Why Theory

On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Frantz Fanon's decolonial classic, Black Skin, White Masks. The hosts work through the conversation surrounding his credentials as a psychoanalyst, his engagement with Freud, Lacan, Octave Mannoni, and Carl Jung, and his dialectical relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism and his Marxism.

On this episode, Ryan and Todd theorize the adaptation as a form of film. The episode takes its point of departure the continuing conversation over Nolan's Odyssey. Film adaptations, according to the hosts, must represent an intervention to the source text. This intervention can happen at a number of different levels but the most common is that film technology or conventions of filmmaking are altered, introduced, or changed in order to make a dynamic adaptation. The hosts discuss examples of film adaptations that bring a reading to bear on the source material and use the affordances of film to make this intervention clear, starting with the first ever film adaptation, Georges Méliès Cinderella (1899).

On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Christopher Nolan's recent film. The conversation begins with Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey that Nolan consulted and adapted to the screen. Much of the conversation is focused on teasing out the consequences of the changes Nolan makes to the poem's narrative. It's spoiler-town so be wary after about 35 minutes. Apart from experiencing the technical feat of the film, the reason to see it is to see and consider the changes and alterations Nolan makes to the epic, its most famous sequences, and well-known characters.
Referenced in this episode:
Orson Welles "Frozen Peas" commercial outtakes
Emily Wilson's Substack "On Complicated..."
Notes on Odysseus' name
Also, at the end, I (Ryan) repeated what I now know is a common misconception that the Incredible Hulk TV series used music from Rocky Horror Picture Show. That was totally an error. Not as much of an error as saying Ayn Rand's sales figures were equal to Tolkien's in the 20th century but an error still.

On this episode, Ryan & Todd theorize the World Cup as a public event that enables the non-expert to see complex theoretical notions, such as Alain Badiou's conceptualization of the event and Jean-Paul Sartre's idea of self-transcendence. The episode also discusses how the World Cup offers complex ways to view our relationship to the law, nationalism, and climate change.

(Quick note: Thank you to every very early listener who noticed the previous upload was incorrect! Hope everyone enjoyed just Ryan's side of the audio. Todd said that probably made the episode better but, alas, we're back to parity now.)

On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the World Cup and its status as a unique theoretical object. As the hosts argue, the World Cup is a spectacle where the lay reader can and does see the sport (and sport in general) just as clearly as the heavily invested viewer. Their discussion includes reference to Badiou's theory of the event, Sartre's notion of self-transcendence, and the complex positioning on nationalism and one's relationship to the law that the World Cup affords.