway. But then a a rich friend of his. Taylor Yeah. Craig Who finds out that he’s got cancer, says well, why don’t you come and work with me? You know, you you won’t be asked to do too much, but I can provide for you and make sure your. We set up and his sense of crushed ego just being getting a handout was so significant that that he, that’s one breaking point. He reaches right where he decides. No, screw you. I’m don’t need your hand out. I’m better than you. Taylor I wanna make a. Legal drug I’m gonna make. Craig And then throughout, as this channel saying, he increasingly he makes the it’s not a a kind of 1 breaking point and then becomes evil. It’s a series of breaking points through which he makes morally ambiguous, bad bad behaviours. My co-host Taylor’s joined. Hey. Hey. So now one of the other things. And while you’re here, actually, we may as well jump into one of the other parts, which is. Good characters sometimes make bad decisions, right? So there’s a number of points with it. Marcus Redmond, the script writer there is talking about moments when. Where you know you want to write complicated characters, you want to advocate for your character and be their attorney. And there are moments also where good characters do bad things, right? It’s not black and white. You don’t want to do just a black and white character. I I got a YouTube short here from the Harry Potter central because I know these are. Films you have seen the characters you do. Taylor I know this. Yeah. OK. Craig OK, so this is 1/5 of the worst things done by good characters. Taylor In Harry Potter. Craig In Harry. Taylor OK, we’ll do. Craig Is we’ll listen to some of these and we’ll discuss whether indeed, these these are kind of breaking point moments, right? These are these are these are moments where. Yeah. Taylor Dumbledore. Stumbled or should be #1. You raised Harry Potter like a pig for slaughter. Speaker 16 Five of the worst things done by good characters #1 Jenny ended up opening up the Chamber of Secrets by complete accident, and Tom used her for her whole first. Craig Year at Hogwarts, Jenny opened up. Taylor The Chamber of Secrets. Craig Chamber of Secrets. What was her motivation for doing? Taylor That she was being possessed. That’s not. Speaker Oh. Taylor Really a motivation? Craig So her character her. Taylor Kaden did something bad, but she was. Craig A bad thing? Did a. Taylor In control. Craig Of it right, it’s that that’s pretty excusable. Taylor Apart, apart from, apart from the fact of that she was talking to Tom Riddle in a book. And shouldn’t have been. Craig Doing that and there were weaknesses in her character, right? So there were flaws. There was like loneliness or craving. Male attention. Yeah, that that then caused her to make a bad decision. Yeah. It wasn’t a Breaking Bad point, right? She didn’t become an evil character after. Taylor Yeah, yeah. Craig That was she. Taylor I really do like. I really do like the sort of like the undertones of ginnies talking to the the book though, it’s it’s. Craig Because Tom Riddle. Taylor It’s. Because it’s talking in, in, in terms of, like, it’s an obvious connection. Between spilling your secrets onto the Internet. That’s what rights. Craig Yep, a strong, strong metaphor of that. Yeah, yeah. Alright. Well, it’s just number two of the, you know, worst things a good character does from Harry. Speaker Yeah. Speaker 16 Potter #2 double doors love for Grindelwald wasn’t the bad decision, but that doesn’t change the fact that Grindelwald ended up being who he was. #3 I want. Craig Alright, hold on. Taylor Well, I I couldn’t get my brain around that was. Speaker 17 So. Craig Great. What’s the character? What’s the connection between Grindelwald and Dumbledore? This is fantastic piece, right? Taylor I I will be honest, I haven’t. Really paid attention to Fantastic Beasts and I haven’t even seen the last one of fantastic beasts I didn’t like. Craig All right, let’s. Yeah, that’s fine, that’s. Fine. All right. Taylor The thirsty so much. Speaker 16 #3 he was #3 all dobbies attempts at saving Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets were all actually pretty bad decisions, including jinxing them. Number. All right, all right. Taylor Who’s Dobby, who’s dobby? Craig Dobby, obviously the one and only they’re my favourite character from the whole series. Taylor Really. Craig He’s such a he’s. Like JoJo binks? Right. He’s like, you know, and that’s and JoJo. Binks is an interesting Breaking Bad character. Because JoJo Big’s character was so irredeemable in terms of. You know, a kind of childish character that. Kind of devalued the entirety of the Phantom Menace series that fans then said this card would be much more interesting if in. Fact he was a dog was a tough. Speaker 16 He. Craig Yeah, a sith. A Sith character, right said that. Taylor Yeah. Craig Yeah, he, he. Broke bad. So many fans say that that, yeah, John, John Banks was. The ultimate puppet Master Sith character that was Breaking Bad through. Dobby does does Dobby make bad decisions? Taylor Oh, absolutely. Craig And are those breaking point decisions right? Those are those are bad decisions which which cause. Taylor Them to go to the dark side. Yeah, no. Craig No. OK, well, but what his his decisions do have ramifications. He does die. Thank goodness. Spoiler alert. Taylor Something you never managed to do. Craig But again, yeah, good characters can do bad things, but in this case dobbies bad things were all you know, how would you characterise the bad things? Taylor It was still under like, because he had to hide it from the Malfoy family, who owned him, right? Yeah. And so he had to do it in these sort of surreptitious sort of dangerous ways instead of actually actually coming out and going. Fixed, sorry, fixed fixed. Craig Haggard. Alright. Haggard’s you know. Let’s see what the. Speaker 16 Grid having Harry and Ron find Aragog might have helped clear his name with them, but they almost ended up getting eaten in. Craig The process. So what’s the story with Aragog again? Taylor Yeah. Follow the spiders. Follow the spiders. No, that’s Fang. Craig Said the big dog. Speaker 18 OK, right. Taylor Which followed the spiders into the the Forbidden Forest, not the Black Forest that’s in Germany, into the Forbidden Forest. And at the end there’s a massive spider who tries to feed him, feed them to. Craig So. Taylor The family. That’s why the family. Craig Good characters do bad things. In this case. Hagrid, who is you know, kind of a mentor, a kind of custodian to the boys, right? He’s. Taylor Yeah, yeah. Craig The the 1st. Wizarding character the Harry needs really and he’s he’s he. He very much means well. What was he screw up here? Now is the bad thing. Taylor Well, cause he was just about to go to Azkaban right? And and so he needed people to basically know that it wasn’t him who had the the creature that was killing everyone, IE the basilisk. Speaker Right. Taylor And so he sent Harry and Ron into the forest. To me, almost certain peril. Young kind. Speaker Cheap. Craig Of you know. Taylor 15 year old. Craig 50 year old school student. Taylor Oh no 12 year olds. Craig Yeah, into into a known dangerous place. Yeah, yeah. Taylor Yeah. Craig There are no repercussions. Did he lose his joy or he lost? Taylor His not really. Craig OK. Last one number. Speaker 16 #5 Harry almost ended up killing Draco Malfoy with Sectumsempra, and luckily Snape was there to. Speaker OK. Speaker 16 Reverse the effects. Craig All right, so. So. Harry’s bad decisions. Yeah, right. Taylor He’s reading the half blood Princess potion book and scribbled into the side pages is an unknown spell and it is and it says 4 enemies and so he just decides to use it on Draco Malfoy, his in enemy and always kills. Craig