Episode 274: CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) with Celia Mattison

Trylove

Noted Arnie fan Celia Mattison is back to discuss the swords and sorcery classic! John Milius’s CONAN THE BARBARIAN adaptation limits its view of the character to his pursuit of vengeance and conquest. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a rich, pagan paean to one’s drive for self-determination!

On this episode, we talk about what rocks in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s star-making role, how James Earl Jones’s cold, calculating Thulsa Doom is a perfectly cast contrast to Conan’s Austro-Cimmerian barbarism, and the different paths men can go after they become self-aware.

• Find Celia on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CeliaMattison and on her Substack, “Deeper Into Movies”: https://deeperintomovies.substack.com/
• Donate to help our friend and previous guest Nick Ransbottom get life-saving cystic fibrosis care: https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-nick-lifesaving-cystic-fibrosis-care
• “Fathers True and False in Conan the Barbarian” by Chris Ryba-Tures for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2024/03/29/fathers-true-and-false-in-conan-the-barbarian/
• “Conan the Chad and Tolkien the Virgin” by Timothy Zila for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2024/03/29/conan-the-chad-and-tolkien-the-virgin/
• Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/
• Get tickets to the 43rd Annual Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (April 11-15): https://mspfilm.org/mspiff/

#OfSwordsAndSorcery #35mm

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at [e-mail] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing audio: "Anvil of Crom" by Basil Poledouris from the CONAN THE BARBARIAN soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 274: CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) with Celia Mattison

4:20 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

6:10 - A movie about conquering and being conquered

10:12 - A more moody, epic, anti-theist movie than you might assume

15:46 - How much character is there to Conan?

23:55 - Mythologization of the self as a man’s man

31:32 - “The opposite of ego death”

36:13 - Conan’s moral compass, such as it is

45:46 - How Thulsa Doom is cast in contrast to Conan

54:07 - How the ending foregrounds the action figure movies of the '80s

1:02:57 - The Junk Drawer

1:10:21 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1982

1:13:30 - Cody’s Noteys: Conan the Parnassian (Conan-themed haikus)