Best Ajay Chaudhary Podcasts (2025)

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 16: Shine Bright Like a TIE Fighter 1:52:47

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2M ago1:52:47

1:52:47

In episode 16 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Isi and Ajay discuss the return of Tony Gilroy’s Andor. Before departing for a galaxy far, far away, they stop by the world of gaming to chat about Hazelight Studio’s latest co-op title, Split Fiction, and the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the rollout of Nintendo’s Switch 2. Turning to the first three episode…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 15: Vampires! 2:30:38

3M ago2:30:38

2:30:38

In episode 15 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay, Isi, and Joseph explore vampires in media, across genre and time! Welcoming back Joseph after a few episodes away, the episode kicks off with a games roundtable on Monster Hunter: Wilds (Capcom, 2025) and Pentiment (Obsidian, 2022), among other things. Then the group quickly dives into all things vampi…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 14: Things of the Year 2024 — Part II 1:49:24

5M ago1:49:24

1:49:24

Isi and Ajay kick off episode 14 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism by paying tribute to the late, great American auteur David Lynch. They discuss the pleasures of Lynch's oneiric style, his keen eye for American mass culture (and the horrors it conceals), and recent re-watches of Twin Peaks and Dune. The two then reprise episode 13's review of 2024 pop cul…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 13: Things of the Year 2024 — Part I 1:49:42

6M ago1:49:42

1:49:42

In episode 13 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay and Isi ruminate on a largely dismal year in pop culture. Kicking off with a discussion of unexpected developments in the world of health insurance, the conversation turns to a number of broad trends that characterized culture this year: AI, long production cycles, platforms—rather than cultural works—a…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 12: Megalopolis — or, the Decline and Miraculous Resurrection of American Empire 1:28:15

7M ago1:28:15

1:28:15

In episode 12 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay and Isi tackle Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis (2024). Kicking off with a review of a few recent pop-cultural engagements—including an assemblage of classic vampire films (Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), among them), Mubi’s restoration of The Fall (2006), Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, an…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 11: Civil War 1:15:45

1y ago1:15:45

1:15:45

In episode 11 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay and Isi examine Alex Garland’s Civil War (2024). Kicking off with a handful of pop culture news items—including the Met Gala, the death of Steve Albini, A24’s Stop Making Sense tribute album, and Apple's alarming iPad Pro commercial—the conversation turns to Garland’s provocative and uneven drama about …

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 10: It's Not Easy Being Green (Under Capitalism) 2:34:09

1+ y ago2:34:09

2:34:09

What does culture look like in a "sustainable" world? In episode of 10 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay, Isi, and guest Rebecca Ariel Porte examine the problems with "green" technology and consumption—which, it turns out, do little, nothing, or less than nothing to sustain the environment—and talk about the kinds of cultural forms, from literature t…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 9: Things of the Year 2023 2:58:49

1+ y ago2:58:49

2:58:49

In the final episode for 2023, Isi, Ajay, and Joseph address the vexing nature of End-of-Year lists—and then go through the vexing process of assembling our own! Isi leads us through our year in cinema; Ajay, the year in games; and Joseph, the year in television, culminating in three top picks (and some honorable mentions) for the year in each cate…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 7: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — Baroque Beauty and Playing Mourning 2:28:20

2y ago2:28:20

2:28:20

After a brief hiatus, Ajay and Isi are back with another episode of (Pop) Cultural Marxism! In episode 7, they sojourn amidst the splendid ruins of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the much celebrated 2023 game from Nintendo's EPD development group, directed and produced by Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma. Before delving in…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 6: Everyone Enjoying Everything All the Time 1:48:44

2y ago1:48:44

1:48:44

In episode six of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Isi and Ajay consider the cultural imperative du jour, "Let People Enjoy Things"—and offer an alternative: not letting people enjoy things. What underlies the collective impulse to not criticize? What is the purpose of criticism? And how does the injunction to not criticize misunderstand the relationship be…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 5: Avatar: Cinema's Watery Grave 2:10:06

2y ago2:10:06

2:10:06

In episode 5 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Isi and Ajay dive deep into the spectacle of James Cameron’s latest blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water, touching on questions of cinematic language, the ironic celebration of nature through its destructions, papyrus fonts, visual and narrative incoherence, Final Fantasy (and being unfair to it), Ridley Scot…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 4: 2022 Cultural Year in Review 3:14:28

2+ y ago3:14:28

3:14:28

In episode four of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay, Isi, and Joseph review the year 2022 in pop culture via the prism of five topics and trends: “open world” (and cinematic universe) fatigue (for example, Assassin’s Creed: Vahalla, Sonic Frontiers); the plague of remakes and cultural nostalgia (Top Gun Maverick, Wednesday, Interview with the Vampire);…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 3: Elden Ring: Endless Purgatorio 2:42:37

2+ y ago2:42:37

2:42:37

In episode three of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay and Isi welcome fellow faculty and videogame connoisseur Joseph Earl Thomas to talk about Elden Ring, the acclaimed 2022 RPG videogame, directed and created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and Japan’s FromSoftware studio (alongside some “worldbuilding” by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin.) After a few …

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 2: Stellan Skarsgårdian 1:16:06

2+ y ago1:16:06

1:16:06

In the second episode of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Isi and Ajay continue their explorations of the “fantastic form” of pop-cultural commodities. This time around, they take up the latest addition to the Star Wars universe, Tony Gilroy’s television series Andor. Their talk touches on topics large and small, from animatronic garbage droids, ordinary so…

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(Pop) Cultural Marxism, Episode 1: Elves and Dragons 1:51:00

2+ y ago1:51:00

1:51:00

Introducing Episode 1 of the new Podcast for Social Research subseries (Pop) Cultural Marxism, in which Ajay and Isi (and special guests!) will be exploring the “fantastic form” of pop-cultural commodities—from film and television to toys and games to objects of every conceivable consumer variety. In the premier episode, they turn their attention t…