Him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that the only reason, Malfoy. Lived was because Snape was there. Taylor To yeah. To reverse the facts because he invented that. Craig Spell. Really. Mind blown. So again, potentially yes, that could have been a breaking point for Harry, right? Actually killing so many people point out that’s a that’s a moment where a hero often does turn to a more morally complicated or compromised character where the. Taylor I mean that’s that’s that’s that’s another thing with the half blood Prince. Like if you watch the movie you have snake there going and he goes I am the half blood Prince and it’s like yeah sure. What So what how how are you the half blood Prince and gets rid of all of this entire back story with the back. He is. He’s a half blood and his muggle mother, her last name was Prince. And so therefore he was 1/2 blood. Craig Alright. Prince, I mean, I mean, snitch character is interesting in terms of a a villain, right? I mean, he very much comes across as the villain. A what? What was the breaking point? Sneep right. It was his left triangle, wasn’t it? Between Harry’s parents? Taylor But that’s the point. Snape was never banned. Craig And sneads it. Wow. So the reveal comes, but nevertheless, the reason why he’s not. Taylor But snipe, snipe snipe started off as a bad character. Mm-hmm. And the breaking point to him turning good was the love triangle with his mother, with, not with his mother without his mother. Craig Yeah. OK. Yeah, that’s interesting, right. So. With his mother. Yeah. Yeah. So in ways, yes. Snape broke good because he’s from. Slytherin family and everything, right? His his character is meant to be. Yeah. Evil. Yeah. Right. So yeah. OK, so that’s a really interesting counterpoint that that he breaks. Good. All right, next one. We’re going to listen to. So going back to that initial idea of moments in where movie character breaks, it reaches a breaking point. Let’s listen now to Harvey Dent, Dark Knight, DC comic books, the villain character. Taylor Ohh 2 faced isn’t it? Craig Face 2 face. There we go. So in Dark Knight. Take movie by. Christopher Nolan is going to say Christopher Columbus Christopher Nolan introduces Harvey. Dan very much sets him up as as the white knight, right. He’s an idealistic District Attorney, but then he’s broken right here. So what breaks this idealistic. Attorney District Attorney, let’s listen to WIOR channel for Harvey dense transformation. Speaker 13 Did you know? In the dark night, Harvey dense transformation into two face after being severely burned on one side of his face mirrors real life cases of individuals undergoing significant physical and psychological changes due to traumatic events. This powerful scene demonstrates how trauma can profoundly alter a person’s identity and moral compass. Making it one of the most compelling and realistic portrayals of character transformation in cinema. Speaker 1 You either die. Craig Well, let’s see it. Emotional trauma. The emotional trauma, though, is this one. Speaker 3 The explosion kills Rachel, which leaves Batman devastated since he intended to save her. However, he manages to rescue Harvey before he too is killed in the explosion, but Harvey is left severely disfigured and mentally destroyed by the tragedy. Speaker How? Speaker 13 Did you know in? Craig The dark, so that’s end of Act 2. What happens is the Joker challenges Batman and. Commissioner Gordon to save Rachel, who’s the love interest of Batman and Harvey Dent, right. They’re in two different locations. They’ve both got bombs that are about to explode and. Taylor What’s this in the movie? Craig Yeah, isn’t there? And they’ve gotta split up to rescue them. It’s it’s a set. Up for the? Taylor Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do remember. Craig 3rd app, right? So Batman goes to save Rachel and Attorney Commissioner Gordon goes to. Dave. Harvey Dent, but. The Joker has sprung a surprise and Batman was actually going to a Harvey dentist, right? Batman successful, says Harvey Dan, but thought it was Rachel. Commissioner Gordon wasn’t successful. Rachel dies anyway, so it’s that trauma where where Harvey Dent thinks that, right. It’s interesting. Taylor Rubbish. Coming to school. Craig Again, the idea of Rutrum A is almost click on it. Speaker 1 You either die a hero. Or you live long enough to see yourself. Speaker 2 Become the villain. Speaker 18 Store. Speaker Face Gotham’s bright future. Speaker 11 It’s about what’s. Craig Right. Yep. So that’s again one of these. Other cliches of. Become the villain. You either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain. Interestingly, I saw that as a meme today where someone posted these frozen meals. That were Gordon Ramsay granted Gordon Ramsay’s frozen pasta, Gordon Ramsay’s frozen sausages. That yeah, you just put in the microwave to eat. It’s like that’s that concept. You either, you know, die early as the hero or you live long and become the the villain. So again, the idea there being if Harvey Dent had died in that second act explosion, he would have died. Speaker 11 OK. Taylor Yeah. Craig Hero, right? Everyone would still have remembered him as the heroic. District Attorney. But then he justifies his sense of of revenge by, you know, he’s he’s he hasn’t died, but he’s now become the villain. Interesting one here is Jack Torrance’s character in the shining. Speaker Hmm. Craig Not seeing it? Great horror film. Alright, it tells the story of the character Jack Torrance. It’s a Stephen King novel based on Stephen King novel. This is a clip from the movie by Stanley Kubrick. Taylor I’ve seen it. Craig Great. Well, there’s there’s one horror film we’re not talking about. The Jack Torrance played by Jack Nicholson and it’s interesting, this, this, this, the art of narrative YouTube channel is is here presenting his theory on the breaking point for Jack Torrance’s character. Why do we go from this character that is. Not crazy to by act too crazy. Crazy. Speaker 18 Drove Jack Torrance crazy. I think the answer isn’t as clear as you might believe. Any fan of the film could recite a combination of factors that contributed to Jack’s Madness. The isolation of the Overlook Hotel, located in a remote area that is cut off from the outside world in the bleak white winter, the hotel’s dark history of violence, or the ghosts of the former guests and employees who haunt Jack and torment him, bringing out his worst demons. And finally, Jack’s own alcoholism and mental instability. All of these factors combined created the perfect storm that drove Jack to madness, but these all missed one important clue. Jack’s complete inability to write in the absence of all other distractions, Jack is forced to confront. Speaker How’s it going? Speaker 18 The horrifying truth, his utter lack of talent. And that is. Craig Lack of talent, right? So the position that the our narrative is presenting is that it’s because Jack. Torrance’s cart has been deceiving himself. He’s actually not a good rider. The whole thing is that he’s gone to do the winter caretaker for this hotel, so he has time to write his great novel. As we see in the film, though, you know he doesn’t. He’s not actually able to write, and he becomes increasingly frustrated by his wife and his child. He turns to alcohol, but the core breaking points concept that this are narratives presenting is that it’s it’s his own self delusion and self deceit. And craving for success, which has which is which has broken him, that he he cannot, he does not understand himself and he does not understand himself that ultimately he’s just not a good writer. He’s not capable of it. Let’s let’s have a look at Anakin Skywalker. Speaker 18 Star Wars? Yep. Taylor OK. Speaker 17 