Category Archives: reality

Joe Rogan & Dr Robert Malone. Conspiratorial Storytelling.

Posted on 03/02/2022 by fesmontemaggi

Rogan and Malone play the heroes persecuted by the evil authoritarian State, bought by Big Pharma and Tech. In this conspiratorial tale there are heroes and villains. The only thing missing is the truth. Critical Thinking, What Critical Thinking? Rogan … Continue reading →

Posted in America, autonomy, capitalism, consciousness, conspiracy theories, freedom, good & evil, individualism, institutions, knowledge/epistemology, reality, Truth | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Post: Nixon-Trump, Bullshit, and the Forgotten Woman

Posted on 19/02/2019 by fesmontemaggi

The flawed comparison of Nixon with Trump is pursued through a trite investigative structure, which leaves a much more interesting story unexplored: the story of a woman who takes ownership of her own self. There are times when the story-teller … Continue reading →

Posted in America, consciousness, democracy, disenchantment, emotions, entertainment, epistemology of suspicion, gender, journalism, knowledge/epistemology, Paul Ricoeur, personhood, politics, postmodernism, reality, Sixties Counterculture, The Big Short, The Post, Truth, Uncategorized, Vice, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Big Short – Faith in the Free Market

Posted on 22/01/2016 by fesmontemaggi

The 2008 financial crisis was the result of recklessness, dodgy dealings, and hubris. Like drug addicts, people bought mortgages they would have never been able to pay. Like drug pushers, mortgage brokers fed the beast until it all went belly … Continue reading →

Posted in America, American dream, belief, faith, finance/economics, magic, reality, reason/rationality, The Big Short | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Originals – Bourdieu & Hollywood’s tack

Posted on 26/10/2015 by fesmontemaggi

The Originals is a most unoriginal show trying to bank on the image of seduction and transgression of vampires whilst being utterly conventional. The Originals are the ‘original vampires’ from whom all other vampires have descended. They come from medieval … Continue reading →

Posted in body, Bourdieu, cultural capital, fantasy/supernatural, habitus, personhood, reality, social conventions, society, The Originals | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

American Horror Story (Coven) – Witchcraft & the Dark Goddess

Posted on 28/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

The Coven is the third installment of American Horror Story, the first being porn and film plagiarism, the second concentrating on the plagiarism. The third benefits from an injection of irony. It is set in a boarding school for witches … Continue reading →

Posted in America, consciousness, Enlightenment, fantasy/supernatural, femininity, gender, horror, knowledge/epistemology, magic, nature, reality, reason/rationality, religion, ritual, The Coven (American Horror Story) | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Indiana Jones & Empire Strikes Back – Belief

Posted on 26/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Religion, as argued in my post on the West Wing, is often assumed to be a person’s belief in a supernatural God. Yet anthropologists and sociologists of religion would wince at this statement. From a social scientific perspective, belief is … Continue reading →

Posted in belief, Empire Strikes Back, Enlightenment, faith, fantasy/supernatural, Georg Simmel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, knowledge/epistemology, magic, Malcolm Ruel, myth, nature, reality, reason/rationality, religion, scifi | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sleepy Hollow – Science, Magic, and Modernity

Posted on 16/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Faithful to gothic tradition, Sleepy Hollow has fear at its centre. Fear is here understood as what cannot be controlled by scientific reason, but it also associated with the horror of the sublime, as argued by Edmund Burke. Tim Burton’s film … Continue reading →

Posted in 'othering', belief, Enlightenment, fantasy/supernatural, gender, Godfrey Lienhardt, horror, knowledge/epistemology, magic, masculinity, Max Weber, myth, nature, reality, reason/rationality, religion, science, Sleepy Hollow (1999), Stanley Tambiah, witchcraft | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Babadook – the ‘horror’ of parenting and social conventions

Posted on 11/12/2014 by fesmontemaggi

(This was first published on Wales Art Review, available here) More than a horror, Babadook is a tale of a woman’s sense of inadequacy before society’s conventions and expectations. Australian director, Jennifer Kent, reinterprets F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) to give … Continue reading →

Posted in Babadook, class, fairytales, family, fantasy/supernatural, good & evil, horror, reality, social conventions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Enchanted – True Love & Autonomy

Posted on 06/07/2014 by fesmontemaggi

Enchanted is a commercial film and a crowd-pleaser, but its parodic style allows it to play with gender and the cinematic construct of love. The Walt Disney parody keeps to the safe framework of the happy-end, which allows it to be, … Continue reading →

Posted in autonomy, Enchanted, fairytales, fantasy/supernatural, gender, love, magic, myth, Once Upon a Time, reality, romanticism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Candyman – Class, Race & Durkheimian Religion

Posted on 11/06/2014 by fesmontemaggi

Candyman is jolly good fun and great food for sociological thought. As ever, this is not a review, but a short analysis of the film from a sociological angle. Set in Chicago, the film tells the story of Helen (Virginia … Continue reading →

Posted in Candyman (1992), class, films, good & evil, horror, knowledge/epistemology, postcolonialism, race/diversity, reality, reason/rationality, religion | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment