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In our third instalment of The Downfall of the U.S. in Movies, we go back to the most iconic Hollywood movie ever made: Gone With The Wind. How does the highest-grossing movie in history (adjusted for inflation) tell the story of the American Civil War and the following Reconstruction? Gil and Rutger dive in.

In our second installment of The Downfall of the U.S. in Movies, we go back to the official and popular stories of the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, which led to the formation of a new nation. The movie we chose for that dramatic event is A More Perfect Union (1989), with a sprinkle of Hamilton the musical (2015).

In so many countries and societies around the world, social unrest is flowing out from homes social media into the streets. In this episode, Dr Noga Ariel Galor joins Gil Kidron to break down the psychoanalytical perspective of this very tense moment in history, through a wide array of movies depicting fictional and real civil unrests and revolts.

We launch a new series of episodes titled The Downfall of the U.S. in Movies to draw a line from American history - and more importantly, their depiction of American history - to the political, social, and economic crisis it is living through now. The first episode is about America's creation story - its War of Independence. Its so-called Revolutionary War. The movie we chose for that momentous occasion is The Patriot (2000), starring Mel Gibson, encapsulating all that is wrong in the way Americans think of their beginnings.

The 2020 elections in the United States have rocked the nation and the world. How do these recent events inform us about the world's empire? Should we look differently at its history and meteoric rise to world superpower status? Gil and Rutger rant, scream and cry.

One of the largest scheduled events in the world is set to take place this week, and so are the US elections. Gil and Rutger give the inside scoop and talk baseball. Inside baseball. Attention: this is not the only episode for the week, we will record another one on Wednesday.

A month ago, Azerbaijan attacked the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in its territory. This is at least the fourth war over this area and is among a number of recent wars in the wider Caucasus region. The conflicts are fed by the gradual decline of Russian influence being replaced by Westernization on the one hand and Islamization and rising Turkish influence on the other. In this special episode, Rutger Vos summarizes the events over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and analyzes what might happen next.

To prepare for the upcoming presidential elections in the United States, we tackle movies that depict elections, from the 1970s all the way to this past decade. What can we learn about the way the Americans hold this process? About the lead characters? In this episode, Rutger and Gil start with the most recent movie, and then move back in time: The Ides of March (2011), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Primary Colors (1998), Bulworth (1998), Wag The Dog (1997) and Being There (1979).

Amazon's The Boys season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off and takes it up a notch: portraying America as a capitalist empire that will cooperate with Nazis to make a buck, and corrupt ideas such as feminism, racial equality and gay right to sell more merchandise and movie tickets. Writer Dana Schweppe joins Gil Kidron for a very enthusiastic review.

With the elections in the United States coming up this November, we map out five different archetypes of fictional TV and movie presidents (Frank Underwood, Jed Bartlet, Charles Lindberg, the president from Independence Day and Dave), and what they tell us about how America sees itself through its president, what it wants to imagine about itself and what kind of image it wants to send to the world. Writer and editor Omri Harel joins Gil Kidron to look at it all from an outsider's perspective.

Imperial China has survived from antiquity all the way to the beginning of the 20th century - an unequalled historical feat. How do Chinese filmmakers view that? Are there differences between directors from Hong Kong, from Taiwan, and from the mainland? What does Hollywood do with it? Rutger and Gil glide through 2000 years of rich history through a Pod Academy record of 9 movies: Hero (2002), Red Cliff (2008), Dragon Blade (2015), Mulan (animated, 1998), The Great Wall (2015), Mulan (live-action, 2020), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001) and The Last Emperor (1987).

In anticipation of the US elections coming up in November, Rutger and Gil go over the possible scenarios on the table from a global perspective.

Human imagination has been rife with creatures that are part human and part animal ever since we started to express ourselves artistically as a species, and all the way to modern sci-fi stories. Centaurs, satyrs, the minotaur, mermaids, werewolves, Ganesha, and on and on. In this episode, Gil Kidron and Dr Rutger Vos review three movies that depict human-animal hybrids: Prometheus (2012), Splice (2009), and The Lobster (2015). With guest appearances from Ripley, The Beatles, a very expensive orca, Jeff Goldblum (but not in The Fly), Frankenstein, Leonard Nimoy, Napoleon Dynamite, and the chestburster from SpaceBalls.

The tension between the big city and the bucolic village has existed since settled societies were formed. In this episode, we explore the depiction of the European countryside in movies: the clichés, imaginations, and twists. PhD candidate Anke Bosma joins Rutger and Gil to share about her research, which covers that topic and was turned into the idea for this episode by Anke. We rely on the movies Hot Fuzz (2007), Welcome to the Sticks (2013), Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), and A Man Called Ove (2015).

The writers of Westworld reference the book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, which proposes that humans until the about 12000 BCE experienced life believing their inner monologues were voices that instructed and admonished them. Evolutionary biologist Dr Rutger Vos and psychoanalyst Dr Noga Ariel-Galor discuss representations of consciousness in science and pop culture. Featuring guest appearances of Homeric heroes, Woody Allen, The prophets of the Bible, The Byrds, Noam Chomsky, Anna and Elza, Donald Rumsfeld, Debussy, Josh Wink, and Petra the African Gray.

How does an ongoing violent national conflict influence a one-on-one therapy session between two people on opposite sides of this conflict? Is the conflict that's out there detrimental to therapy? How can therapy work in such conditions? Our very own Dr. Noga Ariel-Galor shares her research with Gil, talks about the Israel-Palestinian conflict in particular, and national, ethnic and racial conflicts in general.

In a completely unexpected announcement, Israel and the United Arab Emirates made peace. The development between the eternally warring neighbors is especially surprising because they are not neighbors and have never really been at war with one another. Also, is it really a peace deal or is it a deal to cancel annexation? Just for now? Gil and Rutger discuss.

The story of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones begins in an interbellum period, meaning: a period between two great wars. Looking back, there are interesting parallels between the first part of the story and the view towards the White Walkers and the views that some politicians in Europe espoused to avoid another conflict at all cost. Rutger and Gil discuss the similarities as well as the historical lessons.

Compared to movies about male-female romantic relationships and movies about female friendships, there's a dearth of movies about male friendships. We highlighted three of those movies to explore what they teach us about male relationships throughout life, from childhood friends (Good Will Hunting, 1997), through their early 30s (I Love You, Man, 2009) and then into full-blown adulthood (The Nice Guys, 2015). Therapist Noga Ariel Galor joins Gil Kidron again to break it all down.

The Wire (2002-2008) is one of the most widely acclaimed and highly-rated series of all time, with its impact on TV storytelling, and on local and global politics far outstripping most other scripted shows. In this podcast episode, linguist Mallory Aler joins Gil Kidron to break down the different languages that are prominent in The Wire, from "street" slang to the police language, followed by a deep dive to find what this teaches us about... well, everything.