Show Notes
Please help us to keep having these conversations by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/solomonsmith/membershipNapoleon (1927), the monumental silent film directed by Abel Gance is frequently (and correctly) described as one of the most astonishing, awe-inspiring achievements in the history of cinema.Joined by small-handed essayist and fiction writer (and the sole inventor of Google Maps) Cecily Carver, Milo and Jack discuss why this five-and-a-half-hour epic about Napoleon Bonaparte (a Corsican man) remains insanely electrifying a century later. What makes Napoleon feel less like a historical drama and more like an operatic explosion of cinematic ecstasy? Is it fascist propaganda? Is it a prototype of the modern blockbuster? Is it the final, triumphant eruption of silent cinema before the apocalypse of sound, which murdered the medium forever?Topics include: Napoleon as “Great Man” and metaphysical force The French Revolution (what was all that about?) Abel Gance’s radical visual experimentation (polyvision, superimposition, handheld camerawork) Silent film acting and the magic of the human face The Coppola vs. Carl Davis scores and how music transforms silent cinema The Josephine interlude and romantic melodrama Unfinished art, and the beauty/tragedy of abandoned masterpieces Whether Napoleon belongs to the stolid 19th century, or the avant-garde 1920s, and how it anticipates directors like James CameronWe also plonk Napoleon within the broader arc of late silent film, alongside the theatrical inheritance of opera and vaudeville.For viewers interested in film history, aesthetics, political myth, and the philosophy of art, this discussion treats Napoleon (the film) as a heavenly spectacle, and as a majestic historical object.If you care about silent cinema, epic filmmaking, the French Revolution, or the enduring allure of charismatic power on screen, this conversation is for you.
More from Solomon & Smith
Theo Rollason joins Milo and Jack to discuss Queer Edward II, their new film built from thirty hours of unseen footage shot during the making of Derek Jarman’s Edward II, and to trace Jarman’s film back through Christopher Marlowe to the medieval king himself. Along the way: Jarman turns Renaissance history into Thatcher-era queer politics, Marlowe makes class more scandalous than homosexuality, Tilda Swinton transforms Isabella into a vampiric villain, Edward’s murder becomes entangled with AIDS and Jarman’s own mortality, Peter Greenaway attracts some professional jealousy, and a lost archive reveals the funny, chaotic, intimate reality of making one of British queer cinema’s defining films.00:00 – Introduction05:36 – Theo Rollason enters11:52 – What Makes a Derek Jarman Film?22:01 – How Jarman Reimagined Edward II29:23 – Gay Love and Gay History37:05 – Tilda Swinton: Queen of Thatcher45:36 – Marlowe and Jarman: Kindred Artists50:48 – Death & the AIDS Crisis58:38 – 30 Hours of Lost Edward II Footage1:03:50 – Derek Jarman vs Peter Greenaway1:09:45 – What was Jarman like on set?1:16:30 – Clip from Queer Edward II
00:00 Introduction04:38 Lolita Summary10:50 Did Epstein actually read/like Lolita?14:32 Epstein's upbringing - boomer sexuality19:51 Did male boomers create modern sexuality?24:21 Differences between Epstein and Humbert28:29 Do we all want to be children forever?30:35 Our desires have been created for us32:27 The modelling industry34:55 Creation: of oneself, of others36:30 Britney Spears, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter38:37 Piper Rockelle: the Gen Alpha twist on the American Dream41:53 Creation in Lolita - The ending45:34 Lolita - controversial then and now, for different reasons48:19 To write a book properly, it needs to be misread50:48 The paradoxes of our age around children and sex53:13 Why Gen Z are turning away from boomer sex57:10 Conclusion - Epstein is a boring loser.
