Hegelian Sublation, Comic Book Continuity, and DC Rebirth By Matthew William Brake Comic book continuity is a difficult topic to write on, to say nothing of Hegel. Both require an oversimplification in order to explain them to a newcomer, which often requires clarity at the loss of nuance. To begin, let’s briefly look at Marvel…
Choosing Smurfette Edwardo Pérez What’s a Smurfette? That’s the question that frames the narrative of the Smurfs: The Lost Village movie. In the film’s backstory (rooted in the Smurf mythology from the comic books and the 80’s television show), Smurfette – the only girl Smurf we’ve ever known (and in Lost Village, she’s voiced by…
Overwatch and Philosophy Adam Smith on Why We Choose Hanzo By Sajan Prabhakar, Robert Thomas, and Matthew William Brake Overwatch is a six-versus-six first-person shooter game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The game, released in 2016, now has over 25 million players. Players may choose from a roster of 25 characters from four different roles: the…
Why Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Ghost In The Shell’ Remake Is Such A Failure “After the opening weekend, ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is a significant failure for everyone involved: actress, studio, and the Japanese anime genre. It’s not just a financial, but an artistic and imaginative failure.” Read more here.
Paradox of The Force III Rogue Redemption Edwardo Pérez Why do we need to be redeemed? What’s the point of redemption, atonement, or salvation? Why do things need to be made right? And, is one act enough to redeem a lifetime of doing wrong? Most religions incorporate redemption into the precepts of their respective faiths…
Learning from David Bowie “It was his life’s work to show us that we are unknown to ourselves, and that being thrown into question by this alien dimension of ourselves is really a message, as if from on high, that there is freedom and joy and perhaps even peace to be found in being otherwise…
Hair and Hedonism, Trolls the Movie By Andrea Zanin Originally cave-dwelling cretins roaming the annals of Scandinavian folklore, trolls – dense in constitution as well as intellect, unchristian and dangerous – were ripped from their mythological home by Thomas Dam in 1959 and ejected into the Danish town of Gjøl. Too poor to afford a…
Choosing Humanity in The 100 Edwardo Pérez How do we define humanity? Borrowing from feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (who suggested that women are made, not born), we might ask: are we born with our humanity or is it something that society creates for us? If it’s the former, why is it so difficult to…
The Paradox of The Force II The Quest for Revenge in Star Wars Edwardo Pérez What if Obi-Wan had saved Anakin? Wouldn’t that have been the Jedi thing to do? It seemed cruel (un-Jedi-like) for Obi-Wan to leave Anakin as he lay on the ground in flames, struggling to cling to whatever life was left…
Check out the discussion of God’s Not Dead and reverse scapegoating here. “The culture wars of Pat Buchanan and God’s Not Dead undermine this idea that we do not need an Enemy, for they would not know how to make America or Christianity great without some threat that is implicitly in the way of making…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 