Subtext: Conversations about Classic Books and Films
Episodes
Friendship and Honor in “Becket” (1964)
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Jean Anouilh’s 1959 play “Becket,” the titular character seems at first to be a Saxon collaborationist to the Norman rule of England, and a m...
Losing Your Head in Alice Munro’s “Carried Away”
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jack, a Canadian soldier recuperating in a European hospital during World War I, begins a correspondence with Louisa, the librarian in his hometown wh...
Time and Taboo in “Back to the Future” (1985)
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the parking lot of the Twin Pines Mall, Doc Brown plans to use his Delorean time machine to head 25 years into the future and see, as he puts it, “...
The Violence of Redemption in John Donne’s “Batter My Heart” (Holy Sonnet 14)
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In “Holy Sonnet 14,” John Donne would like his “three person’d God” to break instead of knock, blow instead of breathe, and burn instead of ...
Mortal Pretensions in John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” (Holy Sonnet 10)
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A recusant Catholic turned Protestant, a rake turned priest, a scholar, lawyer, politician, soldier, secretary, sermonizer, and of course, a poet— J...
Trauma and Repetition in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” (1974)
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Roman Polanksi’s 1974 film “Chinatown” seems to have little to do with its titular neighborhood, which is the setting for only one horrible and ...
Better and Bested in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a play full of contradictions, secrets, lies, and unspoken rules. It’s a play decidedly for adults, but about a child—an imaginary one, no ...
Pagan Poetics in “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wallace Stevens was an ungainly insurance executive, but his poetry is serene and secularly reverential. In particular, his poem “Sunday Morning” ...
Production for Use in “His Girl Friday”
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Howard Hawks’s 1940 film His Girl Friday knits together two plots from two very different genres. One is a romantic comedy that intends to reunite i...
Post-Doctoral Bedevilment in Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus”
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Faustus expected more from his education. After a lifetime of study, his professional options—philosophy, medicine, law, and theology—all seem...
Fate and Blame in “Long Day’s Journey into Night”
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Who is to blame for Mary Tyrone’s morphine addiction? Is it Mary herself? Is it Edmund, her younger son, after whose difficult birth Mary was first ...
Work as Madness in “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957)
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the beginning, Colonel Nicholson seems to be a stickler for principle, willing to die rather than have his officers do menial labor in a Japanese p...
What Falls Upon the Living in James Joyce’s “The Dead”
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1906, presumably finished with his short story collection Dubliners, James Joyce wrote to his brother with dissatisfaction that, though he set abou...
Finding Home in Stephen Spielberg’s “E.T.” (1982)
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Spielberg once said that he was “still waiting to get out of [his] Peter Pan shoes and into [his] loafers.” Being a filmmaker, he said, wa...
The Power of Calm: Two Wordsworth Sonnets
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
William Wordsworth wrote no fewer than 523 sonnets over the course of his career. (By comparison, the second most prolific Romantic sonneteer was Keat...
What Nature Betrays: Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” (Part 2)
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Part 1 of our discussion of “Tintern Abbey,” we talked about whether Wordsworth was right to suggest that our experience of nature was good not...
Mother Nature’s Nurture in Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” (Part 1)
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After an absence of five years, the poet William Wordsworth returned to the idyllic ruins of a medieval monastery along the River Wye. The spot was pe...
The Fool Gets Hurt in Fellini’s “La Strada” (1954)
17 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fellini called his film "La Strada" a dangerous representation of his identity, and had a nervous breakdown just before completing its shooting. Perha...
False Roles and Fictitious Selves in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin
03 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 19th century, the “New Woman” was a term coined by Henry James for a particular kind of feminist who demanded freedom of behavior, dre...
(post)script: Post-Wonderful
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wes & Erin continue their discussion of "It's a Wonderful Life."
The Pain of Anonymity in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Though sometimes accused of a sentimentality dubbed “Capracorn,” Frank Capra’s films are clear-eyed about the suffering of the everyman. A quint...
