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Why Theory podcast

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Why Theory

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  Why Theory  

Why Theory brings continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine cultural phenomena.

Why Theory brings continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine cultural phenomena.

 

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#182

Lesbian Christmas

In their annual Christmas special, Ryan and Todd explore the Lesbian Christmas film and the theoretical contribution that this specific type of film makes to the Christmas film genre. They discuss Carol, Happiest Season, and Let It Snow in terms of their depictions of desire and the importance of desire itself coming out. ... Read more

Yesterday

1 HR 35 MINS

1:35:05

Yesterday

#181

Hegelian Praxis

Ryan and Todd explore the possibilities for praxis in the vein of the notorious philosopher who expresses disdain for the possibilities of a philosophical praxis—Hegel. They look at instances of Hegelian praxis in action, including the church of contradiction developed by Peter Rollins. Hegelian praxis focuses on contradiction, failure, disappointment, and universality. Most importantly, it never operates through a preestablished road map. ... Read more

08 Dec 2024

1 HR 17 MINS

1:17:07

08 Dec 2024

#180

The Beautiful Soul

Ryan and Todd explore Hegel’s concept of the beautiful soul as he lays it out in the Phenomenology of Spirit. They discuss the contemporary political situation in terms of this figure and theorize about its predominance in today’s landscape. The beautiful soul also becomes a way of thinking through the difference between Kant and Hegel or between morality and politics. ... Read more

25 Nov 2024

1 HR 13 MINS

1:13:34

25 Nov 2024

#179

Hegel & Feminism

Ryan and Todd address the fundamental connections between Hegelian philosophy and feminism. They discuss the role of contradiction in both lines of thought and focus on some of the major feminist readers of Hegel’s philosophy, including Gillian Rose, Catherine Malabou, and Rebecca Comay. ... Read more

11 Nov 2024

1 HR 17 MINS

1:17:53

11 Nov 2024

#178

Aufhebung (Sublation)

Ryan and Todd work to explain Hegel's central idea of Aufhebung (translated as "sublation"). This unique German term, which means to cancel, to preserve, and to lift up, provides the key for understanding the movement of Hegel's philosophy, but it is also the site for misunderstanding Hegel's project, which the show discusses. ... Read more

26 Oct 2024

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:33

26 Oct 2024

#177

Contemporary Horror

Ryan and Todd continue their discussion of the horror film by focusing on the genre since Psycho. They discuss Night of the Living Dead, Carrie, The Shining, The Blair Witch Project, It Follows, and The Substance. Their theorize the modern horror film in relation to the psychoanalytic notion of the death drive. ... Read more

14 Oct 2024

1 HR 47 MINS

1:47:28

14 Oct 2024

#176

Fredric Jameson

Ryan and Todd pay tribute to the recently deceased theorist Fredric Jameson. They note his deep and wide-ranging contributions to a variety of fields and his unique ability to find something valuable in the object of his critique. ... Read more

29 Sep 2024

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:01

29 Sep 2024

#175

Horror Film

Ryan and Todd explore the classical horror film in terms of the antagonism between life and the beyond, inclusive of death. They focus on the films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Godzilla, and Psycho. ... Read more

16 Sep 2024

1 HR 29 MINS

1:29:37

16 Sep 2024

#174

Heist Film

Ryan and Todd develop their theory of the heist film as a genre, which they see as structured through the opposition between desire and its object. They examine closely Rififi, The Killing, Heat, Ocean's 11, and Inside Man, as well as touching on many other key films of the genre. Hugh Manon's film noir podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aQXewYjXrMtTjwpJ18rg6 ... Read more

02 Sep 2024

1 HR 32 MINS

1:32:55

02 Sep 2024

#173

Sports Film

Ryan and Todd explore the genre of the sports film, focusing on important entries in the genre such as Chariots of Fire, Rocky, and Heaven Can Wait, among others. They define this genre through the category of the impossible and discuss the relationship between possibility and impossibility as it plays out in the sports film. ... Read more

