Pop DNA

If you thought we were going to let it slide that Depression Barbie's comfort show is the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice, you thought wrong. We're digging in to some possible literary inspirations and parallels for the Barbie movie, looking specifically at Christian/Catholic creation theology and how much Greta Gerwig may have been influenced by the work of Jane Austen. We also talk about who we would choose if we could recast Ken, and follow up with a coda to our discussion of gender dynamics in Barbie Land from last week. Further Reading: Barbie Land as Garden of Eden Rolling Stone Greta Gerwig Interview For updates on Rhonda's book, follow here Pop DNA is taking a brief break, and we will be back in early May with a Bonus Episode! Stay tuned! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

We are back from a long, semi-unplanned hiatus, but don't worry, there's still plenty more Barbie to talk about! This week we look at how both Barbie Land and Stereotypical Barbie's perspective in the film explore gender and femininity. How does Barbie Land fit into the context of women-dominated societies in other fictional works? How does Barbie as a film both defy and uphold patriarchal beauty standards? And how does Barbie as a character help us as women and feminine people explore how we can define femininity and identity for ourselves? Further Reading: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Power by Naomi Alderman Ritual of Proof by Dara Joy Sci-Fi Movies About All-Female Planets Have a Hidden Agenda -- video essay from Slate Barbietopia and Feminist Futures: Next Steps on the Heroine’s Journey -- essay by Ivana Milojević What ‘Barbie’ teaches us about the beauty of growing old -- article by Steve Lopez Justice for Weird Barbie -- article by Natalie Michie Books to Read After Watching Barbie -- post by Rhonda Does anyone want to run our Instagram account? lmk --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

Hi Barbies! We have sooooo much to talk about in this three-parter, so we squished some background discussion of fashion dolls and the cultural mythos of Barbie into this first episode. We also have some thoughts on the Barbenheimer phenomenon, the Barbie movie as a capitalist product, and our own experiences playing with Barbies as children. Then we give a brief overview of some other topics we want to dive into in our next two episodes and take a quiz to find out which Barbies we are (but, as happens quite often, the quiz was wrong). This month we're talking about: Follow us on Instagram I guess but don't expect too much. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

What was supposed to be a fun and light chat about video games this week turned into a philosophical discussion of free will as a player of video games, and how this illusion of choice translates into the choices (or lack thereof) of characters in the TV series of The Last Of Us, especially in terms of gendered actions and decision-making. It's still fun, though, we promise! Further Exploration: GamerGate coverage by Aja Romano Tropes vs. Women in Video Games video series by Anita Sarkeesian Playing As/Against Violent Women paper by Stefan Schubert Our episode on femininity and power in fantasy media Our episode on The Chronicles of Narnia where we discuss Susan and Lucy not fighting in the battle Vulture piece on patriarchy in the world of TLOU --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

This week we are getting apocalyptic! We talk about why we as humans seem to be fascinated with the fall of civilization or even of humanity itself. From the ancient epic of Gilgamesh to several separate HBO shows, our literature and culture are full of stories about humans at the end of the world. How does The Last of Us explore the human significance of the apocalypse? And what other works of apocalyptic and zombie fiction can we discuss to contextualize what TLOU might be trying to say about humanity? Works we discuss include: Follow us on Instagram for more about the literature and commentary we reference. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

Welcome to our first regular episode of 2024! We're kicking the year off with a discussion of the (maybe?) zombie show that everyone was talking about in early 2023. This week we talk about our first experiences with the world of The Last of Us, discuss the question of whether or not this is in fact a zombie show, and take a quiz to find out which character we are. Then we introduce the ideas we want to explore more in-depth in the next two episodes, such as: Take the quiz here. Follow us on Instagram if that's the sort of thing you like to do. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

It's a new year, which means it's time for us to talk about our favorite movies and TV (plus a little theater and music) of 2023! We also discuss how the Hollywood strikes affected how we view media, and how the theme of girlhood seemed to be a throughline in a lot of the media we loved this past year. We talk about a few of our disappointments as well, and then look ahead to what we're excited for in 2024. 2023 Stuff We Talk About: Barbie M3GAN The Little Mermaid Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret Succession The Bear Ted Lasso The Last of Us Shrinking Theatre Camp Polite Society Quiz Lady The Buccaneers Somebody I Used to Know Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story You People The Artful Dodger Merrily We Roll Along Lessons in Chemistry The Fall of the House of Usher The Mandalorian Ahsoka Renfield Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny A Haunting in Venice Follow us on Instagram for sporadic memes and book recs, and join us next time for our first regular episode of the year! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

