Ideas in Antiquity--Leadership in the Ancient World: From Telemachus to T'Challa

Week Twelve: Searching for a place for outrage in the contemporary world

This week we will explore leadership in the most improbable of places, Hannah Gadsby's Nanette, a one-hour NetFlix comedy special in which Gadsby wonders whether comedy is the best medium for delivering the messages that people need to hear.

Session One

Assignment: Watch Hannah Gadsby's "Nanette" on NetFlix and answer the following questions.
1. In what ways might you not expect stand-up comedy to be a kind of leadership? In what ways can stand-up comedy be seen as leadership?
2. What are the three most important lessons you feel that Gadsby is trying to teach in her routine?
3. Based on her own account what do you feel like it took for Gadsby to develop her ability to speak out in a more effective way? Focus both on Gadsby's own personal growth and any experiences you feel were relevant to that growth.

Session Two

Assignment: Re-watch Gadsby's Nanette so that you are even more familiar with it.
1. What parts of her routine do you find most moving/compelling? What specific lines?
2. In what ways could Telemachus, Lysistrata, Ida B. Wells, Ned Weeks/Larry Kramer, and Hannah Gadsby described as "outspoken"?
3. Are there good and bad ways for a leader to be outspoken? Explain.
4. Of these leaders who do you think is most effective in their style of speaking? Explain your answer. 
5. To what extent does Hannah Gadsby seem to have philanthropiaphilomatheia, and philotimialike Cyrus?