The World Through Fiction

Star Trek is a massive franchise heavily influenced by themes and myths of colonization. This episode gives a brief overview of these themes.

Sources:

For more on taming of savagery and individualism as frontier values, see The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin

Turner's Thesis PDF

For more on the Indian-hater trope, see Gunfighter Nation by Richard Slotkin

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This episode explores the fear of rural people and the still existing periphery in America through three of the more well known backwoods horror movies: Jeepers Creepers, Deliverance, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

If you would like to help some rural folks resist development you can learn more at:

Dunnellon, Untold Stories of a Two River City

Sources:

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” University of Minnesota Press.

Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Columbia University Press. 1982.

Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. 1992.

The Cannibal Pig People of Pig Hill by American Hysteria

Apologies for this episode being rushed! The World Through Fiction deviates from its usual format in this episode as I cover current events and compare them to antifascist literature.

Sources:

Pulver, Dinah Voyles. n.d. “‘A New Wildfire Paradigm’: Why California Fires Are Growing Larger and More Destructive.” USA TODAY. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/18/why-california-wildfires-are-getting-bigger/77592814007/.

“At EPA, Trump’s Second Term Is Already Having Consequences - POLITICO.” n.d. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/02/trump-epa-departures-00194903.

Martínez, A. 2024. “Trump Wants to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill.’ What Does That Mean for Climate Concerns?” NPR, November 15, 2024, sec. Environment. https://www.npr.org/2024/11/13/nx-s1-5181963/trump-promises-more-drilling-in-the-u-s-to-boost-fossil-fuel-production.

Borunda, Alejandra. 2024. “Wildfire Smoke Contributes to Thousands of Deaths Each Year in the U.S.” NPR, April 18, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1245068810/wildfire-smoke-contributes-to-thousands-of-deaths-each-year-in-the-u-s.

Inskeep, Steve. 2025. “Steve Bannon Says MAGA Populism Will Win — as Trump Is Surrounded by Billionaires.” NPR, January 19, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/19/nx-s1-5254112/donald-trump-elon-musk-steve-bannon-inauguration-day-2025-billionaires.

Caldwell, Noah. 2024. “The Family Politics behind J.D. Vance’s ‘childless Cat Ladies’ Comment.” NPR, July 25, 2024, sec. Politics. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/25/nx-s1-5051873/the-family-politics-behind-j-d-vances-childless-cat-ladies-comment.

McCammon, Sarah. 2024. “Trump Tells Christian Voters They ‘won’t Have to Vote Anymore’ If He’s Elected.” NPR, July 27, 2024, sec. Elections. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/27/nx-s1-5054272/trump-christian-wont-vote-anymore-speech.

Allyn, Bobby. 2025. “TikTok Is Offline in the U.S. after Supreme Court Upholds Ban.” NPR, January 19, 2025, sec. Business. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5266146/tiktok-offline-supreme-court-ban.

Allyn, Bobby. 2025. “TikTok Is Back Online in the U.S., Following Trump’s Promise to Pause the Ban.” NPR, January 19, 2025, sec. Business. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/19/nx-s1-5267568/tiktok-back-online.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism

https://www.arthistoryproject.com/artists/filippo-tommaso-marinetti/the-futurist-manifesto/

Welcome back, it's been a while! This episode traces the evolution of the road genre out of the western and explores America's psychological relationship with the automobile, building from where we left off in August.

This episode did not go entirely as I planned, as along the way I became much more interested in the relationship between cars and fascism as current events have evolved.

Sources:

Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. 1992.

Palmer, Lorrie. "The Road to Lordsburg: Rural Masculinity in Supernatural." In TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural, edited by Stacey Abbot and David Lavery, 77-89.

Agnew, John. Hidden Geopolitics: Governance in a Globalized World. 2023.

The Futurist Manifesto by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco

This episode examines how colonial themes persist in stories set in the present through a case study in Supernatural (2005-2020).

