Office Hours with Dr. C: Recent Episodes
Barry Thornburg
Dan McClellan joins us again for a discussion about Spawn. He and Dr. C explore the underlying themes of the comic, like the portrayal of hell and heaven, Armageddon, and the religious undertones. They highlight the importance of Spawn among the larger comic book landscape and draw connections between the storylines in comics like Spawn and narratives that resonate with people's worldviews and perceptions of the divine.
Dr. Dan McClellan, a public scholar of the Bible and religion joins us to talk about Superman and the Messiah Narrative. He and Gabriel discuss comics and their cultural impact, focusing on the 1990s saga "The Death of Superman," delving into the significance of the industry's depiction of violence, the impact of killing off characters, the over-complication of storylines, and the portrayal of superheroes as messianic figures. Dr. McClellan shares his insights drawn from both his professional expertise and personal fandom.
In this episode, the Dr. C and Dr. Fiesler discuss the complex world of fan fiction, copyright infringement, and transformative work. They delve into their personal experiences with copyright issues and share fascinating insights about how protective media companies can be of their copyrighted materials. They also look at unique cases, including 'The Wind Done Gone' book which survived a copyright battle due to its distinctive take on 'Gone with the Wind' as well as the offbeat genre of 'Wolf Erotica' and its implications on copyright debates.
In this episode, Dr C speaks with Dr. Casey Fiesler, a Professor of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, who specializes in technology ethics. They discuss the potential harm and biases of machine learning and the role of ethics in technology development. Dr. Fiesler highlights the racial bias inherent in training certain AI systems and the ethical challenges surrounding this bias. They also discuss the phenomenon of automated online test proctoring and how it disproportionately disadvantages students of color.
Superhero Ethics Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/superhero-ethics/id1146697314
"When you can't send children to the mines, y'gotta mine the children!" - Ronald Reagan
Dr. Chambliss joins us again to talk about the biggest comic book archival project on the planet and what it means for pop culture, research, and the future of the media.
Troy (@keeptroyblue) and Kathy (@cannonsfodder) from the Just Buy Less Coffee Podcast join us for a discussion about Gen Z and the effect our educational institutions have had on them.
Let's highlight some good reads from comic creators not within DC and the Marvs @drewxdeficit
Salvadorians, adoption as human trafficking, apolitical filmmaking, continuing to spoil the film for Barry (because he's had enough time to watch it but we simply cannot tolerate how much he drags his feet on this). We finish our discussion of the film Logan with the incredibly thoughtful and delightful JStoobs
Tiktok: @jstoobs
Instagram: @jsto.obs
Twitter: @thejstoobs
Aging, Fatherhood, Childhood, and why the heck can't we get Barry to watch a damn film? Nerdy TikTok commentator JStoobs joins us for an inventory analysis of the film Logan.
Tiktok: @jstoobs
Instagram: @jsto.obs
Twitter: @thejstoobs
Dr. C got to talk with our friends over at the Just Buy Less Coffee Podcast. We felt the discussion was so good, we should share it with y'all.
You can't avoid the mention of misinformation or disinformation. But what's the difference and how are they used in our media landscape?
How would you insert the X-men into the MCU? Nur-D joins us again to discuss our hopes and dreams about our most beloved characters and ways we would want to see a future for them on the silver screen.
We get together with musician and fellow nerd, Nur-d to talk about how his upbringing and consumption of nerd media shaped how he expresses himself and the music he makes.
Among other things, archeology studies artifacts of the past to learn about people and their cultures. What if we took the same approach to fictional media? Could we learn a little more about ourselves? Archeology professor Howard Williams joins us again to talk about his study of how the characters of The Walking Dead grapple with death and what this could say about us.
Vikings in media. It's complicated. Let's talk with one of THE Viking experts, Dr. Howard Williams about it.
Repeatedly, we see news stories that cover societal trauma surrounding the topic or influenced by race issues. How do you talk about these things with your kids in productive ways? What do you expose them to and how do you help them process these events in healthy ways?
We sit down with Jasmine Bradshaw to talk about kids and parental anxieties around pop culture.
Ed and Damian are back with us for a third episode to talk about banned books in public schools and the demise of the school librarian.
Did you ever pause in the shower and reflect on how your favorite Pro Wrestler perpetuates a long running archetype in the South's Lost Cause Narrative? No, perhaps you will after this episode with Damian and Ed from A Geek History of Time podcast.
With ever-recurring controversy surrounding award shows for our favorite media, why do we even bother having them? We bring Shaylynn Lesinski back to talk about what these shows do for us in celebrating pop media, and what they could do better.
We often hear about how the MCU is deviating from the comics' storylines. Let's add to that by discussing how the MCU seems to downplay traditionally Jewish characters, and what's possibly at stake when they do.
We have our first repeat guest, Rabbi Lenette Herzog, back to talk more about what coding, why so many early characters might be coded as jewish, and how much of that has been removed over time.
Rather than focusing on media that has representation problems, @Barnabyontheinternet joins us in talking about media that made us feel represented as young people.
It's been a year of Office Hours and we take a quick break to survey the land and assess damages.
What happens to stories we like when other fandoms get involved? Jeremiah McCoy takes us back to the '80s to talk about how our games, movies, shows, and comics have evolved together, interconnected by overlapping fandoms.
Long-time player, game designer, and game commentator, Jeremiah McCoy joins Dr. C's office hours to talk with us about how aspects of our culture find themselves in TTTRPGs, and how aspects of TTTRPGs end up influencing much of our Pop Media.
Dr. C and Barry discuss some of the complexity of representations of queerness in comic books because of the medium's history of various and problematic displays of queerness.
