Academic

Science Fiction and religion – “Religion and Technology into the Future” (Lexington Books, 2018) – Sam Gill interview

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Professor Sam Gill has studied dance, religion and science fiction for decades. He’s written books on the subject and here we discuss his latest book on religion and artificial intelligence.

1:50 – Sam Gill talks about how he got into writing about science fiction.

2:57 – Sam talks about the book. He wanted to study the obsession with artifical intelligence. He looked at ancient philosophy all the way to modern thought and pop culture.

5:56 – Sam talks about his own interest in dance and the importance of movement, singing, religion with female artifical intelligence. He talks about embracing our fundamental human biology.

8:00 – Sam uses history, philsophy, and biology to provide his thoughts on where artifical intelligence should go.

10:30 – Sam posits that humans don’t learn as much in school as they do through the sharing of movement and physical expression.

13:17 – SPOILER POINT: Sam talks about how he chose movies and shows as examples. He talks about Ex Machina and its ending.

14:24 – SPOILER DISCUSSION ENDS

16:22 – Sam talks about how surprised he was to find historic connections between the first writing on female robots to modern films. He has found a very interesting common thread.

19:41 – SPOILER POINT: He tried to understand the role of violence in these films and tv shows. He talks about Westworld.

21:37 – SPOILER DISCUSSION ENDS

24:00 – Sam has found a small group of philosophers who have talked about the idea of biology being an important part of being human.

32:30 – Sam has studied dance across the world and people always want to teach others the way they dance.

35:25 – His website is sam-gill.com where people can find his writings on dance and science fiction.

 

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Links of interest

www.sam-gill.com

 

Guests: Sam Gill

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, writer, nonfiction, Data, Star Trek, Westworld, Ex Machina, Blade Runner, dance, religion, movement, robots, artifical intelligence, scarlett johansson, movies, tv shows

Argentine Horror Films – “Blood Circuits” (SUNY Press, 2018) – Jonathan Risner interview

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Jonathan Risner is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Indiana University Bloomington. He discovered Argentine horror and wondered how much of the country’s brutal dictatorship impacted that country’s horror films. We discuss his book on the topic.

1:27 – Jonathan talks about how he got into studying and writing about Argentinian horror cinema. He wondered if an Argentinian horror film could be made without referencing the brutality of the dictatorship in that country.

4:43 – Jonathan then talks about how he turned his dissertation into the book. He included new Argentinian films that have come out since 2012.   There’s not a tradition of Argentine horror cinema. Horror most often associated with other countries. Lots of people have started making great low budget horror films in Argentina.

14:00 – Since independence, Argentinian films have sort of shown a tension between city and country.

15:45 – He also looks at films that are done with English dialogue. These films are often designed to break into the US B-movie market.

19:08 – Another book chapter is on punk horror cinema that is supposed to be purposefully offensive.

21:45 – The dictatorship was dealt with on screen with melodramas and documentaries. A new generation of film makers are using horror to deal with it.

23:45 – The book has a filmography with associated US distributors and youtube links.

30:00 – Argentine horror film is not coherent. There is no stylistic thread through them.

33:00 – Jonathan interviewed a psychoanalyst who had been a college student during the dictatorship and he began crying. That was a moving moment for Jonathon.

41:45 – Jonathan joked about how hard it was to get good punk horror film stills because the film quality is poor, not corporate punk, he joked.

42:45 – He had to mix comedies with the horror films because it got tough to watch so much brutal horror.

45:56 – People can find the book and read the first chapter on the SUNY Press website.

Links of interest

SUNY Press Blood Circuits page

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Jonathan Risner

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: horror, films, Argentina, big-budget, interview, punk horror, dictatorship, memory, psychoanalysis

Classical “monster” art – “Portraits of Human Monsters in the Renaissance” (Medieval Institute Publications, 2018) – Touba Ghadessi interview

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Touba Ghadessi is an Associate Professor of Art History at the Wheaton College Massachusetts. We spoke about her book on how the “monstrous” form was portrayed in 16th and 17th century art found among noble courts.

3:45 – Touba talks about the book and what it means to be a monster in the 16th century.

8:00 – Touba thought she might find definite categories of “monsters” but the meaning was more porous. Courts loved having dwarves at court.

12:00 – Touba talks about a dwarf that was taught to fight, to speak other languages and taught many different skills by his court patrons. Some dwarves were mentally incapacitated and used as jesters sometimes.

21:24 – There’s a long history of dwarfism in other cultures being a perfect miniature representation of a human being.

25:45 – In the 16th century, anatomists started looking at dwarves as biological entities rather than omens of something.

27:30 – Touba could look at purchase inventories for courts to see what was being bought for dwarves by their patrons.

29:30 – She mostly got records from Northern Italian courts and some French courts.

38:00 – It was difficult for Touba to read about the vivisection work that some 16th century scientists did.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Touba Ghadessi

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: art, dwarf, hirsute, paintings, 16th century, 17th century, italy, france, nobility, castrati, royal courts