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The Zeitgeist Tapes

By: The Zeitgeist Tapes
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  • Summary

  • Where politics and pop culture collide. Every month journalist Emma Burnell and Professor Steve Fielding discuss the way politics is interpreted through popular culture.
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Episodes
  • The Pickwick Papers election

    The Pickwick Papers election
    Jun 3 2024
    This month it’s another election special! Emma and Steve discuss the chapter about the election in Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers.

    Those who know Emma (and especially those who studied with her) will know that she tried to read the whole book once and gave up halfway through with a lifelong aversion to Dickens. But here we talk about the interesting - and interestingly negative – way that the election is presented and the similarities with practically all depictions of politics ever since.

    You can read The Pickwick Papers here (we are covering Chapter XIII) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/580/pg580-images.html#link2HCH0013

    Steve’s essay which informed this episode is here https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-9066.12084
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    33 mins
  • Comedians

    Comedians
    May 6 2024
    This month, Emma and Steve are joined by comedian, writer, director and comedy trainer Logan Murray to talk about Trevor Griffith's Comedians.

    Originally written in 1975 and translated for TV as a Play For Today the show follows a group of men looking to become successful club comedians as they do their final showcase in front of an audience.

    The play uses a lot of language that is very much 'of its time' but does so in questioning of how comedy works, what it is for and how we use it both to elevate and victimise and reflect the society we live in.

    Logan Murray's website: https://loganmurray.com/
    Emma's comedy routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKMzGNmzSQ
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    47 mins
  • Mr Bates Vs The Post Office

    Mr Bates Vs The Post Office
    Jan 16 2024
    In this episode Emma and Steve discuss one of the most consequential dramatisations of recent years. Described as 'Kafka meets Ealing Comedy' (Copyright Steve) this ITV drama shown between Christmas and New Year 2023/24 had politicians finally scrabbling to respond to the long-running scandal at the Post Office. 

    David Aaaronovich: The Fatal Flaw in Mr Bates Vs The Post Office https://davidaaronovitch.substack.com/p/the-fatal-flaw-in-mr-bates-vs-the

    Emma's Substack: https://softleft.substack.com/
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    40 mins
Politics & Government Social Sciences
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