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What should the next video be about?
🕑 Added 2020-07-14 21:24:47 +0000 UTCI'll write the reading notes for the previous two videos when I have time, but I'll make a new poll now so I know what to work on in advance. Here are the options:
1) The Simpsons in its early days had a lot of social commentary, sometimes quite radical. In fact, the entire set-up of the show was socially critical. Over time, the show degenerated into meaningless pop culture references and icons, and completely lost its critical character. I would look at this development through Frederic Jameson's analysis of postmodernity, where he argues that satirical/critical parody has been replaced by "pastiche" - a form of parody that imitates something without being able to criticize it. I would probably also use Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism.
2) There’s a popular scene in Toy Story 3 where Mr. Potato Head is assembled using a tortilla instead of a potato, but still retains his consciousness and personal identity. So the question arises: where does Potato Head’s personal identity reside? Is it in the sum of his parts, or their particular combination? Similar questions can be asked about humans as well. I will explore anti-essentialist views on personal identity by utilizing David Hume, and possibly Nietzsche/Deleuze.
3) This would be about the 1990 movie Total Recall (and potentially Blade Runner), prosthetic memory, and the relations between memory, identity, and authenticity. I would draw mostly on an essay on the topic by Alison Landsberg, but might also use Derrida's ideas on teletechnology. I’d talk about Total Recall as a postmodern take on memory and identity, as it problematizes the connection between them and authenticity.
4) Some people think I should do less media analysis and focus more on thinkers and ideas as such. The most explicit way of doing this would be to do a book summary - this would either be one long video, or several videos, explaining the central concepts of a given book, in a way that even people who haven't read it could understand. If this option gets picked, I will make another poll to decide which book I'll summarize. Right now I'm thinking of Geuss' "Philosophy and Real Politics", Bataille's "Accursed Share", and Schopenhauer's "World as Will and Representation".
Comments
Cuck Philosophy
Hmm, I wasn't considering it. I'm not very familiar with Pynchon.
Livingperson1
Any chance of touching on Pynchon's appearances on The Simpsons?
Dang
damn i think the prosthetic memory one would be really interesting, but I would also love to hear your summary of the Accursed Share at some point in the future because it's a book I want to read (thanks to your discussion of it in the Hellraiser video) and I would love to get your analysis either before or after I read it
