For a show about pop culture, it's actually somewhat rare for us to address topics of pop culture while they are actually happening. But sometimes we do. So this week, we want to talk about The Oscars! Ok, it's too early to really give our Oscar predictions, but this week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had their Oscar nominations announcement ceremony and since the world was full of a lot of awfulness (both politically and because we were preparing for the snowstorm that has buried much of the United States) on this week's show Mav and Hannah not only react to the Oscar nominations but talk about their thoughts on how the Oscars work in general. Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Citations...
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Call for Comments: Gaming an Empire
From Katya: Previously, we’ve have gaming episodes on direct violence in video games (I stab/shoot/punch/explode/magic the enemy.) This time we want to turn to another common theme in gaming: empire. Civilization VI Risk, Command and Conquer, Axis and Allies and other strategy games— analog and digital — allow players to command armies waging war, claiming/reclaiming…
Call For Comments: Cinematic Franchise “Endgames”
From Mav: (No worries, no spoilers in this post) Well, it’s finally time… we’re in the endgame now… and all that. In a couple hours, Avengers Endgame opens in theaters, and I assume a large number of our listeners are going to go see it (please, NO SPOILERS in the comments of this post). By…
e54. The Unbearable Whiteness of being Batman
Do you remember all of those great Batman supporting characters of color. You know… Batman’s black, latinx, asian and other ethnic sidekicks and villains like… errr… uh… you know… yeah… ummm…. It’s actually hard to come up with some, isn’t it? Well, there’s probably a reason for that. There are actually several, and have been…
e53. PCA/ACA 2019 Preview: Comic Studies
On last week’s episode, Katya and Hannah shared the topics of their papers for this year’s upcoming PCA/ACA. Now it’s Wayne and Mav’s turn to do the same. As we prepare to head off to the conference this week, Wayne shares the basics of his topic, a Jungian psychological evaluation of the Kevin Matchstick, the…
e52. PCA/ACA 2019 Preview: Game Studies
If you’ve been listening to the show for a while, then you’ve no doubt heard us mention the PCA/ACA conference that all four of us are attending in a few weeks. It’s a place where academics get together and share their work on popular culture. In fact, it’s a while lot like this show and…
e51. So What Is Subculture Anyway?
We’ve been talking a lot about subcultures on our last couple of episodes. And the terms comes up a lot on the internet — usually negatively — to refer to everything from hipsters and punks and goths and geeks to Republicans and Democrats to Christians and Muslims to … uh… MAGA hat wearers. Often if…
Call for Comments: Poverty Shaming
May 10, 2019
From Hannah: According to a new Bankrate Survey, just over a quarter of Americans will not being going on summer vacation this year (while twenty-two percent are on the fence). Sixty percent of those respondents are forgoing vacation because they can’t afford it. Those who are going on vacation are spending an average of $1,979…