Category: Critical/Cultural Studies
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Mystery Science Theater 3000
In a first, the forty-sixth episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast finds friend of the podcast Ryan Schriml (@EalingCA) joining Christopher Olson and myself to discuss the original comedy series, Mystery Science Theater 3000. In this episode, the trio of Misties reflect on the legacy of the television show in spawning movie-riffing as a modern…
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Coca-Cola and American Identity
In this episode, the co-hosts address the history of Coca-Cola and how it has come to embody American ideals and ideologies around the world. Along the way, they consider how important the formation of corporations was to the creation of the United States as a global superpower. For those interested in marketing, they discuss how…
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Monopoly as Serious Game?
In the forty-third episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I discuss the history and ideology of the classic board game, Monopoly. In this episode, we present the original intentions behind the board game as being meant to teach socialism — and most definitely not greed. We trace the history of the game…
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CfC for Book on Mental Illness in Entertainment Media
Call for Chapters for Book Proposal The editors are seeking chapter proposals for a collection of essays that examine positive, healthy, and accurate portrayals of mental illness in entertainment media. Proposed Title: Quieting the Madness: Entertainment Media’s Shift into More Accurate Depictions of Mental Illness Editors: Malynnda A. Johnson (Indiana State University) and Christopher J.…
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Analyzing Trump’s 2018 SOTU
Back in 2013, I analyzed President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address after the contentious 2012 election campaign. I copied the transcript for his address and ran it through a word cloud generator (at the time, Wordle) to see what words he used more, and thus what ideas he emphasized in his speech. In…
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Past, Present and Future of Pro-Wrestling
At the 2017 C2E2 convention, I was joined by a great panel of professional wrestling professionals, fans and scholars to discuss how we see the past, present and future of “sports entertainment” from this particular point in time. On this panel are the following: Dave Prazak (Shimmer Women’s Professional Wrestling), Mike Kingston (Headlocked comic), Matt…
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Carpenter’s The Thing and Politics of Paranoia
In the thirty-fifth episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I welcome friend of the podcast, and unofficial third host, Joe Belfeuil to discuss the influential horror film that is John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). In this episode, the three discuss how the narrative and craft of the film has inspired a…
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Pop Culture Lens on Robots, Anthropomorphism, and Ethics
In this video, part of the new YouTube Channel for The Pop Culture Lens, you will hear an excerpt from a lecture I gave on robots. In this excerpt, I discuss the nature of robots and how it intersects with the concept of anthropomorphism. I make the argument for why such anthropomorphism, and zoomorphism, occurs,…
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Pop Culture Lens: It’s a Wonderful Life
In the thirty-second episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and CarrieLynn Reinhard welcome friend of the podcast Kadee Whaley to discuss the classic Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). In this episode, the three discuss the nature of the Christmas genre, as represented in this Frank Capra film that has become…
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Exorcism Cinema Book Published
Here it is! The Tensions in Exorcism Cinema project began in 2013, when my partner Christopher J. Olson (Seems Obvious to Me) and I watched the film The Possession and noted how common it seemed for women to be the victim of possession who needed to be saved through exorcism. We wondered, is that true of…
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