Saturday 12th July 2025
Blog Page 697

Fast food now even faster

Eve Webster
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Fast food now even faster

KFC and Subway can now be delivered to your doorstep with Just Eat’s food delivery service.

The company has also reduced the minimum order spend and delivery fee to zero meaning that a customer can order anything from a footlong sub to a bargain-bucket with no additional cost.

Restaurants participating in the scheme include KFCs on both the Cowley Road and Cornmarket Street, and Subways on both St Clements and the Cowley Road.

Already, the service’s waiting times are almost an hour. 

One excited second year told Cherwell that the news “is the best thing they’ve heard all year.”

They said: “Remembering to feed myself is tough at the best of times. Now I can get a nutritious and delicious meal delivered to my door for a bargain price!”

The news comes in light of drivers working for two of Just Eat’s competitors, Uber Eats and Deilveroo, announcing a strike for a £10 an hour wage and union recognition.

Just Eat also offers delivery services from a number of establishments in Oxford such as YoSushi, Bella Italia, Itsu, Pizza Express and the Spice Lounge.

Running for joy

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Running for joy

With the cross country season about to begin, Oxford’s squad take us behind the scenes at their training camp in the Derwent Valley. Last year the Cross Country team had a phenomenal season, winning both the men’s and women’s blues varsity matches for the first time since 2010. They also showed their depth by winning four out of five of their seconds, thirds and reserves matches, a feat which will prove challenging to repeat at this year’s away fixture.

Training out on the streets and fields of Oxford in term time and at their Iffley road base, the large squad of men and women have fostered an inclusive and warm atmosphere in their club, which is reflected in their support for one another at races. At this year’s pre-season training camp six freshers joined 18 returning runners, and their soft tissue therapist, for a long weekend of running.

Based at the Gibside national trust property, the team completed two Cross Country grass sessions, the local park run, and multiple runs around the local trails and woods. An additional key aspect of Cross Country training, especially for those who are recovering from injury, is cross training and foam rolling recovery sessions. The runners participated in cycling, swimming and circuit sessions, alongside clocking up the miles, across the weekend.

Four members of the men’s team took part in the Simonside Fell race during the weekend with OUCCC veteran Aidan Smith winning the event and second year Tim Harrison placing third. They won £100 in prize money between them with this impressive start to the year’s racing set- ting them up well for the coming months.

Whilst the team maintained a cheerful atmosphere through low ropes courses, quizzes and cooking, this light-heartedness is paired with a strong desire for success. With running diaries, Strava obsessions, and friendly rivalries over weekly miles, the group couldn’t be considered complacent.

Club Captain Helene Greenwood told Cherwell: “Now that all the summer miles are firmly in the bank, everyone’s really looking foward to the cross country racing season ahead.

“Culminating in the varsity matches against Cambridge, Michaelmas is an exciting term for the club and there’s a real buzz in the air at the training sessions. All the team members are working together to push themselves to the absolute limit of what they can achieve.”

Greenwood told Cherwell that beyond defending their Varsity victories, the club would also like to repeat their “podium finishes at the 2019 BUCS cross country championships, maybe even with medals of a different colour this time round.”

Hillary Clinton becomes Mansfield fellow

Cherwell News
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Hillary Clinton becomes Mansfield fellow

Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has today become an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College as part of a two-day visit to Oxford.

Secretary Clinton unveiled a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at the University’s Bonavero Institute of Human Rights to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which Roosevelt was instrumental in drafting.

In an accompanying conversation with former Mansfield Principal Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Clinton noted that “democracy is under siege,” telling the assembled audience that “when you move away from democracy…you lose human rights.”

The former US Secretary of State will deliver the keynote speech at tomorrow’s conference, entitled ‘Confronting Illiberalism: The Role of the Media, Civil Society and Universities.’ Oxford Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson will also speak at the event.

To a audience of Oxford academics and distinguished guests, Mrs Clinton said: “Democracy is under siege, international cooperation is being diminished and dismissed, and we have to ask ourselves, how do we maintain the democratic experiment in self government and how do we find the cooperation around the world and stand against this tide that seems to be sweeping Europe and the United States that is really undermining the extraordinary work that was done.”

In a wide-ranging conversation, Clinton also described recently confirmed US Supreme Court Associate Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, as “somebody that would protect the President.” On Brexit, she noted that Leave voters wanted to feel “their futures are given appropriate respect”. Secretary Clinton also stressed that she could not understand why the press, public and political establishment are “so reluctant to call out what the Russians have been doing.”

