The modern hellscapes of JG Ballard

When the college I was working at was planning the official opening of the new art block I seriously suggested we get JGB to open it (we were in his neck of the woods after all), my pleas fell on deaf ears unfortunately, and so we got a royal prince instead… bit of a missed opportunity I think… RIP JGB… first stumbled across your work as a schoolboy in London… fifty years later your still our prophet…

My take on Ballard, even as a young science fiction reader, was that he was here to remind us of how quickly modern civilization could collapse, and that our existential paranoia was based on that fear. We are only one bomb away from having to build a fire. A few collapsed supermarkets from having to hunt. One destruction of a working government from subjugation or possibly having to kill. We need writers like Ballard to remind us of these things. It all could end so quickly, and devolve into barbarism. Scary stuff, yes, but the psychological burden of being a modern man.

Brilliant essay! Loved the part where Ballard interrupted you at 12:30 to tell the truth. And what you said shortly after: "The anxiety of our modern existence is that we expect it is a fiction, and that just beneath that fiction are all the ancient terrors we hoped modernity had saved us from." 🎯 Of course it's not true, modernity hasn't saved us from ancient terrors. Those terrors are part of modernity's story, and therefore an essential part of modernity itself. There's far more terror hiding beneath modernity than beneath "underdeveloped" societies

Ballard seems to me to be a totally reliable narrator. As far as i can remember I have never felt that he "played" me as a reader through the use of clever writing tricks. The characters and plot always seem to follow the logic of the initial set up and the motivational energy assigned to them. I wonder if this is part of his appeal to modern artists. To me the novels feel like airplane journeys - they take off, cruise at altitude then descend and land. I have had the same feeling about 10 times in my life with really great musical performances where the performers were presumably in a flow state. I'll have to do some re reading to confirm/deny this.

I've revisited this essay a few times; I love how it was put together. Plus the "Confused, well Peter's going to explain" bit always makes me chuckle.

I saw this video a few months ago, along with finding the Mind Webs performance of the Garden of Time. A few weeks ago, the Met Gala was themed to that Ballard short story. On a whim, I just bought and quickly finished a used copy of High-Rise. Thank you for introducing me to Ballard!

I really love you for this! As my name suggests, I´m quite smitten with JGB! Also of note is his incredible influence on the vast post-punk generation. Whole music genres basically carry his DNA and he never knew how or why as hew just wasn´t listening to music much.

"Asylums with doors open wide Where people have paid to see inside For entertainment they watch his body twist Behind his eyes he says I still exist." [Atrocity Exhibition - Joy Division's tribute to Ballard]

From an audio perspective this has the best editing of all your videos that I've listened to so far. I've replayed it so many times!

First rate research, writing, and production for JG Ballard and his many works and adaptations. Helped bring me up to speed on some of his tropes. Pleased to see some of the movies but I always thought they were more thought experiments. Bt this form of storytelling seems to have gained a new pane in the graphic novel.

This video drops right in the middle of my re reading of his books. Brilliant! I wish more would realize his brilliance especially here in North America

So Snowpiercer is a lazy reimagining of Ballard's tower, which is an homage to Dante?

Another elegantly delivered analysis. I need to read more Ballard.

After listening to this video multiple times I bought High-Rise, my first reading of Ballard, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to read Crash next. Thanks for getting me interested in his work!

Wow…I did NOT really notice all the pools in his writing before. Now that you’ve pointed this out though I realize there are SO MANY POOLS in his works. Thank you.

Incredibly intersesting writer and great introduction to him. Ballard's nihilism allows him to see an overcurrent world as it is (but there are many real worlds excluded from the viewpoint), and reminds me of Baudrillard's later ideas, and those that Paul Virilio criticized.

I discovered the fascinating work of mr Ballard in 1980 when I was a 18 year old - and I was hooked from the first paragraph of The Burning World... The rest is history...

Honestly, as a massive fan of Ballard you've done a great job here with your analysis and with an engaging visual style as well.

I've always associated Ballard with William Burroughs and Philip K Dick, more than the other British sci fi writers, I don't consider them normal sci-fi, i feel these three had some profound insight each with a different search to seek truth within the simulacra with each writer putting up a fight against these phantoms, like shiva. desire and time being cut , drugs and images entering the body , all obsessed, all analyzing the microscopic. they had a special idea of fiction. Nova express, Atrocity exhibition, valis, these are grasps at something inexhaustible. great video

Reminds me of the old Hawkwind number Flat block Of two dimensions Neon totem pole to the sky Keeping scores of people stacked up so high Above the ground But all they can hear is the sound Of the wind in the antennae It's a human zoo A suicide machine Childhood Of concrete cube shaped A flypaper stuck with human life Caged up rage Swarming all the time Tear out the telephones Rip up the pages of directories And wreck all these High speed lifts and elevators Be a sabotage rebel without a cause High rise Living in a high rise High rise Living in a high rise High rise Living in a high rise High rise All stacked up in a high rise block Starfish Of human blood shape Tentacles of human gore Spread out on the pavement from the 99th floor Well somebody said that he jumped But we know he was pushed He was just like you might have been On the 99th floor of a suicide machine