copycat effect

Flaring tempers, massive busts and dead wax + this day in history w/the assassination of a British Prime Minister and our song of the day by Shakey Graves on your Morning Monarchy for May 11, 2017.

In early 2009 independent film makers Jon Stevens and Frank Jones approached the US Marine Corps entertainment liaison office with a request to review their comedy script Beverly Hills Marine, set during Operation Desert Storm.

Or How I learned to stop worrying because The Avengers accidentally created a conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theorists gone done it again. Having learned abso-fucking-lutely nothing from the Jade Helm nonsense, the 2012 Olympics hype and the predictions of a New World Order false flag to stop Trump from winning the election, Operation Gotham Shield has become a magnet for their attention.

In our latest dissection of season 6 of Homeland, I joined Pearse on Porkins Policy Radio to discuss the latest few episodes. With the revelation that Dar Adal has been running a sock puppet click farm to manipulate US public opinion, Homeland has dragged this season right up to date. It is no longer a series about spies pursuing terrorists, but about how deep politics is conducted and the increasingly important role of big data.

Mass meditations, sex slaves and the next march + this day in history w/Charlie Chaplin's body and our song of the day by Presentable Corpse on your Morning Monarchy for March 2, 2017.

Nightcrawler is one of those rare films that is beautifully written, very well executed and is about something that actually matters. It tells the story of Lou Bloom, a young man in poverty-struck Los Angeles who gets into nightcrawling - filming violent crimes and accidents and selling the footage to TV news.

Why do we censor films? Intuitively we all know the answer to this question - because there are some things we don't want to see on the screen. In this episode we examine film censorship, focusing primarily on the treatment of cinematic violence by the MPAA and BBFC. Using Walter Benjamin's Critique of Violence as a foundation I discuss how societies are attempts to rationalise violence and determine what are legitimate and illegitimate uses of force.

Unreal is a gripping and brutal satire of reality TV but it is much more than that. While this might sound like a drama about a trivial subject, the content of Unreal makes it one of the most serious and important TV series of recent years. It follows two female producers as they make a romance-themed reality show, highlighting the degree to which they're willing to manipulate the contestants in order to produce 'good TV'.

In less than 10 years Marvel has created the biggest money-making film franchise of all time with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, this probably wouldn't have been possible without the help of the Pentagon. In this episode we examine the rise of the MCU, the Pentagon's involvement, and the fallout of their disagreements when making The Avengers.

Pied pipers, cults of personality and a supermoon + this day in history w/the Edmund Fitzgerald and our song of the day by Warpaint on your Morning Monarchy for November 10, 2016.