This week, the dragons disappear down a philosophical rabbit hole as they chase a workable definition of morality and ethics. SFF has long concerned itself with big questions such as good and evil, or whether relativism or emotivism or some other construct is best for day to day existence. This is never more true than when the authors of such books manage to combine the grittiness of such puzzles with humour. So how exactly is morality depicted in speculative fiction? What makes it work, or not? Join Jules and Madeleine as they take a jaunt through moral philosophy and a side trip through DnD alignment theory. On the slab this week - John Milton's Paradise Lost, Netflix series The Good Place, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and, of course, Pratchett and Gaiman's Good Omens.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 194: Creaky Floorboards & Locked Doors - Learning Tension and Suspense from Gothic Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 193: Tragic Heroes and Unexpected Children - More Tropes We Love in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 192: Fitted Breastplates & Feminine Mystique - Sexist Absurdities in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 191: It's Harder that You Think - Writing Sex Scenes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 190: Art and Artifice - What Jane Austen has to say to a Modern Readership
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 189: Last One Alive - Final Girl Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 188: I'm Not Gay, I'm Just Evil - The Queer Coded Villain Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 187: Designer Flu & Superhumans - The Conspiracy Theory Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 186: Going Through Changes - Shapeshifters in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 185: This is Not Forgiveness - Redemption Arcs in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 184: Auguries and Omens - Bird Symbolism in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 183: The Future We Deserve? - Learning Hope From Science Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 182: Full Immersion Fantasy - the Appeal of RPG
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 181: Of Their Time - the Changing Faces of Diversity and Prejudice in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 180: 10,000 - A Celebration of Dissecting Dragons
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 179: Truth, Lies & the Big Misunderstanding - Honesty and Deception Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 178: Of Course, This Means War - Narrative Conflict in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 176: Fact vs Fiction - Blending the Real with the Fantastical in Historical Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 175: Winter is Here - End of Thrones
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