18 Aug 2024

1 HR 41 MINS

1:41:00

18 Aug 2024

#172

New Introductory Lectures

Ryan and Todd discuss what they see as the important moments from Freud's New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis--both its highlights and its lowlights. They explore the role that Freud's 1920 discovery of the death drive plays--or doesn't play--in this work. ... Read more

04 Aug 2024

1 HR 22 MINS

1:22:29

04 Aug 2024

#171

Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis

Ryan and Todd outline the arguments of Freud's Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis and highlight the key ideas that appear in this work. They also discuss what Freud mentions here that he doesn't address elsewhere. ... Read more

22 Jul 2024

1 HR 19 MINS

1:19:34

22 Jul 2024

#170

Suture

Ryan and Todd delve into the concept of suture, as first developed by Jacques-Alain Miller. They trace the deformation that it underwent through the history of film studies and examine a few films where we can see the different understandings of suture at work. ... Read more

09 Jul 2024

1 HR 13 MINS

1:13:40

09 Jul 2024

#169

Extimacy

Ryan and Todd discuss the Jacques Lacan's neologism "extimacy," which first occurs in Seminar VII and then disappears. But they theorize that this concept offers an excellent starting point for grasping Lacan's entire project, despite his own sparse use of it. ... Read more

23 Jun 2024

1 HR 13 MINS

1:13:28

23 Jun 2024

#168

Prequel

Ryan and Todd explore the prequel as a narrative form. They consider its radical potential and how it might function ideologically. They discuss prequels such as Fire Walk With Me and Better Call Saul. ... Read more

11 Jun 2024

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:41

11 Jun 2024

#167

Modernist Novel

Ryan and Todd theorize the modernist novel as a specific literary form, defined not by its time period but by its structural exigencies. They relate this form to the importance of the ending that function as a cut in the narrative movement rather than as a summation of all that has happened, which contrasts it with previous iterations of the novel. ... Read more

27 May 2024

1 HR 17 MINS

1:17:42

27 May 2024

#166

Endings

Ryan and Todd explore the problem of the ending, focusing on when and why the ending becomes important in film and television. They discuss the relationship between the ending of life and the ending of a work of art, especially in terms of psychoanalytic thinking. ... Read more

11 May 2024

1 HR 25 MINS

1:25:44

11 May 2024

#165

Parallax View

Ryan and Todd analyze Slavoj Zizek's contribution in what may be his magnum opus--The Parallax View. They discuss how he builds on the concept of parallax as originally articulated by Kojin Karatani and its implication for Zizek's understanding of politics. ... Read more

28 Apr 2024

1 HR 12 MINS

1:12:18

28 Apr 2024

#164

Seminar 11

Ryan and Todd unpack Jacques Lacan's most well-known seminar--Seminar XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis. In doing so, they focus on Lacan's own exclusion as a starting point and then delve into two concepts that Lacan does not list among the fundamental ones--subjectivity and the objet a. ... Read more

13 Apr 2024

1 HR 26 MINS

1:26:40

13 Apr 2024

#163

Seminar 7

Ryan and Todd analyze the complexity of Jacques Lacan's Seminar VII: The Ethics of Psychoanalysis. They discuss the various notions that appear there--from das Ding to sublimation to death drive to the ethics of desire. ... Read more

30 Mar 2024

1 HR 28 MINS

1:28:23

30 Mar 2024

#162

Critique Of Pure Reason -- Introduction

Ryan and Todd continue their exploration of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason with the Introduction. They discuss the importance of his critique of dogmatic metaphysics and the incredible discovery of the synthetic a priori judgment. Ryan's sports article: https://link.springer.com/journal/41282/online-first ... Read more

16 Mar 2024

1 HR 18 MINS

1:18:51

16 Mar 2024

#161

Blue Velvet

Ryan and Todd interpret David Lynch's Blue Velvet by paying special attention to the Kantian dimension of the film. They consider the film in terms of the thing-in-itself and the sublime. ... Read more

03 Mar 2024

1 HR 19 MINS

1:19:10

03 Mar 2024