THIS IS A REPOST OF A 2016 EPISODE. As the release of the film JOKER looms, we revisit our discussion about Batman, the Joker, and ambiguity.
Looking back on the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” does it stand for anything? Or does it simply soak up whatever morals we bring to it? Christopher Nolan’s intentions remain mysterious, but we do our best to figure them out.
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Thank you to our Co-producer patron Miriam Meaney for selecting this week's topic!
This 1985 Peter Greenaway film approaches storytelling with the perspective that there is no meaning to reality despite our organized attempts to create it. We talk about how Greenaway uses the traditions of Dutch paintings and anatomical animal studies to get this message across or frustrate us by trying.
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Thank you to our Co-producer patron Chris Marlton for selecting this week's topic!
This 2002 Japanese art film is slow, meticulously shot, and has wonderful, ornate costumes. We discuss how it was influenced by a form of traditional puppetry but should be approached more like a meditative painting.
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In this 1978 non-fiction book, Gardner argues that art and writing should be moral and that his peers in the literary community are immoral for failing to uphold this tradition. We discuss Gardner's tragic life story while trying to process this debate and whether he was right, wrong or just an asshole.
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