Episode Reviews

This episode was very revealing. Staron's guests did an amazing job discussing the pros and cons of the movie, and in passing Sarah Welch-Larson talked about how the movie was informed by the political context of the day, which was McCarthyism. Staron divulged that he had missed ALL THE SUBTEXT of the movie, and had only really noticed the historical inaccuracies. Listeners, he did not know this movie was about oppressive thought-control laws (McCarthy), closed-mindedness (McCarthy), standing up to powerful despots (McCarthy), and the ugliness of moral panics (McCarthy). He thought it was just an inaccurate history!I can't help but wonder what Staron's inability to intuit the themes and moral messages of the movie say about his thinking. Is his astonishingly literal mind the product of his inflexible religious views, or do people who can't appreciate metaphors just tend to end up as evangelicals? I have so many follow-up questions after this episode!In the end, I'm thankful that Sarah Welch-Larson was there to shed some light on this movie. Honestly, she was the only one worth listening to.