This evening’s event was titled ‘An Evening Celebration Of Three Remarkable Women: Eleanor Roosevelt, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton & Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.’

Oxford University’s Bonavero Institute of Human Rights was officially opened earlier this year by the late, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Secretary Clinton lost the 2016 race for the White House to Donald Trump. A former First Lady and US Senator for New York, Clinton said at the event: “As we learn more about the role that Putin, oligarchs around him, the Russian government particularly, the intelligence forces have played, we see that it’s not just what they did in our election in the United States. They have been actively supporting right wing political parties and politicians.”

The bronze statue of Roosevelt was created by artist Penelope Jencks. At the unveiling, in front of around 200 Mansfield students and event guests, Clinton noted that it was the second casting of an earlier statue currently found in Riverside Park, New York City.

Phenomenally Intricate: Iglooghost

Barney Pite
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Phenomenally Intricate: Iglooghost

Iglooghost, a producer working out of London with an LP, 4 EPs, and an 8/10 from Anthony Fantano under his belt, makes some of the strangest music around. Like Skrillex, Iglooghost’s tracks are meticulously curated compositions, with cavernous synths and mindbogglingly dense instrumentation. Iglooghost has carved a niche in electronic music with his two most recent EPs, Clear Tamei, and Steel Mogul, and the critically celebrated LP Neo Wax Bloom, released in 2017. It’s hard to assign Iglooghost to any particular genre other than perhaps experimental: suffice it to say that his music has to be heard to be experienced.

Iglooghost admitted in an interview that he spends a month on each track he puts out. It makes sense; his tracks are phenomenally intricate – a mix of bubblegum bass – a genre of electronic music distinguished by warped and syncopated rhythms, and high pitched, distorted vocal tracks – and dubstep, with gritty, high paced drum and bass lines collapsing into heavy, overwhelming drops. It’s hard to overstate just how dense the texture is; 10 minutes of his music can sound like a whole album. How a single person ever managed to pull it all together is a little painful to think about.

Iglooghost is an artistic project which comes from the internet.  ‘The internet is where I fucking grew my brain in a lot of ways.’ said Iglooghost, in an interview with The Fader. ‘I think it’s the reason why this shit is so cheery and fast and the music is never staying in one moment’. In both his tracks and, on a broader scale, his albums, Iglooghost makes the typical progressions we are used to – from verses to choruses and to bridges – hard to detect.  The songs, with  industrial synth tracks and twinkly bell lines above rapping in an invented language – blur together into an extended musical experience, with riffs repeating across the album and tracks coming back to haunt us; like a lot of content which comes from the internet, Iglooghost is, more than anything else, totally, and purposefully designed to engage all of the listener’s brain. When asked what he hoped the listener would get from his work, Igloo said, in an interview with the site Pop Matters, ‘I hope they imagine crazy scenes and little movies in their head.’

His music, broadly, fits into IDM, or ‘Intelligent Dance Music’, the subgenre of electronic music more suited to home-listening than at 3am in a nightclub. IDM emerged in 90’s Britain, pioneered by producers like Aphex Twin and μ-ziq, although those artists came to dismiss the name as elitist and dismissive. But Iglooghost’s music is so detailed that ‘intelligent’, as a descriptor, seems to fit; it demands concentration, and the rapid pace and rhythm which drives these albums forward can leave it’s audience reeling.

Neo Wax Bloom, and both Clear Tamei and Steel Mogul, are concept albums set in a mythological world called Mamu; Neo Wax Ghost tells the story of Mamu’s destruction, after ‘a giant calamity involving two huge eyeballs falling from the sky had completely screwed up their ecosystem’. The two EPs are set thousands of years earlier, in Mamu’s prehistory; ‘We are introduced to a young, see-through, god in-training named Tamei.’ writes Iglooghost, in the liner notes for the EPs. ‘Although a gifted [sic], he and his little cohorts resent their fate of becoming Grid Göds – and find themselves wound up in a hyperspeed, cross-temporal battle with a fleet of mysterious, round beings.’

