Pop Culture Maniacs Podcast #16: Film, TV, and Politics

Fan Control: Why Giving Into Fandom Outrage is Bad for Hollywood

On Thursday, March 18, HBOMax (and by extension, Warner Brothers) released the “Snyder Cut” – writer-director Zack Snyder’s recut version of Warner Brother’s 2017 disappointment Justice League, the culmination of a years-long campaign by a very vocal segment of the internet who hated the original version of the film and demanded that the studio allow […]

Things Get Better?: LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2022

In January 2022, I wrote that there was a possibility that in 2022 things would “get better” in terms of LGBTQ representation, with new fandoms developing from shows which take risks by telling diverse stories. Although 2022, in some regards, more than lived up to this possibility and went beyond, there were challenges. In the […]

Netflix: The King of the College Sports Documentary Series

Over the weekend, social media blew up with post after post lauding the new Netflix docu-drama Cheer. Before long, the Navarro Bulldogs’ coach Monica Aldamo was being favorably compared to both Coach and Tammy Taylor from Friday Night Lights (and yes, she is the perfect amalgamation of the two), people were comparing Gabi Butler’s parents to Kris […]