Being a fan can mean many different things to many different people. It may mean a person likes to collect memorabilia for a favorite sports team. It may mean a group like to wear costumes and reenact an important event. It may mean individuals compete with one another to test their knowledge in trivia contests. … Continue reading Fandom as Repeatedly Returning to What Matters Most
Tag: Pop culture
Ghost Whisperer’s Ghost in the Machine
This essay was originally posted as part of my work for the Virtual Worlds Research Group at Roskilde University. This essay reflects my interest in how pop culture represents new media technologies, such as virtual worlds, as part of the process whereby a society / culture comes to determine what will be the acceptable and … Continue reading Ghost Whisperer’s Ghost in the Machine
The Pop Culture Lens Podcast Goes Live!
Christopher Olson (of the blog Seems Obvious to Me) and I present a new podcast, The Pop Culture Lens, where we discuss the media of the past through the lens of today to understand how relevant it is to our modern lives. You can follow the podcast on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, or get the … Continue reading The Pop Culture Lens Podcast Goes Live!
Sukiyaki Western Django as a Representation of Transcultural Identity
Christopher J. Olson discusses how our globalized pop culture is resulting in new transcultural films where the directors act as DJs, remixing different cultures for completely new experiences. This paper is the most recent draft of the presentation he will be giving at the PCA Conference in Chicago this upcoming April, 2014. via Sukiyaki Western … Continue reading Sukiyaki Western Django as a Representation of Transcultural Identity
The Rise of Hentai in America, Part 3
[This is the final part of the women studies paper I wrote on hentai. You can find Part 1, on the definition of hentai, here, and Part 2, on the comparison of hentai to live action pornography, here. And, once again, the material covered in this part is strictly NSFW.] While it may not be … Continue reading The Rise of Hentai in America, Part 3
Hypersexualism in Gameplay and the Problem of the Action Heroine
The history of consumption of video games and computer games has largely been of one-sided demographics: the notion that men are more likely than women, boys more than girls, to play the games that had been the backbone of the gaming industry. This notion has also become entrenched in the stereotype of the gamer as … Continue reading Hypersexualism in Gameplay and the Problem of the Action Heroine
Buffy and Public Discourse on Women’s Health
After Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended it's television run, Joss Whedon inked a deal with Dark Horse Comics to continue the storyline in comic form. What started with "Season 8" in 2007 has since become "Season 9". The current season finds Buffy in a world without magic, balancing living as a young, working gal in San Francisco … Continue reading Buffy and Public Discourse on Women’s Health
