Sneakily taking the hinges off the doors of perception

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Jack Graham

Jack Graham writes and podcasts about culture and politics from a Gothic Marxist-Humanist perspective. He co-hosts the I Don't Speak German podcast with Daniel Harper. Support Jack on Patreon.

10 Comments

  1. jane
    April 6, 2013 @ 7:59 pm

    Did you get advance notice of this week's episode? Because there's an awful lot of similarity to The Aztecs, in terms of the symbolism, and the nature of ritual sacrifice, but set in the future in an alien world, rather than in our past.

    Of course the Doctor interrupts the ritual.

    Reply

  2. Jack Graham
    April 7, 2013 @ 5:56 am

    No, no advance notice. I was just responding to the DVD release of the Special Edition. But what you say about the latest episode doesn't surprise me. The man who brainwashed the entire human race (or at least those members of the human race who watch TV, i.e. the ones in the developed world, i.e. the only ones that count) into becoming mindless killers in order to ethnically cleanse the world of an alien race who hang around in corners… this guy is, undoubtedly, blithely imposing his superior morality on others.

    Reply

  3. jane
    April 8, 2013 @ 12:51 pm

    It's got the iconography of several "other" religions — the 8-Fold Wheel of Buddhism, a pyramid and mummy Egyptian, and hieroglyphs resembling the Mayans. The "perfect sacrifice" is a little girl who was chosen as a baby, not unlike certain Buddhist traditions.

    The Doctor's response to these religious shenanigans sounds like something straight out of the mouth of Carl Sagan, a Big Bang tale woven around a story of the Little Girl's absolute uniqueness in the Universe. It's quite the intervention, convincing her not to give up her "soul" to the Grandfather God.

    The one thing he doesn't change is the local economic customs — they don't use money, they use personal mementos as a medium of exchange, their psychic resonance of "meaningfulness" creating their value.

    Hopefully you'll get around to seeing it — I'd love to hear your take. But first you've got to get your Fendahl post up! I've been waiting for ages!

    Reply

  4. Jack Graham
    April 8, 2013 @ 6:17 pm

    Sounds interesting. I'm trying to catch up, having decided I want to engage with the 50th anniversary episode.

    Thanks for reading and saying nice things. Seriously, it's a big encouragement.

    The Fendahl post is in the pipeline. It's lovely to know that there are people looking forward to it.

    Been a tad distracted today, as you might imagine.

    Reply

  5. Iain Coleman
    April 9, 2013 @ 11:29 am

    " There were no similarly ontological reasons why the idea of casting Mexican actors to play Mexicans was impossible and inconcievable."

    Not ontological, but regulatory. In those days, they would have had to find a bunch of Mexican actors who held Equity cards, and it's unlikely there were many of them. There may well have been none.

    Similarly, in his account of why he cast John Bennett in Talons, David Maloney specifically cited the dearth of East Asian actors with Equity cards – and as producer of Blakes 7 a few years later, Maloney had quite a struggle getting Josette Simon her Equity card in time for her to become the show's first black lead actor.

    On this, the occasion of Margaret Thatcher's passing, we might pause for a moment to reflect on her contribution to casting diversity in British television.

    Reply

  6. Jack Graham
    April 9, 2013 @ 12:29 pm

    Isn't demand supposed to regulate supply?

    Reply

  7. Iain Coleman
    April 9, 2013 @ 7:05 pm

    In a free market. Barriers to entry are one mechanism by which a market can be less free, resulting in supply failing to match demand.

    Reply

  8. drfgsdgsdf
    April 9, 2013 @ 11:32 pm

    Add me to the list of people enjoying this article. I'd post it at the end of every entry, but it would really get a bit monotonous

    Also looking forward to the Fendahl article. Out of interest will there be anything in the JNT era to analyze in the same eay

    Finally please do start writing about the new series again. I was trying to criticize the ugly political subtext of the new series recently and words failed me. Who criticism needs you back Jack.

    Reply

  9. T. Hartwell
    April 26, 2013 @ 7:22 pm

    "Johnny Depp is soon to appear in redface as Tonto in the new Lone Ranger movie."

    Minor minor minor point in a largely fascinating essay that I mostly entirely agree with, but Depp actually has Native American ancestry, so this might not be the best example to use.

    Reply

  10. Anonymous
    December 19, 2013 @ 3:45 pm

    Europeans is too broad a term. You can't really include the Irish and Polish, for example.

    Reply

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