puritanism

Twelfth Night

Posted on May 6, 2014

Shakespeare is back on Novel Ideas! Well, one of Shakespeare’s plays is a topic for Novel Ideas, Shakespeare himself is a bit bigger get than we are currently capable of. But we were able to get the very capable Dr. Anthony Funari back as a guest to discuss William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a comedy full of cross dressing, something the English still find absolutely hilarious in the twenty-first century. In this episode we discuss queer spaces, Shakespearean comedic heroines, puritanism, and inversion. We also talk about crossing the (drama) streams, Elizabethan drama franchises, unlikely sibling casting, and humorless dicks.

Also check out this link to Tony’s website, The Mad Literature Professor.

The music bump is one of Feste’s song from the 1996 movie production.

Twelfth Night – Star Cross Gartered Lovers

Recommendations:

One of Shakespeare’s later comedies, is both hilarious and full of academic interest, if you’re into those things. Read it. Or better yet, find a good stage production of it.

Gabs: 10/10 It’s so good. Queer spaces – good. Female agency – good. Puritan baiting – good!

Ben: 12/12 Definitely the best of the “Nights” franchise. But seriously, probably my favorite Shakespeare play. So far.

Tony: 10/10 Very interesting in that it is the transition play from comedy to romance, plus Feste is probably Shakespeare’s best fool.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged a prank too far?, ambiguous endings, bad theater experiments, bonezone, college comedy conversion, comedy, context, cross dressing, cross gartering, crossing the drama streams, dashing men of action, Dr. Anthony Funari, Duke Orsion? More like Dork Ors-emo, Elizabethan drama franchises, Gabs coughs, humorless dicks, in love with love, inversion, light vs dark, liminal spaces, melancholy, meta-ness, OMG twins, pirates, preening jackasses, puritanism, queer spaces, sexuality, Shakespeare and vagina jokes, Shakespearean comedic heroine, spring break, strong women, technical difficulties, transition, Twelfth Night, unlikely casting, William Shakespeare.

Brave New World

Posted on October 25, 2012 Updated on October 25, 2012

This week’s episode features Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the science fiction classic about a scientific utopia. Or possibly dystopia. This book is weaker on characters than many of the books we’ve read, but it is full of issues, many of them more relevant than ever in today’s world. We touch on feminism, racism, sexuality, eugenics, consumerism, and religion. And, of course, zippers. Zippers are amazing. Because they are THE FUTURE. There are also some bad puns, the usual level of silliness, and a small amount of modest self-promotion. We think you will find it quite pneumatic.

The music bump is “Brave New World” by Styx, chosen not just for the obvious title tie-in, but at least a small amount of lyrical relevance. Hang out for an extra twenty seconds at the end of the podcast and see if you agree.

28 – Brave New World – Quite Pneumatic

It may not be obvious because of the size of the picture, but the header this week is from an edition of the book that had an egg with a zipper on the cover. The reason we chose this image should be quite obvious by the time you’re about twenty minutes into this episode.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged abortion, Aldous Huxley, and Jesus, Brave New World, civilization, conditioning, dystopia, eugenics, family podcast, feminism, Huxley/Orwell, oh my Ford, OMG ZIPPERS, oppressed by happiness, paper helicopters, promiscuity, puritanism, racism, religion, science and fiction, Shakespeare, soma holiday, utopia, wombs.