Contextual Deviants

Deviation 08 - Punching the Problem (or, We Need to Talk About Superhero Movies)

Host Christian Hagen takes a hard look at the world's most popular film genre, and asks some questions we should be asking a lot more often

18 - Ex Machina

Get your AI Turing Test android robo-brains fired up for another Contextual Deviants! This week, hosts Christian Hagen and David Gutsche analyze 2014's hard sci-fi chamber piece Ex Machina. Along the way, we learn how to spot real people from robots, how to pronounce Ex Machina, and, in a way, how to love.

Highlights Include: Galadriel, Sting's tiddies, Caleb's sad sad fantasy, ooh a fancy gangstarrrr, StickyCoin, the award for Best Stab, pornography profiles, the first time Christian ever did any real research for an episode of this show, and much much more!

Leave us a review on iTunes!

17 - Thor: Ragnarok

Contextual Deviants is not a place; it's a podcast.

Hosts Christian Hagen and David Gutsche, along with returning special guest Matthew Bahn, examine 2017's superhero comedy blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok through a series of randomly chosen critical lenses. Highlights include: Failed attempts at Ragnarok puns, Mom-Hat-Ma Ghandi, Hela Sweet Guyess of Death, the inevitable death of Tiny Tim, colonialism, the Minnesota Vikings' "love boat" scandal, sorry mom, a bunch of weird spinoff podcasts, and much much more!

PLEASE NOTE: There is an unexpected amount of joking about and criticism of Mormonism in this episode, partly through the organic nature of the first context, but also because our guest grew up Mormon and has a lot of knowledge about the Mormon Church. We mention this later in the episode, but we want to be clear up front that our opinions and comments about Mormonism come from a personal place and are not universal or based solely on any negative cultural stereotypes or media portrayals of their faith. If you take offense to any of our statements or attitudes towards this subject in this episode, know that these views are not reflective of anyone but ourselves, and you can contact the show at contextualdeviants@gmail.com with any comments you might have.

16 - Space Jam

Welcome to the Jam, everybody! Slip on your lucky basketball shorts, grab your magic talent-stealing basketball, and clean up your cartoon basketball court for a very slammin' episode of Contextual Deviants. Hosts Christian Hagen and special guest host Matthew Bahn pick and roll through four randomly generated contextual frameworks to discuss 1994's Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny, and just so many cartoon explosions, you guys.

Highlights include: A very much planned and not at all improvised skit, Chunky Boogs (TM), 93.X, another apology for David, a real hoozy-doozy, Bill Murray: Every child's favorite actor, Air Bud rules, Sheryl Swoops, emasculation, and much more!

LMACBU: Build That Rocket 2018!

Deviation 07 - From The Lost Episode! (Doctor Strange)

To celebrate our podcast reaching 15 episodes, we wanted to give you a glimpse of a special context from the unreleased pilot episode David Gutsche and Christian Hagen recorded about Marvel's Doctor Strange! In this clip, you'll hear what we think is the best segment from that episode, the context which convinced us we could make this little show of ours into the weird deep dive it is today.

 

ALSO, stick around as we announce the movie for our next full-length episode! We can barely wait to tell you, it's going to be so good, you have no idea, just wait for it.

15 - Lady Bird

If you, like the audience for Father Leviatch's play, didn't understand the 2017 Best Picture-nominated film Lady Bird, you're in luck! Hosts Christian Hagen and David Gutsche take a look at the film in ways we guarantee no one has ever talked about Lady Bird before.

Highlights include: Lizard Beople Johnson, post-9/11 teen angst, the introduction of David's Beat Box (and hopefully the only appearance of the Morality Corner), embarrassing teen stories, an implausible series of airport catastrophes, and much more!

Deviation 06 - Of the People, By the People, For the People

Happy Independence Day, America! In a time of seemingly endless political crises, it feels important to re-examine one of the most fundamental disagreements in our history: What is a government? Why do we need it? PLUS, we announce the next film in the Contextual Deviants' lineup (with a Quicktext to enhance your viewing)!

14 - Up In The Air

The Best Picture-nominated George Clooney midlife crisis dramedy Up In The Air receives the Contextual Deviants treatment! In their ongoing quest to try to talk about movies in as many ways as possible, hosts Christian Hagen and David Gutsche take a critical eye to a movie unlike any they've tackled before.

Highlights include: Sincere apologies for David's behavior, The 10 million mile question, Sam Elliott's Sack On Your Back, the prequel to Drive, again we could not be more sorry about David, Young MC's only form of meaningful communication, and much more!

 

BING BONG

13 - 13 Going On 30

It's time to thrive with 2004's romantic comedy gem 13 Going On 30!

Hosts Christian Hagen and David Gutsche and special guest Ajia Hagen continue the quest to prove that we can talk about any movie in any context by playing their way through a randomly-generated series of critical lenses, giving insights into Jennifer Garner's goofy teen classic like you've never heard before.

Highlights include: That one Liz Phair song (twice), bad magazine names, time-hopping gender norms, Where Is the Doorman?, a very nice Perkins-slash-bar, and much more!

12 - Face/Off

"Is Nic Cage sexy?"

This eternal question and much more slow-motion-explodes from this week's Contextual Deviants! Hosts Christian Hagen and David Gutsche mirror one another over the 1997 Nic Cage/John Travolta action classic Face/Off. Highlights include: Sweat in your earbuds, #RIPGOPollux, Mustache/Off, a cool new stunt-based theme park, David's alliterative new porn, and more!

Leave us a review on iTunes or hit us up on Twitter, email, or Facebook, and let us know what you want us to watch next!