Podcast
Discussions dedicated to exploring faith, spirituality, arts and culture.
EPISODE 1: HEROES AND VILLAINS IN SOCIETY & CULTURE
This is the first episode of a new podcast series exploring the concept of "heroes" and "villains" in society and culture, war and conflict, news and politics, stories and literature, and in history. In this episode our host Charley is joined by guests GEORGE DUTCH (playwright, dramaturge, and actor with a Masters in Cultural Studies) as well as MARITA SMITH (pediatric nurse and sexual health educator) as they discuss heroes and villains as a social construct, childhood development in understanding the world, putting people on pedestals, and the courageous undoing of classifying others into simple categories.
This podcast series is recorded at CHRI Radio. We wish to thank them for their support.
Past Podcast Series
EPISODE 2: HEROES AND VILLAINS IN HISTORY
In this episode, our host Charley is joined by guests BREANNA DOYLE (theatre artist who has also studied history, anthropology, art, English and cinema studies) as well as JOHN ROBSON (National Post columnist with a B.A. and M.A. in history from UofT and a Ph.D in American history from University of Texas Austin). They discuss the ever changing analysis of who's a hero and villain in history, the role of history in shaping culture and story, the controversial reclaiming and renaming based on values of today judging values of yesterday, erasing or preserving history, and the importance of understanding our history to navigate our future.
EPISODE 3: HEROES AND VILLAINS IN STORIES & LITERATURE
In this episode, our host Charley is joined by guests KAT IRVINE (theatre artist with a Degree in Performance Creation and Research, Minor in English, and a specialization in New Play Dramaturgy) as well as ADAM BARROWS (theatre artist and a professor of English Literature at Carleton University). They discuss the need for heroes and villains in fiction for framing morality and ethics and in setting apart good and bad behaviours, heroes and villains that are clear in stories and those that are ambiguous, the anti-hero and our need to understand and even cheer for them, the difference between empathizing with a character's back story and justifying their current actions, and underrepresented people groups and minorities in stories and how they're portrayed over time.
EPISODE 4: HEROES AND VILLAINS IN WAR & CONFLICT
In this episode, our host Charley is joined by guests CATHY NOBLEMAN (theatre artist with a Degree in French Literature and Masters in Journalism) as well as DR. RICHARD FEIST (tenured associate professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at Saint Paul University). They discuss the concepts of morality, responsibility and ethics, justifications in conflict and the notion of a just war, the changing landscape of war and how that might affect ethics over time, the role of the media and state in shaping narratives for the masses, as well as the way propaganda is used by all sides for the recruitment of "heroes" to fight for a cause and the creation of "villains" to fight against.