If you’ve been following the show the last several weeks then you know we’ve started a series where we have been looking at some of our favorite controversial movies and trying to convince you of the value of them as great films. It’s also October, so we wanted to get some Halloween content in for “spooky season.” Well, this week we’re combining both of those goals as Wayne and Mav are joined by returning guests and friends of the show Michael Chemers and Nicole Freim to talk about one of Wayne’s favorite films, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and ask is that a bad movie? In a way, this is a more complicated question than it was with our previous “is this a bad movie” episodes. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is lauded as a cult classic BECAUSE of its B-movie status. in a lot ways “being bad” is sort of the point. But is there more than that. Wayne contends that in many ways, it’s “not a bad movie” and Chemers says that Rocky Horror “isn’t really a movie at all.” On this week’s show we talk all about the history of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, its rise to cultural relevance and its subsequent decline. Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call For Comments* Reading Rocky Horror: The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Popular Culture* “It Was Great When It All Began” by Wayne Wise* Slugs In Fishnets on Twitter* PCA/ACA website* Mike’s podcast: The Show Where They Talk About Monsters * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Follow Michael on Twitter: @NotoriousPhd* Follow Nicole on Twitter: @nfreim* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

A couple of weeks ago we looked over the film Under the Cherry Moon to prove that it was a good movie. Mav got Monica to watch the film and agree that there’s far more to it than its reputation. Now it’s Monica’s turn to suggest a movie for the same treatment and in the spirit of Halloween she’s selected Jennifer’s Body. The horror film, written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama premiered in 2009 as a star vehicle for Megan Fox (and co-star Amanda Seyfried), and promptly bombed at the box office, netting only $31M on a $16M budget. However, since that time Jennifer’s Body has seen a resurgence as a queer positive feminist cult classic and developed a following of devoted fans who see it as not only an overlooked gem, but an actual masterpiece. So, on this week’s episode Monica and Mav are joined by film makers Jose Nateras and Kristen Batko to discuss their love for Jennifer’s Body and why there’s more to it than there might initially seem. Have you seen the film? Do you agree? Or if you haven’t seen the film have we convinced you? Listen to the episode and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Citations and Links: * Buy Jose’s horror novel, Testament * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Follow Jose on Twitter: @JoseNateras* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Monica on Instagram: @monicamarvelous* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

On this week’s show we’re doing something a little different. As part of Mav’s new job he was asked if he was asked to volunteer as a faculty advisor and judge for the University of Pittsburgh’s Games4SocialImpact event this last weekend. Games4SocialImpact is a 2-day student game jam design competition based around the idea of socially conscious gaming. Teams of 1-5 students compete to design a complete playable game from scratch over the course of the weekend. The games are intended to highlight a randomly chosen theme with a social message that is chosen at the beginning of the game. On this week’s special episode, Mav interviews several of the students who competed in the event as well as some of his colleagues who served as his fellow advisors. Join us as we talk about the importance and impact of socially conscious gaming as well as the students explain what their games do. Then head on over to the event’s itch.io page where you can view and/or download the games and play them yourself. Then let us know what you think in the comments. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Katya on Instagram: @justthatnerdkid* Follow Monica on Instagram: @monicamarvelous* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review! Watch enhanced version on YouTube!

Have you ever had a favorite movie, that you&#8217;ve loved since childhood and then all of a sudden as an adult you discover that other people don&#8217;t like that movie? In fact, it seems MOST people don&#8217;t like that movie. And then you question yourself. Is the movie any good? Have you been deluding yourself for decades? No&#8230; that cannot be! It is the children who are wrong! This was Mav&#8217;s experience with the 1986 Prince film Under the Cherry Moon. Although it makes no sense, somehow, inexplicably, this is a film that has a mere 36% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 36% on Metacritic. On today&#8217;s special episode, Mav is joined by fellow lifelong fan of the film, returning guest Christopher Bell, to convince first time viewers Monica and her friends Anna Baumgarten and Lindsay that Under the Cherry Moon is in fact a perfect movie and their childhoods were valid. We do a deep dive into a film classic and discuss how it uses nostalgic retro film noire and screwball comedy as a means of creating an extremely progressive queer positive race narrative that remains as powerful today as it was 36 years ago. If you&#8217;ve seen Under the Cherry Moon, or even if you haven&#8217;t listen and then let us know if we&#8217;ve convinced you in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* &#8220;Under the Cherry Moon Shines Brighter in Retrospect&#8221; by Rachel Stewart* &#8220;Episode 250: Under the Cherry Moon&#8221; of How Did This Get Made* This Island Rod film review of Under the Cherry Moon* Watch Under the Cherry Moon on Amazon Prime Video or HBOMax* Check out Chris&#8217;s movie Luck* Check out Anna&#8217;s movie Disfluency * Thank you to Maximilian’s&nbsp;thoughtForm Music&nbsp;for our theme* Follow Christopher Bell on Twitter: @DocChristopherB&nbsp;and listen to the archive of&nbsp;The Deconstruction Workers&nbsp;podcast* Follow Anna Baumgarten on instagram: @annabellabaum* Follow Mav on Twitter:&nbsp;@chrismaverick* Follow Monica on Instagram: @<a href="https://w...

