On the darkly comic '96 film and the 4-season crime show. Mark, Erica, Brian, and Tamler from VBW consider its style, "tundra western" setting, "Minnesota nice", gender issues, stunt casting, absurdism, and more. Yes, there are spoilers, but it barely matters.

For more, visit prettymuchpop.com. Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

Sponsor: Visit amazon.com/prettyRX for free two-day prescription deliveries (and save money when not using insurance).

On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals (1887), "Third essay: what do ascetic ideals mean?"

Self-denial is necessary for disciplined action but can clearly go too far. N uses this concept of asceticism to analyze both geniuses and the masses. It's a chief tool of the will to power, dangerous to human flourishing but also helping us to evolve. Does N's picture of motivation and greatness make sense?

In this episode we discuss EM Forster’s novel Howard’s End as well as take a look at the 1992 movie of the novel starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

“Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him—”

--Howard’s End

The story revolves around three families: the Schlegels–– half-German siblings Margaret, Helen, and Tibby whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the Bloomsbury Group (in which Forster was a member); the Wilcoxes—headed by Henry––a group of unsympathetic rich capitalists with a fortune made in the colonies; and the Basts, a sad and struggling young couple from a lower-class background. Each reflects a different and almost conflicting part of society--a tale of striking class warfare.

Click to hear more Phi Fic.

Thanks to Christopher Nolen for our music.

In light of The Queen's Gambit, chess expert J.J. joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to look at chess media, culture, and personalities.

We consider gender, genius, and other issues in Gambit, plus Pawn Sacrifice, Searching for Bobby Fisher, The Luzhin Defense, and The Coldest Game.

For more, visit prettymuchpop.com. Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

More on Parfit's Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. In this preview, we consider how Parfit deals with Bernard Williams' materialist thought experiment to show that the whole concept of personal identity doesn't make sense. Also, split brains!

To hear this second part, you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

What's the post-COVID future of movie theaters? Mark, Erica, and Brian compare past moviegoing habits and reflect on the big-screen vs. small-screen decision. How would we optimize the theatrical experience? We consider films affected like Tenet, Soul, etc.

For more, visit prettymuchpop.com. Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

Sponsors: Visit ExpressVPN.com/pretty to get three months free.

What explains the enduring appeal of Auden’s September 1, 1939? Was he right to repudiate it? Wes & Erin discuss.

On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. What makes a person persist over time?

After using various sci-fi examples to test the Lockean (personhood=psychological continuity), physicalist (same brain=same person), and Cartesian (same soul=same person) theories, Parfit concludes that the whole notion is incoherent and isn't actually what we care about when wondering "will I die?"

Returning heroine Vi (now a grad student in comics history) joins Erica, Mark, and Brian to put the new film in context, bringing in the weird ideas of WW's creator as shown in the 2017 biopic Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Do the new film's themes actually make sense? We talk political ideals, truth, love, feminist utopias, '70s TV, and more.

For more, visit prettymuchpop.com. Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

Sponsor: For a free audiobook and 30 days free, visit Audible.com/pretty or text pretty to 500-500.

One last take on John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), covering Book II, ch. 21 and 28.

What makes a moral claim true? Do we have free will? What makes us choose the good, or not? In this coda to our long treatment of Locke's opus, we bring together all he has to say about morality, which is strangely modern yet also just strange.