When did Anakin Skywalker fully embrace the dark side? Some believed it happened when he defied the Jedi Order to save Chancellor Palpatine from Mace Windu. Others think it was his rampage on Mustafar where he betrayed the wife he once held dear. The logical time was when he slaughtered younglings in the Jedi Temple. Yet we learn in the rise and fall of Darth Vader. That Anakin still thought of himself as Anakin when Emperor Palpatine crossed the lava shores of Mustafar to his apprentices burned body. It wasn’t until he was sealed inside his life support suit and the emperor asked Lord Vader if he could hear him that Darth Vader realised Anakin was God. It was upon learning that his wife and child were dead at his own hands, that Vader lost all hope. His wife was gone forever, leaving him devoid of love. And in that moment he fully surrendered to the dark side. Craig Yeah. So I mean there’s a number. Of moments in. The film, where the character of Anakin does a number of bad things. Right, killing the younglings. Most people would say, is a moment. Where he he’s broke. Right. He’s a breaking point. Taylor No, that was valid. Craig Yeah, well, this is what? This this is what Star Wars apprentice is saying. That’s not actually the breaking point, because he still sees himself as Anakin, right? Still redeemable. I guess his argument is it’s the moon, which not only is he encased in the life. Support system of the Darth Vader uniform, but he’s told by Palpatine that you know his wife is dead as well. In fact, let’s listen to that scene. Speaker Just help me save at least like. Speaker 7 I can’t live without. Speaker 8 Where is she and your anger? Speaker 11 No. Speaker 7 I couldn’t. She was alive. I felt it. Craig Ohh alright yeah. So the idea being that yeah, it’s it’s that moment in which. He he thinks he’s killed his wife. Well, she does die, actually, after his church forced hold on her. Yeah, so. I I can’t, you know, so there there’s some interesting thoughts there around writing evil characters. My takeaway actually is the point that. That you’ve got to think of yourself as a character’s attorney, right? You can’t just reduce the character to being. I need a bad guy, so he’s just irredeemably bad. Make yourself the characters attorney, understand that every character sees themselves as heroic or the centre of the movie. Or not kind of, you know, kind of non functional evil, right? They they see themselves as justified. Yeah. For the actions they’re taking. So that’s media mothership for this week. Do we have? Another show after. Taylor This no, but I we’re. I’m going to run some tests to make sure that what I’ve got will work so. Craig Great. Fascinating. Alright. Well, keep listening then to Edge radio. We’ve got some some great tunes coming in. Think about those ideas of breaking point moments and characters right? What movies have you seen, where there’s been a breaking point moment? Events that’s caused the character to turn evil. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Media mothership, check out previous episodes on your podcast provider of choice. We have a Facebook page, Instagram as well, so feel free to jump on those two. This has been your host, Craig, joined by co-host. For another. Taylor Week bye same. Craig Bye.

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  • Star Wars Villains and British Accents: A Cultural & Narrative Analysis

    Star Wars Villains and British Accents: A Cultural & Narrative Analysis

    Why do many Star Wars villains have British accents?

    In this episode, we break down the significance of this choice using cultural theory and storytelling frameworks. Drawing from John Fiske’s Textual Poaching, we explore how audiences interpret and reframe these portrayals. Stuart Hall’s theories on representation, identity, and ideology help explain how accent and villainy intersect in mainstream media. Plus, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat framework sheds light on how storytelling conventions reinforce this trope.

    The Empire speaks with the voice of authority—Grand Moff Tarkin, played by Peter Cushing, embodies the aristocratic menace of Star Wars villains with his British accent.

    Links

    George Lucas Explains Yoda’s Unique Speech | HuffPost Latest News

    Why are ‘Star Wars’ villains BRITISH?! – ‘Andor’ stars Denise Gough and Ben Mendelsohn know why!

    ‘Star Wars’: Why do The Empire speak in posh British accents?

    Explore the episodes

    Podcast

    Transcription

    📝 Show Full Transcription (7,500 words)
    This is an AI-generated audio transcript, and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode. Craig Alright, welcome here to Edge Radio 99.3 FM. This indeed is media mothership. For another exciting jam packed episode. We’re broadcasting out of Edge Radio studios here in Nepal, Luna, Hobart TAS, and I’m your host, Craig Norris. On this show, we explore how media can shape our understanding of the world around us, and we’re streaming on edgeradio.org dot AU as well as. Live streaming on YouTube as well as twit. Speaker Which? Craig You can find us just by searching media mothership message us directly into the studio, either via our SNS on 0488811707 or send us a message on the YouTube or Twitch chat. This episode’s gonna be quite interesting. We’ve got some media news, media culture to go over, as well as some discussion of accents in movies and their significance. So keep listening. And today we’ve got our live musical. Or kind of accompaniment with the beautiful sounds of the kalimba. There we go live in studio. So let’s have a look at some interesting media news pieces that have come up over the last week or two so. Over in Japan, a Japanese actors dramatic Pokémon save data loss has gone viral during traumatic memories and sympathy from fellow gainers. This is an article from IGN yesterday. The subtitle is even if save data disappears, the memories remain. Let’s listen to a bit of the drama from the Japanese live streamer. So this. Actor Shinya Okada has been doing a video game, YouTube channel, and. He’d. He’d logged in to his what is it in his latest Let’s Play video posted April 29th. Widest cheerful enthusiasm as the article says, to continue his Pokémon Red Adventure gradually morphs into disbelief as the game asks him if he wants to start. From the beginning of Whitey’s startled reaction of weigh. What as he realises that all the hours he has put into capturing and training Pokémon have vanished. Our Pebble. Let’s listen to that drama. Speaker 3 Doing doing. Speaker 4 Chuck. Speaker Sorry. Speaker 4 Come on, not get up. Speaker Yeah. Speaker 5 Argument. You should still go to generation. Speaker All good. Speaker 4 Story torio. Speaker Hi. Close. And. Craig Alright. Yeah, thanks for listening to. That was a bit longer than I’d expected, playing that great clip, but just to bring people up to speed, I don’t know if your headphones working. Yeah. OK. I’m. I’m here now with co-host Taylor. Yeah. Hey. Hey. So what we’re looking at at the moment. Is a Japanese actors dramatic Pokémon save data loss that has gone viral yesterday during traumatic memories. So we were just listening to his YouTube clip collection there. This is from do you ever play the Pokémon? Games. Come on mate. I’ve had it. I know. Totally thank goodness for that. Yeah. Taylor Of course I have. But my first one was Ruby. I never played anything before that and then I went back. Craig OK. Taylor And played the originals. Craig Right, because this is the game he was playing was. Taylor Red blue. Speaker 7 Or grim. Craig Pokémon red. Yeah. Where does that? Where’s Pokémon red? Taylor That’s the well the first. That’s the first one. Craig Right, right, right. So. Taylor Red and blue in