Credo Quia Absurdum
The podcast that analyzes and interprets texts (and other pieces of media) from contemporary times and antiquity. Siblings Cat and Anna Jane love stories and love finding the absurdity in them (whether or not that absurdity was intended). Whether beautiful and poignant, creepy and atmospheric, utterly ridiculous, or some combination of the above, we delve deep into what some of our favorite works mean to us.
Episodes
9 episodes
The Shadow: In which we explore the archetypal resonance of Jigglypuff
It's our season finale, and it's a doozy. We explore two texts: Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Shadow" and Ursula K. Le Guin's essay "The Child and the Shadow," which gives an analysis of the fairy tale. We also pull in many of the s...
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1:06:00
Shang Dynasty Tomb Art: Ancient shamanism for dummies
This week we travel back to the Shang Dynasty of China, where we examine tomb art and the lives of the shamans and kings who interpreted the cracking of oracle bones and presided over human sacrifices. Find the images we discuss on...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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1:04:17
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Sexual Awakenings
Today we're trying something new, and discussing a movie that shaped our childhood, even though it was an utter box office flop. It's Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, which came out in 2003 under DreamWorks Animation, and it's a swashbuckling ...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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52:13
The Queen of Spades: Close encounters with ghosts and frenemies
The Queen of Spades is a fantastic and spooky little tale from Russian literary great Alexander Pushkin. In this episode we enter his magical world of 1830s St. Petersburg, where we attend lavish balls, play cards late into the night, yearn, po...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:23:25
Queer Love: In which Herman Melville is gay and we don't even make a Moby Dick joke
In this episode we explore two epistolary romances: one between 17th century samurai and the other between two American writers, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, with forays into Kabuki theater, scented gel pens, and an honorable mentio...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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1:02:39
The Uncanny: A Freudian analysis of a certain Netflix show about fairies
In a loose continuation of our discussion of "The Sandman," in this episode we delve into the bizarre, fantastical, and spooky world of Sigmund Freud's theories, and find that even though he is both ridiculous and unscientific, there is s...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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1:09:46
The Sandman: in which we propose Zoolander as the new romantic
In this episode we discuss The Sandman, the 1816 short story by ETA Hoffmann. The story has had a substantial influence on fantasy and horror genres, as well as on early psychoanalysis, and as you’ll soon hear, we just love it. It’s full of fun...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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1:13:23
Howl's Moving Castle: in which we mostly discuss Howl's suits
Howl's Moving Castle is a Studio Ghibli classic, but it was originally based off of a book by the British author Diana Wynne Jones, which happens to be very dear to our hearts. Here we expound on how much we love it, how funny and how ins...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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57:20
The Illiad: in which Achilles is mad
Here we kick off our first episode of Credo Quia Absurdum! This week, we are analyzing a classical text, the Iliad. We talk about the story, the history, and our favorite homeric moments. Content warnings: Some discussion of violen...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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1:02:29