Change or Die

Three horror films. One question: What happens when the world hands you a choice—change or die? Dr. Hoshaw examines Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, I Saw the TV Glow, and Slanted through the psychoanalytic lens of Adam Phillips's On Wanting to Change and R.D. Laing's The Divided Self. Along the way: a personal story about earning a pilot's license, Susan Stryker's landmark Frankenstein essay, and a sharp meditation on privilege, conversion, and the body's refusal to cooperate.

SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains major spoilers for Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, I Saw the TV Glow, and Slanted. Watch the films first, then come back.

Explore: 

Films/Series: 

*Something Very Bad Is About To Happen* on Netflix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMc_pWm7G7o

*I Saw The TV Glow*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymDzCgPwj0

*Slanted*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRYAuKuzmn0

Books/Essays: 

Adam Phillips, *On Wanting to Change* (2022): https://bookshop.org/p/books/on-wanting-to-change-adam-phillips/34b21e55a58f4b29?ean=9780374717308&next=t&aid=123053&listref=n-ew-thoughts-podcast-featured-books

R.D. Laing, *The Divided Self* (1960): https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-divided-self-an-existential-study-in-sanity-and-madness-r-d-laing/9b9381601d8b5c38?ean=9780140135374&next=t&aid=123053&listref=n-ew-thoughts-podcast-featured-books

Susan Stryker, "My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix" (1994): https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content/uploads/sites/226/2015/12/Stryker-My-Words-to-VF.pdf 

Hortense Spillers, "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe" (1987): https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Spillers_Mamas_Baby.pdf

David M. Halperin, *What Do Gay Men Want?* (2009): https://bookshop.org/p/books/what-do-gay-men-want-an-essay-on-sex-risk-and-subjectivity-david-halperin/baac28bbfb7f5d4d?ean=9780472116225&next=t&aid=123053&listref=n-ew-thoughts-podcast-featured-books

C. Winter Han, *Racial Erotics* (2021): https://bookshop.org/p/books/racial-erotics-gay-men-of-color-sexual-racism-and-the-politics-of-desire-associate-professor-of-sociology-c-winter-han/271c1f2ac20144d2?ean=9780295749082&next=t&aid=123053&listref=n-ew-thoughts-podcast-featured-books

Sophia Lewis, *Abolish the Family* (2022): https://bookshop.org/p/books/abolish-the-family-a-manifesto-for-care-and-liberation-sophie-lewis/601674138b4319e7?ean=9781839767197&next=t&aid=123053&listref=n-ew-thoughts-podcast-featured-books

 Music: 

"Extraordinary," from the musical *Pippin:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjqYqhq9xsk

"We Will Not Be Lovers," *The Waterboys:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu65eMTuqsQ

"Perfection," from the musical *Death Becomes Her:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqSBWHH_KPw