America slash the world red and green in Japan. Speaker Oh, really? Yeah. Craig Then why would they do? Taylor That I don’t know, but that’s why it was. That’s why they redid it for the. Game Boy, when they redid it, it was fire red and leaf green and people like, well, why isn’t it fire red and water blue? It’s like well, because in Japan it was green. It was never blue. Craig Mind blown. I mean, I wonder how many comments we’re gonna get. From that reaction because he. His his comment that he lost his save game quickly amassed 4.4 million views on the comments, so I’m hoping SMS and now anyway so the because he posted that my Pokémon Red Game Boy cartridge, so he I guess he was playing on an actual Game Boy. Control system rather than an email. Later, just vanished when he booted it up after X number of millions of hours playing it, and so he goes on seeing my remaining lifetime. I will not find another adventure to embark on. So rather dramatic. Yeah. So, yeah, he’s he’s unfortunate to have loss experience, attracted many sympathetic comments. People reminiscing about the sadness they’ve felt when they’ve lost valuable saves their children. Did you ever lose any saves? Particularly, I guess cartridge based systems like a Game Boy and 64 PS1 PS. Taylor I don’t. I don’t think I’ve ever had a loss like that. A corruption or anything like. Craig 2 memory card. Speaker 4 Correct. Taylor That I I take care of my thing. Craig I recently had that problem. Where. Taylor You save Scott. Craig Now what happened was, yeah, well, this was the game I’ve been save Scumming forever on. And that’s right. Yeah. I was using OneDrive to cloud save where the save files were going from Paradox. Taylor OK. All right, yeah. Craig For the game provider for Crusader Kings 3. And and I for some reason like I’ve been using 2 OneDrive accounts and and anyway the the account that had all those saves linked to them wasn’t syncing properly. Yeah, and by the time I sorted it. Out it it. Had lost those saves. So yeah, right back to like. Taylor And. Craig You know, two years ago, when I. Bought a game. So yeah, yeah, it does happen. It does. Taylor Happen. Well, actually, when we’re talking about old tech, that reminds me of, I think it was around two or three months ago. Nintendo said that they have officially run out of Nintendo 3D. Speaker Alright. Taylor Yes, like repair kits, right? If you have a 3DS and you break anything on it up until now, up until about three months ago, you could have at least sent it back and they might have fixed it. Or you might have sent it to some sort of store, and that store might have got the parts and fixed it. But now they have. They’re not making anymore. Speaker 6. Taylor It’s all gone. All of the reserves. Speaker See. Craig Are gone, you know, right to repair, right, right to repair. Speaker 5 Yes. Craig All right. So the the next story. It’s. Taylor Really a kalimba? Craig They’re great. They’re thumb piano. Yeah. Do you know how to play the kalimba? Taylor No, but I could probably pick it up in 5. Craig Then. Minutes alright. Well, you can be in charge. Of playing the. Tunes. Well, we’re going from story to story. So OK, next story. Speaker 7 OK, cool. Craig This is from Engadget Star Wars tales. The Star Wars tales of the Underworld will premiere on Fortnite beginning May 2nd, which blows my mind. So this. Speaker 7 Shouldn’t. Taylor You may the 4th. Craig Well, yeah, actually that that’s a great point where the 4th is actually the holiday. Well, the the fake Star Wars holiday, may the fourth be with you. It’s a bit of Star Wars news. So this is the new animated Star Wars series. And strangely, the first it’s at least Episode 1 is premiering on the game platform. Or Fortnite? Right. So could you imagine going playing for and logging into Fortnite, then taking your character because it says that viewing will take place in the in game location called Star Wars Watch Party Island? You’ve gotta go to this island, and then you’ll you’ll see a screen right on the island like a movie screen. What is? You’ve got your character. Taylor OK. OK. Yeah. But it’s not in game. Well, it is you. No. No, but it’s not in a like a. Craig Oh, the fighting is switched off. Taylor Game, not the fighting switched off because I saw a as a singer. I don’t particularly like. Craig Hey, please do it. You’re in this. K pop. Taylor No tones and eye. Craig Tones an eye. Taylor Yeah. Who did the dance? It’s one ohh, right? Yeah. She had a concert in Fortnite. Ohh, and you just basically load up into this screen and sort of like. There are all these visuals. There’s like the video of it, and then suddenly you’ll be, like transported down some sort of tunnel. And it’s like, all with the musics going. And it’s like a visualiser sort of effect sort of thing. So it’s it’s still sort of like a a playable experience rather than just watching something. Craig And. Wow. And living in the future. Kind of vibe like, OK, so yeah, it’d be interesting SMS. And now if you’re planning to do it, OK, NEXT story. Taylor Yeah. Craig Musical interlude. That’s quite good. Fallout creator says he was ordered to destroy source code that the studio has since lost. I had the I had had that in digital form and was ordered to destroy it. So this is a case. This is the file that created Tim Kaine and he was in an interview and he, he said. Yeah, this horrible thing happened and it’s happened in, well, in terms of its standard practise, he said. In his experience working with a company where after you finished the job, they’ll ask you to destroy all copies of the source code, right? And that they will then be the custodians and librarian guardian, guardian of the source code. Right. So it will be held. In the company, right, rather than the creator creator’s hands. So he said this happened a couple of times where he’s going to have destroyed everything as required, and then the company has lost it. Right. And he said he found this out because he. It was so this was like, years after he destroyed it. He goes. Where is it? You know? So then he says a few years later, after I had left the company, they contacted me and said, oops, we’ve lost it. And I thought at first they were trapping me into into confessing that he’d made a a legal error by keeping them. But he said no, no. I destroyed them like he told. Speaker 7 Yeah. Craig And it turned out that they’ve really lost them and they were hoping and they were hoping he hadn’t done what he was legally required to do anyway. So he’s saying, yeah, this is a problem because there are so many games out there in the 70s from the Seventies, 80s and 90s, that that source code is just gone because of mismanagement and. Taylor And we’re panicking. Yeah. I wish well. Reminds me of Doctor Who. How? Craig Like white doctor episodes ago on the BBC, taped over. Taylor Fair enough. Yeah, fair enough. But also in terms of. How we’re talking about how DS game, how DS has been. The DS NO3DS3DS is the one that has. They’ve got no more parts for it. So don’t they then have some sort of obligation to let it be emulated or is it just gonna go into the ether? Speaker 4 What? Craig Yes, for prosperity. Speaker 5 Great point. Craig Yeah. Yep. Yep. Well, emulate this SMS in now. Send us a message on the chat if you have, you know, the revolution starts here. Next story. Yep, you’re doing well. It’s beautiful. George Lucas here in the next story posted on Goose Mondo as well as a couple of other spaces. Anyway, article from. Taylor Gizmodo, saying you know The funny thing about that first of all is I’ve always looked at that and it says very clearly. Gizmodo, Gizmodo. Craig It does too. I know Mondo Mondo is much better modo. Sorry go, Gaius Moto. Their headline is reveals why Yoda talks like that George