'Culture is stagnant, so politics is stuck' | Playwright James Graham – Radical Thinking – podcast
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>Are we doomscrolling our way into a democratic crisis? That’s what the playwright James Graham fears may be happening, as he suggests that our algorithms have led us into ‘a massive crisis of the new’ and are preventing us from imagining a different future </p><p><br></p><p><strong>Aditya suggested reading (and watching) list for James Graham</strong> </p><p></p><p>James Graham has written a shaming amount. I’ve listed below three </p><p>1. Dear England: about England’s football team</p><p> https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002qktz/dear-england</p><p></p><p>2. Sherwood: mentioned in the conversation, set in the village where James Graham grew up in the shadow of the miners’ strike</p><p>https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0c724lz/sherwood</p><p></p><p>3. Quiz: set on the British quiz show, Who wants to be a millionaire, where a contestant wins a million quid </p><p>https://www.itv.com/watch/quiz/2a7854</p><p></p><p><strong>On cultural stagnation:</strong> </p><p>A lot of people say culture is stuck, although few sketch out the political consequences of that stagnation as well as James Graham does in our chat.</p><p></p><p>Many also disagree on why:</p><p>For ‘it was the algorithm that did it’, read Filterworld: How algorithms flattened culture by Kyle Chayka<br></p><p>For a wider ranging explantaion look at Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century by W. David Marx</p><p></p><p>Those two are fairly recent. Much earlier and truly magnificent is the much-missed Mark Fisher on what he called the slow cancellation of the future</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgkLICTskQ </p><p></p><p>On the same theme this essay by Adam Mastroianni is great</p><p>https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-decline-of-deviance</p><p><br></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2026/oct/24/culture-is-stagnant-so-politics-is-stuck-playwright-james-graham-radical-thinking">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
Are we doomscrolling our way into a democratic crisis? That’s what the playwright James Graham fears may be happening, as he suggests that our algorithms have led us into ‘a massive crisis of the new’ and are preventing us from imagining a different future Aditya suggested reading (and watching) list for James Graham James Graham has written a shaming amount. I’ve listed below three 1. Dear England: about England’s football team https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002qktz/dear-england2. Sherwood: mentioned in the conversation, set in the village where James Graham grew up in the shadow of the miners’ strikehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0c724lz/sherwood3. Quiz: set on the British quiz show, Who wants to be a millionaire, where a contestant wins a million quid https://www.itv.com/watch/quiz/2a7854On cultural stagnation: A lot of people say culture is stuck, although few sketch out the political consequences of that stagnation as well as James Graham does in our chat.Many also disagree on why:For ‘it was the algorithm that did it’, read Filterworld: How algorithms flattened culture by Kyle ChaykaFor a wider ranging explantaion look at Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century by W. David MarxThose two are fairly recent. Much earlier and truly magnificent is the much-missed Mark Fisher on what he called the slow cancellation of the futurehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgkLICTskQ On the same theme this essay by Adam Mastroianni is greathttps://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-decline-of-deviance Continue reading...
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