e305. Dark Academia: a Deep Dive into Murder, Mystery & Midterms

Have you seen that new Dark Academia show about the mysterious elite school for special kids where there’s the one kid who doesn’t seem to belong even amongst the other weirdos at the weird school and there’s some sinister plot going on that no one is talking about but it’s probably people being murdered and…

e298. Why Does Everyone Hate Mary Sues?

Merry Christmas from VoxPopcast. The thing is, we’ve been doing Christmas special episodes for the last couple weeks already. And we figure you probably have a Christmas episode or twelve in your podcast feed from other places. So instead, since this episode drops ON Christmas we decided to go the opposite way and investigate something…

CFC: So, Is “Sexy” Just A Television Genre Now?

From Mav: Regular listeners know that I adore the Riverdale (some people are saying it’s the best show on television!). You might have also heard me mention that I love Nancy Drew or The 100 or all of the Arrowverse shows. Basically, I love the CW TV formula. Everyone is pretty… everyone has abs… everyone…

e185. The Wicked, the Witches and the Witch-ish

Halloween season continues and so it’s time for another special episode. One of the most enduring pop culture figure is probably the witch. Witches appear through the ages in media. From the Weird Sisters of MacBeth to the good and bad witches of Oz to to Arthur Miller’s the Crucible, to Samantha of Bewitched to…

Call for Comments: Something Wicked This Way Comes…

From Hannah: October is here, meaning spooky season is here, meaning VoxPopcast once again bring you vaguely Halloween-related episodes! In October 2018, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix and the Charmed reboot on the CW premiered. The Magicians was still on air, and some streaming service really wanted me to start watching The Good…

Call For Comments: On Multiple Readings and Variant Interpretations

From Mav: I was having an interesting conversation with friend-of-the-show Andrew Darowski the other day about the idea of multiple readings. For those who don’t know, in addition to the Protagonist Podcast, Andrew is host of a podcast called Disney Animation Minute Essentials where he and his wife Kestra step through classic Disney films one…

e171. Summertime! Time to Kick Back and Unwind

Somehow, summertime media is special. Or at least, we seem to think it is. We have summertime blockbusters. We have summertime beach reads. We have summer TV specials and songs of the summer. It definitely FEELS like there is something that makes pop culture media “summery.” But we’re hard pressed to say exactly what it…

e128. 9 Popular Culture Pet Peeves We Hate and Why

Pop Culture is a double edges sword. The more we love a certain type of media, the more of it we absorb. But the more we absorb, the more we notice some of the tropes that are frequently repeated. And the more we notice those tropes, the more likely we are to eventually get annoyed…

e115. Why Do We Love Minor Characters?

Every story (well most stories) have a protagonist that we follow throughout the narrative. Usually we are meant to identify with them; they are our link to the plot and the world of the story. Typically, their worlds are fleshed out by any number of supporting characters that they interact with: friends, lovers, enemies. These…

e74. Harry Potter and the Politics of Wizardry

At this point it’s pretty safe to say that the Harry Potter book series is one of the most defining pieces of literature in a generation. Love it or hate it (and if you actually hate it, what’s wrong with you?) you absolutely know what it is… especially if you’re a millennial. But like all…