A few weeks ago we did a show all about the "Ages of Comics" and why comics scholars and fans broke things down the way they do. It was a lot of fun and it got us and got us thinking about how it isn't quite as intuitive or even universally nailed down as people tend to pretend it is. But that brought us to the discussion of other pop culture segments and fandoms and how they follow similar trends. One of the biggest is Disney. Disney is almost certainly the most important pop culture creator on the planet. They are a company that will turn 100 years old this year. They are beloved... and hated by people worldwide and there are scholars who have devoted their lives to studying...
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e258. A Primer on the Ages of Disney
A few weeks ago we did a show all about the “Ages of Comics” and why comics scholars and fans broke things down the way they do. It was a lot of fun and it got us and got us thinking about how it isn’t quite as intuitive or even universally nailed down as people…
Call For Comments: The Ages of Disney
From Mav: A few weeks ago we did a whole show about he ages of superheroes and why that was different than the ages of comics. It was a show requested by friend of the show John Darowski because he suspected that, as much as comics scholars and fans use those terms, they’re not really…
CFC: She’d Be HOT Without the Glasses and Ponytail!
Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis (center) in The Princess Diaries From Mav: A few weeks ago, we did an episode about the Princess Diaries 1&2 films. Ever since then, something has been getting at me. In the first film, there’s the requisite teen movie makeover scene…. Mia Thermopolis is an “ugly duckling”, but it turns…
e256. Oscars, Oscars, All at Once!
It’s Oscar season. Every year Hollywood gets all aflutter to have a night where they celebrate… themselves. Nothing screams pop culture like a room full of millionaires giving each other awards in recognition of how culturally relevant they are. In many ways, it is magical in its ridiculousness. And yet we love it. Or at…
e255. The Mystery of the Disappearing Media!
If you’re the kind of person that listens to our show, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about the whole fiasco where Warner Brothers-Discovery cancelled and vaulted an essentially completed Batgirl movie so that it would never see the light of day. You’re probably also aware that in their cost-cutting measures they’ve yanked a…
e254. A Primer On the Ages of Comics
If you’re a long time comic book fan, you’ve probably used the terms “Golden Age”, “Silver Age”, “Bronze Age” and “Modern Age” to talk about different periods in comic publishing history. You probably don’t really think about what they mean most of the time, but you do have a vague distinction in your mind. For…
e253. So… Is Princess Diaries 2 a Bad Movie?
In 2001, Disney released the film adaptation of the YA novel The Princess Diaries, starring Ann Hathaway and launching her career on a trajectory that would eventually earn her an Oscar. However, before she got there, she’d make a sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, a film with… somewhat less acclaim. However, the second…
e252. Velma and Pouring Some Edgy on It!
Everyone is talking about Velma. It’s not exactly clear why. Most people don’t seem to like it that much. But if you don’t pay attention to what anyone is saying, and you just judge sheerly based on attention that they By sheer numbers of think pieces you might think that Velma is the most popular…
Call for Comments: Disappearing Media
From Hannah: This summer, the cancelled Batgirl movie caused a lot of people on Twitter (and other places) to not only criticize the decision but talk about why it’s so depressing when films go unreleased. (Particularly, if you believe one of the dominant narratives, that it was solely thrown in the trash for accounting magic…