Pop DNA Rhonda Watts and Erin O'Loughlin
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- TV & Film
Pop DNA traces the roots of your favorite pop culture works.
We're Erin and Rhonda, and we are big old nerds. We love dissecting our favorite movies, TV shows, and more, and we're really into how literature, history, and culture have impacted the works we consume. We explore connections across mediums, from the classic novels we see reflected in our favorite horror movies, to the politics in superhero franchises, to the influence of Shakespeare in, like, literally everything. There are also bad jokes. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram!
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BONUS! Tayoncé: Cowboys, Poets, and the Golden Age of Women in Pop
For Rhonda's Birthday Bonus we're talking COWBOY CARTER and THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Why are both of these albums' titles styled in all caps?
Our conversation explores our initial reactions to and top five tracks from each album, as well as some interesting parallels between these two bodies of work. How does Beyoncé break genre boundaries on COWBOY CARTER? How does Taylor explore her relationship with art and fame on THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT? And how do both albums further the cultural discussion of women driving their own narratives?
We also talk about the bigger picture of women in pop music beyond Tay and Bey, and the current pop moment embodied in artists like Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and Miley Cyrus.
Oh, and we also definitely talk about Kendrick and Drake.
Listen to our Women in Pop playlist here.
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Barbie: Who Are We Kidding? We're All Depression Barbie
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!
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Barbie: When You Think of Sparkle, You Think of Female Agency.
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
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Barbie: Now I Am Become Irrepressible Thoughts of Death Barbie
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:
Feminist Utopias, Matriarchies, and Inverted Patriarchies in Fiction
Aging, Gender, and Sexuality as Explored in Barbie
Weird Barbie and Queerness
Parallels with the Works of Jane Austen, Because You Didn't Think Rhonda Was Just Going to Ignore that Depression Barbie's Comfort Show is the 1995 Pride and Prejudice Miniseries, Did You???
and more
Follow us on Instagram I guess but don't expect too much.
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The Last of Us: The Illusion of Choice
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
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The Last of Us: The End of the World As We Know It
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:
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Revenant myths and legends
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
1984 by George Orwell
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (and the HBO series)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (and the Hulu series)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey
Severance by Ling Ma
Follow us on Instagram for more about the literature and commentary we reference.
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