Concepts:

Sources:

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” University of Minnesota Press.

Leow Hui Min Annabeth. "Coloniality and the Chicana Gothic: Traveling Myths in the Pilot." In The Gothic Tradition in Supernatural: Essays on the Television Series, edited by Melissa Edmundson, 91-102.

Palmer, Lorrie. "The Road to Lordsburg: Rural Masculinity in Supernatural." In TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural, edited by Stacey Abbot and David Lavery, 77-89.

Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. 1992.

Have you ever wondered where the trope of the home intrusion boogeyman comes from? The origin of the cultural fear of kidnapping? This episode gives an introduction into the basis if these tropes in American media.

Warnings: Frank discussion of fictional portrayals of sexual violence

Concepts:

Sources:

On the concept of common sense:

Agnew, John. Hidden Geopolitics: Governance in a Globalized world. Rowman and Littlefield. 2023.

Hixon, Walter L. The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy. Sheridan Books. 2008.

On the female captivity narrative:

Slotikin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. 1992.

On gender in Duel in the Sun:

Corkin, Stanley. Cowboys as Cold Warriors: The Western and U.S. History. Temple University Press. 2004.

Pirates are some of the most romanticized villains in pop culture, but what is the true story of their history? This episode attempts to dispel myths and bring to light truths about the origins and functioning of piracy, as well as uncovering the basis of some pop culture portrayals.

Concepts:

Sources:

Kardulias, P. Nick, and Emily Butcher. 2016. “Piracy in a Contested Periphery: Incorporation and the Emergence of the Modern World-System in the Colonial Atlantic Frontier.” Journal of World-Systems Research 22 (2): 542–64. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2016.652.

Yangas, Taylor. 2014. “Black Pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy: Men Seeking Escape and Transformation.”

Kinkor, Kenneth J. "Black Men under the Black Flag." In Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader, edited by C. R. Pennel, 195-205.

Rediker, Marcus. 1993. "When Women Pirates Sailed the Seas."

Come talk to me!

Twitter: @ravensiegfried

Tumblr: @theworldthroughfiction

The cowboy is a symbol of nationalistic masculine identity in America, but what is the true history of these frontier legends, and how has the western genre misrepresented them? This is part one of a two part discussion on the expression of marginalized identities on the frontier. Part two out June 26th.

Concepts:

Sources:

Widdowson, Oryan. n.d. “A Deep Voice: How Newspapers Talk About Harry Allen, 1900 - 1923.”

Barbash, Fred. 2021. “‘He Paid a Dear Price for It’: The 19th-Century Ordeal of One of America’s First Transgender Men.” Washington Post, October 25, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/09/08/he-paid-a-dear-price-for-it-the-19th-century-story-of-one-of-americas-first-transgender-men/.

“Out West: The Queer Sexuality of the American Cowboy and His Cultural Significance.” n.d. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://www.brandeis.edu/writing-program/write-now/2021-2022/miller-hana/index.html.

Colonization is an ongoing process that is still happening today. This episode examines how this process unfolds and why those who resist it choose to do so by examining a classic western, a Supernatural episode, and the lore of Lord Huron.

Concepts:

Waves of colonization

Resistance to colonization

Ruralmisia

Sources:

Turner's Thesis PDF:

https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Turner%20Thesis%2C%20Frederick%20Jackson%20Turner.pdf

The World Ender music video:

https://youtu.be/-TGld4a5Mb4?si=LegtDh7MLfv4nEx0

The World Ender comic:

https://archive.org/details/lord-huron-strange-trails-7

This episode examines how national identity in the United States has been created through colonization by looking at the symbology of the film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Concepts:

Sources:

Hixson, Walter L. The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy. Sheridan Books. 2008.

Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861-1932. The Significance of the Frontier in American History.

Grandin, Greg. The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America. Metropolitan Books. 2019.

Beltran, Cristina. Cruelty as Citizenship: How Migrant Suffering Sustains White Democracy. University of Minnesota Press. 2020.