In Defense of Gratuitous Violence
2026-08-25 · 39 min · episode 39 · 7 entities
Asserted relationships
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0.55
evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Penguin Random House
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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Arts
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0.40
evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Books
Entities found in this episode
concepts 5
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0.50
evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Arts
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0.40
evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
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0.40
evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Arts
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0.40
evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Books
persons 2
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0.70
evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Penguin Random House
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0.55
evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Penguin Random House
Episode description as stored
Marlon and Jake take on violence in fiction: what makes it effective, what makes it gratuitous, and whether “gratuitous violence” is even a useful distinction. Tune in as they discuss the difference between violence on the page and on screen and why extended cruelty can be harder to stomach than violence itself.
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Lord of the Flies by William Golding
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
King Lear by William Shakespeare
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley