TV, internet and other media

Sunday, 26 June 2022 13:29

Plains, Trains and Automobiles: Snowpiercer’s People’s Transport vs. Lincoln Lawyer’s Luxuriating While the Planet Burns

Written by Dennis Broe

Dennis Broe compares and contrasts Snowpiercer with The Lincoln Lawyer, from which the above example of product placement is taken Planes, Trains and Automobiles was the title of John Hughes’ 1987 film where a mismatched duo, the sloppy salesman John Candy and the in-his-mind dapper executive Steve Martin travel across…

Tuesday, 07 June 2022 08:52

Despair and the Fading Middle Class in American TV series

Written by Dennis Broe

in TV, internet and other media

Dennis Broe looks at how Better Call Saul expresses the waning power of the American empire. Image above: Better Call Saul’s narcissistic but clever lawyer Better Call Saul is part of the Breaking Bad “universe,” as a prequel to that series. As such it also links to successors to that…

Better Call Saul Breaking Bad Ozark We Own This City

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 08:40

Culture for All: Why Digital Culture Matters

Written by Culture Matters

in TV, internet and other media

As part of the Culture for All series, supported by the Communication Workers Union, we're proud to present a short film about why digital culture matters, by Adam Stoneman. Why Digital Culture Matters by Adam Stoneman During the Covid-19 pandemic, with cultural venues closed, the internet was a portal to…

Spotify Netflix Broadband communism

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 23 May 2022 08:56

The Thick Blue Line: Killer Cops in Baltimore and Paris

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Written by Dennis Broe

Dennis Broe reviews some new police procedurals. Photo above: Jenkins and his Task Force going about their dirty business in We Own This City Post-9/11, with the popularity of C.S.I., as George W. Bush’s “War on Terror” overlapped with George Bush’s “War on Drugs,” the airwaves were filled with every…

Oussekine We Own This City

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 16 May 2022 08:10

Culture for All: Why Television Matters

in TV, internet and other media

Written by Culture Matters

As part of the Culture for All series, Dennis Broe introduces another short film made with the support of the Communication Workers Union, on Why Television Matters. Why Television Matters by Dennis Broe Hi I’m Dennis Broe, I write about film and television. I’m now writing a book about television…

Netflix Streaming services Snowpiercer Parasite

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 10 May 2022 08:13

Mainstream media as Iago to our collective Othello

in TV, internet and other media

Written by Tayo Aluko

Tayo Aluko writes about the mysterious case of a misidentified(?) Robeson portrait. Image above: Paul Robeson as Othello Once, many years ago, while touring the US, I happened to be listening to an NPR radio programme about Paul Robeson, with his son Paul Robeson, Jr., as the special guest. It…

Paul Robeson jeremy corbyn Keir Starmer

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 25 April 2022 09:19

Same old same old: Downton Abbey and the reactionary construction of exclusive Englishness

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Written by Stuart Cartland

Stuart Cartland argues that Downton Abbey is a conservative ideological vehicle that is far more than just a harmless, jolly romp With the upcoming release of the new Downton Abbey movie in cinemas it’s time to look a little more closely at what this movie might actually represent – a…

Midsomer Murders Heartbeat Great British BakeOff Location, Location, Location, Poldark Four Weddings and a Funeral Gosford Park Iron Lady Atonement The King's Speech The Queen Channel 4 National Trust

Monday, 18 April 2022 08:02

Mr. Zelensky Goes To Washington

Written by Dennis Broe

in TV, internet and other media

Mr. Zelensky Goes To Washington Vladimir Zelensky has been called many things, depending on which side of the now firmer divide, with the U.S. attempting to recreate the old Iron Curtain, an observer falls. To some he is a hero, valiant defender of a small nation against a mighty one,…

Ukraine Mariupol

Monday, 18 April 2022 07:55

The Bellyfeel of Paradise: Inside the Media Dome

Written by Caoimhghin O Croidheain

in TV, internet and other media

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Arthur SchopenhauerSometimes I hear sounds in my roof that tell me that the birds are trying to get in and make a nest in the attic. I…

Sunday, 03 April 2022 10:17

Another European Invasion: Corporate Streamers and Spring Television Preview

Written by Dennis Broe

in TV, internet and other media

The largest television festival in the world, Series Mania at Lille in Northern France, where 40 percent of all French television series are shot, just ended. Although everyone paid homage to the invasion in Ukraine, what was also often unstated was how to deal with another invasion, that of the…

Squid Game Troppo Ossekine Billy the Kid Gold Panning The Dark Heart

Monday, 20 December 2021 18:35

Stories of the Lust for Profit in 2021: the Year in Global Streaming

Written by Dennis Broe

in TV, internet and other media

This year’s Top 40 Serial TV Series unfolds against a background of continually rising inequality. Thomas Piketty (Capital in the 21st Century) and company released their figures charting global disparities exacerbated by Covid, this was front page news in Le Monde and ignored in the U.S. Billionaires have captured much…