Merry Christmas, everyone! or whatever holiday time you're taking for yourself. But today, we're talking about Christmas because we watched the Muppet Christmas Carol, the best adaptation of the Dickens novel according to Holly. We chat about adaptation, what makes a good one or a bad one, what's the difference between adaptation and re-imaginings, and the social pressures of Christmas time.

Fun Extra Readings

The Guardian - article on why Muppet Christmas Carol is the perfect festive film

The Conversation - how Muppet Christmas Carol became a cult classic

Empire Online - The Making of Muppet Christmas Carol

Penguin Books - How the Muppets made the most accurate Christmas Carol adaptation ever

Abby Cox - costumes in Muppet Christmas Carol

Andrew Siddle version of Scrooge

You're Dead to Me - episode on Dickens and Christmas

Our Socials

Vivian's Instagram

Holly's Instagram

The Pod's Instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Holly and Vivian finally talk about cosplay! Just kidding, we know we've accidentally talked about cosplay a lot throughout the season, but this time we mean to talk about cosplay the whole time. In this cosplay special, we wanted to focus on the role of cosplay competitions in the community, and also how this impacts both the actual and the perceived accessibility of cosplay. We chat about race, ableism, and beautiful trophies.

Check out Holly's beautiful Discworld Trophy!

Our Socials

Vivian's Instagram

Holly's Instagram

The Pod's Instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this slightly chaotic episode, Holly and Vivian chat about the Trigun reboot, and reboots more generally. We talk about how storytelling can change, how anime storytelling has changed, and how nostalgia plays on all of us.

Our Socials

Vivian's Instagram

Holly's Instagram

The Pod's Instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week of Fan of That Podcast, Vivian brings her arm. Yes,her arm! A few years ago, Vivian got a tattoo of the words from the One Ring around her arm. Holly also has some tattoos based on fandoms. So today, we talk about fan tattoos, what people think of them, and how they can demonstrate our identities, connections and what is so immensely meaningful.

Vivian's Lord of the Rings Tattoo

Holly's Star Wars Tattoo

Reading List

Mary Douglas - Natural Symbols

Our Socials

Vivian's Instagram

Holly's Instagram

The Pod's Instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Vivian wants to talk about pop music, and specifically Taylor Swift's newest album Midnights. To really get the full knowledge of what this album means to both Taylor Swift and - more importantly for our purposes - her fandom, Vivian hops into history corner to give a concise overview of the history of Taylor Swift's position in the spotlight and her ever changing view of herself. We talk about the complicated racial and political dimensions of the Kanye/Swift fights, this misogynistic view of her "list" of men, and the wonderful way a music fandom can have its own collective name. We also chat about the ever changing nature of Swift's songs, from autobiography, to fiction, to the blurring between the two.

Taylor Swift's Midnights Album Cover

Our Socials

Vivian's instagram

Holly's instagram

The Pod's instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Holly struggles to chat with fangs in their mouth because we're talking about vampires! More directly, we're chatting about Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, and the great fanfiction debacle of the early internet years. Strap in you youngin' listeners as Old Folks Vivian and Holly explain how the internet used to be with online chat rooms and the early days of fanfiction and fandom online. We talk about the actual notion of death of the author, and try to explore what ALLEGEDLY happened in the 90s and early 2000s.

Some fangs for cosplay

Reading List

Anne Rice Fanlore page with timeline of the ALLEGED events

Info on the nature of creator backlash

Our Socials

Vivian's instagram

Holly's instagram

The Pod's instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Holly brings their copy of Shakespeare's Histories as an entryway for us to talk about the history of Shakespeare. Get it? In history corner, Holly talks about what the Shakespeare Jubilee was, how it worked, and what it did for the history of fan conventions. We talk about conventions and how amazing they are, as well as how fan conventions function as spaces of imagination. And of course we get a little nerdy about Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and celebrity gravesites.

Holly's copy of Shakespeare's Histories

Reading List

Overview of the Shakespeare Jubilee

Shakespeare Jubilee Day One

Shakespeare Jubilee Day Two

Places of Imagination - Stijn Reijnders

Imagined Communities - Benedict Anderson

Our Socials

Vivian's instagram

Holly's instagram

The Pod's instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Vivian brings her handknitted Lord of the Rings scarf - a double knitted scarf with the One Ring rhyme and the Tree of Gondor. Vivian learned to knit in high school, and always enjoys making something related to her lovely fandoms. So we talk about it! We chat about communities of creativity, and the powerful bonds formed when you meet people who love making and your media choices, and how the process of creating draws a close relationship between the creator and the media.

A Pic of Vivian's Scarf

A Pic of Vivian's Bastion Cross Stitching

Reading List

The Practice of Everyday Life - Michel de Certeau

Our Socials

Vivian's instagram

Holly's instagram

The Pod's instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of I'm a Fan of That, Vivian brings a fringed eye mask worn by country singer Orville Peck. We talk about the masked country singer, and the power of that amazing fringed mask. Holly brings their love of folk music, and Vivian brings her obsession with Orville Peck, to talk about the way he tells his stories in such a way that it becomes tied intimately with the LGBT Community. An out-country singer and self-proclaimed gay cowboy, Orville Peck's music, and more importantly his mask, has come to represent the experiences of the gay community.

Orville Peck and His Lovely Mask

Reading List

A. David Napier - Masks, Transformation and Paradox

Daytona Sand by Orville Peck

Our Socials

Vivian's instagram

Holly's instagram

The Pod's instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Holly brings their Arc Reactor to the party, and a detailed conversation about the history of the growth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We also talk about the relationship grown with Disney and the formulaic nature of super hero films and stories. And Vivian teaches Holly the idea of the "Nigella Effect".

Pic of an Arc Reactor

(Holly accidently misplaced theirs)

Reading List

CNet article on the history of the MCU

"Myth Sells: Mattel’s Commission of The Masters of the Universe Bible" by Joseph Laycock

Henry Jenkins explains transmedia storytelling

Our Socials

Vivian's instagram

Holly's instagram

Music for this episode was Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLead Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This episode was produced by Vivian Asimos and Holly Swinyard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.