Why Theory

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

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224 episodes
Updated Sunday
Explicit

Episodes224

Newest first

Jul 10, 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
Uncanny
Ryan and Todd analyze Freud's essay "The Uncanny" and the broader implications of this concept. They discuss the importance of the uncanny for understanding the horror film and focus on the difference between a psychoanalytic approach to the concept and the notion of the uncanny valley. Links from the episode: Žižek & So On podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6S0mig3K8TiuJoXHOG5VnT?si=6a55de55c2f24b22 Shibui (minimal groove quartet): https://shibuimusic.bandcamp.com/ Joseph Aisenberg’s Brian De Palma’s Carrie: Studies in the Horror Film: https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Palmas-Carrie-Studies-Horror/dp/B09NH3BCCP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3PCVQVVCQ49BW&keywords=joseph+aisenberg&qid=1689001285&sprefix=joseph+aisenber%2Caps%2C205&sr=8-1
Jun 24, 2023 · 1 hr 17 min
Poststructuralism
Ryan and Todd attempt to show why the term "poststructuralism" is inapt for describing any of the thinkers that it usually is thought to indicate. They go through the major theorists known under this moniker and reveal why poststructuralism doesn't exist.
Jun 12, 2023 · 1 hr 11 min
Tribute to Mari Ruti
Ryan and Todd devote this episode to the memory of Mari Ruti, who died on June 8, 2023. They discuss her core theoretical ideas and work through her major works. In addition, they include a few memories of Mari's singular life.
May 29, 2023 · 1 hr 24 min
Succession
Ryan and Todd analyze the recently concluded television series Succession. They discuss it in terms of capitalist subjectivity, tragedy, the death drive, and the ideology of the family. There are spoilers at every point in this discussion.
May 28, 2023 · 1 hr 23 min
Bottle Episode
Ryan and Todd explore the concept of the bottle episode from the production and analysis of television. They discuss a variety of its manifestations along with its theoretical importance as a form. Ryan's article: https://www.academia.edu/82724525/The_Limitation_of_the_Bottle_Episode_Hegel_in_Community_preprint_
May 15, 2023 · 1 hr 16 min
Beyond Good and Evil
Ryan and Todd explore the important ideas from Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, focusing especially on Nietzche's historical critique of morality, his perspectivalism, and his notion of the will to power. They situate Nietzsche's breakthrough in relation to Freud's.
Apr 30, 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
The Racist Fantasy
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/
Apr 16, 2023 · 1 hr 13 min
Twitter
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/
Mar 31, 2023 · 1 hr 35 min
The Radical Western
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.
Mar 18, 2023 · 1 hr 30 min
Western
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.
Mar 5, 2023 · 1 hr 27 min
Critique of Dialectical Reason
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.
Feb 18, 2023 · 1 hr 20 min
Analysis Terminable & Interminable
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.
Feb 5, 2023 · 1 hr 16 min
Negation
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.
Jan 23, 2023 · 1 hr 20 min
Being and Nothingness Side B
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.
Jan 8, 2023 · 1 hr 20 min
Being and Nothingness Side A
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.
Dec 21, 2022 · 1 hr 19 min
Misfit Christmas
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)
Dec 10, 2022 · 1 hr 12 min
Debt
Ryan and Todd discuss the role that debt plays in the structure of capitalist society and in the psyche necessary for sustaining this society. They explore debt as a subject matter in film and television, as well as debt's relationship to the lacking subject.
Nov 26, 2022 · 1 hr 22 min
Enjoyment Right & Left
Ryan and Todd discuss Todd's latest book Enjoyment Right & Left, which examines the political divide in terms of the different forms that enjoyment takes. They engage with this divide across a variety of issues, from anti-trans violence to the controversy surrounding the World Cup.
Nov 12, 2022 · 1 hr 19 min
Technology
This is a special Why Theory episode that was recorded live at the Impakt Festival that took place in Utrecht, Netherlands. Ryan and Todd discuss the theme of the festival--"the curse of smooth operations"--in terms of our relationship to technology. They question how technology provides enjoyment for us. The introduction ends at 4:53, and the question and answer period starts at 57:48.
Oct 29, 2022 · 1 hr 31 min
Love
Ryan and Todd trace the history of how thinkers have dealt with the problem of love--the varying definitions of love, the view of love's role in society, and love's philosophical importance. They begin with Plato's Symposium, touch on the New Testament, explore the role of love in Hegel's thought, discuss Badiou's love event, and conclude with the psychoanalytic conception of love, as developed by Jacques Lacan and Mari Ruti.