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&#8217;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 years as an &#8220;Ariana Grande cosplayer&#8221; on instagram. Basically she&#8217;s a celebrity lookalike and a VERY good one. Niemann&#8217;s ability to mimic Grande is uncanny; it is often very hard to tell them apart. Some of Grande&#8217;s fans take issue with this. In fact, a look at Niemann&#8217;s instagram account will show that many of Ariana&#8217;s fans take issue with her very existence. She is subject to near constant harassment, combined with praise for her performance. While Paige has dealt with this treatment and worse for years, it has intensified since she opened her OnlyFans account. It&#8217;s no surprise that we on this show denounce the harassment of a young woman online. That said, there&#8217;s still an important question here. What are the ethical and cultural ramifications of leveraging your resemblance to a more famous person to engage in sex work? On this week&#8217;s episode, Mav and Katya are joined by returning guest Nicole Freim and new guest Brigid Marz to talk all about this case and similar issues like this as well as the multitude of cultural issues that are connected to it. What legitimate points does each side have? What are the larger cultural issues that got us here. After all, this fight is ultimately about the bodily autonomy of young woman who has been heavily sexualized by others because since she was a young girl because of her natural resemblance to another woman who has famously been sexualized by the media since she was a young girl because of the manner in which she melds the idea of sexuality and infantilization. There&#8217;s just a lot to unpack here. And unpack it we do. Join us as we debate sexualization and sexuality and the ownership of your own style and body image for young girls AND young boys, social media, dating sites, cybersecurity, law enforcement and even a little talk about butts. This episode has it all. Listen and let us know what you think in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* Paige Neimann&#8217;s Instagram* &#8220;Ariana Grande’s Infamous Cosplayer Paige Neimann Has Been Called Out For Her ‘Creepy’ OnlyFans&#8221; by&nbsp;Soaliha Iqbal* &#8220;Fans Of Ariana Grande slams lookalike Paige Niemann&#8217;s &#8216;disrespectful&#8217; OnlyFans impersonation&#8221; by Sujita Sinha* &#8220;&#8216;Wait this isn&#8217;t Ari?!&#8217; 14-year-old looks SO similar to Ariana Grande that even the popstar&#8217;s fans can&#8217;t tell them apart on social media&#8221; by Freya Drohan * Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice (<a href="https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.

Way too often, when we talk about &#8220;pop culture&#8221; in 2022, we focus on superheroes, space cowboys with laser swords, and maybe a couple fantasy epics. And in fact, if you were to look at the top of the streaming charts this month, those are sort of the biggest things on the pop culture horizon right now. But that&#8217;s not all of pop culture and it really shouldn&#8217;t be. In 1992, Penny Marshall directed the movie A League of the Their Own. It became an instant classic. It&#8217;s funny, heart warming and quotable. It&#8217;s been in the American Film Registry since 2012. This year for the 30th anniversary, Amazon decided to reboot it with a TV series that reimagines the simple family comedy as a poignant and more grown up look at the racism and homophobia that ran rampant through that era of American history, while still trying to capture the heart and passion of the original. On this week&#8217;s episode, Hannah, Monica, Wayne an Mav are joined by Dr. Ornella Nzindukiyimana to talk about the show and its innovative portrayal of blackness and queerness in 1940s America. Have you seen the show? Probably not, but if you&#8217;re a fan of smart, diverse, LGBTQ-positive dramedy (and if you listen to our show you probably are) you should be! Well, hopefully we&#8217;ll inspire you to check it out. Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* &#8220;Abbi Jacobson on how &#8216;A League of Their Own&#8217; helped a former baseball player come out at 95&#8221; by Chrissy Callahan* National Network of Abortion Funds * Thank you to Maximilian’s&nbsp;thoughtForm Music&nbsp;for our theme* Follow Hannah on Twitter: @OraRunsWild* Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers* Follow Mav on Twitter:&nbsp;@chrismaverick* Follow Monica on Instagram: @monicamarvelous* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook:&nbsp;http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

If you&#8217;re a fan of American television, you&#8217;ve no doubt heard of &#8220;Nielsen ratings&#8221; or just &#8220;the Ratings&#8221; as they&#8217;re often called. They&#8217;re the lifeblood by which TV shows live and die. The previous president of the United States was obsessed with them (and continues to be to this day). Perhaps you&#8217;ve gotten mad that your favorite TV show was canceled for low ratings, or you&#8217;ve been excited to learn that it got higher ratings than you expected. But, for all of their importance have you ever considered how ratings actually work? What do they mean? Why do they exist? On today&#8217;s show, we delve into that. Mav is joined by returning guest, and former Nielsen household family member Marcel Walker as well as former Nielsen analyst and vice president Ronjan Sikdar to talk about the concept of ratings and how they work. Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* &#8220;Yes, the CW’s Average Viewer Is Actually 58 — Here’s How the Rest of Broadcast Stacks Up&#8221; by Selome Hailu &amp; Jennifer Maas * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Visit Ronjan&#8217;s website: https://fakeronjan.com * Visit Marcel Walker’s website* Order Chutz-Pow! from the Pittsburgh Holocaust Center* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

