Episode 50: Demogorgon: On 'Stranger Things'

Episode 50: Demogorgon: On 'Stranger Things'

Author: SpectreVision Radio July 3, 2019 Duration: 1:36:31
The Duffer Brothers' hit series Stranger Things is many things: an exemplary piece of entertainment in the summer blockbuster mold, a fresh take on the "kids on bikes" subgenre of science fiction, a loving pastiche of 1980s Hollywood cinema. And as Phil and JF attempt to show in this episode, Stranger Things is also a deep investigation into the metaphysical assumptions of our times, and a bold statement on the ontology of the analog real. This, at least, was the thesis of JF's three-part essay "Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things," which appeared on Metapsychosis after the first season dropped in 2016. Here, Phil and JF revisit that essay in order to expand on its arguments and discuss how it hoilds up in light of the series continued unfolding. The conversation touches on Apple's famous 1984 ad for the first Macintosh, the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the otherworldliness of airports, the ensorcelments of consumerism, and much more. REFERENCES Stranger Things "Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things" available at Metapsychosis or in ebook format Samuel Delaney, Dhalgren 1984 Apple commercial for Macintosh Wild Wild Country, Netflix documentary series Tom Frank, “Why Johnny Can’t Dissent” Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture Arcade Fire, “We Used to Wait” William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody William James, A Pluralistic Universe Marc Augé, Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity Weird Studies, episode 2: Garmonbozia Homer, Odyssey Matt Cardin, Dark Awakenings The Wachowskis, The Matrix Jonathan Haight and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the heart of Weird Studies, a podcast from SpectreVision Radio, you’ll find long-form conversations between Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel. Their discussions aren’t simple reviews or straightforward analyses; instead, they wander through the tangled undergrowth where art and philosophy meet, giving generous time to concepts that resist easy understanding and to creative works that fracture our ordinary sense of the world. This podcast deliberately lingers in that ambiguous space, treating the “weird” not as a genre but as a particular mode of experience-one that reveals the cracks in what we comfortably assume is real. Each episode feels like joining a deep, meandering dialogue between two friends who are both deeply knowledgeable and endlessly curious, covering a vast terrain that includes literature, film, music, and esoteric thought. It’s a show for anyone who suspects that the most profound truths are often found in the shadows, the anomalies, and the strangely beautiful. As part of the SpectreVision Radio network, which specializes in content that explores the uncanny edges of creativity, Weird Studies builds a unique community of listeners who are eager to think differently. You won’t find pat answers here, but you will encounter compelling questions and a shared sense of exploration that makes each installment a distinctive journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 230

Weird Studies
Podcast Episodes
Episode 176: On Charles Burns' 'Black Hole' and the Medium of Comics [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:43
Comics, like cinema, is an eminently modern medium. And as with cinema, looking closely at it can swiftly acquaint us with the profound weirdness of modernity. Do that in the context of a discussion on Charles Burns' com…
Mid-Break Bonus: The Quiet Earth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:28
Every off-week, listeners who have chosen to support Weird Studies by joining our Patreon at the Listener's Tier get to enjoy a bonus episode. These episodes are different from the flagship show. Less formal and entirely…
Episode 175: Don't Look Now: Live at Lily Dale [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:58:40
Daphne du Maurier was a prolific English writer of novels, plays, and short stories resonant with what she termed "a sense of unreality." In this episode, JF and Phil discuss her great short story "Don't Look Now," which…
Episode 173: By Heart: On Memory, Poetry, and Form [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:50
In this computerized age, we tend to see memory as a purely cerebral faculty. To memorize is to store information away in the brain in such a way as to make it retrievable at a later time. But the old expression "knowing…
Episode 172: Head Over Heels: On the Hanged Man of the Tarot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:20:27
The Hanged Man is arguably the most enigmatic card in the traditional tarot deck. Divested of any archetypal apparel – he is neither emperor nor fool, but just a man, who happens to be hanging – he gazes back at us with…
Episode 171: The Beauty and the Horror [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:28
This week on Weird Studies, Phil and JF explore the intersections of the beautiful and the terrible in art and literature. There is a conventional beauty that calms and placates, and there is a radical beauty which, taki…