Is Downton Abbey Reactionary? Janelle Pötzsch For many people, the popular British TV-series Downton Abbey (2010-2015) is a deeply conservative text which celebrates the social stratification of a bygone-era (Byrne 2015, Layne 2020, Robison 2020). Such interpretation suggests itself especially in the comparison between the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley with Isobel Crawley, mother of the…
Severance and Philosophy Call for Abstracts Edited by Eric Bronson and Jason T. Eberl The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Please circulate and post widely. Apologies for cross-posting. To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, at williamirwin@kings.edu Severance is a highly popular and critically…
Shōgun and the Philosophy of Deception Edwardo Pérez FX Productions’ award winning 2024 adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel, Shōgun (which streams on Disney+ and Hulu), dramatizes many philosophical issues—from the moral issues involving duty and the greater good depicted through the subtleties of Japanese culture, and the various codes of honor observed through rituals,…
Listen to Joshua Horn, editor of The Last of Us and Philosophy, discussing the book on the ProfNoctis podcast.
The essay below originally appears as Chapter of Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality. Beyond Good and Evil Facing your Demons with Black Sabbath and Existentialism William Irwin You know about the lost Black Sabbath album, right? They recorded it with Ozzy in 1999, but legal battles kept it from being released. It was supposed…
Graduate Student Conference Pop Culture and Philosophy Keynote Speaker: William Irwin, King’s College April 12, 2025 The graduate students of the UAlbany Philosophy department are proud to announce that the topic of The 17th Annual UAPA Grad Student Conference is Pop Culture and Philosophy. All are invited and the conference is open to the public.…
A philosophical exploration of Joker and the meaning of the iconic antagonist’s murderous escapades A diabolically sinister but clownish villain, Joker is a symbolically rich and philosophically fascinating character. Both crazed and cunning, sadistically cruel but seductively charming, the Clown Prince of Crime embodies everything opposed to the positive ideals of order and justice defended…
The essay below originally appears as Chapter 8 of Joker and Philosophy. You Get What You F****** Deserve Greg Littmann Joker: “What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash?…You get what you fucking deserve.” [Shoots Murray] There’s something satisfying about watching Joker…
The essay below appears originally as Chapter 1 in Taylor Swift and Philosophy. Is Taylor Swift a Philosopher? Catherine M. Robb After being awarded an honorary doctorate by New York University (NYU) in 2022, Taylor Swift gave a commencement speech for the graduates. During her speech Taylor spoke of the exciting challenge of figuring out who…
The essay below appears as Chapter 3 of The Last of Us and Philosophy. “He Who Fights with Monsters” Inner-Circle vs The World in The Last of Us Dylan Skurka Ellie: If you don’t think there’s hope for the world, why bother going on? I mean, you gotta try, right? Joel: You haven’t seen the…
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series 