Void Wave Podcast

In this shorter preface episode we are introducing ourselves, chat about our motivations behind starting this project and broadly preview some of the topics we have a shared interest in and will be featuring on the podcast.

In this episode we’re going to have a look at Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 dystopian action-thriller Children of Men. Despite its relatively poor performance at the box office upon release, the movie has become somewhat of a modern classic by now and seems to be fairly popular among antinatalists due to its central topic and main source of conflict: a global infertility crisis. Besides discussing the main plot, we’ll also go into the social, political and spiritual themes the film explores, many of which (refugee streams and authoritarian reaction to it e.g.) are still very much relevant today.

In today’s episode we are discussing S1 of Eric Kripke’s small screen adaptation of the violent, dark, but also humorous comic book series The Boys originally created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. At the time of recording S2 had just started airing and we thought this would be an opportune moment to delve into the show’s satirical take on the superhero genre. We’ll be exploring the show’s parody of common genre archetypes and tropes, as well as its depiction of the interrelation between and corrupting influence of corporate capitalism, new technologies, celebrity culture, patriotism, religion and the state apparatus.

For this episode we decided to talk about a range of issues related to antinatalism. We start the discussion off with the topic of falling birth rates and natalist policies implemented in reaction to them, segueing into an examination of the charges of “eco-fascism” antinatalists sometimes find themselves confronted with. Furthermore we tackle the controversial topic of eugenics in light of a recent whistle-blower exposé alleging forced hysterectomies taking place in a U.S. ICE detention centre and lastly give some critical commentary on the state of discourse in antinatalist community spaces online.

In this episode we’re having a look at Uli Edel’s 1989 slice-of-life drama Last Exit to Brooklyn. The film is based on Hubert Selby Jr.’s novel of the same name, which was hotly debated in some countries when it originally came out in 1964. Naturally, the novel’s at the time controversial themes and depictions of characters also carried over into the movie adaptation. We’ll be discussing the film’s portrayal of strike action involving the unionized workers of a local factory, a married man and father discovering his homosexuality, as well as the struggles of a young woman working as a street prostitute and other “rejects” that fell through the cracks of society.

In today’s episode we are finishing our Hubert Selby Jr. double feature by having a look at Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000). The movie is again set mostly in Brooklyn and while also exploring themes similar to those of Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem’s arguably even bleaker tone and story, as well as its novel and in part experimental approach to filmmaking at the time of release, manage to make it a very distinct viewing experience. We’ll be discussing editing choices, overall themes and the movie’s main characters: the widowed Sara and a trio of junkies consisting of her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion and his best friend Tyrone.

For this week’s episode we return to the subject of antinatalism and have a quick look at Robert J King’s article Good to Be Alive – Is anti-natalism to be taken seriously?, published in 2019 via Psychology Today’s online blog section - https://bit.ly/2Hax6g1We will critically discuss King’s polemics, his conception of what the antinatalist position is and dissect the argumentation presented in the article to see if it holds up to scrutiny.

It’s spooky season and in this week’s episode we’re discussing David Lynch’s nightmarish cult classic Eraserhead (1977). As a filmmaker, Lynch is notorious for his experimental style, part of which is of course his at times cryptic and not always easy to decode use of visual metaphor, diegetic music, as well as a unique symbolism recurrent throughout most of Lynch’s filmography. We’ll walk you through the movie’s plot, interpreting it to the best of our abilities and with a special emphasis on the film’s main theme: the tension between sexual desires and the horror of fatherhood as experienced through the interior view of the main character.

In today’s episode we’re having a look at Simon Amstell’s 2017 vegan mockumentary Carnage. Set in the year 2067, the film chronicles the events leading up to a utopian future in which animal liberation has been achieved and plant based living has become the norm. We’ll discuss the rise of veganism as depicted in the movie and how it compares to our real world situation, touching on topics such as the devastating effects of intensive farming on the environment and the emergence of deadly zoonotic diseases. Carnage overall is more humorous in tone and less gore-heavy than other vegan documentaries, which we found makes it a more approachable introduction to the subject.

In this week’s episode we once again revisit the topic of antinatalism and take a look at The Ultimate Antinatalism Argument Guide (https://bit.ly/3mYR3pK), a collaborative project authored by a number of users active in the antinatalist community on Reddit. The guide is not a work of foundational theory, but rather an activist’s handbook on what the antinatalist position is, how to argue in favor of it and how to rebut common counterarguments levelled against it.Note: due to the length of the document, our commentary will be split into multiple episodes and since the project itself is still very much a work in progress, some of the points we discuss in this episode might be subject to change.

In today’s episode we are continuing with part two of our review of The Ultimate Antinatalism Argument Guide (https://bit.ly/3mYR3pK), a collaborative project authored by a number of users active in the antinatalist community on Reddit. The guide is not a work of foundational theory, but rather an activist’s handbook on what the antinatalist position is, how to argue in favour of it and how to rebut common counterarguments levelled against it. Note: due to the length of the document, our commentary will be split into multiple episodes and since the project itself is still very much a work in progress, some of the points we discuss in this episode might be subject to change.

In today’s episode we are finishing our review of The Ultimate Antinatalism Argument Guide (https://bit.ly/3mYR3pK), a collaborative project authored by a number of users active in the antinatalist community on Reddit. The guide is not a work of foundational theory, but rather an activist’s handbook on what the antinatalist position is, how to argue in favour of it and how to rebut common counterarguments levelled against it. Note: due to the length of the document, our commentary will be split into multiple episodes and since the project itself is still very much a work in progress, some of the points we discuss in this episode might be subject to change.