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, Dwangela.)

Our exploration veers into a series of hot takes on romance novel tropes like enemies to lovers, mutual pining, and love triangles, and you know how Rhonda feels about love triangles (she thinks they're good, actually).

We also look at how the romances on The Office compare to love stories in other sitcoms, like New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Abbott Elementary, and Friends.

And this episode features our Finer Things Club discussion of the book Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

Our next episode is our last planned installment of our Office discussion, so be sure not to miss it! Follow us on Instagram, but don't expect too much.

“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 novel The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and Rhonda learns how effective her SEO was in her blog post about it.

Further Reading:

Isabel Allende's interview with the LA Times

The science behind our need to be liked from American Psychological Association

How wanting to be liked gets you rejected from Psychology Today

Rhonda's blog post about all the books mentioned on The Office

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 the most popular workplace dystopia on TV right now, Severance.

Our discussion delves into how corporate companies like Dunder Mifflin and Lumon, and those in other workplace dystopian media, use tactics like Diversity Day or "waffle parties" to present a veneer of benevolence to distract workers from how terrible their jobs actually are.

But, you know, in a fun way.

We also introduce our new segment for this series: The Finer Things Club! We discuss E. M. Forster's novel A Room with a View. It's very exclusive.

Further Reading:

Corporate Erin on TikTok

Defining a Boring Dystopia

Comparing the workplaces in The Office and Severance

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, including, but not limited to:

• Race, gender, class, and the dystopia of capitalism in The Office, but, like, in a fun way
• The Office in the context of other workplace media such as Office Space, Superstore, and Sorry to Bother You
• The show's examination of success, achievement, and happiness as defined by individual characters
• Romantic relationships over the course of The Office's nine seasons, and how they compare to romances in other sitcoms
• The Office's afterlife in pop culture

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 the past year, plus a few pieces that were just a little disappointing.

Things we loved but didn’t have time to talk about because we spent so long talking about Wicked:

Next time we will finally wrap up our A Song of Ice and Fire series, and beginning in February we'll have a shiny new mystery topic to discuss!

Follow us on Instagram!

Read Rhonda's Lisa Frankenstein essay!

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, I guess?

We also discuss other vitally important topics, like the dystopian alternate universe in which the movies take place and the cultural relevance of Volvos. (Volvo is not a sponsor of Pop DNA.)

Our commentary for Netflix's The Knight Before Christmas is free on our Patreon page! Patreon.com/popdna Happy Holidays!

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 one more regifted episode for you, so look for that on Christmas Day! (Or listen to it the day after, we don't care.) And join us in January for our Best of 2024 Bonus!

Follow on Instagram for very infrequent supplementary content, memes and cat pics.

As we wrap up our final Narnia episode we're asking the big questions: Was C. S. Lewis sexist? Or can we draw any feminist or female-empowerment messages from his work? What does feminism even look like in the context of a fantasy world where children go into battle with talking animals?

We also look specifically at The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a World War 2 story, exploring the story an as allegory for what was happening in the "real" world at the time it takes place.

And of course we took a quiz to find out which Pevensie kids we are, and you can take it ⁠here⁠.

Check out ⁠The Feminine Ethos in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia⁠ by Monika Hilder.

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 of Ice and Fire discussions.

Join us the rest of December for more regifted episodes, and come back in January for our Best of 2024 Bonus!

Find us on Instagram for memes and sporadic updates.

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:

This week on our Narnia journey we are diving in to all things magic. We discuss the differences between hard and soft magic systems, how magic is expressed in the world of Narnia, and how it compares to the magic in other fictional worlds. We also look at Narnia as a touchstone of fantasy fiction, its relationship with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and its influence on modern fantasy works like Star Wars and Lev Grossman's book series The Magicians.

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 religion, and we explore some of the major religions of Westeros.

We also open with our favorite segment, Wig Watch! Go to our Instagram to see the wigs we talk about.

Further Reading:

Major Religions explained

George R. R. Martin interview

Context for the prophecy in House of the Dragon

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 people share some interesting similarities with the Egyptian Pharoahs and the Ptolemeic dynasty, as well as the infamously inbred Habsburgs. Just how inbred were the Habsburgs? Surprisingly, not as much as the Targaryens, and we have a geneticist's Tweet to prove it.

Then we look at families on more of relational level, discussing the psychology concept of attachment theory as it relates to our favorite Westerosi families. Does anyone in this world have a secure attachment style? You are probably not surprised to hear that the answer is no.

We also of course have another installment of Wig Watch for you (see the wigs discussed on our Instagram), and we've got some recommendations in What Are We Watchin'.

Join us next time to talk about politics and religion, yay!

Further Reading:

Historical connections to the Targaryens

Real royal families and House of the Dragon

How inbred is Daenerys Targaryen?

Attachment Theory explained

Remember that sweet 85-year-old food critic in North Dakota who wrote a positive review of the new The Olive Garden in her town?