Beneficial Shock! 7 Autumn 2022 Together/Apart Issue

Although we come into and leave this world alone, the rest of our lives are spent in the company of others (whether we like it or not). Existentialist philosopher Jean Paul-Sartre made his mind up with the adage that 'Hell is Other People' – but more often than not we only really discover who and what we are through the interactions we have with our friends, family, colleagues, strangers, allies, adversaries and enemies. Taking this as the starting point for a deep-dive into the ways in which movies have explored these notions of together-ness and apart-ness, in this issue you'll discover why twins and doppelgängers often scare us silly, meet the unconventional ‘family’ at the heart of Duncan Jones’s Moon, confront aliens and alienation in Greg Araki's Queer LA of the 1990s and (possibly) cry at the saddest movie goodbyes. Oh, and that's just for starters.

Featuring illustrative work by Paul Davis, Bart D'Angelo, Zara Wilkins, Bessa, Tomekah George, Matt Johnson, Heather Savage, Ian Moore, Jayde Perkin, Jess Warby, Harry Wyld, Ian Whadcock, Liam Barrett, Richard Falle, Jacob Hinrichs, Anna Mills, Gary Embury and Andy Carter.