Special Topics in Media

We interrupt this 2025 Summer Movie Season programming with a report from the FUTURE! Or, at least the present. Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another has arrived in theaters to immense pre-release critical acclaim. But will that film buzz translate to a wide audience reception? 

Host Garret Castleberry provides an armchair rhetorician response to screening PTA's latest masterwork on its opening day in cinemas. 

Summer is a time to celebrate a great many things, and we are seasonally framing our favorite "cool down" treats for a hot sunny day at the movies . Host Garret Castleberry grabs his wallet, swipes his card, and collects enough goodies to count down a "Top 5 Summer Movie Snacks". It's a Top 5 Countdown to get the mouth watering.

Email us your rainy day theater visits at specialtopicsinmedia@gmail.com, or tag...

We're BACK! After a minor hiatus to update the power converters and reset the flux capacitor (movie logic excuses only), the 2025 Summer Movie Season resumes with an enriched look into the month of June. Host Garret Castleberry is joined by Kyle Hammonds to discuss key releases in June, a month full of genre surprises. 

Listen to hear which mainstream movies had their ticket stubs torn, and reach out to connect and let us know ...

It's a mid-season interlude ripe with nostalgia! Helping transition from early to mid-summer focus, Special Topics in Media offers a "2025 Summer Movie Season" side story. Host Garret Castleberry sits down with scholarly cinephile Kyle Hammonds to unpack the phenomenon of retro film screenings. The duo examine a partial sample of recent rewatches while theorizing about how the phenomenon aids versus ails the in-flux ...

It's an early fall celebration! The rainy season arrived unexpectedly this August, and to commemorate the cool down, Special Topics in Media offers a "2025 Summer Movie Season" reprieve. Host Garret Castleberry dims the lights, curls up with a remote mic, and let's the thunder roll while recollecting a "Top 5 Rainy Day Movie Theater Drop-Ins". It's a Top 5 Countdown to help listeners stay dry. 

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The Special Topics in Media event "2025 Summer Movie Season" expands with a deep dive into the major releases of May! Kyle Hammonds joins host Garret Castleberry to assess the technical start to summer. The rhetorical reviewers chart their May moviegoing, and make the ultimate case for what went horribly wrong with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.


Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Kyle Hammonds

P...

In this early interlude within our Special Topics in Media "2025 Summer Movie Season", host Garret Castleberry accesses sentimental bias to recall his "Top 5 First-Run Summertime In-Theater Heart-Pounding Experiences". It's a Top 5 Countdown to help listeners cool off during the dog days of summer.

Hosts: Garret Castleberry

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), All...

The extended "2025 Summer Movie Season" wrap-up conversation starts here! Host Garret Castleberry is joined by media scholar Kyle Hammonds to list, rate, and respond to the films that ushered in the summer movie season back in April.


Hosts: Garret Castleberry

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

Recommended Screenings (Garret): ...

As we get set to premiere our "2025 Summer Movie Season", host Garret Castleberry ushers in a secondary moviegoing conversation that strikes at the heart of memories, movies, and personal preferences. It's a Top 5 Brainstorm to coincide with the dog days of summer. 

Hosts: Garret Castleberry

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)<...

The cinema harvest is nearly here! Tune in to our "2025 Summer Movie Season" preview event. Host Garret Castleberry and Kyle Hammonds dart under the velvet rope, cut through the concession lines, and sneak into their local theaters to dive in and dissect which movies are making waves in summer 2025.


Hosts: Garret Castleberry

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner ...

This week we wind down our "Talking Mass Communication Perspectives" season of Special Topics in Media. Garret Castleberry and Season 13 guest host Annabeth Fehrle reflect on how technologies challenge traditional educational systems, spring-boarding conversation out of Brian Gilchrist's essay, "The Smartphone as Permanent Substitute Teacher," which is featured in the academic anthology Communication Theory...

Welcome to the "Talking Mass Communication Perspectives" season of Special Topics in Media. Once again Garret Castleberry is joined by Season 13 guest host Annabeth Fehrle  to discuss Multistep Flow Theory and how it functions as a part of #Hashtag Advertising strategies.

Reading Reference: Andrew Sharma & Chrys Egan. "Hashtag Television Advertising--The Multistep Flow of Millennial TV Usage, Commercial Viewings, ...

Welcome to the "Talking Mass Communication Perspectives" season of Special Topics in Media. This week Garret Castleberry and Season 13 guest cohost Annabeth Fehrle  discuss Muted Group Theory and how it can be interpreted within the narrative framework of a trio of Disney-Pixar animated feature films: Brave (2012), WALL-E (2008) and The Incredibles (2004). 

Reading Reference: Bruce W. Finklea & Sally Bennett Hardig. &q...

In this summer interlude, host Garret Castleberry looks back at the past year's programming themes, while setting the stage for ongoing programming to come. 

Host: Garret Castleberry

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

Ways to Connect with us online:
Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics.

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Welcome to the "Talking Mass Communication Perspectives" season of Special Topics in Media. This week host Garret Castleberry is joined by Annabeth Fehrle to discuss Fantasy Theme Analysis and how it applies to two politically oriented TV programs, ABC's Scandal (2013-2018) and NBC's Parks & Recreation (2009-2015). 

Reading Reference: Fogle, Krystal. "Knope vs. Pope: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Scandal v...

Welcome to the "Talking Mass Communication Perspectives" season on Special Topics in Media. This week we tackle Disney, Hegemony, and the role that Critical Theory plays in shaping our views of the world. 

Reading Reference: Applequist, Janelle. ""Let it go, let it go"--Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in Disney's Frozen". In Communication Theory and Millennial Popular Culture: Essays and Applica...

A New Season begins! 

What is on deck? Who is covering it? And why should you listen!

Reading Reference: Roberts, Kathleen Glenister (Editor). Communication Theory and Millennial Popular Culture: Essays and Applications. New York: Peter Lang, 2016. 

Host: Garret Castleberry, Annabeth Fehrle

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

Ways to Connect with us ...

Closing out our Internship Interview Series, host Garret Castleberry visits with graduating senior and MACU's Men's Baseball pitcher Jacob Mallozzi, a student athlete blurring the lines between reporter and player. Jacob talks about his Texas roots and how this background provided the basis for his journeyman shifts in degree focus and professional outlook. 

This May, Special Topics in Media is proud to recognize college s...

Winding down this month's Internship Interview Series, host Garret Castleberry visits with junior Kaetlen Schier, a student athlete "thriving in the chaos" of work-life balance. Kaetlen talks about the value available when students seek internships that align with areas of passion and/or study;; in this instance interning with a men's semi-pro volleyball organization as the club's social media coordinator.

T...