Lucas does. Nice. Nice to see what they’ve done there. The Star Wars creator recently settled a long standing question about the Jedi Master, so let’s play the clip that this is part of. So here’s George Lucas recently talking at. I think it’s like a. Taylor Comic Con sort. Craig Of thing. It was, yeah, something like that, yeah. Speaker Why does Yoda speak backwards? Speaker 5 Well, I will tell you, thank you. Yoda had a very distinctive way of talking because and it it was done purposely. Speaker 4 Yeah, it’s. Speaker 5 Because if you were speaking regular English or being was he? People don’t listen that much. But if he has an accent or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they focus on what he’s saying. Speaker 4 Jedi Master Yoda, you seek Yoda. Speaker You know him? Speaker 4 To him, alien. Speaker 5 And what he was, he was basically the philosopher of the movie. So he was talking about all of the things, you know, in long talking scenes and stuff where I had to figure out a way to get people to actually listen, especially 12 year olds. Craig All right, so George Lucas’s answer there in terms of why Yoda speaks kind of inverted is, so it will. Force people to listen to what you’re saying because it’s like what? So it’s that kind of slow down and listen effect which what do you what do you think? Speaker 7 Yeah. Taylor But should, but as as a as a movie maker, shouldn’t everyone be listening to what your characters are saying all the time? You just make everyone speak like that. Craig Well, I mean we. That’s great. I like that theory. If this is true. Well, I did. I did ask some leading theory. Speaker 7 Yeah. Craig You know, so let’s start with John first. John Fisk is one of my favourite cultural studies theorists. OK, he came up with the concept of cultural economy and textual poaching. So I asked techy PPT to say what John Fisk said about your distinctive speech patterns. Taylor Would have. Craig OK. So in terms of cultural economy theory, so this is a theory about how media creates hierarchies of meaning and value. Yoda’s speech marked by inverted syntax. Immediately sets them apart from other characters, cause I guess no one else speaks in inverted syntax in styles. Taylor And 2D2. Craig Does who knows what syntax that is right beeps boops the so it immediately sets apart. I guess within the sassing. It’s. I guess it could signal wisdom, mysticism, unconventional worldview, right. Because you’re you’re you’re like. Of inverted syntax so unconventional, his speech pattern functions as a form of cultural capital. Possibly right, because it distinguishes him as ancient, enlightened figure whose wisdom transcends conventional language structures. Speaker Yeah. Craig Right. I mean that or crazy person. Taylor Yeah, exactly. Craig Right. It goes on to say in the broader cultural economy of Star Wars, Yoda’s speech reinforces his outsider status. Which I guess. He is an outsider. He’s certainly the only do. Yeah. Taylor Little green, pointy eared. Goblin dude. Craig There aren’t many others, no. He’s not part of the dominant linguistic order of the Galaxy, much like how much? Yeah, that’s right. Well, I’m going to get around to that. Much like, how marginalised groups often develop unique linguistic styles to set them apart. Yeah, like, have you ever encountered any? Taylor American English is. Craig Unique linguistic styles in your experiences of subcultures bumping into groups of young hooligans. You know, with their own. Taylor Yeah. Well, I I guess, I guess what I disagree with there is that usually this sort of in culture, slang etcetera is used with other members of that species, whereas Yoda doesn’t speak to anybody else that speaks like. Craig That, well, maybe his native tongue is back to France. Speaker 5 Hmm. Speaker Hmm. Craig And then when he translates to speak English, he keeps that up. Taylor Yeah. Craig In terms of Fisks idea of textual poaching, so that’s where, you know you’ll parity or you’ll you’ll adopt bits of a franchise to call you put stickers of Fortnite on your laptop hasn’t happened yet. Sexual poaching, right. It’s a reinterpreted. Taylor Hasn’t. Craig Each pen has been widely parodied, quoted, and adapted. By. Yeah. So I mean certainly in terms of if you want to do a voice like kind of gravely. Hmm. Taylor Brilliant. Craig That’s pretty good. That was pretty good. Speaker 7 Yes. Craig Voice as well as then talking in inverted syntax. Taylor You’ve been practising that, haven’t you? Craig Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, a lot of lot of pop culture significance there. Well, I mean Halley’s theory. Me. Yeah, I can keep beating on about this, he says pretty much the same thing. Well, actually, I did another search which was applying Blake Snyder’s save the CAP framework to explain what your speech pattern means. And that was interesting because it did pick up moments of. Taylor Ohh yeah yeah yeah. Craig Where Yoda’s mannerisms could be linked to a plot point so. Speaker M. Craig You know, the first one is the kind of the setup and theme, right? It’s the argument there is that you’re just speech immediately signals that he is different. So I guess if you’re setting up the theme that in Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker escapes from health, he goes to debate a train with the Jedi master doesn’t know what Yoda looks like, but. Encounters this green pointy goblin, and because it’s talking in inverted syntax, I guess it’s setting it’s a setup and theme establishment that it’s. Different you’re encountering difference as to whether or not that’s ancient and wise difference. Looks like it doesn’t think that’s the case with the first encounter. It then goes on to talk about the the second. Storytelling beat that can happen is the catalyst and debate beat. So in this way, it’s so the catalyst is events that propel a hero into action. So when Luke Skywalker meets Yoda, he initially doubts that the small, strange creature is in fact wise, because he’s talking in back, inverted syntax. So it’s a catalyst, this moment aligns. With the debate. To Luke Skywalker is debating, you know, surely you’re not Yoda. Do I trust Yoda or this green pointy goblin dude? And when the green pointy goblin says he is Yoda? Yeah. Do I trust him because his speech pattern does not seem to be wise. Bad guys close in, right and there to beat 3. This is interesting to me. Snyder’s framework emphasises that obstacles should intensify the story as the story progresses. So as the story goes on, you get to act two and three. There should be more and more obstacles and they should be more intense. Yoda speech becomes more cryptic and challenging. It says as Luke struggles with his training, his unconventional syntax forces Luke and the audience to slow down and reflect. And this is what I guess George Lucas is saying about that decision. He wanted the audience to slow down and reflect. It’s interesting that this is saying that. In terms of storytelling in universe, maybe what’s happening here is Yoda is also getting looped to slow down and reflect by delivering his wisdom in inverted syntax. You reckon if you’re a teacher you should invert syntax to help students slow down and reflect on the points you’re making. Speaker 7 This. Speaker No. Taylor Who’s your favourite Star Wars character? Craig Ohh denga, he’s the one that has toilet paper wrapped around him. He’s one of the burning hunters in Empire Strikes Back. He was meant to be a key villain figure with Boba Fett in return to Jedi, but then they dropped that storyline in terms of it then. Taylor All right. Craig Team. Closing the yard vac with Darth Vader. But yeah, it’s, I mean I choose that because it’s such a weird, stupid decision. Say Dengar, but I always thought his