The fact that Iglooghost has constructed a cosmic mythos to underlie all of his work and aesthetic gives the projects a measure of narrative depth; and the whole genre of Bubblegum Bass draws greatly from the cartoonish, otherworldly culture that Igloo’s lore takes it’s lead from. Bubblegum Bass is preoccupied with the cute aesthetic we find in the Japanese subcultures of kawaii and decora. Furthermore, Igloo explained his release of two EPs at once by invoking the iconic Nintendo videogame Pokemon. ‘There was [sic] Diamond and Pearl, and for the original there was Red and Blue.because of that, I love the idea of having these two things’.

Iglooghost is enigmatic; his music is complex and experimental, and pushes the boundaries of electronic music with it’s sonic ebullience and expansive, maximalist instrumentation. In a review for Pitchfork, Jay Balfour wrote ‘Malliagh [Iglooghost] makes the type of music that happens to you, that turns your mind into a passive receptor and resists explication.’ Balfour is right – Iglooghost makes music you experience, rather than art you consume, and it’s the experiential, absorbing nature of his work, ultimately, which makes it so engaging and innovative.

Krypton: Reinventing the Superhero genre

Molly Chell
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Krypton: Reinventing the Superhero genre

By virtue of being a prequel, Krypton already had critics poised to question whether we really needed a TV show exploring Superman’s homeworld. Surely viewers would be able to expect very few surprises – Krypton’s destruction is an established fact within the DC Universe. But Krypton defies expectations of mediocrity and proves that prequels are worth the effort. Even viewers with knowledge of Krypton’s ultimate fate are in for plenty of twists and turns throughout the show that builds and retains the tension essential to maintaining healthy viewing figures.

Undoubtedly the show’s greatest strength lies in the well-paced and detailed world-building, which allows viewers to enjoy it even with limited knowledge of Superman lore. The planet’s culture, particularly its rank-based nature, and the El family’s history is brilliantly woven into the world-building. Indeed, all of the exposition feels necessary to the show’s plot; everything from the costumes to the long shots of the planet’s landscape truly immerses us in Krypton’s culture. Krypton is a show fully capable of standing on its own feet; even if the Superman films did not exist, the show would still be less enjoyable.

The show’s stakes are clearly established in the pilot with the appearance of a visitor from another world and a revelation imparted to Superman’s grandfather Seyg El (Cameron Cuffe). The pilot provides backstory to the El family that reiterates established canon whilst at the same time adding new details to the mix, so that the show’s narrative is not simply propelled by Krypton’s future destruction. A significant story element which fleshes out the possibilities of the show is the inclusion of time travel, an element which always requires careful handling. In a lesser show, time-travel could undermine the entire dramatic weight of the narrative, but in Krypton it instead serves to open up the possibility that the events of the show are not constricted by the curse of all prequels, wherein the audience knows the narrative’s ultimate fate.

The recognisable iconography of the Superman mythos ensures that the show contains plenty of easter eggs for the keen-eyed fan. A carefully placed shot of Braniac’s black tentacles conveys a sense of impending doom as we watch Krypton’s inhabitants going about their lives unaware of the danger heading their way.  By cleverly keeping the villain in the wings, much as Marvel did with Thanos until Infinity War, he feels more sinister than if he had more screen-time.

Krypton differentiates itself from shows like Smallville or later seasons of Agents of Shield by focusing on a protagonist who lacks superpowers. Instead, Seyg has to rely on his nerve as he sets out to prove that his grandfather was right about Brainiac’s threat, a difficult task in a society whose theocratic beliefs, represented by the mysterious Voice of Rao, led them into believing they were alone in the Universe. His quest for revenge, desire to save the world and protect the El family legacy make him into a compelling character to structure the show around.

In the presentation of its female characters, it feels that showrunner Damian Kindler has listened to criticism of the way that women are traditionally depicted in the genre. Lyta Zod (Georgina Campbell) exudes power and authority when commanding her troops and Nyssa -Vex (Wallis Day) appears to be pulling the strings as much as her Father Daron-Vex (Elliott Cowan). However, the forbidden romance between Lyta and Seyg at the beginning of the season is a little clichéed and their relationship suffers from a decided lack of chemistry.

Krypton is ultimately unlike any other DC show; with its unique blend of sci-fi and superhero elements, it’s a show that deserves a prime place in your TV viewing habits, and this is a great time to catch up on the greatness you’re missing with a second season in the works.

 

 

Not even May knows what Brexit means

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Not even May knows what Brexit means

It has been a tough few weeks for Theresa May. This is by no means unusual for the PM, but the Salzburg summit last month was particularly bruising. May had already been walking a domestic tightrope with her Chequers plan, but she has now been effectively pushed off by Donald Tusk’s blunt statement that it “will not work.”

