Episode 127: You Remind Me of the Babe (feat. Verbal Diorama!) | Labyrinth (1986), Myths, Fairy Tales & Puppets

Turn back, listeners. Turn back. Unless you’re truly prepared for the epic team-up of Midnight Myth X Verbal Diorama! We’re thrilled to welcome Em on the podcast to discuss Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. We’ll try not to take anything for granted as we explore the technique, the enduring relevance, and the very David Bowie of it all. We’ll discuss Sarah, the fairy tale heroine who finds her own voice, Jareth, the Goblin King who sexually confused a generation, Sir Didymus of the Bog of Eternal Stench, the whereabouts of the Hoggle puppet, and so much more.

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Episode 126: Remember Remember | V for Vendetta, Shakespeare, History & Politics

Remember, remember the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot. This week on the Midnight Myth, we’re exploring the 2005 film V for Vendetta—and what a treasure trove of theme, history, literature, and philosophy it is! We’ll unpack connections between the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and similar historical attempts at rebuilding society through destruction of the status quo. We’ll explain why V quotes so much Shakespeare, and why he makes Evey sit through The Count of Monte Cristo. We’ll discuss the implications of the troubling torture sequence and celebrate the film’s emotional impact.

(Bonus) The Wheel of Ka: Episode Nine, Wolves of the Calla pt. 2

The Wheel of Ka returns with its final discussion on Stephen King’s the Dark Tower Book V: Wolves of the Calla. Your reliable hosts again discuss all the themes of this epic book from the lens of what the Dark Tower means and how this installment fits into the broader series. The second half of Book V sees the Ka-Tet working with the good folken to prepare Calla Bryn Sturgis for battle with the the deadly Wolves. From the Dogan, to trips to NYC to save the Rose, a mysterious plant deeply linked to the survival of the Tower, to learning that Walter, Flagg and Martin are all the same mysterious magical nemesis of Roland, Derek and Steve deliver the next stop on the quest, say thank ya, big-big.

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Episode 125: Everybody Gonna Shine | Halloween Special! The Shining, Horror History & Philosophy

Happy Halloween 2019! Come get snowbound with us on our 3rd annual Halloween Special. This year, we’re exploring one of the spookiest, scariest, and greatest horror films of all time, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Bringing insight from the source novel by Stephen King (who famously hated the screen adaptation so much he produced his own adaptation for television), we’ll wander the halls of the Overlook Hotel, peer into Room 237 and into the crumbling sanity of Jack Torrance. Also: history of Gilded Age resorts in America, philosophy of evil, and the short story that forms the basis for much of what makes The Shining so terrifying—Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death.

Subscribe to our friends at the Pop Venture Family on YouTube, and stay tuned for details on our upcoming Star Wars giveaway collaboration!

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Check out our new merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

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Episode 124: Doomsday Clock | Watchmen (2009), History & Psychology

Who watches the Watchmen? We did! This week on the Midnight Myth, we’re jumping down the massive rabbit hole that is Zack Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of the iconic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. We analyze some of the film’s most fascinating and disturbed characters from a psychological and philosophical perspective, trying to learn what makes the Watchmen tick. It’s a landscape of real and imagined gods, human and institutional monsters. In the context of alternate history, we discuss the consequences of the counterfactual—what happened to the American Dream? It came true.

Episode 123: Timey Wimey | Doctor Who's Weeping Angels, Theology & Quantum Theory

Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck.

On this, the illustrious day of the anniversary of Derek & Laurel’s marriage, we’re going back to the story universe that brought us together in the first place: the BBC’s Doctor Who. In a new episode format, we’ll turn our unblinking eye to the occurrences of a particular Doctor Who monster: the Weeping Angels. First appearing in the episode Blink and in several subsequent episodes and stories, the Weeping Angels terrify in a way unique among the series’ villains. Taking the form of a comforting image, they can move lightning fast, but only when they’re not being observed. We’ll dive into the iconography and theology of angels (angelology, in fact), and the quantum physics behind the Angels’ ability in this fun new installment.

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Midnight Myth Time Machine | Episode 16: The Memory Game | Stranger Things & the Science of Nostalgia

Welcome to the Midnight Myth Time Machine! This episode was originally published in 2017.

Man, it sure feels good when movies and tv remind me of my youth. What’s that called again? Nostalgia. Listen as Derek and Laurel deconstruct nostalgia as a story mechanic. To uncover how it can be utilized effectively, Derek and Laurel focus on the Netflix original series, Stranger Things and look at episode 5, The Flea and the Acrobat. We also explore the weaponization of nostalgia, which can be a manipulative tool in storytelling and in politics. Watch out for Midnight Myth boomerangs, because this episode will having you flying past the moon with lovable creatures in your bike basket before you know it!

Midnight Myth Time Machine | Episode 15: The Holy Grail and Other MacGuffins

The Ancient, Medieval, and Modern world collide as we start with the Holy Grail, what it was, why it mattered, and end up talking about Indian Jones. We explore how the west fetishized relics and the political implications of museums. We also dive into the concept of a MacGuffin— objects in a story that seem to matter but only serve to get the characters from one phase of a story to another.