When Banned Things Happen To Good People - Podcast

08/10/2025

We're adjacent to 1984 this episode as Todd and Peter take a look at the Terry Gilliam film Brazil, which also features a dystopian society, fascistic government bodies, and a doomed love story, but with noticeably more laughs. Though Gilliam did eventually get his version of the film to audiences, it didn't come without a fight, which you'll learn a bit about here.
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02/09/2025

We've made it to the end of 1984, experiencing life in Oceania, and learning what Room 101 contains, and now it's time to finish things up with our final thoughts on whether this book was a decent predictor of what the today's United States of America might start drifting towards (short answer, yes; longer answer, just listen to the podcast, okay?) Todd and Pete share their take on this dystopian novel while answering a few pointed questions from the live audience.
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24/08/2025

We're on track to go LIVE at 6:00 pm today for our live wrap-up of our look at George Orwell's '1984'. As always, if you want to tune in while we're live you'll have to do it through Podbean, and if you want to join the conversation by calling in, you'll need to be on the Podbean smartphone app. Link to the scheduled livestream below, and hope to see you there.

It’s time for our final look back at the dystopian world of George Orwell’s 1984 in this live episode. Has Orwell’s warning of a fascist state in which all information is controlled a prescient warning or have we managed to successfully dodge the kind of world predicted in the novel? Tune in a...

22/08/2025

In this look at Part Three of George Orwell's 1984 we finally see the inside of the Ministry of Love, and eventually even get a look at room 101. But will the Ministry of Love live up to its name? Will there be a heart-felt reunion between Winston and Julia? Will Goldstein overthrow Big Brother? There's only one way to find out! Well, there are more than that, but one of them is listening to this podcast.
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18/08/2025

Hello banned-mates! Just a quick update on our next episode, which is complete but stuck in the limbo of Podbean's upload processes. We're trying to get it untangled from those tubes and wires, but wanted to let you all know that we're planning our live wrap-up for Sunday, August 24 at 6pm, so mark that in your calendars if you want to join us for that (it's also mentioned in our next episode, but I'm not currently sure when that'll be out, and want to make sure sufficient notice is given.

And as always, until then, go a read a fu***ng book.

07/08/2025

In the second part of our look at George Orwell's 1984, love, or something like it, blooms in the grey-dusted despair of Oceania as Winston meets and gets to know, yes in the biblical sense, Julia, and our pair dabbles in revolution. Surely nothing terrible could happen in this dystopia.
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21/07/2025

It's time to get a little dystopian up in here as Todd and Peter begin their look at George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984. As we gaze at the news south of the Canadian border, it's kind of hard to believe how prescient this book is until you remember it was written following a previous attempt at fascism when the dangers were fresh in the mind of the author. And if you think we're looking at this book without making some comparisons to recent events, you'd be mistaken.
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17/06/2025

Todd and Pete dig into some media controversies ripped from the headlines, including the the arrest of Daddy's Little Toy author, Lauren Tesolin-Mastrosa, and Kanye West's release of the song Heil Hi**er. How much is too much, and do either of these works cross a line? Join us for the conversation.
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06/05/2025

We're doing something a little different this week as we invite producer Allyson Rice to join us as we discuss her new documentary Banned Together. The film is a look at the in book bans and challenges in the United States in recent years, particularly under the hand of the Republican Party. We talk about the film, the weaponization of language, and how things are likely to get worse before they get better.
Watched Banned Together here: https://watch.eventive.org/bannedtogether/play/680946b470d7a15f473ad676
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02/04/2025

It's movie night at 'Banned Things' headquarters so Todd and Peter decided to check out what is almost certainly the funniest movie about fascism that's ever graced the silver screen, Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. This film, which was released before the United States had joined World War II, satirized Adolph Hi**er's rule over Germany at a time when few people were giving the man a second thought.
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18/03/2025

Todd and Pete wrap up their look at 'The Chocolate War', the controversial 1974 young adult novel by Robert Cormier, in which a catholic school's annual chocolate sale becomes a battleground for freedom. Do we dare disturb the universe? Well, we do, but you may have to make up your own mind.
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01/08/2024

We're back! After some unscheduled away time from the podcast, Todd and Pete return just in time to strip down and enjoy a tasty Naked Lunch, courtesy of author William S. Burroughs. It's beautiful! It's weird! We can't tell what's going on! It's all part of the ride. (NOTE: Due to technical difficulties, Pete's audio quality drops substantially about halfway through this episode. We suspect he was recording from the Interzone, while trying to source more of the black meat)
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