e397. All the Frankensteins! (like all the Draculas… but with Frankenstein)

One of pop cultures most enduring properties is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Not only is it often hailed as the first ever science fiction property, it is one of the all-time most adapted characters in film, TV and other media. In fact, Netflix just produced a new version last week. That seemed like a good excuse…

e394. Spirits and Spectacles: The World of Haunted Houses

Happy Halloween! As we move towards the end of Spooky Season this year, we realized that there is an interesting cultural phenomenon that we’ve never even considered on the show before but that is something of a classic pop culture phenomena — The Haunted House. Hannah recently visiting a haunted house for the first time…

e393. Eerie Elders: The Horror of Growing Old

It’s SPOOOOKY SEASON!!! Actually, it has been for a couple weeks and yet we really haven’t gotten into it. But now it’s time to fix that. A year ago we did an episode about “creepy kids” in media and why they are both so unsettling and so fascinating. Well, this year we thought we’d look…

e388. 2025 Summer Catch Up! Was that it?

Well, it’s been a summer… that’s certainly true. And if you live in America, you know there’s been a bunch of… let’s say “news” that happened this week. Obviously we have opinions on it. But honestly, you’re likely getting enough of that. So this week, Mav and Hannah decided to do a light show where…

e384. From Vanderbilt Glam to Oscar’s Shades: The Gilded Age Deep Dive

In 2022, a show premiered on HBO that was perhaps tailor made for us. The Gilded Age was a 1880s period drama from the creators of Downton Abbey with sexual and gender politics, racial dynamics and a treatise on the invention of class dynamics, all thrown together with a collection of Broadway’s finest actors in…

e381. It’s Clobberin’ Time! Fantastic Four’s Impact on the Summer of Superheroes

For the past couple of years, the general sentiment seems to have been that superhero movies are becoming… well… kinda bad. But, as we spoke a couple weeks ago with the new Superman movie, things have been looking up a bit this summer. But something odd has been happening. For some reason, the general vibe…

e378. For Mature Audiences Only: When Nostalgia Grows Up

In a media landscape driven by monetizing nostalgia, reboots and remakes are inevitable. Often this involves taking a new cast to offer a modern take on the property. However, there’s something a little different that has become common place in the last few years. The “aged up reboot”. This is a curious phenomenon where a…

e376. Deconstructing RomComs: Genre, Trope and Capitalism

Last week, A24 released a new movie called Materialists starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal and directed by Celine Song. Critical praise was high, but audience reaction was… it’s probably fair to say mixed. Common wisdom here is that this is largely because the film was marketed as a modern romcom and when…

e371. Retro Revivals and Cinematic Sequels: Summer 2025 Preview

As the school year wraps up and summer begins it’s time for an annual pop culture tradition, the summer movie season. And, as we’ve done the last couple of years, Mav, Hannah, and Monica are ready to discuss the upcoming summer movie season filled with nostalgia, sequels, and potential hits. What are we excited about,…

e369. PCA 2025: The After Show

We often say that at its essence, VoxPopcast is people hanging out and drinking at the bar after a conference. That’s not entirely true, but it’s not NOT true either. But have you ever wondered what it actually is like when we just do that. Well, that’s what we have for you today. It’s our…