Category: Critical/Cultural Studies
-
The Exorcist on Fox
Christopher Olson (Seems Obvious to Me) and I have been working on a project analyzing the portrayal of exorcism in cinema for the past several years. That project is about to reach fruition with the publication of our book Possessed Women, Haunted States: Cultural Tensions in Exorcism Cinema from Lexington Books this November 15th (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498519090).…
-
The Pop Culture Lens on Avatar: The Last Airbender
In the twenty-sixth episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I welcome friend of the podcast and return guest, Aaron Kashtan, to discuss the immensely popular hit from the early 21st century, Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008). In this episode – which at times features poor audio due to issues with Skype,…
-
Convergent Wrestling: Call for Chapters
Official Call for Chapter Proposals Title: Colliding Inside the Squared Circle: The Convergent Nature of Professional Wrestling Editors: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard (Dominican University) & Christopher J. Olson (Dominican University) Purpose: The concept of convergence represents one of the most pervasive buzzwords in media studies, but with good reason. In essence, convergence concerns how the boundaries…
-
Call for Contributors: Jazz Age Pop Culture
The Lost Generation: An Encyclopedia Editors: Bob Batchelor and Kathleen M. Turner The Lost Generation: An Encyclopedia (Rowman & Littlefield) brings to life the Jazz Age and the artists, writers, and influential figures that made it one of the nation’s most interesting and compelling periods. Since commentators often use the Lost Generation in comparison with…
-
The Pop Culture Lens on Deltron 3030
I grew up in rural Northeastern Wisconsin. On a golf course. Country music was played in our high school gym’s fitness center. Tractors would sometimes keep you from moving at good speed on county roads. Winters were not the only thing smothered in white. I grew up at the time when hip-hop and rap cultures…
-
Call for Papers: Pro Wrestling Symposium
Here is another call that is speaking to research near and dear to my heart: The Pro Wrestling Symposium: Laying the Academic ‘Smackdown’ Weekend of Saturday, 18th June 2016 Hosted by the Department of Theatre, Film & Television Studies, Aberystwyth University As one of the only cultural forms to have had an almost consistent presence…
-
The Pop Culture Lens Takes on Joss Whedon
On this eighteenth episode of The Pop Culture Lens, we present the recording of a second roundtable discussion from the 2015 Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference. This roundtable discusses the topic of director and showrunner Joss Whedon — and how much of a controversial figure and person he is for so many people, including his…
-
Advice for Children on Social Media
My first piece of advice is to focus on teaching your children how to be respectful when they communicate and engage with people, online but also in person. This means being aware of not just what you are saying but how you are saying it, and that how is immensely important in social media with…
-
Pop Culture Lens Episode 7: Godzilla (1954)
In the seventh episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and CarrieLynn Reinhard are joined by Joe Belfeuil, of the blog Things That Should Not B, to discuss the classic science fiction film, Godzilla (1954). The discussion compares the original Japanese film with the American adaptation/appropriation that came out in 1956, Godzilla, King…
-
Stigmata: Viewing the Church as Bad Guy
A long time ago, in what seems like a much different life, I had a huge crush on Gabriel Byrne. I am not exactly proud of that, but he was one of many actors that I have had crushes on, and is always the case when I have a crush on an actor, I must…
It's Playing, Just With Research 