Vox Populorum - The Voxpopcast

We totally didn’t want to talk politics this week. And we certainly didn’t want to talk about the world being on fire. 2020 had enough of that. All we wanted… The post e144. So, It’s Been a Week! (1/3/21 – 1/9/21) appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

The year 2020 is over. You’re probably as relieved as we are. Of course the problems with 2020 are largely still with us, but at least getting here feels like… The post e143. Thirty Great Things You Missed In 2020 appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

If anything has characterized pop culture in the year 2020, it’s streaming media. From Hamilton to Tiger King, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the essential elimination of out-of-the-home entertainment, we… The post e142. Deconstructing the Queen’s Gambit appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is likely the most famous Christmas story ever written. First published 177 years ago, it has been produced as stage plays, adapted into dozens of… The post e141. Ghosts, Spirits, Scrooge and a Merry Marxist Christmas appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

From Broadway to London, music has been a part of the history of drama for over a thousand years. The genre is enough of a part of American pop culture… The post e140. Why Do We Suddenly Love Musicals? appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Christmas movies have been a seasonal spectacle almost as long as there have been movies. A couple years ago, we did an episode speaking to the recent trend of Lifetime,… The post e139. The 22 Reviews of Christmas (Cheesey Christmas 2) appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

It’s the holiday season. In the United States we just celebrated Thanksgiving, and in the coming weeks that will be followed by Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Pancha Ganapati, Yule,… The post e138. Holiday Tradition and Ritual in the Time of COVID appeared first on The VoxPopcast.

Ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 global pandemic, people the world over have been forced to spend more time meeting and communicating virtually. As different communities have implemented differing levels of lockdowns, quarantine restrictions, and work from home protocols, and distance learning, life has increasingly taken place over Zoom. Socializing over FaceTime is the … Continue reading "e137. Think Virtually, Live Locally! Our New Virtual Reality" The post e137. Think Virtually, Live Locally! Our New Virtual Reality first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

In a world where four podcasters are exhausted from the never ended horrific news cycle of politics, racial tensions, pestilence and death that has been the year 2020, these weary souls decide to take one week away from serious pseudo academic pop culture analysis with drinking and swearing and do… goofy pseudo academic pop culture … Continue reading "e136. Describing 14 Films We Haven’t Seen" The post e136. Describing 14 Films We Haven't Seen first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

As most of our regular listeners are probably aware, the United States had a little election last week. Barely worth mentioning! And in that election Joe Biden and Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump and Mike Pence for the presidency of the United States. And again, if you’ve listened to more than 10 seconds of our … Continue reading "e135. Election 2020: So Now What?" The post e135. Election 2020: So Now What? first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

On last week’s show, we investigated the comedic world of horror movies. This week, we wanted to go a different way… the reality of horror. Yes, of course there are horror movies that feature monsters and demons and other supernatural horrors. But what do we make of films like Deliverance, Jaws, Psycho and Cujo? What … Continue reading "e134. Reality of Horrors!" The post e134. Reality of Horrors! first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

Halloween Season is upon us! As scary as 2020 has been in general, we are finally at the part of the year where we are supposed to be scared… or at least watch a lot of scary movies. But 2020 has been scary enough… and so this year we want to focus on the funny … Continue reading "e133. Comedy of Horrors!" The post e133. Comedy of Horrors! first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

A global pandemic, rampant racism, social unrest, the fall of American democracy, the deaths of celebrity and political icons, feral hogs and murder hornets, and an asteroid is hurtling towards the earth. All of this and it’s only October. 2020 has been a hell of a year. So much so that some have speculated that … Continue reading "e132. Is 2020 the Darkest Timeline?" The post e132. Is 2020 the Darkest Timeline? first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

It’s rare that a tiny little foreign market indie film gets any mainstream media attention at all. It’s even rarer that it actually trends on social media, creating calls for the public to boycott the world’s largest streaming service and results in court investigations of that company. And yet, Netflix’s new film Cuties managed to … Continue reading "e131. Cuties: Eroticizing the Innocent and Infantilizing Sexuality" The post e131. Cuties: Eroticizing the Innocent and Infantilizing Sexuality first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

Way back at beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown — what seems like a million years ago — we did a special episode where we talked to Tristyn and Sophie, two graduating seniors who had their final year of high school interrupted by the sudden worldwide pandemic that we now all find ourselves still dealing with. … Continue reading "e130. Freshman Year in Quarantine" The post e130. Freshman Year in Quarantine first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

The corset might be one of the most fascinating garments in the history of fashion. On one hand, it’s simply underwear. It is a garment that provides a specific function. On the other hand popular culture has made it a symbol forever associated with everything from the Victorian Age to 80s pop music to burlesque … Continue reading "e129. Corsets: Enhancement, Imprisonment, Empowerment, & Empresses" The post e129. Corsets: Enhancement, Imprisonment, Empowerment, & Empresses first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

Pop Culture is a double edges sword. The more we love a certain type of media, the more of it we absorb. But the more we absorb, the more we notice some of the tropes that are frequently repeated. And the more we notice those tropes, the more likely we are to eventually get annoyed … Continue reading "e128. 9 Popular Culture Pet Peeves We Hate and Why" The post e128. 9 Popular Culture Pet Peeves We Hate and Why first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

In our contemporary moment pop culture is controlled by two forces. A focus on so-called “geek culture” and a push for more inclusive diversity across media forms. While there is certainly a long way to go, in many cases, leaps and bounds of progress have been made in the last several years, with greater attention … Continue reading "e127. Dungeons & Diversity" The post e127. Dungeons & Diversity first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

Ever since the mid 1980s and the publication of Watchmen comics, their creators, and their fans, have been obsessed with the idea of “deconstruction.” Director Zack Snyder is extremely fond of the term. He argues that he is “deconstructing superheroes” every time he gets the chance. But what does that really mean? To most fans, … Continue reading "e126. Reconstructing Deconstructed Superheroes" The post e126. Reconstructing Deconstructed Superheroes first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.

It’s 2020 and the world is ending… or maybe it’s not… or maybe it ended months ago and we just can’t tell anymore. Honestly at this point it’s pretty much just impossible to tell. With what seems like one disaster after another shaking the planet, we decided to take a look at apocalypse and disaster … Continue reading "e125. It’s the End of the World as we show it…" The post e125. It's the End of the World as we show it... first appeared on Vox Populorum - The VoxPopcast.