Wrong With Authority, the podcast where four white guys talk about movies based on real historical events, returns... and this time we're talking about Mississippi Burning (1988), a travesty of the story of three civil rights workers - Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman - who were murdered in Mississippi in 1964 by the Klan/cops/state government (all essentially the same thing at that point).
Beware triggers. We're talking about vicious racism, hate-motivated violence and murder. At one point in the episode, one of us reads out part of a historical document which contains the n-word. We believe the context justifies its inclusion, but please be aware that it's there. Jack made the decision to not bleep it out, and takes responsibility. Also, we mention rape a couple of times - because it was an integral part of both Jim Crow and slavery.
In two parts. Because it's soooo long. You bastards had better download this and enjoy it because we sweated blood over this one.
Wrong With Authority is back from the dead, hosted by James this time, with an episode looking at two movies about the creators of classic horror cinema.
As ever, beware spoilers, and also one or two possible triggers.
This time, Wrong With Authority covers two movies about mathematicians! 'A Beautiful Mind' (Russell Crowe as John Nash) and 'The Imitation Game' (Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing). High-octane excitement! Sex! War! Espionage! Madness! Equations! Inexplicable impromptu pen-giving ceremonies!
This being Daniel's episode, effort has been put in, which means there are show notes:
Main Topic: A Beautiful Mind and The Imitation Game. Mathematics, male homosexuality, and mental illness. Three. Four Oscars. A Woody Allen digression. Synopsis. Content Warning. Spy movie. Boringly. Serious Oscar Bait. Drained of challenge. Not about John Nash. The Sixth Sense Thing. Twenty. Positive. "Shit's about to get real." A Dick recommendation. Cure with love. Fucks it up both ways. Not about math. Willpower and medication. A personal failing. A proper ubermensch. Medication and mathematics. Unaging little girl. Amorous. Visceral. Bird in a cage. Low tactics. Nicer. Transformed details. Illegitimate. Studio interference? Sincerity. Exactly two black people. Crowe's performance. Trousers and briefcases. Crowe versus Bale. Save the cat. Lesser mortals and charm. Mainstream audiences. Hogwarts. Attempting to explain the Nash equilibrium. Adam Smith was wrong. "Well, actually..." Nash's reaction to the film. Alicia Larde. The Phantom. If John Nash were black.... Anti-semitic? Preordained. An extended riff about pens. A Philip Glass Interlude. Moving on to The Imitation Game. Alright. Biopics kinda suck. The "Fuck Your Machine" bullshit. Epic fail. Ideologically opposed to fun. Writing ourselves into history. Midwesteners feel icky. Progressive and tolerant. Tumblr fodder. The inverse Nash equilibrium. Cumberbatch skeptic. Sheldon. Moments. Not neurodivergent. Gas masks and tissues. Barely closeted. 20% effort. Factual errors. William Goldman. Sidetracking onto Boogie Nights. Foundational WWII. A Ghost in the Machine. Secrecy. Not a traditional marriage. Implication of treachery. William Tutte. Swords into plowshares. "The lovely girls." Glorification. Burning of books. Cryptonomicon. German infallibility. Believing the hype. Jack has no thoughts. Big picture Cold War. Reaganesque machismo. "Nothing to eat but guns." Keystone Kops and intelligence operations. "It is now." Mornington Crescent. Double consciousness. Autism as alibi. Different people. Non-dualist, non-vitalist. Christopher. Capturing human intelligence in a machine. Indictment. Next week on the Alan Turing show. Nice but then. Commodities. Clever. Fake tits. Different people. Joan Clarke, physicist. Always more interesting. Forever World War II. Platonic and nontraditional friendships. The Easy Rider ending. Suicide? A damp squib. Reaching for a reference. As crazy as Stone. Snowglobes and superbrains. Why sanitized? Keeping Calm and Carrying On. Finally, Trump. Also, the USSR doesn't exist anymore. Old intelligence. The cold shoulder. Manpain. Churchill and moral ambiguity. Because fuck Isaac Newton. Wrapping Up
In this first episode, the gang looks at Murder by Decree (1979) and From Hell (2001), two movies about Jack the Ripper.
Spoilers and Triggers abound.