The Minimum Commitment: Film Theory in Small Doses

Revenge stories are easy to understand. But John Wick hits harder because it isn’t really about vengeance—it’s about grief. This episode examines how the film employs psychological realism to transform a simple act of violence into a poignant portrait of emotional collapse and identity reawakening. The dog was never the point. It was the last thread keeping him human.

The Force Awakens doesn’t just revive a franchise—it remixes its own mythology. This episode explores the film through the lens of postmodernism, where nostalgia becomes narrative and pastiche becomes purpose. From Rey’s mirrored journey to Kylo Ren’s obsession with legacy, the story leans into repetition as a way to rebuild belief. In a galaxy haunted by memory, what does it mean to carry a myth into the future?

What makes A New Hope feel timeless?

It isn’t just the space battles or lightsabers—it’s the myth beneath the story. This episode breaks down Luke Skywalker’s journey using Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, exploring how Star Wars draws on ancient narrative patterns to tell something bold and familiar.

From twin suns to trench runs, we follow the echoes of old stories made new— and ask what it means to answer the call.

Though George Lucas created the world of Star Wars, it was director Irvin Kershner who shaped its most emotionally complex chapter. This episode explores The Empire Strikes Back through the lens of Auteur Theory, focusing on how Kershner’s style brought intimacy, ambiguity, and poetic stillness to a galaxy defined by war. In this film, the battles may be big—but it’s the quiet moments that cut the deepest.

The Phantom Menace opens with a trade dispute—but beneath its glossy sci-fi surface lies a story about colonialism, control, and the systems that maintain power through bureaucracy. This episode explores the film through postcolonial theory, examining how racialized “others” and hollow diplomacy reveal an empire already in motion, long before the Clone Wars ever begin.

In Attack of the Clones, war doesn’t emerge—it’s engineered. This episode explores the film through a Marxist lens, looking at how capital, class, and compliance drive the creation of the Clone Army. As the Jedi shift from peacekeepers to military commanders, we examine how labor is erased, power is disguised, and ideology keeps the war machine running without question.

Revenge of the Sith isn’t just a story of betrayal—it’s the unraveling of a mind caught between love, fear, and identity. This episode explores Anakin’s fall through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, using Freud and Lacan to understand his unconscious desires and fear of loss. In trying to stop death, he loses everything. Including himself.

A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are dropping next week!

This special intro episode sets the stage for a full arc dedicated to the Skywalker Saga—nine Star Wars films, each unpacked through a different film theory. From postcolonialism and Marxism to feminist theory and formalism, we reframe the galaxy far, far away as a mirror of our own. Whether you listen in order or pick your favorites, this arc invites you to see Star Wars not just as space opera—but as cultural text.

In Donnie Brasco, the line between role and reality blurs. This episode explores how the film turns undercover work into an identity crisis, where loyalty, masculiniTy, and performance collide. When does pretending stop being an act? And what happens when you believe the part you’re playing?

Scarface is loud, violent, and unforgettable—but it’s also smarter than it looks. In this episode, we explore how Brian De Palma’s crime saga plays with genre expectations, tUrning Tony Montana into a symbol of excess, ambition, and emotional contradiction. What happens when we root for a man we know will fall? And why do we feel bad when he does?

Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman isn’t just another gangster movie—it’s a quiet reckoning. We look at how the film reframes the genre with distance, regret, and finality. We also examine the risks behind its prOduction and why Netflix backed a $160 million slow burn that most studios passed on. What happens when a legendary director writes his own elegy?

Beneath the flash and swagger, Goodfellas is a study in performative masculinity. In this episode, we explore how Scorsese uses cHarm, violence, and control to show how gangster life is built on fear and illusion. What looks like power is actually a mask—and once it slips, everything falls apart.

The Godfather isn’t just a crime saga—it’s a story about family, ritual, and the quiet machinery of control. In this episode, we look at how Coppola’s masterpiece reshaped the gangster genre through restraint, symbolism, and mythic scale. What does it mean to inherit power? And what do you lose when you finally claim it?