May’s conflict with the EU over Chequers is essentially one of red lines. Under the plan, Britain would opt out of freedom of movement yet maintain free movement of goods, even though the EU’s Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier has repeatedly shunned such cherry-picking. Yet May claims that Chequers is the only possible way to satisfy her two key conditions, that “anything which fails to respect the referendum or which effectively divides our country in two” would be unacceptable.

This is not an argument based on the supposed merits of the plan itself, but an attempt to give Chequers a mandate by linking it to the referendum result. Crucially, it is in exactly these terms that others have sought to derail it. Of course, ever since the resignations of Boris Johnson, Steve Baker, and David Davis, it has been evident that many Brexiteers oppose Chequers. But rather than argue for their specific Brexit visions on the basis of their merits, these Brexiteers often simply rely on that familiar, seemingly catchall phrase: that only their ideas respect the referendum result.

Brexiteers of course know how disingenuous they are when they claim that only they have correctly interpreted the referendum result. Yet this type of argument, which relieves them of the need to argue about the specific advantages and drawbacks of their individual plans for Brexit, is simply too attractive for them to resist.

This helps to highlight a contradiction among Brexiteers. Their infighting is an obvious sign of their unwillingness to compromise for a united Brexit plan, thus shattering the myth of a unified Leave bloc. Whenever Leavers claim that their particular Brexit vision is what voters really wanted in 2016, it becomes clearer that none of them have a mandate at all.

Any Leave mandate rests on the dubious claim that 51.9% of voters were broadly in agreement with a specific Brexit vision. With that disproved, the mandate vanishes. The Chequers disagreements are hardly the first to have exposed this, but they have done so very explicitly. It is unsurprising, then, that we now increasingly hear calls for a ‘People’s Vote’.

Only a People’s Vote would remove the key failing of the original referendum in 2016: a binary vote on this complex issue. The infighting over Chequers once again displays how disingenuous it is to group all Leavers together. They are not one bloc and should not be treated as one.

There are many possible relationships with the EU. Some Leave voters may have wanted to maintain European Economic Area membership (like Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway). Perhaps some wanted European Free Trade Area but not EEA membership (like Switzerland), or perhaps exclusively customs union membership (like Turkey). Maybe some backed ‘Canada-plus’. Many likely supported a no deal Brexit. Of course, many may have had little idea about these distinctions – but the referendum result cannot tell us this.

All the above forms of leaving are starkly different. Some Leave voters were much closer to a Remain position than to hard Brexiteers, with whom the binary vote forced them to group themselves. When considered on a spectrum of possible relationships with the EU, there is not a simple choice between Remain and Leave, but between Remain and many different relationships which have previously been unhelpfully grouped together.

A people’s vote between remain and several different leave categories would resolve this, finally displaying the true attitudes of the British people. Brexiteers’ responses to Chequers play on ‘respecting the referendum result’, but these claims are disingenuous. Anybody claiming to know what ‘the people’ want or wanted in 2016 is either aware of their own mendacity or guilty of incredible conceit. Had the referendum been more reasonably conducted with several categories, it is probable that there would not have been a 51.9% bloc for one Leave option, hence leaving remain with the largest share of the vote.

But one cannot second-guess the electorate; some Remain voters might even have been tempted by EEA membership but were put off by a straight ‘Leave’ vote. Only a people’s vote will stop Brexiteers claiming a false mandate. It is the only way to prevent them betraying the British public.

The ‘best’ cannot mean the most exclusive

Molly Innes
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The ‘best’ cannot mean the most exclusive

It is uncomfortable to think that in the same week, The Times Higher Education Guide has ranked Oxford University as the best in the world, but also the worst in the UK for social inclusivity. What kind of message is this sending? Does the University have to keep up the statistic that four in ten of their students are from a non-selective state school (in comparison to the eight in ten who attend these schools in the UK) to stay at the top in all other areas?

I heavily question whether Oxford University, along with Cambridge and Imperial, should be considered ‘top’ universities when their statistics for accepting students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are so incomprehensively low. It was recently reported that Oxford University spends £108,000 ‘recruiting each additional low-income student’, with access spending at £14 million. Quite frankly, this is alarming. Clearly the University is attempting to make changes, but it should not cost £108,000 for each student like myself to be accepted into the University. Where is this money is going?