action figure looked really cool and I was disappointed with how he was used in the movies because he basically is there. In one scene he doesn’t say. Anything I don’t think he does. Anything. Yeah, you can read my fan fiction. He’s your favourite sales. Taylor Character. I probably don’t have one now, but when? I. Was a kid, Mace Windu. Craig Do. Really. Yeah. You’re doing the prequels? Yeah. You know, these windows? Cool. You know, Samuel Jackson can’t know that. His. Yeah, I mean, he features heavily in a lot of the memes that come out of the Star Wars universe particularly. Speaker 7 Yeah. But I I I liked him. Taylor His pre meme when I was a kid, I liked it because he had a purple lightsaber and. Craig Well. Taylor That was my favourite colour. Craig Was from what I remember, that was deliberately Jackson’s choice. He asked for the purple lightsaber as a teacher. I mean, I mean, cause he’s a teacher, right? He’s he’s training other padawans. Does he train? He certainly. Taylor Yeah. Craig Busts anakins balls, right. He’s the one that says you can’t become a paddle. You can’t become a. Taylor I wouldn’t put it like that, but yeah. Craig Master. Yeah, right. Yeah. You know, maybe that tough love that he’s doing. Yeah. All right. Well, let’s, let’s. To answer new story, new story. Taylor Thing. Craig Oh, that’s beautiful. Oh, OK yeah, yeah. No, that that was very helpful. Get them ready, screened to work. OK, so I want to go into Andor now. There’s an article on Polygon talking how Andors creator isn’t shy, but is inspiration for the Empire in Season 2 and basically it’s linking it back to kind of it’s Nazi symbology and the idea of a kind of right wing dictatorship. Nazi rise with a kind of nascent rebellion. Now, I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about. An interesting interview with the three actors that play the the leading Imperial bad guys. So it’s Ben Mendelson who plays, you know, one of the big Imperial. Honchos, I think is like the the the second in charge after Darth Vader for. Taylor I can’t. I can’t think of what it looks like. Craig You’ve got Dennis Gove, who plays that kind of wimpy. Guy and and then the the, the. They’re asked in this interview why are Star Wars villains British? Taylor OK. Speaker Pay attention. Speaker 8 Now, is there anything you’d care to tell me before I waste more of my time figuring out what it is you are up to? Speaker 4 Near security violation will be brought to the Emperor’s personal. Speaker Which? Speaker 3 Of course, you’re perfectly placed to answer this because you’re respectively American, Australian and Irish, of course. So why is it so extraordinarily fitting that in this Star Wars universe that the really evil people are fitted with British accents? Speaker 8 The Empire, darling, it just everything sounds a bit more evil when you do it in a very, very strong. English accent. Craig Just put it there. What do you think in terms of British accents and everything sounds more evil when you deliver it in an English accent. Taylor I like I can, I’ve I’ve seen that that they’ve pretty much done that in a lot of the modern movies, but I kind of disagree. I think there’s one more accent that does it a lot better. Craig Yeah, that’s that. Ohh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Taylor South African. They’re going back to Indiana Jones, going back to. Craig I mean. Yeah. OK. It’s interesting that I was recently watching Gladiator too. Yeah, and that maps out like that. All the bad guys are British accents in terms of what Tatcha PTC’s John Fisks interpretation of this being and cultural appearance. So again, cultural economy examines how media and cultural products shape or reflect social hierarchies. In Star Wars, the Galactic Empire is portrayed as an authoritarian regime like Nazis. And British accents often signal, well, not Nazis. But they’re not against Nazis, but they signal power, control and the leaders. And I guess historically from them as a colonial power, you know, we’re talking to the Dutch East India Company, the history of imperial colonialism in the. 17th, 18th and 19th century. So signals power control and elitism. Historically, Hollywood has used British accents to represent sophistication and intelligence, which aligns with the empire’s structured, hierarchical nature. This plays into audience expectations. British accents evoke a sense of calculated. Any making the antagonist more imposing. So yes, if you want to short cut or shorthand, you know this is a bad guy. Bruce section well, Ben Mendelson, the Australian actor, offers a really, really I think different approach to this question a little later, but we’ll listen to some further answers from the. Taylor OK. Craig Interview with the actors. Speaker 8 Turn out the lights. Because I tried to do it in Irish initially when I got the scripts and I rang Tony and I was like this just is not gonna work. They’re not gonna have an Irish woman in the empire. I’m sorry. We just don’t sound evil enough. And then we tried American and it didn’t work. So we all fall back on. Speaker 4 The British and there’s a historical reason for it too. Yeah, we’re talking about American films and, you know, the villain would be played by the heavyweight actors, and they tended to be. Rich and whatnot. So you had an English, you know, a you had your Vincent prices etcetera, etcetera. The lakes. Speaker 1 Poems became black stack. Speaker The land withered is before a. Speaker 4 Plague, you know, pushing, etcetera. Speaker Etcetera, we will. Speaker 5 Deal with your rebel friends. Speaker 4 Yeah. Ian McDiarmid? Yes, the mighty. Speaker 8 Yeah, the mighty end. Craig So put it there. And an actor. What do you think so far? You know that you know, when early in Hollywood, I mean, not that. You are acting in the 19. Taylor Ellen. Hollywood. Yeah. Craig 30s but I thought it was a really interesting point in terms of saying that they’re often cast. You know, the villain royal needs a lot of heavy gravitas and hitter, so they’ll, they’ll cast someone, maybe with theatrical. Training right. Someone that comes from theatre, maybe an old school actor, which is inevitably going to be British. That kind of Shakespearean theatrical training. Yeah. Peter Cushing. I mean, Vincent Price isn’t British, but nevertheless, he does affect the British accent and some of the horror. Taylor Yeah. Globe theatre. Yeah. Craig Films in McDermott anyway. The guy that plays the emperor. Because that theatrical Shakespearean training, do you reckon the villain role does require someone that that has better acting chops? Taylor I’m not sure like if. Craig You’ve got a bad actor doing a villain role. It’s more likely to fall apart as a movie or an act theatre act than if the hero is a bad actor. Speaker Hmm. Craig Like does the the villain have to do all the heavy lifting in terms of makes the? You know the feeling can make the good guy look better, but it’s hard for the if there’s a bad actor as the villain. It’s hard for the hero to make that bad actor look better as a villain. I know. I mean, I think like, well, I think like the Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves with that had. Taylor That’s interesting, isn’t it? Craig Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves that star it. Was. Taylor I mean, I mean all I can think of in terms of like having a big heavyweight as like the villain, the size of the lamb. Craig Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. With. Oh, yeah, so OK. Taylor I can’t remember his name. Craig 1st. Taylor OK. Yeah. Prince of thieves. Let’s go with that. Craig Vincent, because you had Kevin Costner. Hmm. And in fact, we’re talking about accents. I was listening recently to a podcast that was saying how, when Kevin