Vivian and 'Olly are briefly outside of the Patreon bubble to talk about the Traitors! We chat about the differences between the US and the UK versions, how wonderful a campy gothic horror reality show is, the problem of unconscious bias, and why we love the traitors this year.

Some readings:

Hyphen - The Celebrity Traitors shows unspoken bias at work

The Independent - People of Colour keep leaving the Traitors early. We need to talk about why

Vogue - We need to talk about The Traitors and unconscious bias

Grazia - Culture Debrief: The Traitors Discourse Is A Reminder That Phrases Like ‘Unconscious Bias’ Are A Cop Out

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the Christmas Special! And today's episode is all about... the Christmas Special! Yes, we know it's quite meta, but it's worth a chat. We talk about the media that defines this time of year, from episodes of American sitcoms, to A Christmas Story, to the Doctor Who Christmas Special. We chat about the differences between American and English culture (as of 11 years ago), and what specific type of nostalgia we reach for.

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The end of season three is probably the best time to finally confront an all important question: what actually is fandom? How do we define this strange thing? Is it even possible? We chat about the history of the word and idea, take a little side path down an explanation of cultural evolutionary anthropology, and end with a big 'ol question of whether we can actually ever get away from some of the problematic ideas we have.

Some stuff:

Vivian's Taylor Swift project

Holly briefly mentioned Vivian's pool analogy, so it's here if you're interested

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Buy Our Books!

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Fan Of That is now on Patreon!

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spooky Season has officially begun! We're celebrating by diving into one of Holly's personal favourite horror video games: Silent Hill. Today's topics include: what defines the horror genre, how horror video game narratives work, and a brief interlude about Vivian and Holly's nightterrors.

Some Extra Materials

Vivian's video games and myth article

Games Mentioned:

Silent Hill

Fatal Frame

PT

Resident Evil

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, because we've lost some audio, I'm stepping in for today to give you lovely listeners a little idea I've had for quite some time. I've thought about doing little fun light-hearted lectures on a particular subject, so if you like them just let me know! I'll keep doing them!

Today's topic is an overview of Religion and Popular Culture. What do we mean when we say this? What's being covered under that umbrella? What are some of the interesting dynamics which can happen here?

Kotaku article about Bioshock

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Full cards on the table guys, we may have lost the audio of an episode. So, we decided to fill the space with a little fandom chat, just a little quick catch up on the things we're enjoying, studying, or thinking about recently. Topics include: Taylor Swift's new album, people mad that leftist bands are leftist, the Hunger Games, and reaction videos on YouTube.

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

That's right, folks! We're finally spending some dedicated time to the ultimate anime film studio: Studio Ghibli. Topics include: the nature of evil in Ghibli films, the plot structure of Kishotenketsu, the Chthuluscene, and even some Moomins.

Note: we pronounce Ghibli with the hard G sound. Get over it.

Some Links

Video essay on the Chthuluscene

Video essay on No Face

Video essay on Kiki

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Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspired by our previous episode on genres, we decide to chat today about a thing that happens, particularly in fan spaces. Flanderization is the process of a character being distilled to the point of removing many deeper aspects of their character. Topics include: definition of the term and its history of Ned Flanders, Stardew Valley's flanderized characters, and how classic novels are subjected to this through replications.

Some Links

Goffman's work on identity

Fiona Sangster on YouTube

Our Socials

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Holly's Instagram

The Pod's Instagram

Buy Our Books!

Buy Holly's Book!

Buy Vivian's Book!

Fan Of That is now on Patreon!

Go support us over there!

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Logo by Moira Daykin, @mecha_moira on instagram

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.