Pop DNA

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.

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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.

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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.

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It’s our Summer Theatre Grand Finale, AND the last episode of Season 3! What better way to end it than with the summer theatre favorite, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

From sources for the play, to its film adaptations and broader influence in media and literature (yes, including Twilight), Midsummer has had a big impact on pop culture. We also discuss our dream cast for a (hypothetical) new film adaptation (visit our Instagram for the full cast list), and, as is our tradition, reveal our results of the “which character are you” quiz!

(The first part of this episode is a discussion looking back on our summer episodes and season 3; if you’d like to get right into Midsummer, skip ahead about 12 minutes!)

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We just got back from Ren Faire and we're ready to talk about our favorite musical based on Arthurian legends! (Well, tied for favorite with Spamalot...)

We're talking about Camelot, the Lerner and Loewe 1960 musical, its 1967 film adaptation, and the novel it was adapted from, T. H. White's The Once and Future King. 

How did the culture and politics of the 1960s interact with this musical? 

How did earlier versions of the stories of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and the Knights of the Round Table influence the show, apart from White's novel? 

And did Walt Disney really invent prequels?

This was also a great opportunity to talk about how much we loved The Green Knight, and other adaptations, retellings, and echoes of Arthurian legends in current pop culture.

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#camelot #kingarthur #theonceandfutureking #thegreenknight #cursednetflix 

Toss a looney to your comedian! It's time for a deep dive into obscure Canadian comedy!

It's Erin’s birthday, and we thought what better way to celebrate than a Birthday Bonus Episode about obscure Canadian comedy! From Canadian sketch comedy, to the films of Christopher Guest, to the great Canadian TV comedies Slings & Arrows and Schitt's Creek, plus our favorite actors and comedians who hail from the North, we've got a lot to talk about, eh. 

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Why do Hollywood movies love giving female characters makeovers as a substitute for character development? Well, it may just have something to do with Pygmalion...

This week for Summer Theatre Program we discuss the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion and its musical adaptation, Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, as well as the Greek myth that inspired both. From the story’s deeply misogynistic roots, we wonder, is there a possibility for a positive, transformative retelling?

We also look at some of our favorite pieces of media that were strongly influenced or inspired by the play, like She’s All That, Love Don’t Cost A Thing, the musical Dogfight, and the tragically short-lived sitcom Selfie. (Don’t @ us, the title is terrible, but the show was so good!)

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We made a deal with a devil this week to talk about Christopher Marlowe's 1592 play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. The core premise of this play is so pervasive in current media and storytelling that there's even a name for it: a "Faustian Bargain."

Our discussion touches on the life of Marlowe himself and early theater productions of the play, its source material in Goethe and others' Faust tales, as well as the echoes and references to this monomythic story throughout literature and media. These echoes range from Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, to DC and Marvel comics, to children's media like Disney's The Little Mermaid and the Animaniacs, to current popular fiction like V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, to, of course, Star Wars.

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Next up for Summer Theatre Program is Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest!

We discuss the few productions of the play we've seen, and also why we think there aren't very many adaptations and retellings of this particular play, despite its relative popularity. 

Recent years have seen new interpretations of the play through the lenses of race, sexuality, and class, and we touch on the queer coding in the title and throughout the text, as well as how setting the story in different eras changes its meanings.

We also look at the gems Wilde gave to the world through this work, like the dad joke the entire play is built around, and the best friend to all who wish to avoid social engagements: Bunbury.

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Good Morrow and welcome to the Summer Theatre Program! We’re coming in hot with a discussion of the world’s favorite romantic tragedy, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

We break down some popular adaptations and retellings of the play, from the modern take with Leo and Claire Danes, to West Side Story, to Gnomeo and Juliet, to the YA fantasy novel These Violent Delights. 

Then we look at some of our favorite references to R&J in pop culture, like the episode of Gilmore Girls where Rory played Juliet, and the greatest song ever written, Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”

We also muse about which social media apps a modern Romeo and Juliet would use (Juliet = Tumblr; Romeo = Reddit).

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