New month means new series! For all of November we're breaking down the Pop DNA of Knives Out. 

This week we propose several possible titles for the sequel (that's hopefully coming next year!), plus talk about our hopes and predictions for said sequel, our favorite characters and performances in the first film, and how this movie played with the tropes and expectations of the mystery genre while giving us some great storytelling and social commentary.

This is our first official video episode, and it's available on our YouTube channel! Note: we are still learning the ropes with video. We'll keep improving, but let us know what you think or what you'd like to see!

Everything we know about the Knives Out sequel is from this article. And this article gives some great background on the making of Knives Out.

We are on Twitter (though we don't post much there, tbh) and on Instagram, where we post supplementary content and recommend books every Saturday!

Happy Spooky Season, friends! This special Halloween bonus episode is all about fairies, scaries, and the frightening mythical figures found in folklore all over the world--from Baba Yaga, to the Luz Mala of Argentina, to the Turkish vampires known as the Mhachkay.

We also pretend to be Aaron Mehnke for a bit, dig into the dark history of the lore surrounding fairies, and explore the common themes in many of these stories that often center on women’s power and agency as something to be feared.

Follow us on social media and have a Happy Halloween!

To wrap up our discussion we brought in the YA experts, Amanda and Claire of Fictional Hangover Podcast, to talk all about the Shadow and Bone book series!

We cover the good, the bad, and the ugly, and come to a consensus that Alina definitely should have just joined the Darkling in book one. 

We also, as is our tradition, discuss our results of the “Which Character Are You?” quiz, and we roped our guests into taking it, too!

Find Fictional Hangover anywhere you get your podcasts (like, wherever you’re reading this right now!), on social media, and on their website.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and watch a video of this episode on our YouTube channel!

This week we look at the Ravkan religion, or Worship of the Saints, in Shadow and Bone, and how this belief system and Leigh Bardugo’s own Jewish background inform the world of the Grishaverse. 

We also draw comparisons from Alina’s relationships with both Mal and the Darkling to similar character pairings in other media works--and Rhonda finally states once and for all where she stands on Reylo.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we talk about!

What do you call a fantasy country that is inspired by 19th century Russia, but is NOT 19th century Russia?

In part 2 of our Shadow and Bone discussion we look at how Leigh Bardugo drew from Russian culture and history to create the world of Ravka, the folklore and fairytales we see woven throughout the Grishaverse, and how these influences helped shape the TV series.

We also explore Alina and Mal’s experiences as children of war through parallels with works with similar character archetypes and themes, such as Attack on Titan, The Hunger Games, and the novel She Who Became the Sun.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we talk about!

Join us as we enter the Shadow Fold and dive into the Netflix series, and book series it’s based on, Shadow and Bone!

Part one of our discussion looks at the world Leigh Bardugo has created with the Grishaverse, from her approach to world building (and how it compares to other fantasy authors’ approaches), to her inspirations, to the fascinating magic system of The Small Science. 

Rhonda misquotes Arthur C. Clarke and Erin admirably restrains herself from getting nerdy about the Grishaverse monsters known as the Volcra, so we’re very on-brand here.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we talk about!

We’re wrapping up our Downton Abbey series with a look at how the show has influenced and interacted with other popular media and pop culture!

Our discussion meanders around Downton’s contribution to the surge in popularity of historical drama TV shows, to its place in the lexicon of class commentary media such as films like Parasite and Us, to the many references, spoofs, and comedy sketches the show has inspired. Listen closely and you might hear a familiar voice in one of those sketches…

We also, as is our tradition, took a “Which Character Are You?” quiz to put a cap on this series, and you’ll never guess who we got!

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we talk about!

This week in our Downton Abbey series we are getting on our gender and class soap boxes, so buckle up!

We see Mary, Anna, Sybil, Daisy, and the other women of Downton navigating the changing roles of women in English society, but what would these roles have looked like for real women of the time?

We also look at one the largest media influences on Downton Abbey--the 1970s ITV series Upstairs, Downstairs--and how these two shows’ handling of social class reflects the respective times in which they were made.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we talk about!

Downton Abbey takes place in the 1910s and 1920s, a time of great societal and cultural changes that had been in the making for decades. 

This week we are having some real fun and talking about the decline of the British Empire! From the Industrial Revolution, to changes in class structure, to political upheaval such as the Irish Independence movement, and eventually the loss of colonial power during and as a direct effect of the First World War, these were some super cool times for everyone!

We look at how the Irish Rebellion directly impacts the story and characters on Downton Abbey, and how the show has a tendency to gloss over economic and class issues that would have had a direct impact on the Crawleys and their servants. It is possibly the most historical we’ve ever gotten on the podcast.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we talk about!

We’re kicking off Season 4 with a dissection of everyone’s mom’s favorite TV show, and Donna Meagle’s favorite book, Downton Abbey.

The series gave us fictionalized accounts of two vastly influential cultural phenomena: the “Bright Young Things” of the 1920s, as embodied by Rose; and the late-19th century “Buccaneers” of the titular Edith Wharton novel, exemplified in Cora. 

Our exploration of these two groups meanders into discussions of how Rory Gilmore would have felt right at home at the parties and dances of the 1920s social elite, to how the lagging profitability of English agriculture led directly to the birth of Winston Churchill.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!