Dr. C and Barry discuss John Kent, Clark Kent's son, and the revelation that he came out in his comic series as bi-sexual. With the latest outrage buzz about "woke" casting decisions for film and TV, and accusations of shallow tokenism in fictional stories, how do we interpret the motives of the media industries that produce the stories we consume?
With scholar and historian Julian Chambliss We discuss how Iron Man and other hero stories provides us meaningful ways to discuss what we see in future selves.
Dr. Phillip Cunningham joins us again to talk about the super hero film genre, how long it's been going, where it's going, and are we tired of it yet.
Joined again by Maxwell Paul, Professor of Ancient and Classical Studies, we talk about how white supremacist groups distort and appropriate Greek and Roman history to manufacture claims of legitimacy.
We are joined by Maxwell Paul, Professor of Ancient and Classical Studies, to talk about Greek mythology and how our stories today are affected by stories of our past.
Dr. Phillip Cunningham talks to us about villains and some of the ways in which they might help or hinder positive representations of marginalized people.
Is it possible to betray your fans when adapting a book into a TV series? What do creators owe to the established fanbase and how far can they deviate from source material? Let's end our discussion on Wheel of Time by discussing how well the adaptation was received and whether or not fans were betrayed by this new series.
Let's talk about Wheel of Time's Rand and how his status as an adoptee affects his motivations and those around him.
The Wheel of Time series just ended its first season on Amazon Prime and we discuss the ways in which the TV series--as well as the books from which the series is inspired--builds that world, its cultures, and characters.
We talk about the common war movie tropes, why they exist, and acknowledge some candidates for future war films, such as Audie Murphy, Francis Pegahmagabow, Alvin York, and Harriet Tubman.
What are our favorite heroes if not hired guns for law enforcement? Here we talk about the difference between heroes that uphold the social order and those that strive for social good, and how stories about each reflect on the world we live in.
How do symbols change over time? We may not get to the bottom of that question in this episode, but we do come to a conclusion about Han Solo along the way.
Let's talk about Symbolic Convergence and the lengths and limits of playing things we aren't.
We have to talk about X-Men. Justin Jordan (@freddiesroommate) is here to help us cut through the weeds of Krakoa and the new ways the X-Men do things.
Is anything real, really? Today we talk about Narrative Construction and how the stories we tell and consumer shape the way we see everything.
Advocating for things big societal change is work that doesn't often have a clear end point. We use a Marvel's What If...? episode as a launching point into a discussion about extent of this labor and how hard it is for outsiders to support in ways that actually help.
We don't know if Captain America has too many regrets, but he sure missed some opportunities. Let's talk about some of them.
What choices do you have about the media you consume? How does the identity of the producers of media influence influence how people are represented?
With CRT in the news a lot in the last few months, and because it is influential in communication studies, we're doing a three-part series to talk about what CRT is, what it isn't, and why it matters to those of us who are into pop culture media.
We continue our discussion with Julia Largent about True Crime, and what it means that we just can't seem to get enough of murder and intrigue, even when it makes us paranoid and scared of our own shadows sometimes.
Everyone has that documentary that changed how they looked at the world, or the food they eat, or the people we live around. How does the documentary format affect our perspectives so effectively? What makes them such a potent form of persuasion? We sit down with Julia Largent to talk about this in regards to her research around documentary fandoms.
What do you do when you partake in media that is typically associated with groups you either don't personally identify with, or the group doesn't see you as a "normal" member? @navthepoet and Dr. C to talk about their differing ways of accessing and finding community within American Nerd Culture.
A short conversation between @navthepoet, Dr. C, and Barry as they compare their experiences growing up in their respective religious contexts.
When the media you consume doesn't look like you, sound like you, or express faith like you, how do you find your place in that culture? In this episode our Tiktok brother @Navthepoet joins us to discuss just that. He describes the Sikh faith, how it does and doesn't fit into American popular culture, and how he navigates his own identity within it.
In this episode, Isaiah Hardy joins us to discuss Invincible's way of tackling issues of power, race, and family.
Joined by Anthoney Ramirez, Dr. C discusses Latinidad and Latin identity in pop culture.
We are joined by Shanna Gilkeson again to talk about women in science fiction--authors and characters.
We are joined by Shanna Gilkeson, scholar of fandoms and we discuss how online fandom communities inadvertently, and sometimes purposefully harbor sexism.
How does our media use southern accents to shape our perceptions of others? Let's talk to Dr. C about it.
Are stereotypes in media really that big of a deal? In this episode, Dr. C and Barry discuss how stereotypes shape our perceptions of others and the real-world effects it has on society.
Dr. C has Jack as a guest again discussing The Boys and how it highlights some of the darker sides of our society through its worldbuilding and character development.
Dr. C invites his former student Jack to celebrate their rather unpopular opinions of Starwars (SPOILERS they have nothing but praise for every. single. episode.). It's the total gush-fest one would expect to have with an unusually enthusiastic professor: exciting and riddled with nuggets of interesting ideas. Plus, we learn about Dr. C's salary structure for Barry.
We talk with Rabbi Lenette again about the Coding of characters, how that works, and the particular Jewish coding of many of our favorite comic book characters.
You can find more comic book content from Rabbi Lenette at: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbicomics?lang=en
We talk with Rabbi Lenette about the Jewish history and creator our comic book and superhero traditions.
You can find more comic book content from Rabbi Lenette at: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbicomics?lang=en
From mass shooters and comic book tropes, how do we view violence and how does our storytelling influence our culture around violence?
Dr. C and Barry are joined by Shaylynn Lesinski, from CU Boulder, to talk about the women of GoT.
In this episode, we discuss Frank Castle, who he is, what he represents, and how confused some people must be to look up to him as a role model.
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