It is pretty much impossible at this point to not have some MCU content in the current release. Between the films and the TV shows, they are a ubiquitous part of the cultural zeitgeist. So much so that we can&#8217;t really cover them all on our show anymore. However, some of them definitely seem worth the kind of analysis we do here. She-Hulk is one of those shows. Between complaints about the CGI, fights over feminism and wokeness, comparisons to the source material, and the standard arguments about MCU content, She-Hulk is getting a lot of press. Well, we&#8217;re going to contribute to that. On this week&#8217;s episode, Monica and Mav are joined by Dr. Sam Langsdale, editor of Monstrous Women in Comics to talk all about She-Hulk: the character, the comic, and the TV show. We break down the character&#8217;s history and her cultural relevance, her feminism, sexism, and progressivism, both in the comics and the show, the CGI, the current state of the MCU in general and we talk about what think is and isn&#8217;t working with the show in specific and why we think you should give it a chance if you haven&#8217;t been watching it. Listen and let us know what you think in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* Monica&#8217;s presentation on She-Hulk from the Comics Arts Conference at San Diego Comic Con 2022 * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Sam&#8217;s Website: https://www.samlangsdale.com* Follow Sam on Twitter: @s_langsdale* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Monica on Instagram: @monicamarvelous* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

We&#8217;ve all heard complaints that the current pop-culture fad du jour is getting repetitive. For instance, right now, it&#8217;s superhero movies. People are constantly complaining about &#8220;the MCU formula&#8221; where &#8220;all the movies look the same, they all have the same plot, and they all make all the same jokes.&#8221; Whenever some other company makes a movie that &#8220;feels like an MCU movie&#8221; we complain about this as well. However, we also complain anytime one of the MCU projects (or any other superhero movie) tries to do something different from the mold. Just ask the teams behind Eternals, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, or Thor: Love &amp; Thunder. This isn&#8217;t limited to just comic book movies. The same thing happens with other genres of stories, be they mysteries, romances, westerns, whatever. It happens in films, TV shows, comics, books, music and probably every other kind of media. Narratives seem to follow certain style cycles. We seem to yearn for the style cycle to be broken and then complain when it is. On this week&#8217;s episode Wayne, Mav, and Hannah are joined by legendary Marvel Comics editor and author Danny Fingeroth to talk all about Style Cycles in both his own work and contemporary pop culture. media. How do they happen? Are they good or bad? Why do we care? Is there anything we can do about it? Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* National Network of Abortion Funds* A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee by Danny Fingeroth* Danny&#8217;s interview by Noah Syndergaard * Thank you to Maximilian’s&nbsp;thoughtForm Music&nbsp;for our theme* Follow Danny on Facebook: @danny.fingeroth* Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers* Follow Mav on Twitter:&nbsp;@chrismaverick* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017* Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook:&nbsp;http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

After &#8220;endless&#8221; years in development, the impossible has happened. The Sandman TV show is now streaming on Netflix. Of course we watched it! Remarkably, it appears to be a hit. The show is getting critical buzz as well as doing well with the fans. In fact, its arguably the most popular that the property has ever been. That&#8217;s saying something. If you&#8217;re a comic book fan, or a Neil Gaiman fan, your probably feel like &#8220;obviously! Everyone loves Gaiman&#8217;s Sandman&#8221; However the truth is, The Sandman and its related comics have never really been all THAT popular. They certainly had their place, but it was always a niche property. What made it remarkable was that it was a hard niche to define. It seemed to transcend its obvious demographic, and it had staying power that has now lasted into it&#8217;s FIFTH decade. How&#8217;d that happen? On this week&#8217;s episode, Wayne and Mav are joined by returning guest Cait Coker and new guest Nick Katsiadas to talk all things Sandman, from its graphic novel origins, to the new TV show, why it&#8217;s got such staying power, why it is so relevant and why it&#8217;s such a remarkable achievement. We talk about the TV show, its comic origins, its spinoffs, and the culture it attracted and inspired. Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* &#8220;Neil Gaiman Puts to Rest Debate Over The Sandman&#8217;s &#8216;Constantine&#8217; Pronunciation&#8221; by Sean Gribbin* &#8220;Neil Gaiman Responds to Claim That Netflix Sandman Will Fail for Going ‘Woke’&#8221; by Leon Miller* &#8220;AMA Bonus: Love and Neil Gaiman&#8217;s The Sandman&#8221; (Neil Gaiman explaining sexually transmitted comics to Ophira Eisenberg)* &#8220;Spiders Seem to Have REM-like Sleep and May Even Dream&#8221; by Betsy Mason* The Sandman Book One, Book Two, Book Three, and Book Four by Neil Gaiman* Death: The Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman * Thank you to Maximilian’s&nbsp;thoughtForm Music&nbsp;for our theme* Read Nick&#8217;s work on Academia.edu* Read Cait&#8217;s work on Academia.edu* Follow Mav on Twitter:&nbsp;@chrismaverick* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @<a href="https://www.instagram.