Playtest is the tragedy of happy-go-lucky Cooper, who travels the world to escape the pain of his family, where his father has died of Alzheimers. The real adventure comes at the end of his trip, when to make money for his return home he volunteers to test a new, virtual horror game. By probing his brain, this game anticipates his fears and subjects him to them one by one. But what is his deepest fear? It isn't spiders or his high-school bully, as it turns out, but instead the annihilation of himself. That was the fate not only of his father, but also of Greek tragic heroes, such as Sophocles' Oedipus. Tragedy is the highest cultural form, according to Nietzsche, because this is also our inevitable fate. In this conversation we discuss horror, tragedy, Nietzsche, and the peculiar genre of this episode.

 

Guest: Christopher Mountenay