The Midnight Myth Podcast

And now for something completely different! This week, we’re returning to our favorite experiment—testing our patented scientific, objective, and unimpeachable process for identifying the Perfect Movie. Last year, we proposed a rubric for perfection on film, and we’re running more amazing movies through it to test our theories. From Apocalypse Now and Pulp Fiction to Pirates of the Caribbean and The Muppet Christmas Carol, will your favorites make it through? Tune in to hear what gets the Midnight Myth stamp of approval!

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Content Warning: violence, war, PTSD, animal harm, child harm

This is the end. My only friend, the end. Join us on a voyage up the Nung River, through increasingly surreal episodes of war on our quest to find the elusive Colonel Kurtz. In Francis Ford Coppola’s epic vision of the Vietnam War Apocalypse Now (1979), history blends with myth, violence blends with the absurd, and the human mind makes friends of horror and moral terror. We discuss the complex history that escalated into the deeply controversial war in Vietnam and the counterculture it inspired. We search for the motivation behind adapting Joseph Conrad’s critique of colonialism, Heart of Darkness in this specific setting. And we explore the mythopoetic and psychoanalytic readings of Apocalypse Now—a story about a real war, yes, but also a universal story of rite, ritual, and epic horror.

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

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An old widower can’t sleep, a small city in New England is dealing with the political controversies and passions over the debate around abortion, and the wheel of Ka turns again and again. That’s right, Derek and Steve are back! The last Wheel of Ka episode ended in Derry. While Derek and Steve didn’t know at the time, Insomnia would take us back to this strange small city. Is it cursed? Is it on the path of a broken Beam? All this and more is discussed in this Dark Tower adjacent novel by the word-slinger Stephen King. We learn about the nature of Ka, and who is/is not pulling the strings of us short timers.

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

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Welcome to my home.

Four+ years ago when we started the Midnight Myth, we published an episode reflecting on iconic villains in popular culture—one of which was the prototypical vampire, Count Dracula. Now, after oceans of time, we return to the Prince himself with a deep dive into Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We’ll discuss how Dracula came to represent vampire literature, the tradition of folklore and poetry that anticipated him, and—of course—his namesake, Vlad III Dracula or Vlad the Impaler. Plus how superstition, science, and cinema factor into the legacy of Dracula, and how all vampires are really just Lord Byron.

Bat!

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

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One more dawn… One more day… ONE DAY MORE! In this episode, we continue an exploration of the blockbuster works of French author Victor Hugo and their most popular adaptations. This week, the most famous French novel finds immortality in the musical Les Miserables. We discuss the 2012 Tom Hooper film adaptation from the lens of French history and Enlightenment philosophy. Why do the French come back to rebellion time and again? How do we create a just government? How do we transcend suffering? All of these questions are central to Les Mis, the story of ordinary people rising out of miserable circumstances and changing the world through acts of love.

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

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Morning in Paris, the city awakes to the bells of Notre Dame! Join us among the clouds, in the bell tower of one of the world’s great cathedrals, where lives the mysterious bellringer. This is the story of a man and a monster—but which is which? We’re discussing the 1996 Disney adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame! One of the darkest entries in Disney’s animated canon, it explores themes of racism, infanticide, sexual obsession, deformity, and religion. We explore the development of Gothic architecture and the role of the cathedral in the story, the impressive legacy of Hugo’s novel, and the disturbing truth about anti-Romani prejudice and oppression that continues to this day.

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Help improve education outcomes for Romani children around the world by considering a donation to the Roma Education Fund.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

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This week’s Midnight Myth feels a little archaic, why? Because we are heading into Archaic Greece discussing the 2004 movie Troy and its conversation with Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad. Who were the Archaic Greeks and why did they love this poem? How did The Iliad shape and transform Western Civilization and why was it transformed into the major Hollywood blockbuster Troy?

From the movie’s deconstruction of masculinity, to its critiques on a warrior class, the sun god Himself could’t be happier with this discussion!

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

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This week on the Midnight Myth, we’re pulling every evil string of WandaVision! Walk with us through every era of sitcom glory and their synthesis with the wildly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ll explore how WandaVision interrogates grief, trauma, and psychoanalysis through the medium of classic television. Plus, a brief detour into Tibetan Buddhism and a meditation on the famous Ship of Theseus thought experiment. Marvel’s magical new series left quite the impression on us, and we’re excited to see how it impacts the universe going forward.

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

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Do not try to bend the spoon…first realize the truth…there is no spoon…then you will see it is not the spoon that bends, but merely yourself.

Derek and Laurel are back discussing the 1999 Sci-fi masterpiece smash hit, The Matrix. How does the movie hold up and what new themes can be learned as we dissect Neo tumbling down the rabbit hole and landing in the desert of the real? If it's the question that drives us, what questions should we be asking of this movie? What is real anyhow?

We dissect the symbols and allegories within this wonderful movie and relate them back to Plato’s Republic, the Old Testament.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

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Fellow Travelers On the Path of The Beam, before you jump into the next Wheel of Ka, a quick warning; the second half of It gets dark, really dark. Steve and I have a no holds barred discussion. Please keep this trigger warning in mind, we talk about sexual assault, violence towards children, and infant loss.

Derek and Steve are back at it again, this time discussing the second half of Stephen King’s horror masterpiece, It. As the past and present collide, the Losers must confront the evil force known as It in mysterious town of Derry Maine. What does It say about themes such as free will, the nature of evil and if childhood innocence even exists?

As always, we relate every point back to the Dark Tower, say thank ya.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

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If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!