SICK THREADS – ILLNESS AS AN AESTHETIC

Posted on October 25, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #plaguecore, Abi Palmer, ableism, aesthetics, beauty standards, capitalism, Covid-19, disease, Doctor Who, ehlers danlos syndrome, face masks, featured, health, illness, illness as metaphor, medical discrimination, misogyny, productivity, psychoanalysis, Sanatorium, susan sontag, vintage.

By Vyvyan René

In Sanatorium, Abi Palmer likens illness to a ‘lack of access’ to the world. But could we view this feeling of being ostensibly unmoored from reality as merely a different manifestation of it? Ableism is a prerequisite for the doctrine of optimum productivity and consumption endorsed by capitalist ethos, rendering healthcare essentially meritocratic. For women, BAME people, marginalised genders, queer people and anyone lacking cultural capital, who consequently struggle to be taken seriously by medical professionals (an experience that Palmer vividly evokes), performative illness becomes a grim necessity.

IT HAPPENED

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged abortion, abortion ban, alabama, assault, blood, body, body policing, choice, David Tennant, Doctor Who, DW, emotion, featured, Georgia, julius nicholson, killing, legitimate rape, miscarriage, Missouri, norma desmond, personal, pregnancy, rape, shame, sunset boulevard, thick of it, Todd Akin, twilight zone, visceral, wickwire, women's rights.

by Mollie Leveque

CW: miscarriage, bleeding, rape

Hard as I try, it’s difficult to rewatch David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor without smelling blood.

It’s not his fault. But in a bid to restore a sense of normalcy to the fact that I was miscarrying and just realized I’d been pregnant because of the miscarriage itself, I threw on The Doctor for familiar noise. It happened to be Ten’s era.

Close contenders for comfort media were The Thick of It, The Twilight Zone, and Sunset Boulevard. I like seeing Julius Nicholson squirm. Wickwire providing unwitting astronauts with “eternifying fluid” intrigues me. And Norma Desmond is always a good distraction.Continue Reading

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2018 – PT 2

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Arnim Freiss, BBC's Radiophonics Workshop, Breathless Theatre, Brian Hodgson, C Venues, Carmina Masoliver, Charles Craggs, Charlotte McEvoy, Clay Nikiforuk, comedy, Delia Derbyshire, Doctor Who, drama, Eat Your Heart Out, Edinburgh Fringe, featured, festival, Fun to be Around, Good Vibes Only, Grassmarket Project, Hymns For Robots, Jessie Coller, Jill Rutland, Jodi Gray, Katie McLeod, Laughing Mirror Theatre Company, Laura Suarez, Living Record Productions, Losing My Mindfulness, Natural Food Kafe, Noctium Theatre, Off Kilter Theatre, Paradise at Augustine's, Rebecca Robin, spaces, Sweet Venues, The Edge of You, theatre, TheSpace, Thrown, Tightrope Productions, UEA.

By Carmina Masoliver

The second instalment of a series of short summaries of a wide variety of performances, from the comedic to the dramatic to the bizarre, direct from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Each entry is preceded by the title of the work in question, and the venue(s) at which it is being performed as part of the Fringe.

Content warning: mentions eating disorders, sexual assault, domestic abuse, childhood trauma.

THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF SCREEN HORROR

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged 1980s, children, David Cronenberg, Disney, Doctor Who, fear, featured, film, Gore Verbinski, Hiroshi Takahashi, horror, Incredibles 2, nuclear family, Pixar, Poltergeist, Ring, ronald reagan, screens, Screenslaver, technophobia, television, Tobe Hooper, VCR, Videodrome.

by Robyn Banks

Video media have always had a way of tapping into the current fears of the watcher. Be it in horror movies or films aimed at children, they show us topical fears in either exaggerated gory fashion or in subtle ways that stay with you well past the end of the credits. This has never been more true of the fear of screens. Over the decades, the screen has often been used on screen as a device that either projects our worst fears or captivates us and holds us against our will. The fear of screens warping our minds is a form of mild technophobia, an attitude dismissed by many as socially conservative. Nonetheless, many filmmakers have used it to their advantage to create horror and thrills, as well as using it as a form of social commentary.

IT’S A GIRL!

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged acting, actor, arts, bbc, casting, Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who, equality, gender, Jodie Whittaker, Mary Shelley, media, parity, Peter Capaldi, Rey, role model, scifi, sexism, showrunner, star wars, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, time travel, TV, white, whovian, women.

by Paige Selby-Green

“They’ll never do it,” I said, with total certainty. “I mean I’d love it – if it wasn’t Stephen Moffat writing it, at least – but they’ll never do it.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to be so wrong.

CULTURE CU*TS

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Apple, arts, bbc, conservative, corporate, culture, Doctor Who, entertainment, general election, media, neo-liberal, radio, streming, torrents, TV, welfare cuts.

by Mike Vinti

The future of the BBC is uncertain. Despite John Whittingdale’s assurances everything is going to be ok, you can’t help but wonder — if they’re abolishing grants for disadvantaged students, cutting disability benefits and generally meddling in the NHS, why would they save the BBC? As the Tories start to enact their new budget, it seems nothing is safe.

The cuts have already started. Though its programming has been weak in recent years, the loss of BBC Three is symbolic of the Tories plans for the rest of the broadcaster. It hardly seems like a coincidence, especially in the context of Osbourne’s refusal to scrap the free license fee for over 65s, that the BBC’s youth-focused channel was A) its most neglected or B) the first of its services to go. The Tories’ cuts to the welfare state have disproportionately affected young people ,and if previous attempts are anything to go by, so will its gradual disintegration of the BBC.

This will be easy for Cameron and his underlings in the department of Culture, Media and Sport to achieve. The BBC has been losing young viewers and listeners from its TV and Radio stations for years.Continue Reading

Doctor Who

SICK THREADS – ILLNESS AS AN AESTHETIC

By Vyvyan René

IT HAPPENED

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2018 – PT 2

THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF SCREEN HORROR

IT’S A GIRL!

CULTURE CU*TS

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