Of course, it is a combination of staff salaries in access roles, and different outreach programmes. There is obviously a lot of work behind this figure, such as the UNIQ Summer School programme. UNIQ is open to students from state schools and was the key reason why I applied to study at Oxford. For its 2019 programme, UNIQ will admit 1,350 students per year, compared to 850 in 2018. This increase in students on the programme should lead to a rise in the number of students from low-income backgrounds being accepted by Oxford.

However, it feels like the University is ashamed of its elitist reputation but is using a symbol of elitism – excessive money – to make very little change. David Lammy MP suggested earlier this year that the University should actively approach students from the lowest two income brackets with the grades required for Oxbridge and tell them that they are good enough to come to Oxford. It would hardly cost anything for the University to send a letter to each of these students (there were estimated to be 5,000 in 2015-16) encouraging them to apply and reassuring them that the University will help them in any way it can. Perhaps this is idealistic, but I know students on a personal level who never applied to Oxbridge and would have found this style of access to be invaluable.

What deters students from low-income backgrounds from applying to Oxbridge? For a start, all the data suggests you probably won’t be accepted. Even if you get past that first hurdle, you may still feel on the side-lines – I know that I often do. Whilst the £108,000 also goes towards bursaries for disadvantaged students, the issue of social inclusivity doesn’t stop there. As a student from a lower income and non-selective state school background, I have often felt isolated in a multitude of ways, from the panic of a ‘formal dinner’ in Freshers’ Week to not knowing anyone in the University. If you are the only student from your school at Oxford, while schools like Westminster sent 49 students to Oxford in 2017 alone, it is easy to feel isolated. Not only that, but with 25% of students from London, it starts to feel like everyone from London knows each other already. Social isolation is commonplace and an absolutely normal reaction to the elitism of Oxford University.

At Lady Margaret Hall, there’s a new access initiative known as a Foundation Year. Whilst the programme is not entirely perfect yet, the outstanding students that it has helped gain a place at Oxford University show how it is not impossible to make the University into a more inclusive environment. It shocks, saddens, and angers me that no other college has an equivalent programme yet. Colleges need to either take responsibility for their shocking access statistics, or the University itself needs to introduce a centralised college system for admissions.

The arguments against a centralised collegiate system are ridiculous. I couldn’t care less about the college traditions and keeping them autonomous. Nor am I moved by someone wanting to apply to a specific college because a parent went there, or it’s at the top of the Norrington Table, or it has a nice ‘vibe’. A centralised system seems to be an appealing way of increasing admissions from lower income backgrounds by dispelling vast discrepancies between colleges.

Unfortunately, I doubt these reforms will ever happen. The University is too set in its ways, too reliant on tradition, and I fear too scared of the backlash such a system would provoke. I love this university, the city, and everything I have gained already from one year here. Yet every day I grow increasingly frustrated by its appalling lack of social inclusivity. Big changes are needed.

Molly Innes is the JCR Social Backgrounds Officer at Lady Margaret Hall

Brockhampton: The Internet’s First Boyband

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Brockhampton: The Internet’s First Boyband

While some may bewail the recent rash of synthetic pop groups, created via TV competitions and sponsored by corporations, Brockhampton prove that there is still room in the digital age for groups based around shared passions and interest.

In 2010, Kevin Abstract called for a formation of a band on the Kanye West fan forum, KanyeToThe.Com. AliveSinceForever was then formed in a line-up that included Dom McLennon and former member Ameer Vann. This group failed, but eventually produced Brockhampton.

After their genre-busting mixtape All-American Trash in 2016, the group went from strength to strength with an incredible breakthrough year in 2017, producing a trilogy of albums: Saturation I, Saturation II and Saturation III. All were released through Brockhampton’s own label and media company, Question Everything, Inc. In just six months, the group released 49 tracks, two stand-alone singles, and a boxset that included a slew of demos. At the time, the 15 members lived in one house in South-Central LA which they call the ‘Brockhampton Factory’, where all but one of the tracks were recorded.

In the very short time since their formation, Brockhampton have created a cult following with talent flowing to the brim, but not without controversy. To the lazy eye and ear, many could and have made comparisons between Brockhampton’s and Odd Future’s rise circa 2012, but there is one clear and obvious distinction between them – the strength and the depth that the Brockhampton roster possesses.