The Wizard of Oz is a quintessentially American story, and over the 120+ years since the novel's release, the tale and its subsequent iterations have reflected the political climate of particular moments in our culture. From its inception as an alleged allegory for the late 19th century Populist movement, to the imagery of early women's suffrage in the witches of Oz, to the echoes of FDR's New Deal and the Great Depression in "Over the Rainbow," to The Wiz's positioning within the Black American experience in the 1970s, and even to how the musical Wicked reflects the flawed third-wave feminism of the 1990s. Further reading: Populist symbolism in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz The Matriarch Behind the Curtain The American dream of "Over the Rainbow" The Wiz as a Black American journey Wicked as a feminist work Follow on Instagram for sporadic and tangentially relevant content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

We're wrapping up 2023 with a look at the beloved 1939 classic musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz, and its 1900 source novel by L. Frank Baum. This week we give you a wizard's-eye view of the topics we plan to dig into deeper in the next couple episodes. We'll look at the popular theory of the original novel as an allegory for U.S. politics and economics at the turn of the 20th century, as well as the significance of the song "Over the Rainbow" for Americans during the Great Depression. We'll also talk about Judy Garland's experience making the film and in Hollywood in general, as well as both the movie and book's long-lasting and far-reaching impact on American culture as we know it. If we appeared in your Spotify Wrapped this year, we'd like to say thank you, thank you, thank you, sincerely, for all your support. We hope you're having as much fun as we are. Follow us on Instagram for occasional memes, book recs, and cat pics. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

Following up on our conversation from last time, this installment in our discussion of The Hunger Games looks at the vulnerability of children in both Panem and the ongoing attacks on Palestine, the troubling parallel between the Capitol citizens of Panem and we in the privileged Western world in our parasocial relationships with those respective children, and how these traumatic events will affect the human psyche and our ways of dealing with vulnerabilities. This is another hard discussion, so again, listen with that in mind, and please continue to call your elected leaders, protest, share and post, and take care of yourselves. Further Reading: Intro to the Palestinian journalists in Gaza More about parentification and vulnerability cycles Helpful guide to calling your members of Congress --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

With a new installment of The Hunger Games film franchise hitting theaters this month, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to revisit the series, and we brought a friend! Jac Frost (known as @jacfrostisreal on TikTok) joins us for an intro to the deep-dive discussions we're planning on the books by Suzanne Collins and their film adaptations. Our conversation focuses on the ways our current world is reflective of Panem, from the ever-growing class and economic divides in our society, to the level of surveillance and control the state already has access to into our everyday lives, to the happening-as-we-speak genocide of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli government and military. This does get pretty heavy, so if you're not in a place to hear it, please take care of yourself, but also contact your elected officials to call for a ceasefire. Find Jac on TikTok and Pop DNA on Instagram. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

Happy Halloween! As a coda to our Wednesday series, we decided to watch an iconic movie from our childhoods and talk over it! Tangents include the research Rhonda did about the house in Practical Magic before we visited the town where it was filmed for Galentine's Day, the summer camp Erin worked at one summer that reminded her of Wednesday's summer camp in really uncomfortable ways, and the prolific career of Joan Cusack, among other things. The commentary starts at around 8:50. We've been making this show for five years now and we're so grateful to everyone who has tuned in! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

We wrap up our Wednesday series with a deep dive into the character's emotional landscape. The therapy sessions that Wednesday is compelled to attend are not a healthy depiction of mental health care, so let's talk about that! Let's also talk about whether or not romance was really necessary to Wednesday's story (it wasn't), and whether romance storylines in media in general are underappreciated (they are). Come back next week for a spooky Addams Family-themed bonus episode! Further reading: Busting some therapy myths perpetuated by media Therapist reacts to Wednesday's therapist (video) Actors on Actors: Jenna Ortega and Elle Fanning transcript and video Everyone is Beautiful and No One is Horny Follow on Instagram for extra content and memes --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

This week we're talking about the ways the titular Wednesday explores her identity throughout the series, from finding other weird kids at Nevermore Academy, to differentiating from the Addams Family ethos. Further Reading: Nevermore Academy website Nevermore filming locations The All Ghouls School on TV Tropes Children's author Chris Priestly on the appeal of the special school in fiction Introduction to Bowen Theory in family therapy Check our Instagram for images we discuss, extra content, memes, and occasional cat photos --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

