S00E02. The Wild Robot
Content Warnings: discussion of defecation, animal injury and death, misogyny, enslavement.
With Hollywood strikes ongoing, we discuss The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. We talk about community and ownership, philosophical wildness, and Object-Oriented Ontology. We also dip into practice, found families, refrain, robots in science fiction, individuality, and cheerful pooping.
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Works cited:
- Akao, D. (Writer) & Suzuki, K. (Director). (2019). My roommate is a cat [TV series]. Zero-G.
- Asimov, I. (1950). Runaround. In I, Robot. Gnome Press.
- Asimov, I. (1957). The naked sun. Doubleday.
- Auel, J. M. (1980). The clan of the cave bear. Crown.
- Bogost, I. (2012). Alien phenomenology, or what it’s like to be a thing. University of Minnesota Press.
- Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In Richardson, J.G. (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241-58). Greenwood Press.
- Čapek, K. (2014). R.U.R. (D. Wyllie, Trans.). The University of Adelaide. (Original work published 1920).
- DiMartino, M. D. & Konietzko, B. (Creators). (2005-2008). Avatar: The last airbender [TV series]. Nickelodeon Animation Studio.*
- Eastman, P. D. (1960). Are you my mother? Random House.
- Favreau, J. (Creator). (2019-present). The Mandalorian [TV series]. Lucasfilm, Fairview Entertainment, Golem Productions.*
- The forest [Video game]. (2018). Endnight Games.
- Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1975).
- Gunn, J. (Writer & Director) & Perlman, N. (Writer). (2014). Guardians of the galaxy [Film]. Marvel Studios.*
- Halberstam, J. (2020). Wild things: The disorder of desire. Duke University Press.
- Harman, G. (2018). Object-Oriented Ontology: A new theory of everything. Pelican.
- J.Deku [@TheJadedGuy]. (2017, March 21). David Cage: Can a robot learn to be human? Yoko Taro: Can a human? Cage: what Yoko Taro: Can a [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/TheJadedGuy/status/844352570470645760
- Kaba, M. (2021). We do this ’til we free us: Abolitionist organizing and transforming justice. Haymarket Books.
- Kreider, T. (2013, June 15). I know what you think of me. The New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/i-know-what-you-think-of-me/
- Lewis, C. S. (1966). On three ways of writing for children. In Hooper, W. (Ed.), Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories. Geoffrey Bles.
- Shelter 2 [Video game]. (2015). Might and Delight.
- Moffat, S. (Writer) & Hawes, J. (Director). (2005, May 21). The empty child (Series 1, Episode 9) [TV series episode]. In Davies, R. T., Gardner, J., & Young, M. (Executive Producers), Doctor Who. BBC Wales.
- Morrison, Toni. (1987). Beloved. Alfred A. Knopf.
- Nietzche, F. (1968). The will to power (Kaufmann, W., Ed. & Trans. and Hollingdale, R.J., Trans.). Random House. (selected notes from 1883–88)
- O’Dell, S. (1960). Island of the blue dolphins. Houghton Mifflin.
- Paulsen, G. (1986). Hatchet. MacMillan.
- Sendak, M. (1963). Where the Wild Things Are. Harper & Row.
- Quinn, D. (1992). Ishmael. Bantam/Turner Books.
- Wordsworth, W. (1807) I wandered lonely as a cloud. In Poems, in Two Volumes. Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orms.**
* We believe this may be struck work under the current SAG-AFTRA strike guidelines. Our discussion of these works should not be considered promotion. Please do not view these titles on streaming services because of our citation.
**Lucy incorrectly quoted the poem in the ep. It should be “a thousand saw I at a glance,” not a million. That’s just how much Lucy likes daffodils.
Our next episode will cover the book The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy.
Before the Future Came is edited by Lucy Arnold, transcribed by Melissa Avery-Weir, and webmavened by Gregory Avery-Weir.
Our theme is “Let’s Pretend” by Josh Woodward, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.