Our Opinions Are Correct

Latest Episodes:

Episode 20: Why we're excited about Doctor Who again Dec 06, 2018

Show notes

Doctor Who is a brand new show this year. Not only is there a lady Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker, but the show's whole format feels totally different. Three companions! All new monsters! But even more than that, the show has a new, more upbeat attitude. And it's tackling new themes, including the meaning of family and the dangers of capitalism. Join us as we go deep into the time vortex to unravel the meaning of Doctor Who in 2018.

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 19: What's so bad about cultural appropriation? Nov 22, 2018

Show notes

This holiday season, let's add everyone's biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Or hey--let's not! In this episode, we talk with scholar and editor Jaymee Goh, whose doctoral research focused on cultural appropriation and steampunk. She tells us what cultural appropriation is, and why it's become a source of political debate in fantasy and science fiction. Also: we discuss that one terrible scene in Back to the Future. You know the one.

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 18: Alien minds Nov 08, 2018

Show notes

It's easy to stick prosthetics on someone's face and call them an alien. But how do we represent a truly alien form of consciousness? In this episode, we talk about science fiction that succeeds (or fails) to evoke alien minds--whether they hail from other planets, or evolve inside our computers. Plus, we talk to guest Lisa Margonelli about her new book Underbug, which explores termite society. Did you know that termites socialize using butt juice? Learn all about that and more!

See our full show notes at www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com

Episode 17: Democracy and its discontents Oct 25, 2018

Show notes

With the U.S. midterm election coming up, it's time to look at representations of democracy in science fiction. The genre is often skeptical or satirical when it comes to democracy--you can see this in everything from episodes of The Prisoner to the movie Idiocracy. But science fiction is also a testbed for dramatic re-imagingings of this political system, offering a hopeful look at a more egalitarian world. Our guest Malka Older, a human rights worker and author of the novel Infomocracy, talks to us about how to improve democracy with storytelling.

Full show notes and links at www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com.

Episode 16: Can we survive capitalism? Oct 11, 2018

Show notes

Anti-capitalism is having a moment in the West, and especially in the U.S. political scene. But science fiction has been grappling with the promises and savage realities of capitalism since its very inception. In this episode, we talk about anti-capitalism in stories like The Matrix and The Space Merchants. We wonder why it's so hard to imagine what comes after capitalism. Are our only options a post-scarcity Star Trek wonderland vs. Hunger Games' neo-Feudalist nightmare?

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 15: The future of the city Sep 27, 2018

Show notes

Cities lurk in the background of many futuristic stories, but they can also be characters in them. In this episode, we talk about how cities might evolve, and whether it's inevitable that they'll become cyber-noir dystopias. Also on our minds: Why social scientists are talking about the rise of "global cities," and how Wakanda is one of the few Utopian metropolises on screen. Plus: Sci-fi mapmaker Burrito Justice joins us and explains how he crunched the GIS data to make an accurate map of San Francisco after 100 feet of sea level rise.

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 14: The rise of transgender science fiction Sep 13, 2018

Show notes

Transgender people have always been part of science fiction and fantasy, but the past few years have seen a whole new generation of trans creators bursting onto the scene. Why are so many trans people flocking to SF and what kind of stories are they telling? Also, we delve into the controversy over Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, and explain why so many people are questioning the science behind this concept. Why can't teenagers shape their own identities without being accused of some mysterious new malady?

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 13: The Wiki-ization of television Aug 30, 2018

Show notes

Binge watching. Peak TV. Water-cooler shows. We have many names for it, but they all mean that we've got way too much television. There were 487 scripted shows on the air in 2017, and 2018 is just as packed. In this episode, we talk about the history of peak TV, and what it's done to the way we tell stories. Some TV shows have been Wiki-ized, getting so complex that you need multiple fan wikis to keep up. Others have gotten ultra-bland or egregiously weird just to stand out. Is everything terrible, or is there a silver lining?

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 12: Why Are Utopias So Hard To Imagine? Aug 14, 2018

Show notes

In this episode, we look at Sense8, the globe-spanning show about mentally linked psychics from Lana and Lily Wachowski, and we celebrate its uplifting vision of people coming together and letting go of ego. But one of the most fascinating things about Sense8 is that its vision is fundamentally utopian. Why are utopias so rare in speculative fiction—and what makes them so hard to do well?

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Episode 11: We're in the wrong timeline Aug 02, 2018

Show notes

We've all been feeling like something is wrong with the timeline. In this episode, we ask what alternate history, fake history, and secondary world history can teach us about the present. Does exploring the past in fiction help us learn from history or are we doomed to repeat it? History-obsessed authors Connie Willis (Blackout, Doomsday Book) and R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War) offer their thoughts too.

Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected