[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

TV IS TAPPING INTO OUR COLLECTIVE DESIRE TO RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
 
[[link removed]]


 

Avishay Artsy
June 25, 2025
AV Club
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ From a trippy Adult Swim satire to a Star Wars saga, shows this
year are making the case to question and push back against the system.
_

Clockwise from left: Andor (Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd.), Common Side
Effects (Image: Adult Swim), Paradise (Photo: Brian Roedel/Disney),
Severance (Photo: Apple TV+),

 

Back in January, we were treated to two TV shows that didn’t share a
whole lot in common on paper: One was an unnerving, brainy suspense
series set within the clinical walls of an office building, the other
a dystopian political tale taking place in a bunker that’s run by a
billionaire. But while quite dissimilar in tone and
execution, _Severance _season two
[[link removed]] and _Paradise_
[[link removed]] both took aim and a
similar target: greedy entities manipulating citizens for personal
benefit. What’s more, the characters in each thriller questioned
authority figures in the face of persistent disillusionment and
outrage—and eventually defied those powerful few for deceiving,
controlling, and exploiting them. And as it turned out, these early
2025 shows were early signifiers of the wave of resistance-related
storylines on TV to come.  

Over the past six months, several series have captured, in ways big
and small, audience’s gnawing sense of malaise about a whole host of
issues: oppressive governments, labor woes, a scammy healthcare
industry, an ever-expanding wealth gap, the commercialization of art,
and corporate greed, to name a few. And they’re entertaining while
being rooted in a rage-against-the-machine attitude in a time that
calls for it. Despite their disparate genres, shows like _Common Side
Effects_
[[link removed]] (a
surreal animated production critiquing Big Pharma), _Hacks_
[[link removed]] (a
Hollywood-set comedy that had an art-vs.-commerce through-line this
year, much like _Mythic Quest_ and _The Studio_), and South Korean
phenom _Squid Game_
[[link removed]] (the
upcoming third and final season of which relentlessly drills down on
economic inequality) hit hard by weaving modern frustrations into its
plots. They depict the paranoia and desperation
[[link removed]] that
comes with political and commercial instability—and satisfyingly
imagine what it might be like to fight back. 

No drama achieves this more achingly than Tony Gilroy’s _Andor_
[[link removed]],
which dissects the surveillance state and fascism through rebellion in
its tense final round. Just look at episode eight, when the ruthless
Empire slaughters peaceful protestors, with the Ghormans’ pleas
echoing real-life atrocities almost in real time. As _The A.V.
Club_‘s recap
[[link removed]] of the hour
puts it, “The parallels aren’t subtle, because they aren’t meant
to be. They’re bloody and brutal and naked and ugly and exhausting
and heartbreaking. But subtle? What would be the point? We’re long
past that.” 

_Paradise_ is a comparatively cornier espionage thriller with a
climate crisis twist. But the Dan Fogelman series, like _Andor_, also
isn’t subtle about its ideology. The show revolves around a
secret-service agent’s efforts to expose a billionaire for her
unchecked abuse of power and hoarding of resources instead of rescuing
those stranded on a destroyed planet. Essentially, Xavier’s
(Sterling K. Brown) goal is to bring down a filthy rich, Elon
Musk-esque founder who has wormed her way into government and the
inner circle of a former POTUS. (Yes, this feels lifted directly from
real events.) Unlike a few tiresome recent dramas about the wealthy
getting away with their crimes
[[link removed]], _Paradise_ wants
to hold them accountable. A similar galvanizing sentiment fuels _The
Handmaid’s Tale_‘s final season
[[link removed]],
which sees June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and her allies finally start
to destroy Gilead.  

As the real world spirals into fascism, at least there’s some
victory to be found on the screen. But analyzing thorny modern issues
through fictional characters is admittedly nothing new. Just think
of  _M*A*S*H_‘s anti-war narratives and _The Wire_‘s breakdowns
of institutional corruption—or how _Mr. Robot, The Boys_,
and _Industry _address the impact of privatization, not to mention
the onslaught of “eat
[[link removed]] the
[[link removed]] rich
[[link removed]]”
films and shows from a few years back. 

And then there’s _Black Mirror_
[[link removed]]. This
year’s seventh season boasts the harrowing “Common People
[[link removed]],”
which follows a schoolteacher with a brain tumor who signs up with a
cutting-edge startup so that their synthetic tissue servers can keep
her alive. But at what cost? Unable to afford the pricey subscription
services, her husband secretly performs degrading tasks online. When
they still can’t pay, the company doesn’t empathize with or care
to alleviate their pain. An argument can be made that Amanda (Rashida
Jones) and Mike Waters (Chris O’Dowd) could’ve chosen not to seek
the help from Rivermind Technologies. Then again, the couple was
presented with a solution and a long-term future, only for it to be
slowly chipped away. 

Adult Swim’s trippy _Common Side Effects _sets its sights on a
similar dilemma_. _“The whole system is sick,” Marshall Cuso
(Dave King) says. His discovery of a cure-all mushroom puts him in the
crosshairs of a pharma giant, top officials, and the FBI, with the
show skewering the healthcare and insurance industries that prey on a
vulnerable public. Compounding this, Rheutical Pharma employee and
Marshall’s high-school lab partner Frances Applewhite (Emily
Pendergast) struggles with doing the right thing or selling out for a
promotion and raise. Frances is quick to justify her betrayal of
Marshall, only to discover that she’s trapped in a nightmare that
she can’t change from within. 

Another show that details the woes of modern medicine is _The Pitt_,
which unpacks a high-stakes 15-hour ER shift for doctors and nurses
and underlines the strife between hospital staff and the board. “Why
don’t you go back to your micro-managerial ivory tower and let us
get the fuck back to work?” Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle
[[link removed]])
yells at a medical officer worried about optics after a tragedy in a
fit of screw-the-system rage. 

Of course, ironically, these aforementioned shows live on streaming
platforms that are part of huge conglomerates themselves. Charlie
Brooker’s Netflix series even contains an episode about the rising
prices of subscription services
[[link removed]].
Meanwhile, _Severance_ (not unlike Prime Video’s _The Boys_) is a
bleak satire about corporate culture produced by a tech titan, with
season two ending on the promising note of an uprising as Lumon
workers band together to fight for their rights. It seems that no
matter the style or setting they’re packaged in, anti-establishment
ideas are easy to find—and connect with—on our screens right now.
And witnessing these characters speak truth to power is pretty damn
cathartic. 

* Protest
[[link removed]]
* Rebellion
[[link removed]]
* Counter-culture
[[link removed]]
* Andor
[[link removed]]
* handmaid's tale
[[link removed]]
* severance
[[link removed]]
* the pitt
[[link removed]]
* common side effects
[[link removed]]
* black mirror
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]