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…
Category: Culture
e383. Revisiting Milkshake Ducks
Way back on episode 47, we talked about Milkshake Ducks. That is to say, the concept of what to do when you suddenly discover that the creator of a beloved media product turns out to be a very problematic individual. Even back then we acknowledged that things were much more complicated than the world liked…
e380. Monica in Paris: The Tropes of Study Abroad
Eagle eyed (eared?) listeners might have noticed that it’s actually been a little tricky to get Monica booked on the show for the last couple of weeks because of a time zone issue. She’s currently living in Paris on a research fellowship for her dissertation. This means that she’s basically doing the bulk of her…
e374. The Accuracy Dilemma: Balancing Fact and Fiction in Pop Culture
The nice thing about having your own podcast is that sometimes you can just turn a casual conversation into content that you discuss with the whole wide world. That’s what happened for Mav this weekend when he walked in while his wife, returning guest Stephanie Siler, was watching a psychology YouTube podcast discussing the concept…
e370. Free Comic Book Day and Geek Third Spaces
Guess what?! We’re finally back from our conference and so the series of PCA specials is over. And so we return to business as usual and talking about the cultural significance of current pop culture. And this week we had an annual tradition that if you know about it you might be somewhat excited about…
e360. Selling Woke: Navigating Complexities of Capitalism and Media Bias
You know how there’s all of those weirdos who are always claiming that “you get woke and go broke” while at the same time complaining that it’s unfair that all of media is now woke and suddenly they don’t have any non-woke alternatives. This seems incongruous and like it would be pretty hard for both…
e357. The Museum Dilemma: Ownership, Ethics, and Colonialism
You know that part of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where young Indy insists over and over again that a relic belongs in a museum? Or the part where old Indy insists that an artifact belongs in a museum? Or the way people, including museums, have basically claimed this over and over in…
e351. Cinematic Trolley Problems: Exploring Moral Grey Areas Through Film
It’s the last episode of the year. Except we did our year end recap like two weeks ago. So what are we to do this week? Well, how about a regular topic? Who says we can’t innovate on this show 351 episodes in? So, on this NOT end-of-year episode, Mav, Katya, Monica, and Wayne delve…