EP84. "Zombie" "Satire": 28YL The Bone Temple (+ Bonus Boning Up on "Wuthering Heights")

In this episode, Jo and Adam trace the long, shuffling history of the satirical zombie, from the consumer cannibalism of Dawn of the Dead to the suburban self-recognition of Shaun of the Dead, and the bleak media mirror held up by Dead Set. Along the way, they consider the evolving satirical function of the undead in the 28 Years Later franchise, with passing reflections on the undying TV universe of The Walking Dead.The main focus of the episode is the release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a film that has already provoked confusion, fascination, and a number of deeply questionable audience participation trends. Jo and Adam examine the film’s unsettling satirical architecture through the figure of Sir Jimmy Crystal, asking what it means to construct a character so insistently entangled with Britain’s most toxic celebrity legacies. They explore the strange and troubling phenomenon of American cinemagoers attending screenings in costume, and ask what happens when satire escapes the screen and becomes a form of ritual. The conversation also considers the film’s deeper literary inheritance, tracing unexpected connections to Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, and reflects on how the zombie narrative continues to draw on older satirical traditions of isolation, scale, and estrangement.Elsewhere, the episode briefly turns to the internet’s response to the arrest of Prince Andrew, asking what contemporary satire does with figures whose public identities already border on the grotesque.Finally, Jo offers a preview of next month’s episode, which will explore the latest adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Satire, as ever, refuses to stay buried.