This depth perhaps originates in the diversity of the group’s members, which themselves vary wildly from track to track. While Kevin Abstract is undoubtedly the group’s
lodestar, the band have also featured a huge number of other vocal members, including JOBA, Merlyn Woods, Matt Champion, and Dom McLennon. One such artist, Irishman Bearface, moved to California just to be in the band. Aside from Abstract, the other consistent presence is Romil Hemnani, who was involved in the production of all but eleven songs in the Saturation trilogy.

Brockhampton very much pride themselves as being hip-hop for the future. They’re very much against the homophobia and misogyny that could be found in many a hip-hop song. For this reason, Ameer Vann – a former prominent rapper in the group, was kicked out of the band in May 2018 after sexual assault allegations hung over his head. A statement was released where Brockhampton stated they sorry “for not speaking up sooner”, followed by a cancellation of their tour. Much like their sound, the versatile subject-matter explored by the group makes them incredibly relevant. Themes like depression, poverty, and the white commodification of black culture are paired with the norms of hip-hop where braggadocious lyrics allude to drug abuse, sex, as well as being nouveau riche.

Songs like ‘SWEET’ sum up the multi-faceted nature of Brockhampton with thoughtprovoking lyrics juxtaposed with upbeat and rowdy production. Merlyn explores the experience of an immigrant in a low socioeconomic area as well as calling out the phenomenon of the rich kids trying to act like they’re working-class. JOBA teeters from nostalgic character-driven falsetto to melodic rapping where he reminisces about his upbringing, whilst slating the teachers and acquaintances that doubted his talent. The sonics almost seem to create distinct visuals for the listener.

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve had Brockhampton’s latest effort Iridescence on repeat and boy this KNOCKS! Recorded in a ten-day stay in London following sold-out shows in KOKO, a regrouped and redirected group addressed their newfound weight as the hottest property in music. This is only the start – so let’s thank the rap gods for gifting us with years of future amazing albums!

The Bodyguard: Recovering from the TV event of the year

Oluchi Ezeh
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The Bodyguard: Recovering from the TV event of the year

It’s not hard to figure out why the nation has been so gripped by The Bodyguard this September. The show is a political thriller in which politicians and officers hide their actions from the public and act purely out of self-interest, while claiming to only have the good of the country at heart. – I have absolutely no idea what parallels can be drawn by the British public there… Yet, for 6 weeks, the nation tuned in for a collective heart attack, making The Bodyguard the most watched BBC drama since 2008.

Keeley Hawes, of course, shines in any role she’s in, and her now-second collaboration with writer Jed Mercurio is no exception. A regular to BBC dramas, including Ashes to Ashes and Line of Duty, her convincingly steely portrayal of the Home Secretary is certainly one that was difficult to forget going in to the final episode.

Richard Madden, known for his role as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, has possibly found his star-making role here as Sergeant David Budd, war-veteran turned police officer turned personal bodyguard. His ability to effortlessly slip from quiet desperation to overwhelming frustration to broken acceptance in mere moments is incredible.

Madden is able to do more with his face and voice than many actors learn to do in a
lifetime of performance, and it would be a crime to take the talent that goes into this for granted. Is it any wonder his odds of playing James Bond have been dramatically slashed since the premier of the show? Has there ever been a better audition tape?

To Mercurio’s credit, the tension the show establishes in the chilling opening 17 minutes of
the first episode has only wavered momentarily across the whole drama – and the final episode was no exception to the standard he raised.

Each storyline is kicked into high- gear: the Security Service must ensure Budd is killed to stop investigations, the discovery of Budd’s PTSD throws his previous behaviour and pleas of innocence into jeopardy, and the identity of the mole is revealed.

All the while, David is strapped into a bomb, his arms outstretched, Christ-like, as he runs out of time. It feels like anything could happen, including the death of the protagonist.

Once David gets out of the vest, however, there are still questions left unanswered, and with only a matter of hours before the police take him in, David bursts through the final stretch of the episode with heightened, nervous energy.

And then we get to the twist. The moment the series had been building to, the reveal of the largest conspiracy in government history. What was the twist, I hear you ask?Absolutely nothing. Everything that we thought was happening, was happening. No secret PTSD-fuelled dream states, no reveals of complicity from David Budd.

The Secret Service were, and had always been, the bad guys. Yet somehow, the show remains one of the most compelling dramas to grace our screens in a long time. Though
he proved trustworthy, David Budd’s fragile state of mind ensured that we never quite trusted the narrative, and to the show’s credit, the twist was never the most important part; the journey was.

