e118. #activism

We live in very interesting times. The world around us is changing every day… and with the internet if feels like it’s changing ever rapidly. With everything from #COVID-19 to #BlackLivesMatter to #MeToo to #DefundThePolice to #Resist to #LoveIsLove, the social media sites have given every one of us the ability to advocate for what…

e117. Post-Release Censorship and the Disney Vault

There was a weird story that broke a few weeks ago when people discovered that episodes of the 2012 teen sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place had “censored” the cleavage of the mother on one episode by placing a blur over the actress’s chest on the Disney+ streaming service. After some investigation, it turned out that…

Call for Comments: Performing the Minimum and Virtual Protesting

From Katya: This episode is more than a bit overdue but it’s especially pervading online culture right now: online activism. The internet has unquestionably opened up historic new options for sharing information, fund raising, and promoting causes and events. But for smart phones and the internet, most of us would not know the names of…

Call For Comments: Post-Release Censorship and Revisionism

From Mav: There was an article a few weeks ago that I wanted to address with a show… and then the world went to hell and we had to deal with other things (racism, sadly, is always topical). So now I want to get back to it… and sort of expand it with some other…

e113. Cartoons vs. Avatars

A couple of weeks ago, in order to placate the masses during a worldwide quanrantine, Facebook released their new “Avatar” system — a tool to allow users to create little cartoon characters of themselves for use in profile pics and stickers. Other technology companies have similar system. Apple has one built into its messaging system…

e103. Birds of Prey and the Fantaboulous Deconstruction of one VoxPopcast

All across the world, everyone is trapped in their homes riding out the COVID-19 pandemic. Movie cineplexes are shut down. Sports, Concerts and other Events are being cancelled. TV shows are running out of new episodes. Just this week, we learned that comic books are going to stop shipping. We’re running out of pop culture.…

Call for Comments: Birds of Prey and Women in Film

From Hannah: Birds of Prey premiered a little over a month ago to less fanfare than it deserved. I, admittedly, was hesitant to see it because of both how bad Suicide Squad was and questions about how the film would handle the character of Harley Quinn. I went in with zero expectations and had an…

e97. Fictional & Celebrity Crushes

Happy (Belated) Valentines Day! You know what that means? It means time to do a “very special episode” where we somehow try to tie in the holiday concept to the kinds of stuff we normally do. Academic cultural analysis of popular culture… but with beer! Last year we talked about the “shipping” and the secret…

Call for Comments: Fictional and Celebrity Crushes

From Mav: Last year we did a special Valentine’s Day show about romantic shipping in our favorite fictional universes. It was so great celebrating Valentine’s Day by explaining to everyone in final decisive detail exactly how I am 100% positive that Hermoine and Harry totally absolutely and without a doubt totally “did it” behind the…

e94. Why Do Award Shows Suck?

After being disappointed by last year’s Oscars, Hannah swore that we would never do another show about them. But then she started thinking about it and wanted to take a different approach. It seems like every year during Oscar season, from the announcements all the way through the picks, more people are upset than happy.…