Why Theory

Ryan and Todd conduct a thorough exploration of Freud's 1920 text Beyond the Pleasure Principle, beginning with the claim that this represents Freud at his most radical and original point. They look at the notion of death drive that Freud develops and trace how he comes to abandon the idea of the primacy of the pleasure principle.

Ryan and Todd examine the theoretical underpinnings of the genre of the superhero film. They look at its origins in the western and its development from the 1970s through Christopher Nolan and culminating in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They discuss why one might see it as a failed genre.

Ryan and Todd pick up their discussion of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit with an exploration of the "Spirit" section of this book. They probe into Hegel's conception of Sittlichkeit (or the ethical order) and his investment in the act of getting one's hands dirty ethically and politically.

Ryan and Todd discuss Lacan's claim that "there is no metalanguage." They address the political implications of this idea and look at various attempts to constitute a metalinguistic position. Finally, they explore the connection between metalanguage and capitalist subjectivity.

Ryan and Todd return to the theorization of the Christmas film by examining three entries in the genre: Meet Me in St. Louis, Holiday Inn, and Christmas in Connecticut. They discuss the Christmas film's depiction of castrated authority, its challenge to cynicism, and its insistence that one must immerse oneself in a fiction to find truth.

Ryan and Todd delve into the theoretical importance of the 1942 film Casablanca. They examine its critique of cynicism, its intermixing of love and politics, and its enactment of the importance of the barrier. They conclude by exploring how the film figures enjoyment and the political implications of this figuring.

Ryan and Todd explore the concept of retroactivity or Nachträglichkeit from its development in Hegel's philosophy to its pivotal status as the basis for freedom in Slavoj Zizek's thought. In between, they discuss how Freud, Lacan, and Laplanche each deploy this central theoretical concept and trace its political implications.

Ryan and Todd finish their three-episode examination of Freud's structural theory of the psyche with a focus on the id. They discuss the lack of discussion of the id among theorists and try to fill this lacuna. They then explore its cultural resonance.

In this second in a series of three episodes, Ryan and Todd discuss the trajectory of the concept of the ego from Freud to Lacan. They investigate how Lacan's critique of the ego reshapes psychoanalytic thinking by distancing the subject from ego.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd trace the development of the concept of the superego from Freud's invention of it in the Ego and the Id to Jacques Lacan's development of it through his seminars to Slavoj Zizek's theorizing of it as a political category. They examine the link between superego and social authority, focusing on the role that enjoyment plays in superegoic logic.