Of course, there’s what the writers clearly thought was the twist: the reveal of the final maniacal villain, which they’d clearly expected to be subversive (or at least, expected to subvert the first stereotype they enacted), but instead ended up being
an uncomfortable stereotype and the one part of the series that completely drags it down.

You have to wonder why the writers’ room didn’t have anyone recognised it as a problem. With more of this creativity, The Bodyguard would have its more shocking and fitting twist right at the end.

It must be said that the best tension came from the first and last episodes. The show finished the way it began- brilliant, full of action. Generally, the writing was exceptional throughout the series, but the best tension came from the first and last episodes. The show finished the way it began – brilliantly, full of action, without wasting a second.

The appeal of dystopian drama

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The appeal of dystopian drama

In 100 years of cinema and TV we have loved to watch the world fall apart, and the upcoming Mortal Engines film and Terminator reboot suggest that our obsession is still going strong. Yet it seems an odd thing to base one story upon, let alone enough to create an entire genre, so why have we produced so many stories about worst-case scenario situations?

The number of ways we have imagined the world’s demise is impressive: nuclear war, global warming, robots and infertility to name a few. How the world will end is an unlimited well for storytellers to draw from. After devastating destruction, the world is a blank slate to be reworked however the writer sees fit.

The possibilities this world-shaping allows were made clear in the 1968 classic, Planet of the Apes. The prosthetics and make-up created by John Chambers allow the film to portray an entire ape culture; from the social hierarchy to the legal system. However, although the writers could create any number of unusual societies for the apes, what is most interesting is that they chose not to. In this film, and many others, the future world is not a brand-new creation – just a grotesque reflection of our own, a melting pot of our worst fears and anxieties about human nature.

In Planet of the Apes, it is a reflection of our assumed superiority over other creatures and a reflection of our use of religion to influence history and suppress views that don’t benefit us, not to mention the inescapable fear of the cold war and self-destruction. In its futuristic cyberpunk neo-noir city, Blade Runner is a checklist of modern and very 80’s fears: corporate power over democracy, ceaseless urban sprawls, pollution, and technology run wild. Even WALL-E reflects our concern about technology turning us into pudgy flying blobs.

So why do we insistently pursue the end of the word as we know it? Perhaps we like to create these stories as a sort of omen of what’s to come, to frighten us away from making the choices that could lead there.

Speaking about her book The Handmaid’s Tale, the now award-winning TV series, Margaret Atwood stated: “No, [the story] isn’t a prediction, because predicting the future isn’t really possible…Let’s say it’s an anti-prediction: If the future can be described in detail, maybe it won’t happen.”

This statement seems to resonate with much of the genre; maybe if we tell enough stories about AI world domination it won’t come to pass. Yet, cynical warnings of the future would not make for great entertainment. Aside from the occasional Black Mirror episode, we don’t like to be convinced of our complete decline.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, a cruel regime, the Republic of Gilead, has taken over America. It is a horrific society where women are placed in sub-human roles, forced into ritualised rape to combat infertility and forbidden to read and own property. The fear of who is watching or listening in Gilead holds eerie echoes of countries behind the iron curtain and the policing of women’s freedom is not far from some of the laws we see around the world today. However, what truly compels the viewer is the individuals’ struggle against this collapse of civilization. One of the most memorable phrases of the series is found scratched into a closet: Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum – ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down.’ It sums up the fight all the characters go through to survive and retain their humanity, and it is this fight that the viewer invests in.

We see this theme crop up again and again throughout the genre: the hope that humanity has what it takes to survive through any situation. The show The 100, depicts a small number of humans trying to survive on Earth in the aftermath of a nuclear war, where the enemy is both the planet and humanity. The show delves into the cost of surviving in this environment and is far from what we are used to in Western society. Would you kill 300 people in the hope of saving thousands more? What is survival worth? It is a fight for both humanity and what makes us human. Characters throughout the show make mistakes, but ultimately, the sacrifices made ensure that life continues.

The Walking Dead is also about making the hard choices needed to survive in a world turned against you. As are The Hunger Games, The Matrix, Maze Runner and many others. The bleakest films and shows seem to be about the hope that humanity can survive. Is this conviction that we can brave the zombie apocalypse simply indulgent arrogance? Or is it an optimism that is encouraging in our era of divisive politics and environmental decline?

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