The VoxPopcast

Obviously, Artificial Intelligence has been a big topic in the news of late. But in the world of pop culture, it really isn’t anything new. A.I. has been a huge… The post e436. Robotic Dreams and Digital Nightmares: Is A.I the Monster… or the Mirror? appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Let’s talk about zines! Why? Because in many ways, they are one of the oldest and most revered artifacts of grassroots pop culture. Also, it turns out that pretty much… The post e435. Zines! Where Art Meets Activism appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

So there’s a weird thing that happens when you get older. You start to realize that the things that seem indelibly important to you simply don’t matter to younger generations.… The post e434. History is History! appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Spider-Man, Spider-Man does whatever a spider can… So if you’re the kind of person who listens to this show, you no doubt know that a new Spider-man movie, Spider-Man: Brand… The post e433. Spider-Man: Masks, Myths, and Media appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that the biggest movie in the world for the last week has been Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Despite a concerted… The post e432. The Odyssey and Greek Myth: The Enduring Legacy of Ancient Classics appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Behind every great villain is… frankly, well, often there’s another bigger villain pulling the strings. But the truth is, while we often celebrate “the big bad” some of the most… The post e431. Henchmen, Heavies, Minions & Muscle: Narrative Dynamics of the Hired Goon appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

To a lot of people “comics” seems to mean superheroes. So much that “comic book movies” is the term that we sometimes use for what should properly be called “superhero… The post e430. Tyrant: Dinosaurs and the Evolution of Indie Comics appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Aliens are one of the most enduring concepts in popular culture. It makes sense really. If we know there are other planets then it stands to reason that we might… The post e429. Out of this World: Alien Archetypes in Pop Culture appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

If you pay attention to the weekly pop-culture media landscape you might be aware that a new Supergirl movie released the weekend before this episode. It performed… somewhat underwhelmingly at… The post e428. The Supergirl Legacy: The Evolution of the Maid of Might appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Everyone is always complaining that no one makes any new movies anymore. Pop culture is seemingly just a continuous rehash of stuff that we used to have decades ago. Except… The post e427. From He-Man to Toy Story: Nostalgia’s Role in 2020s Entertainment appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

A few weeks ago, Mav was talking with friend of the show Joe Darowski about a new class Joe is teaching at Bringham Young University called “Technology & Narrative”. Joe… The post e426. Narrative & Technology (& Narrative) Syllabus Special appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Entertainment Weekly recently published an article by Derek Lawrence that made the somewhat shocking claim that “movies are more likely to star an actor named Chris than women over 60.”… The post e425. Chrises vs Women Over 60! Media Literacy and Aging in Hollywood appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

One of the problems we, as Americans, often have is when we look at popular culture, we assume a very American point of view. Because all of the hosts of… The post e424. Exploring Eurovision: A Look at the World’s Greatest Stage Spectacle appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

There’s a movie coming out next weekend starring comedian Nate Bargatze called The Breadwinner. Curiously, even though we were aware of it, not one of the five co-hosts on the… The post e423. Father Knows Less: Unpacking Bad Dad Stereotypes in Film appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

The Heist may be one of the popular pop culture tropes of all time. And yet, we’ve never talked about it before. So you know what that means. It’s time… The post e422. Anatomy of a Heist: More Than Just Stealing appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Recently, Maggie Gyllenhaal took a swing at a reboot of the horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein and released The Bride. Unfortunately, not many people saw it. But it begs… The post e421. Here Comes the Bride! Feminism and Frankenstein appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s summer! Ok, maybe it’s not quite summer summer, but it is summer movie season as the U.S box office. There’s a lot of movies coming out this summer, but… The post e420. 2026 Summer Movie Preview appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

On last week’s show, we brought a piece of the annual PCA conference we attend to you. But long time listeners know that every PCA we bring you an episode… The post e419. PCA 2026 After Dark: From Atlanta, GA appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s that time of year again! If you’re a long time listener to the show then you probably know about PCA already. PCA is acronym for both the Popular Culture… The post e418. PCA Roundtable: Enjoying the Art of Immoral Artists: An Ethical and Aesthetic Dilemma appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

In 1978, a movie called Faces of Death was released and gained a cult following as a weird sort of reflection of the world’s contemporary view of trauma in the… The post e417. Doomscrolling and Redemption: The Evolution of Faces of Death appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Often when we think about pop culture we think about relatively recent things. But sometimes it’s good to think about the enduring sources. Fairytales have been popular culture for longer… The post e416. All the Cinderellas: an Exploration of Trope and Transformation appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Four hundred and fifteen episodes over eight years and we never talked about Star Trek. How could that possibly be? Well, it can’t be. Of course we’ve talked about Star… The post e415. Beyond the Final Frontier: Star Trek’s Influence on Culture & Fandom appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Puppetry is one of the oldest and most respected performance art styles in the world. Except, in America we have reduced it almost entirely to the domain of children’s entertainment.… The post e414. Strings Attached: Puppetry, from Marionettes to AI appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

A few weeks ago Mav and Monica did a very special show where three of Mav’s current students from his “Introduction to Popular Culture” class where the students joined us… The post e413. Teen Beach Movie Revisited: a Conversation with the Screenwriter appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