Costner first was on stage and performed his English accent because he’s playing Robin Hood. Speaker Yes. Craig The director was so unimpressed with his English accent. Then he said you’re just playing it as American. Just you’re just playing the role with an American accent. But that was really stolen by Alan Rickman, who played the Sheriff of Nottingham, who really was seen to steal the movie as the villain again. Speaker 5 Hmm. Craig Wonderful British accents. And that that seems to conform to that idea of, you know. You want your Bruce Willis playing off Halloween Rickman in die hard? I don’t know. I mean, Alan Rickman’s accent and die hard is kind of German English. Taylor Sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when? When when I was most recently on stage. I didn’t play the villain, but I played the comedy. Aspect. Craig Of it was Agatha. Yep. Taylor Agatha Christie played the comedy aspect of it. What sort of accent did I have? Welsh. Welsh. Craig How does it? Where does the Welsh accent go? Taylor Seasonal mists and mellow fruitfulness. Close bosom friend of the maturing sun. Craig That’s perfect. We should do more voices. OK. So Ben Mendelson saying one of the things that made it more likely to have British accents was. Taylor Having a a seasoned actor, yeah. Craig Heavy headed. Yep. Let’s hear how it goes. Speaker In time you will call me master. Speaker 1 At last, we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have. Speaker 4 Revenge. The Rebel alliance is too well equipped. Speaker Yes, my Lord, intensify the forward batteries. I don’t want anything. Speaker 4 To get through, where’s my airway? Speaker 8 It was easy last season to talk about the empires being Oh yeah, we want to be in the empire. It was kind of. There was a little bit of Campari to it anyway. Yeah, this. Season, that’s all. Gone. It’s really gone. It’s not. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Speaker Company work? And then those are finished. Speaker 8 I think Fiona doing her own accent as Cassian’s mother was so inspired. It was so beautiful to have an Irish woman being the leader of that, like the start of his rebellion. Speaker 7 People are standing up. Speaker 8 It was. I felt very, very proud, but I’m really enjoying, you know, mincing about as a terribly posh English person. What are you doing, Mr. Khan? Speaker 5 Cassian and or as a murderer and a threat to the empire, I have been trying to. Speaker 8 Find him and then Genevieve, obviously, is also Irish. Speaker 9 The public. Although resentencing directive. Is the next step on an all too predictable March toward complete, unchallenged authority? Craig I’m just reading ahead through some of the TPT props I did. Yeah, it’s again going via Blake Snyder’s save the cat, which is a kind of writing Bible that people some people use to write scripts for movies, breaking it apart in terms of the. Choice of accents in terms of why villains often have British. Since. He defines some of the reasons in terms of plot narrative, how I was just reading the the catalyst in debate moment. The catalyst is again the event that propels the hero into action in Star Wars. This is often the empires oppressive action again delivered in British accents, the British accented. Speaker M. Craig Villains create a clear ideological contrast between the empire and the rebellion. Rebellion particularly. I guess if the rebellion are speaking other accents. Like there we. That the fact that the some of the rebellion figures are Irish have have very strong Irish accents that the native Irish tongue or American accents. Snyder says that or that could be mirroring historical conflicts like the American Revolution, where British rule was resisted. So historically, yeah, there’ll be moments in American history. Where they fought the British. Mm-hmm. American Revolution. So the British were the bad guys. That. In that struggle of of of independence. Taylor I mean that that does make sense like in terms of like historical things like that, but the people like for it to be so ingrained within our culture has to be something different. Craig Well, yeah. And I think I think part of it is that that the, the history of British cultural well British economic and cultural imperialism in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, you know, the the horrible, horrible history of American. Sorry, American. British imperialism into India or Australia that invasion. You know, it’s part of that then also I do like the idea that part of it could also be them hiring, heavy hitting actors, actors that have that gravitas, Shakespearean, theatrically trained actors. So you’ve got Alec Guinness, a good guy though, right? But very British accents. So actually it’s a counter point to that, but maybe it’s the the exception that proves the rule. Did you? Do you have any other feelings around accents in Star Wars the the use of British accents? Taylor Not really. Craig Yoda accents. No, you can’t really. I mean, most Windows accent. Now that’s an accent. That’s American independence. That’s. And particularly because he fights off against the emperor. That’s Ian McDermott. I think the actors name is. Who’s British and performing in Shakespearean British. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s it’s, it is striking. You know, everything from certainly, you know, the Romans in, in any movie I watched Ben Hur over Easter, Lord of the Romans are theatrical British performance. Right. And they’re all, like, chewing up the scenery with. Taylor Ohh my ohh. Craig The Shakespearean background. Taylor Yeah, same with Life of Brian. Craig Yes. Yeah. Are there any? Do they do any? Of them not speak. British they Polish English in that. Taylor I remember when I was a kid, right. And as a treat the teacher put on Ben Hur to. Craig Watch. OK Charlton Heston classic. Taylor The full Ben Hur across the whole day. Craig Is that 3 hours 3 plus hours? Taylor Three plus hours, plus the intermission it. Craig It’s fantastic. Taylor The worst thing I’ve ever sat. Craig Really. I mean. Ohh yeah yeah. I mean, if you’re doing for school, anything’s gonna suck. Yeah. I mean, unless there’s some sexy scenes in it or something. Taylor But it was like a trait sort of thing and it just it went on for. Craig Well, yeah. But I mean I I quote it recently again introduced my daughter to it. She hadn’t seen it, loved it. But I do. Speaker 7 So long. Craig Think. Taylor You know that’s a. Lie. Well, we. Craig Split it over 2 nights, right? So we, I mean, it really does have two bite sized films in it in terms of the first film, you forget. Taylor OK. Yeah. And then the chariot race, which goes on. Speaker Well, yeah, yeah. Craig Because I mean, the first film has the Climatic Third act of the the galley battle with the was it the Persian? I think first Roman galleys. Taylor For. Craig And and and that’s pretty much where that ends. And then the second film, yeah, then has the huge chariot race, which I yeah, I think really holds up. I mean, sure, singing at school. I mean that’s going to that’s going to knock a lot of points off of its. Taylor Entertainment value. Actually. That reminds me. Do you remember back in? So it was in. I think it was 9 no 2002 between 2002 and 2006. Every DVD had that. You wouldn’t steal a handbag, you wouldn’t steal a car. Yeah. Speaker Oh. Craig Ohh yes yes, the anti piracy warning. Taylor Anti piracy warning interesting thing came out about that over the week. The this last week the font they used was pirated. Craig Alright, yes, it was the font. Let’s try and remember it was the music. The font was pirated. Yeah, they didn’t get permission. They didn’t pay. And it’s just this blatant hypocrisy, isn’t it? I mean, you know what type of? I mean, I