American Id

About American Id

On the American Id podcast, hosts Dani Holtz and Craig Franson plumb the depths of the American psyche, using history and pop-culture to treat the political maladies of our moment. This fall, we kick things off with a series on right-wing America's obsession with fantasy-writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Racist and sexist hate-mobs have swarmed Amazon's new Tolkien-based Rings of Power series, catching many by surprise. But these online fascist assaults have a history, and as we explore the political right's six-decade struggle to seize control of Middle-earth, we'll also recount the more troubling story of the far-right's fight to bring America's democratic experiment to an end.

Publisher

Dani Holtz and Craig Franson

Category

society & culture · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Sept 2022

Latest episode

9 Oct 2022

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Oct 2022

   Bonus: Hobbit-Camp Fascists

   In today’s bonus episode, we’re digging into the controversy over Italy’s new neo-fascist prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the far-right Tolkien-obsessed cultural movement that helped spawn her. From the Hobbit camps in the muddy fields of Italy to the violent football hooligans stomping the streets of Leeds, neo-fascist culture found fertile soil across Europe in the 1970s and 80s and helped radicalize a generation of young extremists. We’ll also explain just what we mean by “fascist” and “neo-fascist”—terms you’ll be hearing on this podcast with great frequency in the coming weeks. To order transcripts, suggest episode topics, or learn more about our work, visit TheAmericanId.com. You can also write us at AmericanIdPod@gmail.com. If you’d like to support our work, you can find us on Patreon or Venmo @AmericanId. Notes Atlas Obscura. “How ‘Hobbit Camps Rebirthed Italian Fascism.’” John Last, 3 October 2017. Fair Observer. “Of Hobbits and Tigers: The Unlikely Heroes of Italy’s Radical Right.” Tobias Hof, 23 Dec. 2020. New York Times. “Hobbits and the Hard Right: How Fantasy Inspires Italy’s Potential New Leader.” Jason Horowitz, 21 Sept. 2022. Atlantic. “The Return of Fascism in Italy.” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, 23 Sept. 2022. Further Reading Strong Men: Mussolini to the Present (https://wwnorton.com/books/strongmen). Ruth Ben-Ghiat, W. W. Norton, 2020. The Nature of Fascism. Roger Griffin, Routledge, 1993. Music, Youth and International Links in Post-War British Fascism: The Transformation of Extremism. Ryan Shaffer, Palgrave, 2017.

2. 

   24 Sept 2022

   Eye of Sauron: Frodo Lives!

   In today’s episode, we go back in time, when the hippies discovered The Lord of the Rings, making J.R.R. Tolkien an icon for the counter-culture, from Joni Mitchell to Dungeons and Dragons. During the 1980s, the evangelical right-wing made Tolkien an avatar for evil in the Satanic Panic. And, in the second half of the show, we look at the first culture war waged over Tolkien by a bunch of obscure conservative intellectuals who instead declared Tolkien the avatar of their imagined white Christian homeland. One correction from today’s episode: Queen Elizabeth II of the UK was buried on Talk Like a Pirate Day. To order transcripts, suggest episode topics, or learn more about our work, visit TheAmericanId.com. You can also write us at AmericanIdPod@gmail.com. If you’d like to support us, you can find us on Patreon @AmericanId. Notes GQ, “Why Were Rock Stars So into The Lord of the Rings?” Gabriella Paiella, 24 August 2022. Further Reading Craig Franson, “The Perils of the Tolkien Course: Reading the Readings,” Approaches to Teaching J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Other Works. MLA, 2015, pp. 36-43. Nicole Hemmer, Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. Sarah A. Hughes, American Tabloid Media and the Satanic Panic, 1970-2000. Springer Nature, 2021. Nigel Walmsley, “Tolkien and the ‘60s,” J. R. R. Tolkien: This Far Land, edited by Robert Giddings, Vision, 1983, pp. 73-86.

3. 

