Jack Graham

New essay. On Protestantism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, and their relation to capitalism. New essay. On Protestantism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, and their relation to capitalism. The religious world is but the reflex of the real world. And for a society based upon the production of commodities, in which

The religious world is but the reflex of the real world. And for a society based upon the production of commodities, in which the producers in general enter into social relations with one another by treating their products as commodities and values, whereby they reduce their individual private labou

The alt-right is now a past mode, but its influence as a stage in a process is still working itself out. Paleolibertarianism was a consciously devised mutation of Austrian-influenced libertarianism, concocted by the late-20th century’s most prominent devotee of Austrian dogma, Murray Rothbard (and h

A glib answer to the question ‘Why does Protestantism happen?’ would be ‘the printing press’. But this begs the question... To say that the protestant Reformation is an expression of the rise of capitalism is not to say that you have capitalist Protestantism on one side, feudal Catholicism on the ot

In The Reactionary Mind, Corey Robin claimed – drawing on Naomi Klein & Greg Grandin – that Hayek “admired Pinochet’s Chile so much that... In The Reactionary Mind, Corey Robin claimed – drawing on Naomi Klein and Greg Grandin – that Hayek “admired Pinochet’s Chile so much that he decided to hold a

On the legacy of fascist and reactionary libertarian theory in neoliberalism. All law is situational law. The sovereign produces and guarantees the situation in its totality. He has the monopoly over this last decision. – Carl Schmitt Personally, I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government

Continuing a consideration of ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’ by M.R. James and its BBC television adaptation by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Continuing a consideration of ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’ by M.R. James and its BBC television adaptation by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Here is Part 1 of

On ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’ by M.R. James and its BBC television adaptation by Lawrence Gordon Clark - Introduction On ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’ by M.R. James and its BBC television adaptation by Lawrence Gordon Clark Introduction ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’ was one o

An intro to a series on the ghost story writer M.R. James, some of his stories, and their television adaptations... This essay is intended as a light introduction to a series on the ghost story writer M.R. James, some of his stories, and their television adaptations, as well as some related texts an

The Cybermen, The Borg, Capitalism, Collectivism, and the Gothic The literature of terror is born precisely out of the terror of a split society and out of the desire to heal it. - Franco Moretti 0. Introduction People often compare the Borg, the cyborg gestalt from the Star Trek franchise, to Docto

During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons

The Nazis won the war. They invaded and colonised the Western consciousness. They marched into, occupied, and restructured our heads. They redrew the maps in our minds. They razed and rebuilt our perceptions. They re-engineered our entire civilisation. They purged the libraries of our brains of the

Star Wars, America, and the politics of Republic, Empire, and Rebellion Three political categories dominate the Star Wars galaxy: Republic, Empire, and Rebellion. This is the arrangement in The Force Awakens just as much as in the original trilogy. Indeed, it is the apparent impossibility of telling

This is a slightly edited and rewritten version of something I posted at the old blog years ago. Since I'm thinking about Star Trek at the moment... * The Federation is supposedly post-capitalist, post-money, etc., yet it has many of the important hallmarks of advanced capitalist social organisation

On Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Season 1 Episode 19: 'Duet' (1993) I wrote this for the forthcoming collection of DS9 essays from ATB Publishing Outside In Can Live With It. This is D1. A version of this will appear in the finished collection but it'll probably be shorter. * In 1985, a prosperous, middl

An Examination of a Classic Statement of Reactionary Thought (I am republishing an edited and slightly expanded version of this essay here, since it came up in the most recent IDSG bonus episode. This essay was originally written in 2018, and I have not troubled to update references, so the reader w

Final part of a consideration of John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness (1994). The ideas in this essay were partly developed in conversation with Elliot Chapman and George Daniel Lea. In The Mouth of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft, Alan Moore’s Providence, metafiction, the ‘fourth wall’, China Miéville’

Part 3 of a consideration of John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness (1994). No more prologues. This installment gets down to business. Part 3 of a consideration of John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness (1994). The ideas in this essay were partly developed in conversation with George Daniel Lea

Part 2 of a consideration of John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness (1994), and other things via it. The ideas in this essay were partly Part 2 of a consideration of John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness (1994), and other things via it. The ideas in this essay were partly developed in conversat

On The Boy (2016) On The Boy (2016) As a paying member (thank you!) you're getting this review/essay in its first draft form, in advance of publication at Eruditorum.press. The Boy, a film from 2016, written by Stacey Menear and directed by William Brent Bell, has been largely-forgotten, but deserve

This was written some years ago. It remains depressingly relevant. It is now clear to a great many people that what happened to the Native Americans as a result of the institution and independence of the United States of America was a scandal, a holocaust and a tragedy. The idea is so commonplace it

On the End of the World, the Zombie Apocalypse, and other comforting Bourgeois Fantasies Say what you like about the zombie apocalypse but at least you don’t have to go to work in the morning. Zombie movies are about how much fun the zombie apocalypse will be. Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Romero’s

On Possession, Property, and Haunting; on Colonialism, Alienation, and Commodity Fetishism Part 3 of a Gothic Marxist Consideration of Horror as Capitalist Cultural Production Possession is one of the key concepts in modern Horror, though Horror shares it with other genres. The genre of Horror is ge

“This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine” - The Tempest Adaptation, Culture, and Production Dracula, the novel, and Frankenstein, the novel, have one thing in common: they’re unfilmable. The books are unfilmable for different reasons. It boils down to this: Dracula is too bad to film, and Frankens

Advance access to the first draft of a new essay. Comments welcome. Suggestions for a better title, also welcome. Front-runners don’t necessarily get nominations. Many people now considered political jokes have, at one time or another, been front-runners. Donald Trump isn’t even always the front-run

An essay on the episodes This is Not Happening / DeadAlive. I have just submitted it to the second volume of ATB's books of new X-Files reviews. My essay on Die Hand Die Verletz is appearing in the forthcoming first volume, and is also posted here for my patrons. Word limit of 1K means this is prett