The VoxPopcast Vox Populorum

On this week’s show, all five co-hosts are online to celebrate six years of producing a weekly pseudo academic roundtable of pop culture analysis with drinking and swearing. It isn’t too often that we can get the entire gang together these days, so this week we thought we’d do so with no strict agenda other than to catch up on things going on in our lives and our personal obsseverations of culture. So join Mav, Wayne, Katya, Hannah and Monica as we somehow start with discussing Hannah’s new dog and that takes us down an eclectic path of topics, from the trivialities of weather differences to movie releases and to the impact of social media and the shared passions and whimsies of the hosts. We’ve been doing this for six years, so join us for our anniversary and see where the hour takes us.







Citations and Links:









* If you are struggling with mental health and thoughts of suicide, please know that there are people who love you and want to help. Call or text 988 within the United States for the suicide prevention hotline.







* 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 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 special epsiode we take one last look at this year’s Popular Culture Association conference in Chicago with a look at papers from one of the panels in the Comics Studies group. Mav is joined by Joseph and John Darowski who will be appearing with him in the upcoming book Adapting X-men from McFarland Press to present scaled down versions of their chapters from that book. Joe begins by discussing how storytelling franchises, like the X-Men, spread their narratives beyond the original comic book medium with a detailed analysis of the 1992 Uncanny X-Men trading card series, highlighting the complexities and artistic considerations in transitioning comic book narratives into trading cards. Then, Mav discusses the TV show ‘The Gifted’, examining its portrayal of Otherness and its approach to racial allegory within the X-Men universe. Finally, John presents on the crossover between Star Trek and X-Men in the novel ‘Planet X’, exploring the novelty of such a crossover and the implications of combining these two distinct franchises in a novel format.







Together, these presentations offer insights into the challenges and intricacies of adapting and expanding narratives across various media, showcasing the X-Men franchise as a case study. They also give you a pretty good taste of what it’s like to be at an academic conference like PCA. At least we think so, listen and let us know if you agree in the comments.







Citations and Links:









* Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme







* Listen to Joe (and occasionally John) on The Protagonist Podcast and follow Joe on Twitter: @jdarowski







* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick







* Follow us on Twitter: @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!

Six years ago, this show was birthed out of the aftermath of PCA2018, the annual conference for the Popular Culture Association. As is tradition, we’ve once again returned there. PCA2024 was last week in Chicago, IL and Mav attended. On this episode, he is joined by fellow conference attendees and friends of the show Nicole Freim, Matthew Brake and John and Joseph Darowski to talk all about their panels and everything else they saw there, as well as a general discussion about the importance of pop culture conferencing, publishing, podcasting, X-men comics, and sex in the TV show Friends… and a bunch of related topics. Listen and let us know what you think and then maybe join us next year in New Orleans.







Citations and Links:









* Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme







* Listen to Joe (and occasionally John) on The Protagonist Podcast and follow Joe on Twitter: @jdarowski







* Follow Nicole on Twitter: @nfreim







* Follow Matthew at Pop Culture & Theology







* Follow Matthew on Twitter: @PopAndTheology







* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick







* Follow us on Twitter: @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!

Have you ever done that thing where you hear a song that’s a cover of another song you like, only to find out later that you have it backwards and the song you thought was the cover was the original and vice versa? That was actually one of the first arguments that Mav and his wife Stephanie ever had. This was recently an issue when modern country artist Luke Combs released a cover of Tracy Chapman’s 35 year old, “Fast Car”. When you have a song that covers another song and both are famous, how do you know what the real one is? And does it matter? Do covers elevate or do they steal? Are covers theft or are they homages? What happens when an artist covers themself?







On this episode, Stephanie Siler joins Mav and Wayne to delve into the intricate world of cover songs. Join us as we dissect the emotional, conceptual, and business aspects surrounding the creation and appreciation of cover songs. From Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” to the Struts’ “We Are the Champions”, we discuss the emotional depths, how they pay homage to the original artists, and even challenge genre boundaries. Listen and let us know if you agree in the comments below.







Citations and Links:









* This episode’s Call For Comments











* Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme







* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick







* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017







* Follow us on Twitter: @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 did a couple of shows in the lead up to the Academy Awards last week. You’ve heard us talk about why the Oscars still exist and what function they serve as well as given our picks and reviews for this years nominees. But there’s one aspect of the Oscars that we haven’t really discussed, and it’s perhaps the most important part of the whole Academy Awards process. Complaining that they got it wrong. Well, on this week, we fix that as Andrew and Joseph Darowski of the Protagonist Podcast join Mav for a crossover show where we decide the Oscars and the complexities and debates surrounding them. We delve into the intricacies of Oscar voting and campaign impacts, discussing Oscar history’s notable anomalies, systemic biases, and speculating on alternate outcomes. And then we talk about the things that we personally feel they got wrong even within their own frameworks and why. Do you agree? Did we miss something? What are the biggest Oscar upsets and travesties to you? Listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments.







Citations and Links:









* Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme







* Listen to Joe and Andrew Darowski on The Protagonist Podcast and follow Joe on Twitter: @jdarowski







* Also listen to Andrew’s other show, Disney Animation Minute Essentials and follow him on Twitter: @disminute







* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick







* Follow us on Twitter: @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!

You know that movie where the hero loses someone he loves to an act of senseless violence and so he embarks on a path of carnage and destruction to gain revenge by killing his way through a never ended succession of henchmen and lackeys on a quest to kill the people responsible for the death of his loved one and everyone who works with them? You know… all those movies that have exactly that plot? Well, Wayne was watching one of those movies — the recent film The Beekeeper — and he realized that it’s essentially just a Kaiju movie. That is to say, that there’s a whole genre of movie about an unstoppable monster on a path of destruction through an unsuspecting town… only it happen’s to be a single human being. Or at least that’s Wayne’s premise.







So, on this episode, Wayne is joined by Mav and returning guest Henry Arrambide to talk all about “the Human Kaiju”. What is it and why is it great Join us as we explore Human Kaiju films from John Wick to Taken and delve into what defines this genre, including themes of revenge and invulnerability, and how it differs from superheroes and traditional action heroes. Can women be Human Kaiju? Can Human Kaiju be villains? Listen as we try to work it out and then let us know your thoughts in the comments.







Citations and Links:









* This episode’s Call For Comments







* “JOHN WICK: Capitalism Dressed In Religious Clothes” by Danny Anderson











* Watch Wisecrack on YouTube







* Follow Henry on Twitter: @Hisabelbide







* Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme







* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick







* Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017







* Follow us on Twitter: @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!