Rats, Rats, Rats, Part Two

Season 1 Episode 81

This episode deals with rats - in Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum - and the possibly anti-Jewish rat-like vampire in Nosferatu. The Nosferatu vampire is especially portrayed as vermin, and some scholars believe this was subtle propaganda towards viewing Jewish people as "less than human" - and rationalizing their extermination. All in all - a very dark (and important) episode.

Do you think Nosferatu is anti-Semitic?
Why is dehumanization so dangerous?
In which story does Edgar Allan Poe write about rats?
What are some of the reasons that pre-Hitler Germany was in turmoil?
Why is it highly unlikely that F.W. Murnau intended Nosferatu to be anti-Jewish?
Did Murnau die in a German death camp?
How did Hitler use propaganda?
According to Ken Burns, what is the role of the artist?

00:00 Intro
01:37 Comparison of Dracula protrayals
02:38 Rats in The Pit and the Pendulum
09:15 Historical background in Germany
14:36 F.W. Murnau’s intentions and actions
20:32 The Eternal Jew "review"
26:35 Dehumanization
30:14 Concluding story
33:52 Halloween episode
34:32 Sources
36:52 Outro

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Published on 4 years, 1 month ago

Podcast Episode Details

Rats, Rats, Rats, Part Two