Episode 641 - Bodycast
Jun 26, 2023
Injuries, especially to the head can be extremely bad but people are hit over the bonce and knocked out in popculture all the time. In violent sports like boxing or MMA it's often a goal, it's a common thing in games too, the “KO” is a staple. In TV shows, movies and comics it's seen as a kind way to deal with an enemy, people will even do it to their very best friends to protect them from going through with some scary activity, often knocking them out and tying them up and then taking their place or something. Knocking people out has become so memed that the fantasy version has replaced the real version and it's even influenced how we think about it.
Topics and Show Notes
We do the same thing with spies (no spy mission is ever like James bond, Mission Impossible, Kingsman or Archer, which actually tackles the knockout meme realistically), the concept of losing one's virginity (no, “popping a cherry” in not a thing, hymens do not need to be broken), Ninjas (nothing at all like popculture), and the idea that anyone would ever wear a giant sword on their back to go into battle (no one ever did that because it's impossible to use).
The reality is that loss of consciousness caused by sudden force to the head is incredibly dangerous and can lead to brain damage and even death. Even “putting someone to sleep” using a sleeper hold, a pill, injection, or gas is dangerous and not to be taken lightly, unlike the moronic idea we have of its safety from pop culture.
The inspiration for this cast was my own experience with unconsciousness due to a riding accident I had last week where I fell off an cantering horse, was knocked out and then had amnesia till I came back to full awareness some time later with no memory of the incident. So we're chatting about injuries in webcomics and pop culture and how the handling of them is different from reality. i.e all those times people get shot harmlessly or dig out bullets from their shoulders… (doctors will often leave bullets inside a person and not dig them out unless there's a safety issue).
What stupid pop culture versions of injuries are you aware of or have you used yourself?
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Conscripted - Wiry electric guitar burns into the hot desert sands with this metal meta version of the classic “Arabian Riff” (also known as “The Streets of Cairo”, “The Poor Little Country Maid”, and “the snake charmer song”). A very interesting tune popularised in the late 19th century by American Sol Bloom and has since become the characteristic sound of the middle east in pop culture. Gunwallace’s version for Conscripted is heavy, fiery and strong.
This is Gunwallace’s second take on Conscripted, the first was a more calm and contemplative piece in Quackcast 545.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
The sagas of Seelhoe - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jun/20/featured-comic-the-sagas-of-seelhoe/
Featured music:
Conscripted - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Conscripted/ - by Dragonsong12, rated E.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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Episode 635 - Warcast
May 14, 2023
We're talking about WAR here! Trying to leave out politics, though that's really hard with war because it's basically ALL politics but on fire. So we're talking mainly about depictions of it or at least aspects of it, in art and the media. Both Tantz Aerine and myself work on war comics, Without Moonlight and Pinky TA respectively (plus Tantz also does Brave Resistance with Pitface), so we have some knowledge of the subject from a creator perspective.
Episode 633 - Asterix is GOOD history
May 1, 2023
Asterix and Cleopatra VS Netflix… We were initially inspired by the furious reaction over Netflix's new series on Queen Cleopatra, a purported “documentary” and it's seeming focus on fantasy rather than history, but then we started thinking about the brilliant comic Asterix and how it handled history… It didn't pretend to be accurate, it's a comedy afterall, and yet it managed to retain a great level of veracity without taking too many liberties.
Episode 631 - Entitlements
Apr 17, 2023
What rights are people actually entitled to? That question is a lot bigger than you think! The Quackcast today is sequel to last week's about entitled people, this one is about actual entitlements- what people SHOULD be entitled to. i.e. rights and such. It's a topic that Banes and Tantz really wanted to do and my purpose was to link it to writing and comics (not just theory and politics), which I think I did ok. This topic turned out to be very interesting.
Episode 629 - Reevaluation cast
Apr 3, 2023
Have you ever watched a series devotedly then lost touch with it for some reason for a while and then gone back to it a couple of years later and tried to get into again but this time you look at it with a very different perspective? Or maybe you loved a movie when you were young and decided to watch it again as an adult to see if it holds up?
Episode 605 - Myth of Freedom
Oct 17, 2022
“Freedom” is the catch cry in so much historical fiction but it's usually an anachronistic piece of nationalist fantasy. You fought for your lord, for pay, your honour, your small region, etc, not for “Scotland” (i.e. Bravehert). Even today it's generally propaganda: e.g. The Invasion of Iraq being called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and Russia's invasion of Ukraine being all about “freeing” the Russian speaking areas from “oppression”. We alter historical stories to fit with contemporary ideas about ourselves and to give us some form of foundation for our prejudices, motivations and identity. Good examples are the Arthurian legends, Gladiator, Braveheart, The Patriot, Robin Hood, The stories about Christopher Columbus, The 300, and The Woman King.
Episode 601 - /rant
Sep 19, 2022
If something affects or disturbs you so much that you want to respond to it through a story that you write, that can be a pretty powerful form of inspiration! But it depends on how you handle it. For example, Stephan King's acclaimed novel Misery was inspired by nasty interactions he had with fans after he published a fantasy novel. This story was very well received and even turned into a popular movie. And then there are other ways to handle it…
Episode 598 - 2D or not 2D!
Aug 29, 2022
What makes a character two dimensional? What makes them three dimensional? Does it matter that they only have two dimensions to them? This was an idea that GeekyGami posed and so we thought we'd explore it in the cast. My own theory is that a character that is purely archetypal, tropeish, or cliche, with everything about them flowing from that archetype, and they never go beyond their archetypal traits- that makes them 2D.
