Myths are for the Children: Recent Episodes
Movies We Dig
Our second 'Book' on more mythic movies, especially those geared towards younger audiences: Hercules (2014), Percy Jackson & the Olympians (2010), Hercules (1997) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
After completion of the Disney+ Percy Jackson series, the MWD crew thought it would be a good(?) idea to revisit the originalRead More
We wrap up our in-depth analysis on Disney+’s newest adaptation of Rick Riordan’s series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians! Joined by specialRead More
Season 1 of Percy Jackson and The Olympians comes to an end. All deals are completed; the traitor is revealed; and ourRead More
What is a hero without a good katabasis to their name? Special guest Emma Coffey joins us the discuss the trio’s descentRead More
As the master of all time and space, host Colin joins us to analyze the sixth episode of Disney’s Percy Jackson! WhileRead More
We are over half-way through the first season of Percy Jackson and we get to meet two godly brothers that have aRead More
After the previous week’s tough take on Medusa, we are excited to meet Echidna: Mother of Monsters in this episode. And apparentlyRead More
It’s the episode we’ve all been anticipating…and dreading. Can a third attempt at Medusa’s story in the Percy Jackson world prove successfulRead More
To keep up with increasing demand and this timely release, we’re trying a new format: minisodes! This week, Christie and new specialRead More
We dig back into the MCU with return guest and (pseudo-)archaeology expert, David S Anderson to excavate The Eternals (2021). Once more we revisit the thorny issue of what exactly is and isn't a god in this universe and how to reconcile these immortal robo-stewards against the broader universe. We also dig into the problematic nature of its source material, the way ideas about myth and history slip in and out of cultural discourse and underlying assumptions about what humans are and are not good for. Is is love, creativity, hope, pyramid-building? Namor also pops up for reasons
We fly over to New Asgard and Omnipotence City to talk gods and god butchers with special guest Jason Nethercut. We dig into Thor in the MCU, the relation between myth and Marvel comics, and one big question that's thundering our bolts: what is a god? Are we gods? Is the hammer a god? Are we the hammer? Probably no, on all counts...
We're back at Troy, where shirts are optional, digging up an artifact from a bygone era: late 90's television. Joined by the wonderful Dr. Deborah Beck, expert Homerist from UT Austin, we we break down the 1997 Hallmark miniseries, The Odyssey. This movie, by its director's own omission hones in on the action-adventure aspects of Homer's Odyssey. But, we scholars ruminate, are those really the best parts of the story? We mediate again on the pitfalls of sticking to the plot of a story while missing its larger themes. We also tackle two of the great questions of our time: Iliad or Odyssey and who had the best mullet?
You can find podcasts on the Iliad and Sophocles' Antigone by Deborah Beck with her students at UT here and here
Do you even Argo bro?!? Christie Vogler is back with us again but we've decided to leave her name out of the title tos ave money on digital ink. We're back with Ray Harryhausen's most celebrated film, Jason and the Argonauts, in which Colin's cat does battle with a Zoom background of Talos, the Bronze Giant. Should this movie actually be a heist film? Is Jason really such a hero? Why do we expect historic/mythic settings to feature British accents? How do special effects affect storytelling, especially myths? Can skeletons swim? We get into these and many more topics this is love child between prestige sword and sandal and B-theater creature features.
We're back with our first episode of season 2. Joined by threepeat guest and avowed servant of Rita Repulsa, the always amazing Dr. Vogler, we dig into Ray Harryhausen's 1981 Clash of the Titans. Naturally, we spend the first 5 minutes talking about our speaking habits and fancy vocab words before getting to the actual movie, but his film is fascinating to us both as a work of classical reception and as an artifact of modern cinema. It's a fairly down the middle adaptation of a myth and perhaps the last example of a Hollywood tradition of movie-making embodied in the effects of Ray Harryhausen. Listen to our takes on the gods, heroes, monsters, behind-the-scenes drama, whales and more.
At one point we mention posts on Twitter by Aimee Hinds Scott on the film legacy of Medusa, which you can check out here.
We dig (or dive) into Disney's attempt to pivot from songs to explosions with another wonderful guest. Is this movie undersea Pocahontas? Is there an accurate representation of responsible archaeology in modern pop culture? What if Atlantis won WWI? Also there's plot contrivances that give Colin a conniption. Among other annoyances, Milo 'splains Kida's own language back to her! Our preferred ship is Audrey-Kida but we're also big fans of Helga.
Another visually interesting but thematically frustrating film. More gods, more battles, more fake armor, more (not) chosen one narratives. Plus the birth of Superman! Are German shepherd dogs actually hyenas in disguise?