Happy (Belated) Valentines Day! You know what that means? It means time to do a “very special episode” where we somehow try to tie in the holiday concept to the kinds of stuff we normally do. Academic cultural analysis of popular culture… but with beer! Last year we talked about the “shipping” and the secret sexual encounters fictional characters had with each other. This year we thought we’d look at a different phenomenon. Why do we have crushes on fictional characters? And not just fictional characters… we also have crushes on celebrities. What do fictional crushes say about us when have them? Why do we sometimes fall in love with fictional characters or celebrities that we will never meet easier than we do with people in real life? How do they help us develop our own identities and sexualities and relate to others? How much do we even want these fantasies to be reality? Wayne and Mav are joined by returning guests Anna Peppard and Brooklin Mincone to work through their own childhood (and current) crushes and what they mean. Give it a listen and let us know your thoughts.
Citations and Links:
- This episode’s Call for Comments
- Stars by Richard Dyer
- Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life by various authors
- Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Letham
- This Creature Fair by Wayne Wise
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
- Anna Peppard is a co-host of Three Panel Contrast
- Follow Brooklin on Instagram: @pittsburghshenanigans
- Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick
- Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017
- Follow Mav’s Personal Blog: http://chrismaverick.com
- Follow Wayne’s Personal Blog: http://wayne-wise.com
- Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast
- Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast
- Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast
- Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!
Watch on YouTube (with visual aids):
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I’m not saying I went to grad school to get a phd studying gender & sexuality in popculture then started an academic podcast just to eventually self-analyze the schoolboy crushes I’ve had on @danicamckellar and @prince since like age 13. But I’m not saying that’s NOT true either… New Valentines VoxPopcast is up! Check it out and let us know what you think.