Episode 53: F*ck Your Nihilism!

“Some men just want to watch the world burn,” Alfred says of the Joker in The Dark Knight. And now the Joker has become a protagonist in his own right.

“Some men just want to watch the world burn,” Alfred says of the Joker in The Dark Knight. And now the Joker has become a protagonist in his own right.

Everything is bloody terrifying right now, what with the pandemic and the would-be strongmen and the natural disasters. So it's easy to retreat into nihilistic storytelling, which revels in the destruction of civilization. But screw that --- when you root for the destroyer, you're rooting for unimaginable suffering and death. Here's why we don't want your f--ed-up nihilism.

Charlie Jane Anders