The Dark Crystal: Deep Thoughts About False Binaries, World Building, and What Emily Isn't Willing to Accept From Her Puppets

Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Podcast

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What was sundered and undone shall be whole–the two made one.

On today's episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t, Emily returns to a beloved film from the Guy girls' childhood: Jim Henson's 1982 epic fantasy The Dark Crystal. Though the film's main character Jen the Gelfling follows the familiar beats of the hero's journey, baby Emily didn't understand the allegory of divine beings that are incomplete as Mystics and Skeksis without each other–and for good reason. Jim Henson drew inspiration from the book Seth Speaks by psychic medium Jane Roberts, which he claimed not to completely understand. But Henson's masterful attention to world building, his willingness to create a scary story for children, his exploration of spirituality through fiction, and his loving creation of ugly characters, all made for a meaningful--if imperfect--film.

Listen, Gelfling, there is much to be learned. So throw on your headphones and begin!

Mentioned in this episode

The Hero’s Journey

The Virgin’s Promise

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.

فصل ها

1. Introduction to Dark Crystal Discussion (00:00:00)

2. Plot Synopsis: The World of Thra (00:03:36)

3. Jen and Kira's Journey (00:12:45)

4. Gender and the Hero's Journey (00:25:38)

5. Duality, Spirituality, and Binary Thinking (00:31:34)

6. Beauty, Ugliness, and Henson's World-Building (00:41:15)

7. Closing Reflections and Next Episode (00:49:05)