GODS AND MONSTERS: How Aristotle explains the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

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News, Society & Culture, Politics, Government

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can the classics tell us the truth about Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow and the Marvel pantheon? Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, uses the Marvel Cinematic Universe to explain Aristotle’s Poetics to his students. He sits down with fellow Marvelite Andrew Harrison to discuss the mythic resonances of the MCU. Face front! Warning: many spoilers here. “What Aristotle says about Greek tragedy and drama fits the Marvel Universe perfectly.” “Captain America and Iron Man’s moral choices come right out of their characters. And Aristotle would really appreciate that.” “Fighting Thanos is fighting the inevitability of death. We’re all going to lose – but what is a good death?” “Aristotle’s Lyceum was a kind of counter-school to Plato’s X-Men.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:13.0	It won't have escaped the notice of regular listeners to the podcast that the Marvel Universe is a big deal for many of us here.
1:18.0	The 23 Marvel movies are responsible for 22.6 billion dollars of box office and six of the 20 highest grosses of all time.
1:25.3	They are, by some distance, the biggest pop cultural phenomenon of the 21st century.
1:29.1	But is there enormous success, dependent upon something rather deeper than worldwide marketing and character recognition.
1:34.8	Comics geeks like me love to say that there are modern mythology, but are they? Do they conform to the rules of the classics?
1:40.3	Robert Eagleston is a professor of contemporary literature and thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, and like me he has a confirmed Marvelite.
1:48.0	He's got a book coming out called Truth and Wonder, a literary introduction to Plato and Aristotle.
1:52.0	On Facebook he mentioned that he was using the
1:54.3	Marvel Cinematic Universe to explain Aristotle's poetics to his students and I thought well we had to do a
	...

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