this post was submitted on 05 May 2025

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125

Is there a historical precedent or tv series that mirrors whats going on in the States right now? Besides Handmaids Tale? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'd like something more extended and literally episodic the way the word looks?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The Ultra podcast has two seasons and goes in-depth into previous attempts by fascists at taking over the US government.

Sitting members of Congress aiding and abetting a plot to overthrow the government. Insurrectionists criminally charged with plotting to end American democracy for good. Justice Department prosecutors under crushing political pressure. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra is the all-but-forgotten true story of good, old-fashioned American extremism getting supercharged by proximity to power.

When extremist elected officials get caught plotting against America with the violent ultra right, this is the story of the lengths they will go to… to cover their tracks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Thanks for the recommendation. Giving it a listen currently.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Ultra is SO GOOD

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It left me disgusted with the US's long flirtation with fascism yet hopeful that we can overcome it.

I'd like her to do another season about the business plot.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

Literally the first novel ever written "Sinuhe" speaks of a very similar crisis in ancient Egypt.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Take a serious look at the collapse of the Soviet Union, the gutting of the Commonwealth, and the rise of Russia under Yeltsin, then Putin. I'm not sure of any fictionalized works that examine this in any detail, but the aftermath and the new reality is well-described in Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. Link is a 10 year old review in the Guardian.

The falls of other empires would also be instructive. There is an excellent podcast/YouTube channel, the Fall of Civilizations(YouTube Link)(Spotify Link). In listening, I found several parallels to the first Trump presidency. I haven't listened in years.

A paper-thin skinned hegemon leads a dying empire against his staunch allies. I fed this prompt to ChatGPT and it handed me back Dune by Frank Herbert and Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There is also Adam Curtis's series TraumaZone, showing tons of footage shot in the USSR during it's collapse.

TraumaZone

Episodes are around on YouTube.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Wow. Hadn't heard of this one. Power of Nightmares and the Century of Self are among my favourite docs.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Any sci-fi by Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley Phillip K.Dick, some by Robert Heinlein iirc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

There's also a couple by Cory Doctorow that fit to the tee.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

You can treat Costa Gavras movies like a series: Z, State of Siege, Missing

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

Player Piano by Vonnegut

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

The Great Dictator

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The movie Her. It’s really close and accurate to ChatGPT, but worse.

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I've found the expanse to be somewhat loosely analogous, but making the associations is a bit of a stretch I guess.

UN is America, Mars is Israel, Belters are Palestinians or other brown folk.

Or they're any number of similar analogues.

Spoilers from the last books (post the current end of the show)

! The entire premise of the current leadership is endless unchecked growth

! This mirrors the Laconian goal of superiority through holding onto what's basically a free infinite energy machine, only it's not really free, it's just being stolen from neighboring universes who's very advanced inhabitants really don't like that.

! We see the same hubris from the people in charge thinking that just a little more control or a little more power will be enough to save us, when really the answer is to let go and stop trying to control everything