e223. The Cultural Impact of Ms. Marvel on Disney+

This Wednesday saw the season finale of Ms. Marvel on Disney+, a show that we have been thoroughly enjoying. However, there’s been a weird bit of reaction to Ms. Marvel and the MCU in general as of late. While the critical reviews of Ms. Marvel are overwhelmingly positive (it currently sits at a 98% on…

e222. So, The World’s On Fire… Everything is Fine…

It’s been a while since we spent the show just talking about the state of the world. Mostly because… well, the state of the world kinda sucks right now… and we sort of didn’t want to deal with it. But this is a show about culture and the culture in the world right now, particularly…

e221. Exploring the World of Stranger Things

It’s always odd when we hit on one of those episode ideas where we feel like “obviously we’ve done like half a dozen shows on this topic over the years” and we stop and we look and it turns out that no, we’ve never really talked about it at all. Stranger Things is one of…

e220. Obi-Wan Kenobi & the Star Wars Legacy

This week saw the end of the Disney+ Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi, a show devoted to… actually it’s really hard to talk about. Arguably, one of the biggest problems with the Kenobi tv show is that it is arguably impossible to talk about without spoilers. But it’s over now… so we’re going to spoil…

CFC: So, who wants to talk about Stranger Things?

From Hannah: I have no idea why we haven’t done an episode on Stranger Things. But with Volume 1 of Season 4 currently released on Netflix (and breaking ratings records … such that they are things), and Volume 2 about to drop next weekend, I thought it was time. Besides, as a podcast with connections…

Call For Comments: So who wants to talk about Kenobi?

From Mav: It’s been a whole since we did and episode on Star Wars. So, tonight is the season finale of Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and I’ve really been enjoying it. In fact, I’m loving it. I haven’t talked about it much online, but I have a lot to say about it. I will say that…

e219. Why We Still Love the Jurassic Park Franchise

Somehow, in 2022, there’s a Jurassic Park movie at the top of the box office. Some twenty-nine years after the first film and 32 years after the release of the first novel, this series is still going strong. There are cartoons, video games, Lego sets and other toys. Even though Jurassic World Dominion is theoretically…

CFC: How do TV ratings work and why do we care?

From Mav: So if you’re keyed into conservative media this week — and I get that most of our listeners aren’t, but I like to keep up on the whole political spectrum… even the crazies for work — you might have seen a very weird talking point making the rounds. Random alt-right news sites are…

e218. Does the Bechdel Test Fail the Bechdel Test?

A funny thing happened last week. The internet got into a minor scuffle about whether Fire Island, a film about gay men, was sexist because it failed the Bechdel Test, by not having substantive roles for women… because it was a movie about gay men. For those who haven’t seen the film… which frankly, is…

CFC: Bechdel Tests, Fire Island, and the lack of nuance in pop culture criticism

From Mav: So I hate the Bechdel Test. I think it’s stupid. See what I’m doing here is saying something kind of outrageous to start an article and then going into a more nuanced discussion where I try to make a larger point but that will be ignored by a lot of people who just…