Episode Details

Eleventh Century Japan. A samurai and his wife are walking through the forest and come across a bandit. The bandit attacks the samurai and has sex with/rapes his wife. A woodcutter finds the samurai, stabbed to death. Who killed the samurai and with what? What role did his wife play in his death? Kurosawa gives us four perspectives, told in flashbacks within flashbacks. Who's telling the truth? Is anyone? Can we ever know what really happened? A simple story on the surface becomes a meditation on epistemological despair.

Plus, your lizard brain is out to get you and you only have 90 seconds to stop it!

Sponsored By:

• Prolific: Prolific is giving away $50 to VBW listeners who want to give online sampling a go! Whether you're a social scientist doing research, part of a marketing group, or even a high school student interested in doing a social science project, prolific can offer you fast, reliable, quality data to answer your research questions. Promo Code: verybadwizards
• GiveWell: Givewell searches for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. Consider a donation this holiday season--your dollar goes a lot further than you might think! Promo Code: verybadwizards

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• When Your Lizard Brain Burns You Out And Short-Circuits Your Career
• Triune brain - Wikipedia
• Cesario, J., Johnson, D. J., & Eisthen, H. (2019). Your Brain Is Not an Onion with a Tiny Reptile Inside.
• David talks Watchmen on the Pretty Much Pop Podcast
• Tamler Sommers Talks Honor on Stoa Podcast
• Rashomon - Wikipedia
• Rashomon (1950) | The Criterion Collection
• Rashomon | The Current | The Criterion Collection
• Rashomon Analysis - Rashomon's Problem with Truth | Topic
• Every Frame A Painting: The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - The Geometry of a Scene - YouTube
• Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement