Author: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard
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New Japan Pro Wrestling Podcast
For the fifty-fifth episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I are joined by unofficial third co-host Joe Belfeuil to discuss the history and significance of New Japan Pro Wrestling aka NJPW. The trio consider how NJPW emerged, and its early relationship with other big professional wrestling federations like WWF and NWA.…
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A Communication Toolbox for Communication Literacy
The following is an excerpt from my book Fractured Fandoms: Contentious Communication in Fan Communities. To read all of the information, you will need to get the book, either from a seller or your local library. [Do not cite this blog post as it is an abridged version of what appears in the book. All…
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The Grinch and the War on Christmas
I really liked doing this episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast. I loved it because we got to talk about the secular nature of Christmas in the United States, and why that shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing that we have to — almost literally — go to war over. For the fifty-fourth…
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Call for Proposals: Mental Health and Fandom
Before the concretization of fan studies as an academic discipline, fans would routinely be labeled and treated as “fanatics” or people with excessive love for something or someone that could lead them to engage in maladaptive, even dangerous, behavior. In a sense, public discourses positioned fandom as a mental health issue. Along with being problematic…
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Trauma and Fractured Fandom
This blog post contains my presentation at MPCA/ACA 2019 from our panel on mental health and fandom. This presentation is the first step in a deeper analysis of my fractured fandom work to understand the traumatic experiences fans expressed in their self-interviews. “fear fearfearfearfear feeling hella unsafe”: The Trauma of Fractured Fandoms As a brief…
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Der Dibuk: An Early Judaic Take on Exorcism
Now it is time to watch one of the first exorcism movies, and one of the few Polish/Yiddish movies: Der Dibuk (1937). This is one of the few Yiddish language movies to come out of Poland, and it is based on a famous Polish play. Opening prolouge talking about the dybbuk, about how all spirits,…
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Indian Cinema Godfather
For the fifty-third episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I are joined by friend and Ph.D. candidate Anis Rahman to consider one of the most important creators in Indian cinema: Satyajit Ray. Thanks to his Bangladeshi heritage, Anis provides important insights into the life and work of Ray. Along with these…
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Halloween Podcast on Frankenstein
For the fifty-second episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I are joined by friend and Ph.D. candidate Sarah Stanley to discuss one of the most important horror novels of all time: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The trio discuss the novel’s impact for over 200 years, as an early science fiction novel and in…
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PCSJ Vol 7 Is 2: Inaugural Student Showcase
I am happy to announce that the second issue I have edited is now live and free to anyone interested in popular culture studies. More importantly, I am so proud that it features our inaugural Student Showcase, highlighting great scholarship done by undergraduate and graduate students from around the world. These students present their original…
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