(post)script: Is “Die Hard” a Christmas Movie?
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wes & Erin continue their discussion of "Die Hard."
Attachments “Die Hard” at Nakatomi Tower
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a Christmas movie, some say, and in the end the holiday classic “Let it Snow” plays over the credits. But what counts as snow in the final ...
Mad as Hell in “Network” (1976)
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Diana Christensen is a television executive in search of an angry show—something that articulates the rage of the average viewer. In Howard Beale, f...
Autonomy and Incest in Sophocles’s “Oedipus Rex”
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
His first claim to fame was the solution to a riddle that earned him a kingdom by sheer force of intellect. His second was a doomed attempt to escap...
Gender Opera in “Tootsie”
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you become the many you truly are? Try becoming the woman you aren’t. While Michael Dorsey can take the blame for his desperate transformatio...
Our Name is Subtext, Podcast of Podcasts. Hear our “Ozymandias” Discussion, Ye Listeners, and Despair!
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The land is not just ancient but “antique,” and while many of its artifacts end up as the possessions of distant museums, they may yet be capable ...
Sex and Tech in “Alien” by Ridley Scott
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Nostromo is a labyrinthine spaceship, a hulking ore refinery run on a sophisticated computer operating system and manned by a crew of seven. But s...
Dead Wall Reveries in Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” is subtitled a “Story of Wall St.,” yet there is almost nothing in it of the bustle of city life, and en...
Cursed Kids or Psych-Au Pair? “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The story begins and ends with two variations on the meaning of the title. On the one hand, to give another turn of the screw is to ratchet up the hor...
Gentility and Injustice in “Gone with the Wind” (1939)
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gone with the Wind— adjusted for inflation, the highest-grossing film in American history— has undergone several critical reappraisals in the 82 y...
Realism as Cruelty in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the transition from stage to screen, "A Streetcar Named Desire" retained its long-running Broadway cast with a single exception: the role of Blanch...
Prestidigitocracy in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Wizard of Oz is supposed by the land’s inhabitants to be its most powerful magician. But far from having any actual power, he is not even native...
Formulated Phrases in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot: Part 2
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wes & Erin continue their analysis of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” In Part 1, they covered roughly the first third of th...
Disturbing the Universe in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot: Part 1
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It was T. S. Eliot’s first published poem. Written when he was only in his early 20s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” rode the crest of th...
(post)script: Post-Apocalypse
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wes & Erin continue their discussion of "Apocalypse Now." Wes apologizes for asking Erin to watch something so disturbing, and we further discuss duel...
At Home with War in “Apocalypse Now” (1979) by Francis Ford Coppola
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore doesn’t flinch for enemy fire, loves the smell of napalm in the morning, and would literally kill for good surfing a...
Unsound Methods in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On his journey to the heart of the Congo, Marlow learns of a famed ivory trader named Kurtz— a remarkable man; a “universal genius;” a painter, ...
On the Lam with “Thelma & Louise” (1991)
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two women—one a straight-laced waitress, the other a naive housewife—leave town for a quiet weekend getaway. But after a deadly encounter with a r...
Spiritual Matters in Chekhov’s “The Student” and “A Medical Case”
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Chekhov’s stories, beautiful natural surroundings are often a setting for unnatural lives and ugly social conditions. This sets the stage for a r...
Art and Action in Chekhov’s “The House with the Mezzanine”
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this story, there are two sisters: one introverted, frail, and bookish; the other dominant, opinionated, and politically active. In meeting them, a...
Nipped by Love in Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Little Dog”
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dmitri Gurov does not take love seriously. His wife annoys him, long-term relationships scare him, and his love life consists of brief affairs with wo...
Business Gets Personal in “The Godfather” (1972)
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Out of the darkness of the opening frames comes a supplicant— Buonasera the undertaker. He pleads for the justice that the American legal system den...
