Unveiling Post-Apocalyptic Insights from "The Chrysalids"

Prepare to be captivated as we embark on a journey that marries the timeless allure of classic literature with the imaginative pulse of sci-fi radio plays. 

Join Fran from Melancholy Mentor and Evan from Mystery Mythos to uncover the enduring magic of "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham. This episode promises a deep exploration of the novel's prescient themes of change and acceptance, brilliantly reimagined in a BBC Radio 4 dramatization by Jane Rogers. As we navigate this post-apocalyptic world of genetic mutation, we unravel the story's enduring relevance and the lessons it holds for today's ever-evolving society.

This enriching episode is more than just a discussion; it's a call to embrace the unknown and unlock your creative potential through the lens of classic storytelling and modern adaptation. Join us for a conversation that's as inspiring as it is thought-provoking, with insights that linger long after the episode ends.

Transcript

Fran: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Melancholy Mentor, where classic literature meets the vibrant world of radio plays. I'm Fran and I'm joined by Evan from Mystery Mythos. Together, we're your guides on this creative journey. During each episode, we'll dive into stories featured on the Melancholy Mentor channel, allowing fresh ideas to flourish, inspiring you to dream big and unlock your creative potential. Get comfy, open your mind and embrace curiosity. Let's get started.

Fran: 0:38

I'm Fran and I'm Evan, and today we are bringing you the Chrysalids by John Wyndham, not the Chrysalisers Salads, how I was trying to pronounce it a moment ago. I'm so sorry. It's the Chrysalids. Yeah, so this is a sci-fi novel and it was first published in 1955. Every week, we are highlighting an episode from the melancholy mental channel, which is um one of our youtube channels, and the other one that we've got currently is mystery mythos. Yeah, so mystery mythos usually highlights more of the sci-fi and melancholy mentor is classic literature, but there is a crossover with some of the sci-fi stuff on the channel. Yeah, and this particular radio drama we don't have a lot of information about, do we?

Evan: 1:44

got a little bit. A little bit um. It was dramatized by the, by bbc radio 4 , by jane rogers, um in 2012. So this was done in 2012. Another recent one, yeah, and it was actually dramatized in like two parts, but I've like both parts are all in one go, if you know what I mean on the channel, so it actually ends up being like one hour and 52 minutes. So it's a pretty long one and they're just both put together. We've got six point eight K views on it, this one is really good.

Fran: 2:21

We're a small channel Both channels are relatively small and our views are. They're growing, aren't they?

Evan: 2:29

we're a slow growing channel, so we're growing organically yeah that's amazing yeah, and this one is like, say, like, when I'm looking at the, the background of what's going on on the channel, every week it's getting views, so it's a popular story. Yeah, yeah, and the video that we've got to go with it, that that you film you, because you go and do all the video, don't you? Um, was actually filmed at sandbanks, so and it's a it's lovely, it's got like um, there's like a little blue boat floating on the water, so it's probably the one I usually stare at when I'm down there.

Evan: 3:06

Yeah.

Fran: 3:06

Yeah, it's really nice. Sandbanks in Dorset is actually like a little peninsula, so you've got one side where they usually kind of do the windsurfing and it's not overly a beachy side, it's a bit more kind of um, I don't know, you sink your boots in there. Yeah, the other side of it is golden stretch of sandy beaches that lead all the way up beyond bournemouth. Like you can just you can walk the whole thing. Yeah, it goes on for miles. So I filmed it on the side where it's not sometimes you get wind surface on the other side, but usually you get the water sports on on this side because it's not Sometimes you get wind surface on the other side but usually you get the water sports on this side because it's not like a beach for sunbathing or playing on all families.

Fran: 3:58

I think you get a few cocklers down there. I've seen them with buckets. I presume they're cockling and that's the. Yeah, that's the direction that I filmed in this one. What have I got? I've got a little bit. So the story. So we don't have a lot of information about the actual recording, the radio drama recording itself. This is quite normal for us. Sometimes we really don't have a lot of information, do we no Tongue tied there?

Fran: 4:26

We don't get a lot of information, do we no tongue tied there? We don't get a lot of information about it. So this story is a nuclear apocalyptic story of genetic mutation. So the main theme, one of the main themes, is to embrace change instead of fearing it. Um, and it's the least typical, apparently, of john wyndham's major novels, but it actually seems really popular because we had a few comments on this one as well, didn't we? And the comments were really um, encouraging as well, and that they it's like the favorite story, or that people really like this story yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, um.

Fran: 5:07

so a bit more about the post-apocalyptic setting. So the society in this story is rigidly controlled. The main characters possess telepathic abilities allowing them to communicate mentally. So I've read a little bit about John Wyndham being influenced by Darwinism, so presumably this is true. So John Wyndham's actually deceased now. So he's an English writer, but he's actually deceased. Can't ask him directly. So I know, I know, I wonder, like sometimes I wonder whether these, um, how, like some of the, the more kind of 50s and 60s writers, you know how social media would have been embraced or they'd kind of. Because you get um Stephen King, um well, he's been booted off recently, hasn't he off off?

