Wednesday, July 27 2011
Sherlockians, Whovians, Woodies: Summer is the Season for Cinematic Tourists
Each summer they descend upon London en masse. Who are these cinematic tourists, and why do they travel thousands of miles to see where real or fictitious people enacted the stories that captured fans’ imagination?
Wednesday, July 13 2011
Batman’s Cultural Impact: Promoting Great Society Values
The Batman TV series (1966-1968) is famous for its witty camp humor and colorful cast of villains. But, argues Chris Gould, it also enthusiastically espoused the social and political goals of LBJ and the Great Society.
Tuesday, July 12 2011
“I Get Recognized at Least Once a Day”: An Interview with Kristen Schaal
She wrote The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex and is the Women's Issues Correspondent on The Daily Show. The upfront female comic sits down to talk to PopMatters about comedy, fame, and so much more ...
Friday, July 1 2011
The Best Film, TV and DVDs for Summer
Draw the curtains against that relentless summer sunshine. Crank the air conditioner not only for comfort, but to drown out that infernal sound of laughing children. While away some free time this summer in the company of your TV with these recommended shows.
Tuesday, June 28 2011
Come at Me, Bro!: What Do 20-Somethings See in ‘Jersey Shore’?
Twenty-something students opine about their love-hate relationship with GTL, smooshing and the gang that’s always DTF at Jersey Shore.
Tuesday, May 10 2011
Voyeurism in CSI: Las Vegas
Why do we watch CSI: Las Vegas? Eva Roa White suggests that in observing the investigations of the CSI scientists, we can safely explore all the darkest recesses of our own lives, whether biological or moral or psychological.
Wednesday, April 27 2011
Celebrity and the Celebration of Art: The Transformation of Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch’s body of work is impressive. So what has previously prevented his transformation from a highly talented, sought-after actor to bona fide international celebrity?
Thursday, April 21 2011
“Fighting What’s Right in the World”: An Interview with Tim Heidecker
Heidecker and Wood have now turned their form-rattling attention to a strictly musical genre: soft rock. Starting from Nowhere is a hilarious and totally authentic sounding collection of songs that could have been beamed in from the 1970s or 1980s AM dial.
Friday, April 15 2011
“I’d Very Still”: Anthropology of a Lapsed Fan
Joss Whedon has not only created great shows; he caused fans to reach out to other fans to share their mutual enthusiasm for shows and for specific characters within shows. Here Lily Rothman writes of her involvement with others who came together thanks to Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Whedon and Company: Worlds Await
The formal creation of Buffy Studies -- and therefore Whedon Studies -- was born with the creation of the online journal Slayage 10 years ago. Here the coeditor of Slayage, Rhonda V. Wilcox, offers some reflections on our obsessions with the output of a certain TV creator.
Can’t Stop the Serenity: Taking Fan Activism to the Next Level
A member of Whedonites United, a Tennessee group associated with the Can't Stop the Serenity movement, explains how a group of fans of Joss Whedon and the film Serenity takes fan activism to a new level by actively trying to make the world a more humane and just place.
Thursday, April 14 2011
Six Reasons Why Joss Whedon Is the Perfect Director for ‘The Avengers’
It was announced last year that Joss Whedon would direct the most ambitious superhero movie ever, teaming Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye all in one enormous film. Matthew Hurd thinks Whedon was the perfect choice.
Wednesday, April 13 2011
Joss Whedon: Pioneer of the Body Count
Among Joss Whedon's greatest contributions to television has been the continual use of the Body Count, the willingness to kill off recurring characters in order to ratchet up the narrative tension and create a sense of danger.
Tuesday, April 12 2011
The Power of Fandom in the Whedonverse
While viewers watch television and film for entertainment, it's easy to forget that these media are industries. In this essay the changing relationships between creators, studios, distributors, and an increasingly active fandom are examined.
Monday, April 11 2011
The Dystopian Future in Joss Whedon’s Work
In contrast to the utopian vision of the future found in sci-fi series like Star Trek, Joss Whedon's creations show a different vision of the future. And it isn't pretty.
“It Will Change the Genre Forever”: An Interview with “The Walking Dead’s” Jeryl Prescott
"It seemed like an odd marriage: Frank Darabont and AMC ... and zombies." Jeryl Prescott talks about how her Southern roots prepared her for this story of zombie apocalypse in the South.
Friday, April 8 2011
The Big Bad Universe: Good and Evil According to Joss Whedon
Most of Joss Whedon's work has been characterized by Big Bads. But the lines separating Good and Evil are more complex than one might expect.
Thursday, April 7 2011
‘Buffy’ and ‘Dollhouse’: Visions of Female Empowerment and Disempowerment
While Buffy has been universally acclaimed as a great work of TV feminism, Dollhouse has been denounced as anti-feminist. But have the critics of Dollhouse been too quick to dismiss its feminist credentials?
Wednesday, April 6 2011
TV’s Grim Reaper: Why Joss Whedon Continually Kills the Characters We Love
Among Joss Whedon's greatest contributions to television has been the invention of the Body Count, the willingness to kill off recurring characters in order to ratchet up the narrative tension and create a sense of danger. This is the first of two essays examining Joss Whedon as a televisual mass murderer.
Tuesday, April 5 2011
Love Hurts, or, Why Buffy Couldn’t Find Love
Unlike most teen shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't constructed around romances. And while viewers followed her epic romances with vampires Angel and Spike, whether or not she would ever find true love was never really the point of the show.