Wednesday is both a piece of Addams Family media and a Tim Burton work, so we're looking at the intersection of those two origins. We take a trip down memory lane to look at how Wednesday and the rest of her family have been portrayed in various media over the decades, from the original 1930s comics by Charles Addams, all the way up to its current iteration in the Wednesday Netflix series. Then we talk about Tim Burton's aesthetic influences, distinct style of storytelling, and how he brought those things to Wednesday. Further Reading: The Smithsonian Mag's Cultural History of the Addams Family (from 2019, so pre-Wednesday) More about the Addams Family Musical Vox piece on Tim Burton's distinct visual style and influences Hollywood Reporter article on Tim Burton's bringing his vision to Wednesday Find images we discussed, plus the occasional meme, on Instagram --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

It's full-on Spooky Season at Pop DNA and we're celebrating with a discussion of our favorite spooky teen, Wednesday Addams! In part 1 of this series, we talk about some of our initial thoughts on the Netflix show Wednesday, our relationships with the Addams Family franchise, and how we feel Wednesday fits into this 85-year legacy. We also take the quiz to find out which character we are, which you can take here, and then get into a quick overview of other topics we're planning to deep-dive this month. We'll look at previous iterations of the Addams characters, from the original comic strips, to the 1960s TV series, to the 1990s movies we Millennials grew up watching. We'll also discuss Wednesday as a Tim Burton work, framing the show as a whole through his signature aesthetic and directorial style. Plus much more! Follow on Instagram for supplementary content, memes, and cat photos. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

We wrap up our series on Abbott Elementary with some thoughts on how the show pays homage and stands out from older network sitcoms, Quinta Brunson's inspirations for the series, and a more lighthearted look at teaching and the veteran teachers who have shaped all of our lives. Further Reading: Abbott's "Revitalization" of the network sitcom Quinta Brunson on Abbott's "cool factor" The real teachers that inspired Abbott Report on penalties for teachers who break contracts Study on why teachers leave, and why they stay Mr. Reed music video - "Welcome to the 4th Grade" Come back next week for part 1 of our series on the Netflix show Wednesday! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

This week we're digging into some of our favorite characters on Abbott Elementary! We take a look at our favorite terrible boss Ava, with a psychological analysis of supervisor-employee relationship patterns, and how Ava's management style stacks up to other fictional bosses like Michael Scott or Don Draper. Then we explore Janine and Barbara's unique found family mother-daughter dynamic, a type of relationship we don't often see in media, despite the many "reluctant father figure/teen girl daughter figure" duos that seem to be everywhere in pop culture. Further Reading: 10 Terrible Bosses from Movies and TV Psychologist breaks down boss-employee relationships in media The dubious Milgram Shock Experiment The equally sus Stanford Prison Experiment 7 Times Barbara was a Mom to Janine --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

This week we look at how Abbott Elementary reflects popular opinions on the public education system, and how it portrays the experience of teaching as a profession. We also dip into the hot-button issue of charter schools, looking at a more nuanced discussion of this debate than we see presented on the show. Further Reading: Social media creators Honest Teacher Vibes, Mrs. Call's Campers, and Teacher Tales of Miss Smith give firsthand accounts of teaching in public schools Real Seattle area teachers give their thoughts on Abbott Elementary The New Yorker article on Abbott's charter school storyline Last Week Tonight episode on charter schools Documentary The Lottery Podcast episode by Dr. Nadia Lopez on the charter school debate --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message

Happy Season 6 to Pop DNA! To kick off September we're going back to school to talk about Abbott Elementary! To set the stage for this four-part series, and the whole podcast for the foreseeable future, we discuss the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, how they affect Abbott Elementary, and why we should all be aware of the issues involved. We also take a quiz to find out which characters we are, which you can take here, and give a brief preview of the other topics we plan to explore in this series. We'll look at how the show discusses public education from a few different angles, Abbott's origin story and unique success as a network sitcom in a streaming world, and deep dives into our favorite characters and relationships. Further Reading: The latest news we have (as of the time of recording) on negotiations for WGA Vox article breaking down the issues at stake in the strikes Interview with writer/producer Brittani Nichols Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter striking in Philadelphia Join us on Instagram for sporadic memes and book and cat content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pop-dna-podcast/message