{"podcast":{"title":"The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast","slug":"the-desert-of-the-reel-a-movie-podcast-6745471","podcast_index_feed_id":6745471,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/ef374714/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/desert-of-the-reel","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/40033773/40033773-1702701906834-241e47ae9797b.jpg","author":"Desert of the Reel","episode_count":136,"summary":"Welcome to the Desert of the Reel, a movie podcast where host Ryan Hudson forces co-host Jason Dietz to watch the big blockbuster movies he’s refused to watch because he didn’t think they were worth his time. As two passionate high school English/film/philosophy/creativity teachers with graduate degrees, we're dedicated to using our academic training to argue about and dig deeply into movies. We explore the creativity and philosophy in our films and push our listeners to think critically about their entertainment.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-26T20:19:57.206759+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-desert-of-the-reel-a-movie-podcast-6745471"},"episode":{"title":"Tron (1982) - Are We a Part of what We Create? - DOTR #128","slug":"tron-1982-are-we-a-part-of-what-we-create-dotr-128","published_at":"2026-07-19T16:07:24+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-desert-of-the-reel-a-movie-podcast-6745471/tron-1982-are-we-a-part-of-what-we-create-dotr-128","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-desert-of-the-reel-a-movie-podcast-6745471","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/desert-of-the-reel/episodes/Tron-1982---Are-We-a-Part-of-what-We-Create----DOTR-128-e3m99ad","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/ef374714/podcast/play/123036429/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-6-19%2F428230862-44100-2-bf32589cdf816.m4a","summary":"This week, Ryan and Jason go all the way back to Jason's childhood with 1982's Tron ! This is one of the rare episodes where Jason reminisces about his childhood experiences with movies. While (a little) dated, they argue that there's actually a lot to love about this old Disney film. The duo discuss Tron's role in the advent of CGI in film, the philosophical ideas of a digital self, intelligence at many levels of existence, the dangers of allowing computers to think for us, what putting minimal effort into a project reveals about us, and whether or not we leave parts of ourselves behind in our creations. What are your thoughts about this ancestor of CGI? We'd love to know! E-mail us at desertofthereelpod@gmail.com!","meta_description":"This week, Ryan and Jason go all the way back to Jason's childhood with 1982's Tron ! This is one of the rare episodes where Jason reminisces about his ch…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4701,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-desert-of-the-reel-a-movie-podcast-6745471/episodes/tron-1982-are-we-a-part-of-what-we-create-dotr-128/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-desert-of-the-reel-a-movie-podcast-6745471/tron-1982-are-we-a-part-of-what-we-create-dotr-128.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}