Mexico Art Revolution, Ben Wheatley, Dystopia

Available for over a year

Dystopian fiction has a long and distinguished history in many languages. Violence, war, crime, vigilantism, the hunting down of human beings as a blood sport are just some of the distinguishing features of novels such as 1984, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale, Farenheit 451, films such as Mad Max, A Clockwork Orange and many others. Two new dystopian novels by the scientist Susan Greenfield and academic Martin Goodman give Matthew Sweet the chance to ask whether dystopias ever really go away, and even if they don't do they ever say anything constructive about the future? Henry Gee joins the discussion. From Witchfinder General to The Wicker Man, via Blood On Satan's Claw and a whole host of Hammer, there's a small but honourable tradition in British cinema of horror films set in the country. Director Ben Wheatley's latest work A Field In England sits squarely in the middle of the genre. Wheatley joins Matthew along with the writer Iain Sinclair to discuss the uncanny appeal of the British countryside. And Matthew goes to see 'Mexico: A Revolution in Art,1910 - 1940,' the subject of the Royal Academy's latest exhibition. Diego Rivera, Manuel Alvarez Bravo and others bring the turmoil of revolution to London. All on Night Waves this evening on Radio 3.