This week on Inside Culture Fionn Davenport speaks to Angela Nagle about her book Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Donald Trump and the Alt-Right. The book chronicles the progression of a once seemingly marginal group of subcultures, from the white supremacists to the imageboard website 4chan. It details how the internet has facilitated groups on both right and left to gain mainstream expression – most notably with the election of Donald Trump.
Tracy Tough recently visited Cuba and reports for Inside Culture on a changing society there. Gaining access to the internet is difficult as it’s still in government control and Tracy speaks to Cubans about their – often ingenious – ways of overcoming this obstacle. As tourism to the island continues to increase, the effect on the lives of the locals is explored in this short feature. Tracy hears from one man whose life was transformed by a generous gift from one American tourist. The internet and the world it offers seems bound to change cultural life for all Cubans.
Kayo Chingonyi is a London based poet who was born and raised for a while in Zambia. His collection of poems Kumukanda takes its names from an initiation rite there, where boys from the Luvale tribe are sent to a bushcamp in the forest where they learn survival skills and are taught how to be good husbands. Kayo who left for the UK when he was six years old never underwent this rite but his poetry springs from his native land to the cities of England where he discovered garage and hip hop and learned how to cope with the loss of many family members including both of his parents. He tells Inside Culture about the themes of his poetry and reads a number of them for us.
Fionn speaks to Hollywood scriptwriter and producer Todd Komarnicki about storytelling. Todd produced Elf as well as writing the screenplay for last year’s blockbuster Sully – a film about the landing of a plane on the Hudson River in New York and the safe evacuation of every passenger on board. Audiences flocked to a film where they knew the ending before it even started. Todd explains to Fionn how storytelling doesn’t always depend on suspense building. He also discusses how his Christian views don’t keep him away from exploring the darker side of life.
