Why Theory

Latest Episodes:

The Racist Fantasy Apr 30, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd discuss Todd's recent book The Racist Fantasy, which explores the psychic structure that underlies racism and that allows it to deliver enjoyment to those invested in it. They cover the role that fantasy plays in social life and the prospects for fighting racism. https://forgeorganizing.org/article/building-resilient-organizations https://www.baylorpress.com/9781602587359/trauma-and-race/ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lacan-noir-david-s-marriott/1139152118 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8-VIi7tb44 https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/

Twitter Apr 16, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd delve into the formal limitations that define the medium of Twitter. They analyze the politics of Twitter and the impact of the takeover by Elon Musk. Ryan's article cited in the episode is available here: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol24/iss4/

The Radical Western Mar 31, 2023

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Ryan and Todd delve into the western in its most radical manifestation, but they use as a starting point, the paradigmatic western Shane. They then examine more contemporary films that turn from the individual hero into a collective one.

Western Mar 18, 2023

Show notes

In their second episode devoted to the classical Hollywood genres, Ryan and Todd explore the western by focusing on some of the most popular and some of the most theoretically compelling. They discuss directors John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Anthony Mann, as well as devoting time to the western 3:10 to Yuma. Their theorization of the western stresses the way that the genre lays out the social antagonism between law and lawlessness, in which the western hero functions as a vanishing mediator.

Critique of Dialectical Reason Mar 05, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd lay out the key points in Jean-Paul Sartre's vast attempt to marry existentialism and Marxism--The Critique of Dialectical Reason. They discuss the best moments of this work and then attempt to clarify how it goes awry. Its huge unspoken influence on more recent French thought is also a topic.

Analysis Terminable & Interminable Feb 18, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd delve into Freud's late essay "Analysis Terminable and Interminable." They focus on the role that the death drive plays in this essay and in Freud's later thought. They view this through the lens of Freud's claim in this essay that psychoanalysis represents one of the three impossible professions.

Negation Feb 05, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd engage with Freud's late essay "Negation" (1923). They look at the radical insights that he comes to as well as address the moments where he leaves various theoretical points undeveloped. They make a claim for the outsized importance of this brief essay.

Being and Nothingness Side B Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd conclude their discussion of Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness with a focus on Sartre's conception of freedom. They discuss the strengths and weaknesses that follow from how Sartre theorizes subjectivity in relation to the social order.

Being and Nothingness Side A Jan 08, 2023

Show notes

Ryan and Todd discuss the first half of Jean-Paul Sartre's magnum opus Being and Nothingness. They cover the difference between the in-itself and the for-itself, bad faith, temporality, the unconscious, and other important concepts. The next episode will cover the second half of the book.

Misfit Christmas Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

In an annual attempt to theorize the Christmas film, Ryan and Todd examine the concept of the misfit in three famous stop-motion Christmas films from the 1960s and 1970s: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. They discover the politics of nonbelonging at work in these films as it is figured through the idea of the misfit. Clips: We’re a Couple of Misfits (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDHF08vEZTg) The Island of Misfit Toys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr6GbKciNCY) Silver and Gold (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-XDQN6ipE) The First Toymakers to the King (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8NSlCUAI4M) My World is Beginning Today (Jessica’s Trippy 2001/ Vertigo song; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSCq34_49Ws) Snow Miser (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrbccEdI5o) Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (Springsteen; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76WFkKp8Tjs) Father Christmas (The Kinks; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPPCPqDINEk)

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