The Lit-Knitters

Episode 11 - "Remember Me": Honoring the Dead in Coco and "The Altar of the Dead"

Jace and Preston look at memory and memorializing the dead in Disney Pixar's Coco and Henry James' 1895 short story "The Altar of the Dead." They weave the common threads and ideas in both works into the current political climate in the US surrounding memorials, statues, and the naming/renaming/unnaming of buildings on college campuses.  Check out their blog at litknitterspod.wordpress.com. Like and subscribe and leave them a rating on wherever you get your podcasts. If you have any questions or want to joint the knitting circle, find them on Instagram @litknitterspod and Twitter @litknitterspod or email them at litknitterspod@gmail.com.

Episode 10 - Cartoonized Evil and the Constraints of Empathy: Maus and Jojo Rabbit

Midway through Season 2 of The Lit-Knitters, Sam, Jace, and Preston reconvene over Zoom to discuss the 2019 film Jojo Rabbit, directed by Taika Waititi, alongside Art Spiegelman's renowned graphic novel Maus. In the episode, the guys discuss  ways in which satire either extends, limits, or abuses the power of empathy, and the degree to which "cartoonizing" evil can both prevent evil and rectify its damages and horrors.  Email us on our gmail (litknitterspod@gmail.com) or follow us on Twitter or Instagram (@litknitterspod) if you have comments, questions, or suggestions! We'd love to hear from you!  New Yorker review of Jojo Rabbit by Richard Brody: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/springtime-for-nazis-how-the-satire-of-jojo-rabbit-backfires [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/springtime-for-nazis-how-the-satire-of-jojo-rabbit-backfires] Intro music: www.bensounds.com Outro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT-_O65c9T0 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT-_O65c9T0]

Episode 9 - Unease and Uncertainty in Pandemics: "White Noise" and COVID-19

Sam, Jace, and Preston shake things up on this episode of "The Lit-Knitters," meeting via Zoom to discuss the current global COVID-19 pandemic in the context of Don DeLillo's 1985 National Book Prize winning novel, White Noise.   Disclaimer: Because this episode was recorded using the video conferencing software, Zoom, this episode's audio quality suffers slightly. We're working out those bugs and should be able to keep getting you "lit" content from a socially safe distance. Keep washing you hands and staying home!  Intro music: www.bensounds.com Outro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OyBtMPqpNY [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OyBtMPqpNY]

Episode 8 - Realism and Romanticism in War: 1917 and The Red Badge of Courage

In this episode, Sam, Jace, and Preston discuss the 2019 Oscar-Award-winning film 1917 (directed by Sam Mendes) and the 1895 American Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. They discuss both works in relation to the Romantic and Realism literary periods and philosophies related to those movements, the romantic and realistic elements of both works, and how both the film and the movie address the issue of honoring those who fought and died in WWI and the American Civil War. (SPOILERS FOR 1917 and warning for descriptions of war scenes in both works) Intro music: www.bensounds.com Outro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0CXa69GMp4&feature=youtu.be [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0CXa69GMp4&feature=youtu.be]

Episode 7 - Monstrous Anti-Heroes: Grendel and Shrek

Welcome to season 2 of The Lit-Knitters! Despite our lengthy hiatus, we're back in business with a new season full of great (albeit nerdy) connections between literature and movies/TV shows/music records/anything else we randomly think of! On this episode, we discuss anti-heroes, alternative fairy-tales, and monstrous apathy in Dreamwork's 2001 animated film Shrek and John Gardner's 1971 novel Grendel. In this episode, we also introduce a new co-host, Preston Thatcher. Preston is also a fellow student with us, Sam and Jace, and we're stoked to have him on the show! Thanks for sticking with us, and let us know what you think by emailing us at litknitterspod@gmail.com or hitting us up on our social media @litknitterspod.  DISCLAIMER: we recorded this episode about two and a half weeks ago before the coronavirus pandemic became more publicly widespread, so please view Jace's joke about the coronavirus in that light. THANKS! Intro music: www.bensounds.com Shrek clip URLs:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iropsnsCEjA [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iropsnsCEjA]  / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dpaJpQfTBo [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dpaJpQfTBo]   / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gz8d4Kay84 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gz8d4Kay84]   /  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FtCTW2rVFM [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FtCTW2rVFM] Outro music: https://youtu.be/-UxD1FObOH4 [https://youtu.be/-UxD1FObOH4]