The Legend of Musashi
Imaginary Worlds19 Aug 2021

The Legend of Musashi

An entire subgenre of samurai films, shows, manga, anime and games can be traced back to one person – a real life samurai named Miyamoto Musashi. He was not the first samurai to achieve fame, but his remarkable career of undefeated duals, and his unconventional style of fighting cemented Musashi’s legacy in the popular imagination for centuries. Chie Kutsuwada and Sean Michael Wilson discuss their manga adaptation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. Yale professor Aaron Gerow, and Darren Ashmore and Will Reed from iCLA explain why Musashi’s life story had a character arc that was irresistible to storytellers. And Stephanie Billman and I connect the dots from Musashi samurai tales to Westerns, Westworld, and Star Wars. This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(303)

The Booj

The Booj

Movie trailers have come a long way from the voice-of-God narrators in the ‘80s and ‘90s. So why do the big budget sci-fi fantasy trailers still all feel the same? This week, we're featuring a fun epi...

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Superheroes in the Ring

Superheroes in the Ring

Mexican wrestling (aka Lucha Libre) has a lot in common with the superhero genre, but trying to be a superhero in real life has its own set of challenges. I talk with wrestlers (aka luchadors) about t...

7 Aug 201931min

Dirk Maggs

Dirk Maggs

I talked with legendary audio drama producer Dirk Maggs for an episode about the history of radio dramas last year-- but a lot of great material ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. So I’m p...

25 Jul 201932min

The Undertaker

The Undertaker

He's one of the most popular pro-wrestlers of all time, but Mark Calaway’s undead character The Undertaker is also an anachronism from a different era of wrestling. Today WWE performers rely more on t...

11 Jul 201934min

Hero Props vs. Fake Props

Hero Props vs. Fake Props

Imagine walking into your living room, and alongside your couch is a prop from one of your favorite childhood movies. Sure, it was costly but this is a piece of pop culture history, and it's right her...

26 Jun 201931min

Nerdlesque

Nerdlesque

Burlesque has merged with geek culture to form nerdlesque – where characters from familiar fantasy franchises strip down to pasties and g-strings. Nerdlesque is also a form of storytelling, similar to...

12 Jun 201927min

Sidekicks: Harley Quinn

Sidekicks: Harley Quinn

In the conclusion of our mini-series on sidekicks, we look at how Harley Quinn began as a sidekick to a villain, and found her way to the heart of the DC canon and fandoms around the world. Nicole Her...

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Sidekicks: Tonto and Kato

Sidekicks: Tonto and Kato

In part two of our mini series on sidekicks, we look at two characters that have travelled in parallel since they came out of the same radio station in the 1930s – Tonto and Kato. There wasn’t anythin...

15 Mai 201932min

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