Fran: 6:07

x yeah, yeah he takes to social media, doesn't he? And a lot of them kind of use social media quite prevalently, so I wonder whether he'd have actually been able to answer any of this directly. So apparently he was influenced by Darwinism and he was influenced by the concepts of evolution. So the story reflects the tension between traditional beliefs and the reality of mutation and change in evolution. So quite possibly that that darwinism influence um does kind of show within this story.

Fran: 6:42

The 1950s because this book was first published 1955, as I said, the 1950s because this book was first published in 1955, as I said, the 1950s was a change of kind of well, a time really of significant and scientific change.

Fran: 6:56

I think that's also why there's a lot of sci-fi stories to come out of this era. Yeah, a lot of them were based in the 50s and early 60s and the fears of nuclear war and genetic mutation were prevalent, yeah, yeah, so which obviously influenced the, the narrative, the fear of nuclear war. I actually I actually remember being at high school so I was born in 1970 I kind of came in on um a lot of the sci-fi stuff they used to show on tv early sunday mornings and like as and especially when kind of channel four came along in in britain they added a lot of like alternative kind of tv viewings early morning and I used to watch a lot of these. They were either early morning or very, very late at night. Yeah, and I used to watch a lot of them. So in by kind of the 80s the nuclear war threat was big again and I I do remember a lot of students in high school being really, really worried about it.

Evan: 8:08

Yeah.

Fran: 8:08

And that worry was exacerbated by us. Actually, households received a leaflet through the door explaining about how to survive a nuclear attack. Yeah, so they actually thought that this would be useful information. It was sent out by the government and basically it told you to take one of your doors off in your house, drop it against the wall, making like a little kind of tent behind, and to have two buckets, one for waste and one for water, and in the event of a nuclear attack, you was to go behind this door and survive, apparently.

Evan: 8:51

Yeah, that's very scary, I can imagine. Obviously I wasn't given that information, but if I had it I would have been like whoa.

Fran: 9:00

And this absolutely terrified a lot of young people at the time that I knew, to the point that some of them even didn't want to get out of bed or go to school. Like it was terrifying and the thought of surviving a nuclear attack behind just a regular door from the 1970s, which were quite often just these little panel doors yeah, a solid word, you know. No, it kind of brings to mind there's um, this was a bbc adaptation as well. I think there was a tv series called threads. Oh yeah, threads, okay, and it was. It actually explored the reality of a nuclear attack, yeah, the aftermath of what would happen, and it was done like a drama series, so it was very realist.

Fran: 9:51

Very realistic, wasn't it? And in that, I do remember seeing where somebody was behind the door. Yeah, they'd put the door up against the wall and were trying to survive behind the door, and that's the information that we were actually given.

Evan: 10:06

Yeah, at the time. Yeah, so it kind of reinforces that. So anyone watching that because I've seen fads- yeah, well, let's just say the the um.

Fran: 10:14

Surviving it behind the door was not overly successful oh, I can't imagine.

Evan: 10:19

I mean, I'm not being funny like I can't see it.

Fran: 10:25

Um, yeah, yeah it's going slightly off topic there bringing threads into it.

Fran: 10:30

Absolutely horrific to me it's still so good, though, like really frightening, yeah, yeah, very well done yeah, so the kind of, um, the nuclear war threat was very, very prevalent in the 80s, in the 1980s, yeah, so the fact that the whole, like it, was really significant in the 50s Plus you've got that kind of scientific change, people that kind of believed in Darwinism, people that were against Darwinism and you know the whole evolution process, and it's really sparked a lot of creative writing yeah in that era.

Fran: 11:14

So I think that's also what makes the chrysalids um a popular story and a successful story as well yeah, yeah, I think so so and that's that's all we've got on this one.

Fran: 11:26

It's like we said already, um, we do try and bring you some information about the recordings themselves and there is a write-up on all of the youtube episodes where we've put in the radio dramas and the and the kind of the introduction to them.

Fran: 11:40

We're not privy to a lot of the information, even on some of the more recent recordings. So if anybody's got extra information to add any comments that they want to add anything that they want to say about these stories and we welcome all comments yeah, um, even if it's something you didn't like it, we'd like to hear from you, we'd like to to know more about that, and it's still just fascinating to us. As to you know what wasn't liked about it, um, because sometimes it's the audio itself or it's the story or it's the theme, and you know it's all. It's all interesting information. So we'd like to hear about that too. And go and view and listen, because we do put videos to all of our audio episodes. So view and listen to the episode on the melancholy mental channel yeah, go check it out, check it out yeah, thank you, everyone check it out.

Fran: 12:37

Hey, thank you for listening, bye.