We’ve all heard complaints that the current pop-culture fad du jour is getting repetitive. For instance, right now, it’s superhero movies. People are constantly complaining about “the MCU formula” where “all the movies look the same, they all have the same plot, and they all make all the same jokes.” Whenever some other company makes a movie that “feels like an MCU movie” we complain about this as well. However, we also complain anytime one of the MCU projects (or any other superhero movie) tries to do something different from the mold. Just ask the teams behind Eternals, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, or Thor: Love & Thunder. This isn’t limited to just comic book movies. The same thing happens with other genres of stories, be they mysteries, romances, westerns, whatever. It happens in films, TV shows, comics, books, music and probably every other kind of media. Narratives seem to follow certain style cycles. We seem to yearn for the style cycle to be broken and then complain when it is.
On this week’s episode Wayne, Mav, and Hannah are joined by legendary Marvel Comics editor and author Danny Fingeroth to talk all about Style Cycles in both his own work and contemporary pop culture. media. How do they happen? Are they good or bad? Why do we care? Is there anything we can do about it? Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Citations and Links:
- This episode’s Call for Comments
- National Network of Abortion Funds
- A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee by Danny Fingeroth
- Danny’s interview by Noah Syndergaard
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
- Follow Danny on Facebook: @danny.fingeroth
- Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers
- Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick
- Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017
- Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast
- Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast
- Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel
- Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download