(post)script: Post-Hall: Pimps, Pills, and Automobiles
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Annie Hall; Wes pines to revisit his many unwritten essays, including the one about love and nostalgia in Woo...
Love and Nostalgia in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” (1977)
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alvy Singer is not, he tells us, a depressive character. It’s just that as a child he always worried that the expanding universe would one day break...
Yielding to Suggestion in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the moors of medieval Scotland, three witches hail the nobleman Macbeth as the future king—despite the fact that King Duncan is very much alive, ...
Clever Hopes in W. H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939”
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
W. H. Auden hated this poem. He called it the most dishonest he had ever written, and eventually had it excluded from collections of his poetry. And y...
The “Human Position” of Suffering in W. H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts”
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As war loomed in Europe, the poet W.H. Auden left Britain for the United States. One of the poems he wrote just before leaving is about the nature of ...
Mutual Amusement in “The Awful Truth” (1937)
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a romance that begins with a divorce. Lucy and Jerry Warriner suspect each other of affairs, so they file suit, battle for custody of their dog...
Against Specialization in Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler”
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hedda Gabler is not a fan of specialization: not in the professor she has married, and his esoteric scholarly interests; not in domesticity, and the s...
Kill Billy: Order and Innocence in Melville’s “Billy Budd”
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Budd is a beautiful man. Not just good looking, but exquisitely good natured, something that costs him no effort and has required no instruction....
Being Yourself in John Cassavetes’s “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974)
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John Cassavetes is known today as the father of American independent film, a pioneering writer, director, editor, actor who managed to make movies on ...
Worrying about the Future in Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate” (1967)
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Braddock is a little worried about his future. He’s a recent college graduate who moves back in with his upper-middle-class parents and fee...
Slouching Towards Bethlehem in W.B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming”: Part 2
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Wes and Erin continue their discussion of W.B. Yeats’ "The Second Coming." In Part 1, they analyzed the first stanza of the poem, in particular Yeat...
Things Fall Apart in W.B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming”: Part 1
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1919, the world seemed to have descended into anarchy. World War I had killed millions and profoundly altered the international order. Four empires...
Filial Ingratitude in in Shakespeare’s “King Lear”
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Do we owe parents our gratitude for our upbringing? What if they haven’t done such a great job? And anyway, perhaps we inevitably resent all the for...
The “Intelligent Way to Approach Marriage” in Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954)
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
L.B. Jefferies has the perfect girlfriend—beautiful, intelligent, wealthy—but too perfect, he insists, for marriage. And so he spends his time spy...
The Acceptance of Mortality in Keats’s “To Autumn”
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this third and final installment of our series on Keats’s odes, we’re looking at "To Autumn," the poet’s last major work before his death at ...
Escape into Art in Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale”
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Second in our series on the odes of John Keats is "Ode to a Nightingale," in which Keats imagines a journey into the realm of negative capability, a c...
Truth as Beauty in Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The poet John Keats is famous for the concept of "negative capability," his description of the ability to tolerate the world’s uncertainty without r...
Mastery and Repetition in “Groundhog Day” (1993)
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When egotistical weatherman Phil Connors gets trapped in a time loop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, he gets drunk, steals money, manipulates women, bi...
Love and Wit in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At the center of every courting ritual, there’s a great unknown. How do we know when we’ve met someone we can love? How do we know the other perso...
(post)script: Debut
01 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With (post)script, get to know your quirky hosts, their existential doubts, and all the behind-the-scenes drama that's concealed by their staid demean...
Expediency and Intimacy in Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” (1960)
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You know, it’s that old story of boy meets girl … girl is dating boy’s married boss … girl tries to commit suicide … boy saves girl’s life...
Marital Economics in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An advantageous marriage is Elizabeth Bennet’s only potential escape from a foolish mother, a disinterested father, three very silly sisters, and a ...