The time comes but once a year… Hollywood’s biggest night! Or so they say. Actually, for as long as we have been doing this show, almost every year Hannah and… The post e412. The 2026 Oscars Prediction Special appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

So every once in a while we like to do an episode of the show called “is this a bad movie?” The funny part is that usually when we pick… The post e411. Is The Cannonball Run a Bad Movie? (Ok, we know it is… but does it have to be?) appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Sometimes an episode idea comes out of nowhere. Recently, Mav overheard several of his students discussing a movie from their childhood before his morning class. After he laughed at their… The post e410. Teen Beach Movie: Metaphor, Methodology, Memories, and Millennials vs. GenZ appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Most TV, movies, books… fiction in general don’t exist. This is obvious. That’s sort of the point of fiction. but what if it didn’t exist beyond the obvious fact that… The post e409. Tommy Westphall’s Snowglobe: Exploring Fiction’s Largest Shared Universe appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Wonder Woman is almost certainly one of the most enduring characters in all of pop culture. She’s certainly the most famous female superhero of all time. But we would argue… The post e408. Wonder Woman: Boundaries, Bondage, and Breakthroughs appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today! It’s Groundhog Day, and you know what that means! It’s the return of your… The post GroundPod Day 2026! Happy Groundhog Day! appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

For a show about pop culture, it’s actually somewhat rare for us to address topics of pop culture while they are actually happening. But sometimes we do. So this week,… The post e407. Oscar Sneak Preview: Breaking Down the Nominations From Snubs to Surprises appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Well, unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of HBOMax’s new hit series the Pitt. After all, it recentlywon like a billion Golden Globes and Emmys. Well… ok,… The post e406. So, We Live in the Pitt and Here is What We Think of It… appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s that time again! Every year we have one very special show where all of the hosts get together to reveal the results of last years Fantasy Box Office Game… The post e405. Fantasy Box Office Draft 2026 appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

For some reason Netflix, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the proper way for everyone in the world to spend their winter Holidays of American Thanksgiving through Christmas and New… The post e404. Stranger Endings: Breaking Down the End of Stranger Things appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Well here we are at the end of the year 2025; a year that somehow seemingly lasted 147 months. And yet somehow it was really only 12 months and that… The post e403. Things You Missed 2025 appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year… the time where we celebrate that birth of… Cheesy Christmas movies! I mean, I’m sure there’s probably some other significance to this time of… The post e402. Cheesy Christmas Movies 2025 appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s finals week. Well, ok, finals are over, so that means it’s finals GRADING week, the worst week of the academic semester for anyone who teaches for a living. It… The post e401. F-M-K! appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Wow… somehow we’ve managed to do 400 of these! On today’s very special anniversary episode of VoxPopcast we have the entire regular team of hosts to reminisce about the history… The post e400. 400 Episodes?!?! Holy $#!†! appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

There’s this funny thing that happens with TV shows. Because of the nature of human actors, TV shows are the one type of serialized media where a natural change to… The post e399. The Show Must Go On! Navigating Main Character Exits and Recasts appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

There’s no sense burying the lead here. If you listen to our show at all, you know that Hannah is a Wicked fanatic. We talked about it last year (exactly… The post e398. Of Course We’re Talking About Wicked For Good appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

One of pop cultures most enduring properties is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Not only is it often hailed as the first ever science fiction property, it is one of the all-time… The post e397. All the Frankensteins! (like all the Draculas… but with Frankenstein) appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

We’ve mentioned on the show in the past that a large portion of Mav’s job is teaching in the Digital Narrative and Interactive Design(DNID) program at the University of Pittsburgh.… The post e396. Games, Education, & Collaboration: The Role of Play in Learning and Connection appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

(Note: an earlier version of this episode failed to post correctly to our feed. Our apologies.) Every once in a while we like to step away from our usual serious…… The post e395. Stealing the Fives – Repost to fix error appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Every once in a while we like to step away from our usual serious… well… serious-ish, pseudo-academic intellectual pursuits and just do something a little fun. This is one of… The post e395. Stealing the Fives (with permission of course) appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Happy Halloween! As we move towards the end of Spooky Season this year, we realized that there is an interesting cultural phenomenon that we’ve never even considered on the show… The post e394. Spirits and Spectacles: The World of Haunted Houses appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s SPOOOOKY SEASON!!! Actually, it has been for a couple weeks and yet we really haven’t gotten into it. But now it’s time to fix that. A year ago we… The post e393. Eerie Elders: The Horror of Growing Old appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Has it been a year already since Mav last did a special GameJam episode? I guess so. For those who are new to VoxPopcast, every year Mav serves as a… The post e392. Games4SocialImpact 2025 appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s always weird and oddly exciting when we discover that we have a hole in the things we’ve covered one the show. And in fact, It’s actually quite surprising that… The post e391. Manga-101: Why is Manga? appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

We’ve talked a lot on the show in the past about Roland Barthes’ influential literary essay “La mort de l’auteur” or “the Death of the Author” and what it means… The post e390. La Mort de le Mèmer? How memes make meaning appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

So… America is in a weird place right now. Frankly, we could say that just about every week these days. But this last couple of weeks it’s been even more… The post e389. Boycotts and their Cultural Impact appeared first on The VoxPopcast.