Jungian Archetypes and Accidental Art Films
I was supposed to produce an essay today. I had a whole plan and everything, which would have involved writing the first of no-doubt many essays discussing the intersection of polyamorous perspective and large-scale political movements. Then two black men were murdered on camera in less than twenty-four hours and that post felt, shall we say, less than perfectly empathetic. I have a very different post, looking at racialized violence and systemic racism coming up for Sunday, but instead of doing something serious today I figured I’d do the weekly Oi! Spaceman podcast post. I promise, we don’t deal with any kind of serious or political issues on any of the Oi! Spaceman family. Honest.
Anyway, the big news is that Pex Lives’ own James Murphy came onto Searching For Fuchal to chat about the fifth episode of Series One, “Confidence and Paranoia.” James has been watching Red Dwarf about as long as he could talk, so this was a very fun (albeit relaxed) episode. Go check it out.
Over on They Must Be Destroyed on Sight, we’re even less on any kind of overt poltical move, chatting about sleazy sex comedies. We covered The Cheerleaders and the ulta-obscure One Night Only this week and had a really nice time doing so. The Cheerleaders is kind of an accidental art film (with lots of female nudity and Skinemax-style sex scenes) and One Night Only includes an extended sequence involving The Scary Cave, a vaguely sexual act which really must be seen to be believed. If you’re interested in listening to two increasingly-drunken men chat about titty flicks, it’s probably not an entire waste of your time.
July 8, 2016 @ 6:30 pm
Somehow, I had never considered the sexual implications of Rimmer substituting himself for Kochanski again. Almost as though he’s trying to tell us something.
I think this is the only episode* that ever really takes Lister’s personality as its main focus, certainly in this explicit way. It’s notable because they did that time and time again with Rimmer, beginning next time with Me2, and going on with things like Better Than Life, Dimension Jump and Terrorform. Presumably because they realised that Lister was too well-adjusted for there to be much comic potential in giving him that kind of attention, whereas Rimmer’s neuroses could be expanded and exhibited at length. I suppose it’s also reflective of how the structural role of the characters changes as the programme evolves. In series 1, where it’s at its most classically sitcommy, Lister and Rimmer are a comparatively evenly-balanced Odd Couple, each with their foibles and insecurities. Later it shifts more towards Lister as the everyman lead and Rimmer as the complex, messy “character part”.
*Note: I have no reason to think it needs saying, but this, like any and all such general statements I might ever chance to make, takes as a predicate the fact (and fact it is) that there were, as is indeed the case, six series of Red Dwarf. No more, no less. Just in case there are any misapprehensions regarding this transparently evident reality.