e345. Superpowers, Sex, and Science with Diana McCallum

For a show that was originally created in a comic book shop, we do surprisingly few episodes about comic books. Today is an opportunity to fix that. A few weeks ago, Mav was contacted by a publishing agent and asked if we could interview the author of a book that was all about comic book…

e324. Unpacking Bridgerton Season 3: Penelope, Queerness, and Fandom Reactions

It’s that time again… we’ve had another year of Bridgerton and of course we had to analyze it. Think about it, it’s a show about British regency society. In some ways this might be the most cultured and sophisticated thing we ever do. Also, there’s a lot of sex. On this week’s episode of VoxPopcast,…

e323. The Complex Legacy of Barbie: Gender, Fashion & Identity

So how about that Barbie? No, not THAT Barbie… we did a show on the movie last year. No, what we want to talk about is enduring legacy of the concept of Barbie. Starting with the doll and going through to the movie, Barbie is just… always there. Or at least she has been for…

e279. Is Sucker Punch a Bad Movie?

So the truth is, when we do our “is ____ a bad movie?” episodes, we expect that the listeners are going to be predisposed to say “yes, obviously it sucks. No one cares about that garbage movie” and we are attempting to do kind of a reparative reading of it. That’s what we were expecting…

Call For Comments: So have you seen MILF Manor?

From Mav: Every once in a while the universe just smiles upon me and grants down upon me a gift of content that is just… just for me. Like… regular readers know that unironically like Riverdale, Cop Rock, Manimal, The Circle and Showgirls. So if you know that about me… and you are somehow aware…

e261. PCA2023 After Dark!

After two years being held virtually, and a cancelled conference in 2020, the Popular Culture Association returned to in person conferences for PCA2023. There were some good notes (Mav won a major award for his doctoral dissertation) and some bad notes (Mav ended up catching COVID during the trip) but along the way there was…

e260. Why Do We ♥ Stories Where Old People Still ƒµ¢&?

The thing with Hollywood is that it’s a young people’s game. Or at least that’s what we say. And it’s true, the majority of big budget starring roles are for actors in their 20s and 30s. And the more you age out of that demographic, certainly the less marketably you seem to be. Sadly, this…

Call For Comments: on “Old People Still ƒµ¢&!” movies

From Mav: A few weeks ago, Wayne in passing mentioned the last year’s movie Good Luck to You, Leo Grande — a film starring 63yo Emma Thompson having an affair with a 30yo Daryl McCormack. Among other things, the film is trying to present an image of elder woman who still has sexual needs and…

e232. Paige v. Ariana: The Right to be Sexy on the Internet

A couple weeks ago, a story broke about a young woman named Paige Niemann turning 18 years old and starting an OnlyFans account. By all rights this shouldn’t be notable to our show at all. Sometimes models have OnlyFans accounts. However, Paige is notable because she has made a name for herself the last few…

e201. The Romance Show: (Hannah wouldn’t let us call) Love In The Time Of COVID

Despite the fact that it is perennially one of the best selling genres in literature, Romance is often looked down upon. Part of this is simple misogyny; as a culture we look down upon things that are seen as “for women.” However, not only are romance novels dominant best sellers, romance as a concept essentially…