An ongoing concern in the geekosphere world these days is the worry that "superhero fatigue" is setting in and the bubble is bursting. But the funny thing is, if you do a little bit of research, you'll find that people have been complaining about "superhero fatigue coming soon" since before the MCU started. On this week's episode Mav, Hannah and Wayne are joined by returning guest Nicole Freim to talk about not only why this isn't really a thing, but why it continuously feels like it is. What are the economic and crucial challenges that superhero movies face and what are the implications of "superhero fatigue" on the greater world of popular culture? We also talk a little bit of literary theory by introducing the theories of Umberto Eco and...
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e295. Superhero Fatigue & The Illusion of Change
An ongoing concern in the geekosphere world these days is the worry that “superhero fatigue” is setting in and the bubble is bursting. But the funny thing is, if you do a little bit of research, you’ll find that people have been complaining about “superhero fatigue coming soon” since before the MCU started. On this…
CFC: Superhero fatigue and the Illusion of Change
From Mav: If you’re the kinda person who reads pop culture think pieces on the internet (which, I assume you must be if you’re reading this) you’ve probably come across some that talk about the impending death of the MCU. In fact, if Tatiana Siegel of Variety is to be believed, even Marvel is a…
e294. Black Friday and Toy Riots!
It’s Black Friday week. There’s simply no way you don’t know that. Even if you’re not from the United States, where we just had Thanksgiving, if you’re on the Internet and listening to our show you are at least aware of the Black Friday sales that have just become pervasive throughout the world. But how…
e293. Soundtracks, Scores & Race in the Superhero Film (Remastered)
(Note: Previously a corrupted version of the audio of this file was uploaded. This was due to a mistake in the mix that has now been corrected to the best of our abilities. Therefore, we are reuploading this week’s episode. Our apologies for the earlier issues.) You always know it’s a great episode when the…
e293. Soundtracks, Scores & Race in the Superhero Film
(Note: Previously a corrupted version of the audio of this file was uploaded. This was due to a mistake in the mix that has now been corrected to the best of our abilities. Therefore, we are reuploading this week’s episode. Our apologies for the earlier issues.) You always know it’s a great episode when the…
Call For Comments: Black Friday and the Conspicuous Consumption Shopping Event
From Mav: I love shopping. It’s fun. First of all, spending money is fun… at least if you have it. Because having a bunch of new stuff is fun. But also, I actually love the thrill of going and looking at stuff, deciding you like it and even searching for a good deal. It’s like…
Call For Comments: Listening for Leitmotif
From Mav: I could swear we’ve done more soundtrack episodes. Like… I really thought we had. We’ve got one generally about what makes for a fun soundtrack from the beginning of the pandemic, but that was more about needle drops. We’ve talked about musicals and the about how music affects specific films like Josie and…
e292. Monstrous Women and the Horror Gaze
On this week’s not exactly Halloween special episode, Mav, Wayne and Monica are joined by returning guests Dr. Michael Chemers and Dr. Samantha Langsdale, two experts in the field of monster studies to talk about their recent conference at the Center for Monster Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. Sam and Mike share…
e291. Fables, Fanfic and Fair Using the Public Domain
On this week’s episode we explore the complex topic of public domain publishing by tackling the recent controversy surrounding comic book author Bill Willingham, creator of Fables. After a long battle over ownership with DC Comics, Willingham recently announced that he was releasing the intellectual property of Fables into the public domain so that anyone…
Call For Comments: Publishing the Public Domain
From Mav: So if you don’t live in the tiny corner of the internet that follows creators rights within the comic book publishing world, you probably missed a story a couple weeks ago that few of us who do live in that corner were obsessed with. Bill Willingham, creator of the comic Fables, decided to…