wonder if people that got well, you wouldn’t get busted because of that ad, but nevertheless, it it does show you the hypocrisy behind and also the difficulty of navigating. Speaker 7 Yeah. Craig That proprietary environment sometimes, yeah. And a media mothership. That’s why we have the wonderful sounds of our kalimba kalimba. Kalimba action here on mother emoji. Yep. So we’ll be releasing a CD. Probably by one. Yeah, I’m thinking we’re getting some great tunes coming in SMS. And now if you have any climber requests. Yeah, I’ll do it. Mothership. So. I guess the other thing that I found interesting about that clip we just heard was when the actress the actress saying how proud she felt of hearing her native language, the native dialect, sorry, the the Irish dialect. Speaker Right. Craig Our accent being spoken in in stalls hand or have you ever felt an overwhelming sense of pride when you’ve heard the Australian accents when you burst through in a movie? Speaker 7 Christ. No. No, it’s. Craig TV show. Taylor Like, it’s really jarring every time it happens, isn’t it? I mean, yeah. Craig Recently encountered A jarring experience. Taylor No, because I generally tend to stay away from it. Craig It is interesting when the Australian accent is nestled in a whole other, you know, smorgasbord of accents. Speaker 7 Alright mate, really touches through. Craig I often find it plain. Yeah. And and often is quite quite a poor. Poor. Yeah, it doesn’t. I mean, in terms of soft power, I guess what we’re talking about here is the kind of attraction positiveness someone feels towards an ephemeral thing, like an accent. You know, the British accent has a lot of soft power as we’re literally unpacking it here with Star Wars. We’re saying, you know, why is British accent used for all these kind of reasons around villainry and power and menace that could convey authoritarian control. Right. That’s a huge amount of soft power. It’s not them physically being aggressive or sounding. You know, angry or powerful, but it’s it’s just the power of the accent. The Australian accents. Yeah. Yeah. When, like, you got crocodile Dundee, crocodile hunter. So you might see that accent comes up as well. Yeah, a parody of that kind of Aussie, you know, outdoor. Taylor All Aussie adventures. Craig Rural, you know Bush kite, right? But that we’ve been stuck with that since. Forever, right? It really is not at all part of the cultural imagining today. And you’ve got various Australian actors, you know, Russell Crowe, thinking of Gladiator Ben Mendelson himself. We just heard from them, but they rarely, it seems, give a Hollywood movie performance in their. Stray and. Tonne. Taylor Oh yeah. I mean, that was his name, Thor. Fellow. Craig Chris Hemsworth. Yeah, yeah. Didn’t perform Thor via Australian accent. Performed it via British accent, you know. Yeah. Taylor No British. Yeah, well. Craig Are there any superheroes that have us? Taylor Back onto Irish accents. Craig Yeah. Taylor Do you have like can you name an Irish movie? Craig I well, there’s a really abominable well, not abominable, one of Sean Connery’s first films is I feel it was cool, but it was it was it, he, he. He played an Irishman in, you know, 1920s island. Taylor OK. Yeah. Craig Yeah, well, an Irish film, yeah. Taylor I’ve got one that you might like. OK, with your extensive experience in horror, genre comedy, sort of space grabbers. Craig Oh, let’s do it. OK, grabbers. I’ve not heard. Taylor Of it, it’s an Irish made film, Irish starred film and it’s all about. These. Creatures that. Are coming up from the sea and like birthing eggs on the beach and these eggs hatch and they start killing everybody, and then they figure out that the only way to. Craig Oh wow. Taylor Sort of be saved is to get blackout drunk and then when the creature tries to eat them, it gets poisoned by the. Craig Alcohol. Ohh. Really? Yeah. So this is the trailer. Very spooky sound effects. This came out in 20. 12. So he’s been grabbed then? Speaker There’s always a quiet places where the mad **** happens. For their pilot whales. They died at sea. Can’t be self a sea monster. Speaker 4 This is something totally different, something something alien. Taylor You don’t believe me? Speaker None of this. Yes. Speaker 7 Christ, it’s a nice. Speaker Evil incidences. Speaker 8 Alrighty. Speaker 4 You are so lucky, she. Speaker 1 Didn’t kill you. You were drunk. Speaker 4 If we taint our blood with booze with poisonous sweets. Speaker 5 It’s extraordinary. Speaker 4 Stay out of the rain and we drink. Speaker You’re throwing a party. It’s a welcome party for. Me. You’re leaving in a fortnight. Speaker 8 Just a goodbye party. Whatever. Speaker She’s right at. The door. There’s none. Have you got some tags? On you not on me, no. Craig It does remind me a bit of, you know, the real world phenomena of where you find something you think is actually bad for you is good for you. So, right. So like, you know, bit of red wine actually some of that each week is good for you. Coffee, you know, doesn’t that have wow and this week? Taylor Yeah. Craig Be good for you. So it does. I think it does play into that as well as what a delightful idea. Grandmas came out in 2012. How did you? Taylor Come across that so the way that I came across that is so the police officer, the female police officer that you see in. There. Craig Yeah, and wonderful Irish accents. Taylor Yes. Ohh, I forgot what her name is, but she’s in the Doctor Who audios where she plays Molly O’Sullivan and so. Craig Ah. Is that a companion or? Taylor For one particular audio adventure. Craig Right. Taylor Which doctor? What is it 9? No 8th Doctor Who? The movie. Craig Ohh really Paul Mcgahan, the forgotten doctor? Yeah, right. Oh, fascinating. Taylor Yeah. But not in the audio. World he is the style of. Craig Ohh totally yeah yeah. Audio, precisely. Such a fascinating little. Taylor World. Craig You know, transmedia movement of fandom there that the audio adventures is where his. Can cause he performs it sure right. I mean it’s. Wow, I’m sure we’re going to be asked. Speaker To. Craig To do that. Wonderful. Alright well. So anyway, so that’s how you came across it. You then did a search of the. Taylor Yeah, because because I I was like trying to figure out who this woman was. And oh, she’s in a movie. So it was the first movie I bought on. ITunes actually was that. Craig Movie. Oh, really? Wow. Wow. I’m glad you didn’t, you know, just steal a handbag. Yeah. All right. Well, orphant orphant, thanks for listening. This has been Craig and Taylor here from media mothership on each radio. We’ll post some show notes and clips up on YouTube and Twitch as well as I’ll produce this up as a podcast next week. I’m not sure, not sure about what we’re doing. We’ll be doing something you can listen to previous episodes on YouTube, Twitch, and at edgeradio.org dot AU or your podcast. Taylor About what? OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Craig Provider of choice. Yeah, right. I’m not touching. Taylor And Patreon. Craig To like get at least 500 fans. Find out more about media mothership on Facebook and Instagram. Keep listening now to. It’s radio. Do we have any announcements of your show? Starting up soon. Taylor It’s not still still still going towards it, yeah. Craig Dawn nascent. You want to plug your YouTube YouTube. Your Facebook page. Speaker 7 What? Craig For it, if people are interested in. Taylor Ohh yeah yeah yeah. Youtube.com facebook.com/D M for aeroplane. Send your tracks in. Craig DM for aeroplane. Yeah. So if you want, if you got some great kalimba tunes. Taylor Yeah. Craig Send them in to DM for Airplay and they might be played on. Taylor Yeah. Craig Taylor’s new show.

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