Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in '80s and they break down its themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the future was looking pretty bright for straight, white, cisgender, middle-class Americans. The threat of unending nuclear cold war had disappeared and only trivial issues like street crime, unruly Middle East dictators, and rampant political correctness stood between us and the digital, frosted-tipped utopia of the 21st century. Into this pre-millenial Abraham's Bosom came Demolition Man, a Sylvester Stallone action flick-cum-NERF dystopia film about an unfrozen Dennis Rodman trying to snuff out our thousand points of light until Rocky punches his head off. But can any future REALLY be a happy one without cilantro and swearing?

In this episode, we discuss the subtle (and not so subtle) subversions of Stallone's 1993 sci-fi comedy actioner, its position among '90s cinematic dystopias, the banality of a lack of evil, the film's silence on class, its commentary on overpolicing, the current reluctance to look forward, assimilating cynicism, and accepting our new weird world. We also talk about IKEA drones, whether dystopias need an artistic agenda, good Morlocks, President Arnie and Cyber Sly, Californication 2032, hidden Jesse Ventura, sex hats, totacotarianism, the Captain Kirk Test, Chekov's Hollywood sign, Stallone ice butt, Black Joker, Ryan Gosling healing us, and Pizza Hut gets it in the back of the head!

Is money joy joy?

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