   9 Sept 2022

   Bonus: Review-Bombers and Billionaire Trolls

   Today’s special, bonus episode interrupts our “Eye of Sauron” series to dig into the week’s Tolkien-centered, headline news. We’ll talk about the struggle unfolding between media-titan Amazon and the far-right, troll armies review-bombing its new Rings of Power series. We’ll also reiterate some points we made in episode one about the mass-media ecosystem that online fascists use to harness the global advertising power of cinematic blockbusters. Then, we’ll dig into two fresh examples of this ecosystem at work: a supercharging tweet thread by billionaire, mega-troll Elon Musk and a wildly irresponsible, feature article from CNN. To order transcripts, suggest episode topics, or learn more about our work, visit TheAmericanId.com (coming soon!). You can also write us at AmericanIdPod@gmail.com. If you’d like to support us, you can find us on Patreon @AmericanId. Notes News Coverage of the Review Bombing Hollywood Reporter, “Is the ‘Rings of Power’ Getting Review Bombed? Amazon Suspends Ratings.” James Hibberd, 2 Sept. 2022. Hollywood Reporter, “A Racist Backlash to ‘Rings of Power’ Puts Tolkien’s Legacy into Focus.” Richard Newby, 2 Sept. 2022. Huffington Post, “Elon Musk Complains Men Aren’t ‘Smart and Nice’ Enough in ‘The Rings of Power.” Cole Delbyck, 6 Sept. 2022. Guardian. “Lord of the Rings Stars Speak out against Racist ‘threats, harassment and abuse.’” 8 Sept. 2022. Coverage We Analyze CNN. “When ‘Wokeness’ Comes to Middle-earth: Why Some Say Diverse Casting Ruins the New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series.” John Blake, 5 Sept. 2022. Wonkette. “Actual Racist Trolls Real Mad about Fictional Black Elves, Hobbits.” Stephen Robinson, 6 Sept. 2022. Further Reading The Conversation. “The Rings of Power Is Suffering a Racist Backlash for Casting Actors of Colour—but Tolkien’s Work Has Always Attracted White Supremacists.” Helen Young, 7 Sept. 2022.

4. 

   1 Sept 2022

   Eye of Sauron: Rings of Power

   Today’s episode kicks off our series on the American right’s obsession with Lord of the Rings. Craig tells Dani all about Amazon’s brand new, billion-dollar Rings of Power series, and we discuss the mobs of far-right trolls that have flooded the new production with waves of racist and misogynistic hate. We also take a step back to think through the larger, social ecosystem that these online fascists have learned to harness in their decades-long, anti-democratic culture war. In the second half of the show, we go back in time to the release of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, which came out in the aftermath of 9/11. Craig recalls his experience of the films’ release as George W. Bush rallied the nation for a retributive war in the Middle East, and we discuss the revolutionary potential that neo-fascist figures like Steve Bannon have found in fantasy fandom. To order transcripts, suggest episode topics, or learn more about our work, visit TheAmericanId.com (coming soon!). You can also write us at AmericanIdPod@gmail.com. If you’d like to support us, you can find us on Patreon @AmericanId. Notes Vanity Fair, “Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series Rises: Inside The Rings of Power.” Anthony Breznican and Joanna Robinson, 10 Feb. 2022. Guardian, “‘The history of fantasy is racialized’: Lord of the Rings series sparks debate over race.” Sam Thielman, 20 Feb. 2022. The Conversation, “Lord of the Rings: debunking the backlash against non-white actors in Amazon’s new adaptation.” Dimitri Fimi and Mariana Rios Maldonado. 25 Feb. 2022. Time Magazine, “Feeding on Fantasy.” Lev Grossman, 2 Dec. 2002. Further Reading Race and Popular Fantasy Literature: Habits of Whiteness. Helen Young, Routledge Press, 2018. The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood. Kristin Thomas, University of California Press, 2007.

5. 

   1 Sept 2022

   Coming Soon!

   Introducing the American Id podcast. Hosted by Dani Holtz and Craig Franson, this podcast plumbs the depths of the American  psyche, using history and pop-culture to treat the political maladies of our moment. Coming September 1st!

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.4 / 5

33 ratings

Contact American Id

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.