Category Archives: political commentary

The Federalist.com and the Politics of Horror Fiction

May 22nd, 2016 | Posted in horror, morality, political commentary, religion, zombie

I was pleased to find an article at The Federalist online that takes horror seriously as a genre that interacts significantly with social and cultural issues, including the moral and religious. The essay is “Inside Our National Zombie Nightmare Lurks The Politics Of Horror Fiction” by Marc Fitch. The title is somewhat misleading in that […]

Tagged in: , , , | 0 Comments

The Purge: Social Commentary for Right and Left

November 10th, 2013 | Posted in horror, political commentary, social commentary

I finally had an opportunity to watch The Purge over the weekend. I heard good things about the film when it appeared in theaters, especially its phenomenal box office success, earning $87 million globally with a $3 million production budget. Part of the film’s success may have come from its political and social commentary. This […]

Tagged in: , | 0 Comments

Recession and The Architects of Fear

August 17th, 2011 | Posted in political commentary, science fiction, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone

There are stimulus plans, and then there are stimulus plans. In one of the strangest intersections between the fantastic in popular culture and politics, an economist is drawing upon the idea of alien invasion to get us out of the recession. As an opinion piece in The Week writes: There’s no shortage of ideas on […]

Tagged in: , , | 0 Comments

Obama in Science Fiction Imagery

March 31st, 2010 | Posted in political commentary, science fiction

My satirical post comparing Obama’s health care legislation to The Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man” led to my surfing the Internet for how the President has been depicted in science fiction imagery. I found several examples from my favorite sci-fi films and television that speak for themselves without any need for written commentary.

Tagged in: | 2 Comments

Barack Obama: The Twilight Zone Revisited

March 24th, 2010 | Posted in political commentary, satire, social commentary, Twilight Zone

As the nation continues to debate the health care reform bill, now the law of the land, it is interesting to recall one of the more curious aspects of the legislation. During the debate as Democrats rallied votes within their own party to pass the bill, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made the strange […]

Tagged in: , , | 5 Comments

The Twilight Zone, Global Warming, and “The Midnight Sun”

January 8th, 2010 | Posted in political commentary, Rod Serling, Twilight Zone

One of the things I look forward to each New Year’s eve is the 48-hour Twilight Zone marathon on the Syfy Channel. With the close of 2009 and the shift into 2010 I spent several hours catching all the episodes I could and marveled again at how this series still holds up some fifty years […]

Tagged in: , | 1 Comment

Bob Hope, Zombies, and Politics

December 13th, 2009 | Posted in comedy, political commentary, satire, zombie

The following post brings a little levity to TheoFantastique with a brief clip from a Bob Hope film, The Ghost Breakers (1940),  that combines comedy, pre-Romero voodoo conceptions of zombies, and politics. The clip seems especially relevant in light of our current national debate over health care legislation and the Democratic majority related to this […]

Tagged in: , , | 0 Comments

The Twilight Zone, Healthcare Reform, and “The Obsolete Man”

August 6th, 2009 | Posted in political commentary, Twilight Zone

I still remember staying up late on weeknights in my youth watching episodes of The Twilight Zone. I appreciated the interesting storylines and twist endings, but as a child, and later as a teenager, I was rarely able to appreciate the depth of the issues involved in many of the episodes as Rod Serling and other writers […]

Tagged in: | 8 Comments

Sci-Fi Insight on Current Events: The Slave’s Right to Punish His Persecutors

July 24th, 2009 | Posted in Planet of the Apes, political commentary, race, science fiction

America seems doomed never to be able to move beyond its struggles with racism. Despite having elected an African-American president, and other great strides since the days of slavery and the Civil Rights era, charges of racism continue to haunt the country in pop culture. From Al Sharpton connecting race with Michael Jackson’s death, to Jessie […]

Tagged in: , , | 7 Comments
RSS for Posts RSS for Comments