Things Fell Apart
by BBC Radio 4
If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values.
In Jon Ronson’s award winning first series of Things Fell Apart, he explored the origin stories of these culture wars which have divided us so toxically for decades. But now new battle lines have been drawn. Many of them are linked by one extraordinary thing: they all snowballed within days of each other, just weeks into lockdown. And so in Season Two of Things Fell Apart, Jon Ronson uncovers intriguing and wholly unexpected origin stories, but this time of the culture wars that ignited during lockdown, and now dominate society.
Copyright: (C) BBC 2024
Episodes
S1. Bonus Episode: Jon Ronson Live at Hay
45m · PublishedIn front of a live audience at the Hay Festival 2023 in Wales, Jon Ronson and journalist and author Dolly Alderton discuss Jon’s multifarious adventures in nonfiction, and all things Culture Wars, including an appearance from a mystery guest from series one of Things Fell Apart.
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
S1. How Things Fell Apart, with Jon Ronson and Louis Theroux
43m · PublishedIn this bonus episode of Things Fell Apart, Jon Ronson's friend and fellow documentary maker Louis Theroux asks him all about how he made the series. They take a deep dive into Culture Wars battles and explore Jon's storytelling methods, all while chatting about Jon's broken arm, putting old rivalries to bed, and how they deal with difficult interviewees when they both hate conflict.
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
S1. Ep 8: A Mock Slave Auction
36m · PublishedAn incident of racist bullying on Snapchat is currently tearing apart a small town on a lake in Michigan. As the ripples spread, practically every conflict we’ve encountered throughout our series rears its head.
Presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Assistant Producer Sam Peach Music composed by Phil Channell
S1. Ep 7: A Secret Room Behind a Fake Wall
32m · PublishedIt’s 2017. Late one night after a party a Hollywood actor plays a prank on a friend. But the prank backfires terribly and the ripples are seismic - taking us inside Donald Trump’s White House and the Capitol insurrection of January 2021.
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sam Peach Original music by Phil Channell
Archive with credit to:
Videos discussing Isaac Kappy: Lisa Crapella.– Youtube , The Truth Blog Part 2 – Youtube , Miss M – Youtube , Truth Crossing - Youtube Clip from the movie THOR (2011) – Produced by Marvel Studios, distributed by Paramount Pictures and Directed by Kenneth Branagh Coverage of 2016 Democratic National Convention from ABC News Coverage of Pizzagate and Isaac Kappy interview from Infowars Coverage of Edgar Welch's arrest from ANV News Coverage of Nicholas Sandmann incident from MSNBC, CNN and Fox News Interview with Lin Wood from Fox News Clip of Lin Wood’s speech from Ronnie N – Youtube Coverage of 2021 US Capitol Attack from CNN
S1. Ep 6: Many Different Lives
35m · PublishedThis story is about how the unique experiences of a little girl growing up unconventionally in America in the 1970s seismically changed the face of feminism in the 90s and beyond. It's a story too about the invention of a word - one that's contributed to a ferocious schism in the British culture wars.
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Original music by Phil Channell
S1. Ep 5: A Scottish Jewish joke
33m · PublishedThis is the story of the very first person to be publicly shamed because of something they did online. It’s 1988, the internet exists only in its most nascent form, and a software designer, Brad Templeton, uploads onto a message board a joke in poor taste. How the architects of the emerging internet respond to the joke will create a set of rules that the rest of us have lived under ever since…
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Assistant Producer Sam Peach Original music by Phil Channell
S1. Ep 4: Believe the Children
32m · PublishedIn the mid 1980s a new conspiracy theory proliferates across America - that cabals of Satanists are secretly preying on children and polluting the culture. This ‘Satanic panic’ is a madness with bizarre and dreadful consequences – as an unsuspecting young woman in New Jersey is about to discover…
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Original music by Phil Channell
S1. Ep 3: A Miracle
33m · PublishedIt’s the early 1980s and a hugely popular television evangelist is having a crisis of conscience. She wants Christian evangelism to be less bigoted. And so, to the horror of her peers, she invites a very unexpected guest onto her TV show…
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Original music by Phil Channell
Archive from the PTL network's 'Tammy's House Party' and the 'PTL Club'.
S1. Ep 2: Dirty Books
31m · Published1974. A church minister's wife in West Virginia learns of a brand new curriculum being introduced into her children's school. So she decides to read all 325 new textbooks herself. What she discovers horrifies her so much she instigates a State-wide insurrection. But were some of her concerns based on a misunderstanding?
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Assistant Producer Sam Peach Original music by Phil Channell
With thanks to Trey Kay for helping us tell this story.
S1. Ep 1: 1000 Dolls
31m · PublishedIt's the early 1970s. Frank Schaeffer is an American kid living in the Swiss Alps – the son of an influential Christian art historian - who daydreams of one day making Hollywood films. But for that he needs a show-reel to prove himself. The ripples of Frank's creative ambitions will help trigger one of America's most violent culture wars around the legalization of abortion and Roe vs Wade.
Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Original music by Phil Channell
Things Fell Apart has 21 episodes in total of non- explicit content. Total playtime is 11:13:11. The language of the podcast is English. This podcast has been added on January 14th 2024. It might contain more episodes than the ones shown here. It was last updated on May 21st, 2024 02:10.