Special Topics in Media

Garret Castleberry

5.0 (4)
TV & FILM
UPDATED WEEKLY

Special Topics in Media Studies is a lecture-based podcast that tackles media history one artifact at a time. Each season of the series we will investigate a different mass media theme, medium, or programming genre. While our focus is educational (it is an academic podcast after all), we tailor our conversations toward a broad audience of media enthusiasts.

JAN 20

The Heist Film: Inception (2010)

The Special Topics in Media retro season resumes with a callback to our Heist Film conversation (circa 2021) centered on Christopher Nolan's 2010 summer blockbuster, Inception. Host Garret Castleberry is joined by his dialogic duo partner in crime Scott McMurry in a cross-examination of Nolan's cerebral brain-bender. Does Inception work within the heist film genre, or does the film collapse in its plural ambitions? Host: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended readings to pair with Season 5 "The Heist Film": Jim Leach & Jeannette Slowniowski (editors). The Best Laid Plans: Interrogating the Heist Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017. Daryl Lee. The Heist Film: Stealing With Style. Wallflower Press, 2014. Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

1h 28m
JAN 6

The Heist Film "Live Recap Special" - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2012)

A FIRST! Special Topics in Media goes "Live" (sort of), in an effort to activate improvisational audience feedback. Host Garret Castleberry taps into the collective power of the Special Topics in Media Studies class for a post-screening interpretive recap of intellectual themes resonant in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox. Students are pressed to speak to several unique categories in an improvisational interpretive event recorded for educational fair use. Does Anderson's film function within the Heist Film genre? Does this adaptation breach the generational divide? Key students share their immediate reactions. Host: Garret Castleberry, Guests: Mia Haynes, Adia Reid, Peyton Towery, Brady Allen, Christian Soto, Abel Houston, Jasie Eischen, Sapraise Counsellor Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended readings to pair with Season 5 "The Heist Film": Jim Leach & Jeannette Slowniowski (editors). The Best Laid Plans: Interrogating the Heist Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017. Daryl Lee. The Heist Film: Stealing With Style. Wallflower Press, 2014. Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

36 min
12/23/2025

The Heist Film: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

The past returns! Special Topics in Media slips under the radar to release its next "vault" discussion (circa fall 2021) celebrating The Heist Film. Host Garret Castleberry captures Scott McMurry for an analytic dissection of Wes Anderson's playful stop-motion animation adaptation, Fantastic Mr. Fox (2012). Does Anderson have what it takes to enter the conversation among the genre's greatest cinematic thieves? Host: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended readings to pair with Season 5 "The Heist Film": Jim Leach & Jeannette Slowniowski (editors). The Best Laid Plans: Interrogating the Heist Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017. Daryl Lee. The Heist Film: Stealing With Style. Wallflower Press, 2014. Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

1h 18m
12/09/2025

The Heist Film: The Killing (1956)

What's old is new! Special Topics in Media breaks into the next "vault" discussion (circa fall 2021) celebrating The Heist Film. Host Garret Castleberry hoodwinks Scott McMurry into the job of a lifetime. The dialogic duo wind back the clock to dissect Stanley Kubrick's forgotten film noir masterpiece, The Killing (1956). Does The Killing demonstrate the secret to heist movie success as a specialized film genre? Host: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended readings to pair with Season 5 "The Heist Film": Jim Leach & Jeannette Slowniowski (editors). The Best Laid Plans: Interrogating the Heist Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017. Daryl Lee. The Heist Film: Stealing With Style. Wallflower Press, 2014. Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

1h 41m
11/25/2025

The Heist Film: Ocean's Eleven (2001)

What's old is new! Special Topics in Media kicks off another "vault" discussion (circa fall 2021) celebrating The Heist Film as a distinct (yet liminal) film genre. Host Garret Castleberry recruits Scott McMurry to uncover the roots of the heist genre and its connections to American social and cultural history. The dialogic duo kick off their conversation series with an examination of Steven Soderbergh's 2001 crew caper, Ocean's Eleven. Is Ocean's Eleven the "perfect" crime film? Let us know! Host: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended readings to pair with Season 5 "The Heist Film": Jim Leach & Jeannette Slowniowski (editors). The Best Laid Plans: Interrogating the Heist Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017. Daryl Lee. The Heist Film: Stealing With Style. Wallflower Press, 2014. Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

1h 25m
SEASON 5, EPISODE 1 TRAILER

The Heist Film: Season 5 Preview!

A new season, and an old season, are here! Join us as we peek into the past and present for a season built around the heist movie genre. The Dialogic Duo is up to no good! Host Garret Castleberry convinces Scott McMurry to "get the gang back together" to pull off one last job. That job? To expand the discourse around heist films as a way of better understanding film as a distinctly artistic yet commercial expression of mass communication. This crew cases the joint to lay the track for films to be examined this season. Host: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended readings to pair with Season 5 "The Heist Film": Jim Leach & Jeannette Slowniowski (editors). The Best Laid Plans: Interrogating the Heist Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017. Daryl Lee. The Heist Film: Stealing With Style. Wallflower Press, 2014. Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

20 min
10/28/2025

2025 Summer Movie Season - August

Finally...the 2025 Summer Movie Season concludes. Host Garret Castleberry is joined by Kyle Hammonds to discuss key releases in August. Was August 2025 the best August in summer movie history? These rhetors debate the successes and failures of the doldrum summer month. Listen to hear which mainstream movies had their ticket stubs torn, and reach out to connect and let us know which August releases topped your radar in 2025. Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Kyle Hammonds Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended Screenings (Garret and Kyle): Weapons Recommended Screenings (Kyle): Jaws: 50th Anniversary IMAX rerelease Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

1h 3m
10/14/2025

2025 Summer Movie Season - July

Somehow...the 2025 Summer Movie Season returned. Host Garret Castleberry is joined by Kyle Hammonds to discuss key releases in July, a month rich is blockbuster discourse Listen to hear which mainstream movies had their ticket stubs torn, and reach out to connect and let us know which July releases topped your radar in 2025. Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Kyle Hammonds Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Recommended Screenings (Garret): Eddington Recommended Screenings (Kyle): Ontological Obstacles (Garret & Kyle): Superman, Fantastic Four Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics. "Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode. Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel. Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

1h 57m

5

out of 5

4 Ratings

Special Topics in Media Studies is a lecture-based podcast that tackles media history one artifact at a time. Each season of the series we will investigate a different mass media theme, medium, or programming genre. While our focus is educational (it is an academic podcast after all), we tailor our conversations toward a broad audience of media enthusiasts.

Creator

Garret Castleberry
Years Active

2022 - 2026
Episodes

172
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Special Topics in Media
Show Website

Special Topics in Media