Pop DNA

Is Sex and the City a feminist text?

That's the question we sort of attempt to answer in this episode, but ultimately we find it more interesting to talk about Sabrina Carpenter's 2025 album Man's Best Friend and the 2009 romcom film He's Just Not That Into You starring Ginnifer Goodwin.

Our rambles meander through discussions of how male characters are written on SATC, and how the show explores the assumed gender bi...

Heads' up that we had several forms of technical difficulties with recording this episode, so apologies in advance for any subpar sound quality!

Are we ever ready to talk about Sex and the City? Unclear, but we're going to.

In part 1 of our SATC series, we discuss some general thoughts on the HBO show, its origins, and its cultural impact. We also talk about our first experiences with the series before giving a preview of th...

Welcome to our slightly unhinged summer series, Millennial Falcon!

This three-part series is all about the fandoms we've never felt like we were truly a part of until the past few years, our Millennial Falcons, if you will. For Rhonda, that's romance novels, and for Erin it's Star Wars.

In our introductory episode, we discuss our histories with our respective Millennial Falcons, why we feel it took us so long to engage wi...

In the finale of our The Office series and of our regular season, we look at the show's ties to popular media that came both before and after.

Erin did a deep dive into the history of the mockumentary, and you won't believe what the first one was!

We also discuss some well-known mockumentary films, like This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show, and works that use mockumentary elements, such as When Harry Met Sally and Arrested Dev...

In part four of our discussion of The Office, we dive in to the various romance storylines the show featured, and how we feel about them!

From the classic sitcom "will-they-or-won't-they" tension between Jim and Pam, to Michael and Holly's second chance romance, to the hilariously toxic relationship between Kelly and Ryan, there's a little something for everyone. (Erin's personal favorite is, of course, Dwa...

“Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked. But it's not like this compulsive need to be liked, like my need to be praised.”

–Michael Scott

Likeability plays a huge role in how characters on The Office relate to one another, and how we as the audience perceive them. Discuss!

This episode also features our second Finer Things Club meeting, in which we talk about the nove...

Despite its undercurrent of warmth and optimism, The Office (US) went to some pretty dystopian places in its explorations of the workplace--which were really just reflections of the boring dystopia of our reality.

In this episode, we look at how The Office fits within the context of Workplace Dystopian media, works such as Superstore, Office Space, Sorry to Bother You, and Silicon Valley. We also place The Office head-to-head with t...

If you've ever listened to us trade The Office references on the pod and thought, "why don't they just talk about The Office already?" this new series is for you!

In your orientation packet, you'll find an overview of our thoughts on the American series in comparison with the original British version, and a quiz to discover which characters we are. We also go over a preview of the topics we plan to discuss in the coming episodes, in...

Our yearly tradition of discussing our favorite movies and TV, plus a little music and books, is back!

We had every intention of talking about Wickiator/Glicked, but there's really no story there. There's Wicked, which we talked about for far longer than we intended because we had so many thoughts, and then there's Gladiator, which... was a movie.

We also talked about some common themes we noticed in the media we were drawn to in t...

Check your Christmas ornaments, there might be important documents inside! Please enjoy this regifted episode from 2019 about the Netflix Christmas Cinematic Universe, specifically A Christmas Prince.

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:

Honestly, this episode was a long time coming. A Christmas Prince is rich in cultural influences, from the lives and loves of historical real-life royals, to classic fairy tales, to... investigative journalism, ...

We have another regifted episode for you this week! We couldn't choose between our two Narnia episodes, so we're regifting both!

This episode from December of 2022 touches on gender and violence, and how children experience fear and danger in fantasy worlds, all themes we explored in our A Song of Ice and Fire discussions. This one is perfect for if you want to dive a little deeper into another perspective on those ideas.

We have o...

Happy December! We are taking a much-needed break to enjoy the holiday season, but thought we'd take the opportunity to revisit some of our previous episodes this month. It's Regifting Time!

This episode from our Chronicles of Narnia series in December of 2022 explores the topics of magic, magic systems, and prophecy in fantasy fiction and Narnia's relationship with other fantasy classics. It's a perfect coda for some of our A Song...

Why do so many fantasy stories center on the protagonist fulfilling a "Chosen One" prophecy?

We don't really answer that this week, but we do talk about the undercurrent of prophecy in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, the "Song of Ice and Fire" that this universe is named for. We also look briefly at how specifically Chosen One prophecies are present in many of our favorite fantasy works, and how prophecy is often tied to ...

In Westeros, when you're here, you're family.

Oh, wait, that's The Olive Garden.

But we're talking about families this week, and, like most things in Westeros, being part of a family is generally not a great time for anyone in this world. Certainly not as fun as having dinner at The Olive Garden.

We look specifically at the Targaryen family and some possible historical inspirations for this mythical dynasty. The blonde dragon peop...

He's just Jon and he's enough! (Jonough?)

This week we're talking about men in Westeros, exploring how masculinity is constructed in the world of Game of Thrones. Questions we discuss include:

• How do medieval European ideals of masculinity inform this world's gender expectations?
• What is the relationship between violence and masculinity, or perceived masculinity?
• How do family systems and relationships perpetuate masculine...

In part two of our series discussing Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, we look at how women navigate the world of Westeros.

Questions we explore include:

• How do women gain, lose, and use power in this world?

• How does power relate to femininity?

• How are the expected gender roles of Westerosi society shaped by the realities of the world?

Characters we discuss include Cersei Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Cate...

Welcome back!

We're riding our dragons to King's Landing for a six-part series on A Song of Ice and Fire and all its connected works, including the TV series Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

This week, we're just getting our feet wet with a look at our first introductions to George R. R. Martin's work, our thoughts on the main ideas of the series, and an overview of Martin's cited influences, including ...

We wrap up our summer book-to-screen club series with the science fiction classic that inadvertently sparked a thousand sandworm popcorn bucket memes.

Our discussion topics include Dune's influence on and connections to other staples of the science fiction and fantasy genres such as Star Wars, Wheel of Time, and A Song of Ice and Fire; how the recent Villeneuve films interpret certain aspects of the story and characters; a...

Continuing our discussions of classic American novels, this week we read Alice Walker's The Color Purple!

We talk about how the novel explores girlhood and relationships between women, the Black experience in the early 20th century, and finding the joy in life even through darkness. We also look at the 1985 and 2023 films and the stage musical, and how these adaptations interpreted the themes and characters from the book.

Segm...