Please help us continue having these discussions on Patreon, or follow us on other Podcast channels here: https://linktr.ee/solomon_smithRichard Barakat's *Faust the Magician* is available here: https://shorturl.at/CDWx0See also the below discussions:Richard Barakat: The Literary Collective (Spring 2025): https://youtu.be/rwecUdt0p28Richard Barakat: Philosophic Dialogues from La Frontera (Spring 2024): https://youtu.be/YiiZbUErFcARichard Barakat joins us to explore the strange relationship between poetry, magic, and the Devil, beginning with Marlowe and Goethe’s Faust tellings and ending with Richard’s own apocalyptic Faust for the 21st century. Along the way: Pindar raises men towards the gods, Ovid turns poetry into immortality, Yeats makes images into magical powers, paganism and Christianity collide and combine, artistic genius edges towards possession, and Faust’s desire to transcend the human becomes inseparable from the old suspicion that the arts are, somehow, the Devil’s domain.00:00 – Are the Arts the Devil’s Domain?06:24 – What Is the Magic of Poetry?10:15 – Marlowe, Goethe, and their Fausts19:37 – Pagan Gods, Christianity, and Syncretism27:43 – Pindar and Becoming Like the Gods38:52 – What Makes Great Art Ineffable?41:42 – Writing a Darker Faust for the 21st Century49:50 – Faustian Knowledge, Faustian Power52:32 – Yeats the Magician57:20 – Ovid, Transformation, and Artistic Immortality01:07:16 – Yeats: Leda and the Byzantium Poems01:22:33 – Satan's Faustian Bargain01:30:13 – Can Art Create Gods?
Please help us continue having these discussions on Patreon, or follow us on other Podcast channels here: https://linktr.ee/solomon_smith00:00:00 Intro00:05:30 Ramon arrives - poetic epigraph00:06:30 What does it mean for God to Speak?00:09:47 Is Arabic Special? Is it older than Nature?00:12:04 Is the Quran translated into Arabic from Transcendent Speech?00:14:11 Could putting God's words in a human language degrade them?00:18:41 Are Arabic speakers especially chosen by God? Is Islam exclusive?00:23:05 Should all Muslims learn Classical Arabic?00:25:48 If you have two sentences that say the same thing in different words, could they both be from God?00:32:49 What is the basis of the Quran's authority?00:39:21 Variants of the Quran00:48:22 The first printed Qurans. Literacy.00:52:55 Can deaf illiterate people experience the Quran?00:56:55 The mysteries of meaning. How do words mean things?01:01:40 Is beauty truth? Is the Quran beautiful?01:12:37 Would God choose to reveal himself in common language?01:16:13 Did anyone ever try to write a better Quran?01:22:25 The proof of the Quran lies in its effect on people.01:27:16 Why did God stop revealing himself? Why are there no prophets after Muhammad?01:32:10 Is God active in the lives of all humans?01:34:22 Did the companions' editorial power cease after their death?
Please help us continue having these discussions on Patreon, or follow us on other Podcast channels here: https://linktr.ee/solomon_smith00:00:00 Intro00:07:38 Why Does Consciousness Break Science00:10:40 Is Life Special? Biophychism: Is Life Consciousness?00:14:40 Are Observations (Quantum Physics) Dependent on Consciousness?00:18:10 A Unique Element of Consciousness, distinguishing it from Life00:21:25 Why is Consciousness Not A Vague Concept?00:26:40 Are Our Brains Lying to Us? Is Consciousness an Illusion00:32:58 Is Artificial Intelligence Conscious?00:35:00 Epiphenomenalism00:39:25 The Matrix and Divorce of Mind and Reality00:42:25 How Much of Our Awareness Relies on Sense Data?00:48:40 Pure Being and Pure Consciousness00:52:12 Panpsychism, and how it solves the problem of consciousness00:56:45 Mysterianism and Colin McGinn00:59:06 Is Panpsychism just sexed-up materialism?01:03:17 Weak vs. Strong Emergence01:07:25 Is Panpsychism an Imaginary Science?01:10:45 Consciousness is Integrated Information01:14:08 Cosmopsychism01:20:13 Physical Reactivity is the Signature of Consciousness01:23:39 Could dark matter or antimatter be without consciousness?