e439. Legal Dramas and Pop Culture: Unpacking Courtroom Fantasies

Something occurred to us last week with the release of the very funny Coyote vs. Acme. There sure are a lot of movies, TV shows, and other properties that star lawyers. In fact, it seems like it’s one of pop cultures favorite professions. Why is that? Obviously, it can be an interesting job, but so…

e438. Vertical MicroDramas: Fad or the Dawning of a New Age?

Have you ever seen those ads for those over the top melodramatic drama movies on TikTok or Facebook or Instagram Reels or Youtube shorts? And by ads, we mean basically… 2-5 minutes of the movie in an attempt to hook you into watching the rest of it? If you have, did you click on it?…

e437. In Brightest Day: The History and Popularity of Green Lantern

Every once in a while an adaptation property really surprises us by capturing the cultural zeitgeist far more than its source material would imply that it should. That seems to be the case with the TV show Lanterns. For comic book fans, this always looked interesting — an unlikely buddy cop period drama in the…

e436. Robotic Dreams and Digital Nightmares: Is A.I the Monster… or the Mirror?

Obviously, Artificial Intelligence has been a big topic in the news of late. But in the world of pop culture, it really isn’t anything new. A.I. has been a huge theme in literature in one way or another for essentially the last century if not longer. As long as we have dreamed of creating life,…

e434. History is History!

So there’s a weird thing that happens when you get older. You start to realize that the things that seem indelibly important to you simply don’t matter to younger generations. Usually on our show, when we talk about the past we’re talking about movies, TV, comics, or music. But what about real events. What about…

e432. The Odyssey and Greek Myth: The Enduring Legacy of Ancient Classics

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that the biggest movie in the world for the last week has been Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Despite a concerted right-wing campaign to pretend that no one is interested in the film, it appears to be wildly successful. This is hardly a surprise; Nolan is…

e431. Henchmen, Heavies, Minions & Muscle: Narrative Dynamics of the Hired Goon

Behind every great villain is… frankly, well, often there’s another bigger villain pulling the strings. But the truth is, while we often celebrate “the big bad” some of the most interesting villainy comes from the lieutenants that the hero meets along the way to facing the big bad. Sometimes, these henchmen might even eclipse the…

e428. The Supergirl Legacy: The Evolution of the Maid of Might

If you pay attention to the weekly pop-culture media landscape you might be aware that a new Supergirl movie released the weekend before this episode. It performed… somewhat underwhelmingly at the box office. It also had mixed reviews. But is that fair? On this episode Mav, Wayne and Hannah welcome returning guest, comics scholar Anna…

e427. From He-Man to Toy Story: Nostalgia’s Role in 2020s Entertainment

Everyone is always complaining that no one makes any new movies anymore. Pop culture is seemingly just a continuous rehash of stuff that we used to have decades ago. Except there has to be a reason for that. Hollywood is capitalistic; they make things because they know they can make money with them. And even…

e426. Narrative & Technology (& Narrative) Syllabus Special

A few weeks ago, Mav was talking with friend of the show Joe Darowski about a new class Joe is teaching at Bringham Young University called “Technology & Narrative”. Joe asked if Mav had any suggestions for the course since it seemed up his alley. Well, as it turns out, Mav regularly teaches a course…