No Cost Too Great: A Look at the Pale King’s Attempt to Save the Kingdom of Hallownest Brandon Packard Spoiler Warning: The following post contains major spoilers for Hollow Knight. If you have any interest in the game, we strongly recommend playing it in its entirety before reading this post, as the game is best…
Darkest Dungeon and Ethics Making the Most of a Bad Situation James Cartlidge Darkest Dungeon is a critically acclaimed, award-winning video game developed by Red Hook Studios which, since its release in 2016, has maintained a strong cult following. It tells a story of grim, medieval Lovecraftian horror and raises deep, difficult ethical questions in…
Damon Salvatore The Ultimate Vampire By Maria Pacheco de Amorim Far from being just another CW teen soap opera, The Vampire Diaries might be the moment that the vampire fiction initiated by Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) reached its highest state of self-awareness. Unlike Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is really about the burden of a…
Death Stranding Sam Porter Bridges is Staying with the Trouble Kristien Hens Death Stranding, a video game by Hideo Kojima, tells the story of a devastated USA and humanity on the brink of falling victim to the sixth extinction. The outside world has become a dangerous place, with toxic rainfall and ghouls and terrorists.…
Money Heist The Philosophical Bond of Resistance Caterina Del Sordo Money Heist originally appeared as a Spanish TV show called “La Casa de Papel”. Netflix acquired global streaming rights in December 2017, and within a few months the series became one of the most watched TV shows in the world and the most watched non-English…
Existential Shattering and Stoic Clemency in Sonic the Hedgehog Elektra D. Mercutio That iconic blue speedster Sonic the Hedgehog turns 30 in 2021. Feeling nostalgic, I reflected on a story featured in the 200th issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic in which Dr. Eggman, Sonic’s arch-nemesis, has an existential crisis after suffering yet…
All’s Fair in Space and War The Appeal of Deception in Among Us Brandon Packard Among Us is a space-based deception game that is brilliant in its simplicity. In any given round, there are a number of crewmates (typically 8 in a full game) and a number of impostors (typically 2 in a full game,…
Why We Need Ted Lasso and Philosophy David & Marybeth Baggett The growing popularity of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso is a bit of a surprise, given its inauspicious beginnings as a satirical NBC Sports promotion back in 2013. Premiering last August, this breakout hit has now garnered two Golden Globe nominations—for the show and lead…
Wayne: An Exploration of Justice Porn By Caleb McGee Husmann “I know it when I see it.” When tasked with providing a definition for pornography during the Jacobellis v. Ohio case, this is what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart came up with. Some applauded him for being frank and realistic, others chastised him for being…
The Übermensch and Overcoming Nihilism in The Umbrella Academy By Elysia Balavage We humans find fascination with those among us who are “extraordinary.” From tales spun about the classical Achilles to the modern Wonder Woman, narratives about individuals with extraordinary abilities have captivated our attention for centuries. The ubiquity of such stories these days…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 