HeyJaredWhy Theory
Why Theory brings continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine cultural phenomena.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 6
- Latest publication
- Sep 13, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest episodes
Divine Violence (opens the original)
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On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the notion of divine violence. The conversation draws principally on an encounter staged between the term's evocation in Walter Benjamin's 1921 essay, "Toward a Critique of Violence" and the term's later deployment by Slavoj Žižek in his book On Violence . The conversation also touches on Giorgio Agamben's use of "bare life" (a phrase used, though translated slightly differently, by Benjamin in his essay) and how recent podcast conversations on Frantz Fanon
Wretched of the Earth (opens the original)
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On this episode, Ryan and Todd complete their Frantz Fanon duology by talking about his final completed work, Wretched of the Earth. The episode focuses on Fanon's "stretching" of both Marxism and psychoanalysis to ground his unique decolonial intervention.
Black Skin, White Masks (opens the original)
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On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Frantz Fanon's decolonial classic, Black Skin, White Masks . The hosts work through the conversation surrounding his credentials as a psychoanalyst, his engagement with Freud, Lacan, Octave Mannoni, and Carl Jung, and his dialectical relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism and his Marxism.
Adaptations (opens the original)
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On this episode, Ryan and Todd theorize the adaptation as a form of film. The episode takes its point of departure the continuing conversation over Nolan's Odyssey. Film adaptations, according to the hosts, must represent an intervention to the source text. This intervention can happen at a number of different levels but the most common is that film technology or conventions of filmmaking are altered, introduced, or changed in order to make a dynamic adaptation. The hosts discuss examples of fil
The Odyssey (opens the original)
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On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Christopher Nolan's recent film. The conversation begins with Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey that Nolan consulted and adapted to the screen. Much of the conversation is focused on teasing out the consequences of the changes Nolan makes to the poem's narrative. It's spoiler-town so be wary after about 35 minutes. Apart from experiencing the technical feat of the film, the reason to see it is to see and consider the changes and alterations Nolan ma
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