Pop DNA

Once again we are sad to say goodbye to a discussion topic, and this time it feels especially poignant.

This week we look at how The Good Place explores our final state of existence in the context of religious, especially Catholic and Protestant Christian, ideas of the After Life. We also talk about one of our favorite books, A Wrinkle in Time, and the parallels we see between the book and the fantastical journey taken by the characters on The Good Place.

Join us next week for the premiere of The Summer Theatre Program! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!

Why are AI assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Janet ("Not a girl, not a robot") from The Good Place, almost always coded as female? And what affect does this have on real gender biases? 

How does The Good Place further explore and comment on the toxic aspects of American society and culture? 

We attempt to answer these questions and more in part 3 of our discussion of The Good Place.

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

Why are AI assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Janet ("Not a girl, not a robot") from The Good Place, almost always coded as female? And what affect does this have on real gender biases? 

How does The Good Place further explore and comment on the toxic aspects of American society and culture? 

We attempt to answer these questions and more in part 3 of our discussion of The Good Place.

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

The Good Place was incredibly deft at taking complex ethical and philosophical questions and making them accessible for a general audience, and it often did this through evoking that tried-and-true TV metaphor for when the characters are learning a life lesson: the college campus.

This week we look at several other TV shows that used the college 101 course trope to explore deeper questions, like Community, Greek, and Boy Meets World. We also dig in to that mainstay of ethics discussions in pop culture: The Trolley Problem!

Follow us on social media and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!

The Good Place was incredibly deft at taking complex ethical and philosophical questions and making them accessible for a general audience, and it often did this through evoking that tried-and-true TV metaphor for when the characters are learning a life lesson: the college campus.

This week we look at several other TV shows that used the college 101 course trope to explore deeper questions, like Community, Greek, and Boy Meets World. We also dig in to that mainstay of ethics discussions in pop culture: The Trolley Problem!

Follow us on social media and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!

We love Schur shows here at Pop DNA, and The Good Place is possibly the Schur-iest of all. 

For part 1 of this discussion, we look at how The Good Place fits in with Michael Schur's other work, namely The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Brooklyn 99, focusing on how these shows explore the elements of found family, learning to care (or caring too much), and unique character dynamics. 

We attempt to match Parks and Rec characters with their The Good Place counterparts (Tahani is someone from Eagleton, obviously), speculate whether Ron Swanson is in The Good Place, and explore the idea of Leslie Knope and Eleanor Shellstrop as narrative foils (even though they're not in the same narrative).

Find us on social media and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!

We love Schur shows here at Pop DNA, and The Good Place is possibly the Schur-iest of all. 

For part 1 of this discussion, we look at how The Good Place fits in with Michael Schur's other work, namely The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Brooklyn 99, focusing on how these shows explore the elements of found family, learning to care (or caring too much), and unique character dynamics. 

We attempt to match Parks and Rec characters with their The Good Place counterparts (Tahani is someone from Eagleton, obviously), speculate whether Ron Swanson is in The Good Place, and explore the idea of Leslie Knope and Eleanor Shellstrop as narrative foils (even though they're not in the same narrative).

Find us on social media and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!

It's Rhonda's Birthday Bonus so we're talking about one of her favorite media franchises, the BMCU! In the British Monarchy Cinematic Universe Tony Blair looks exactly like Michael Sheen.

We're geeking out over movies and TV shows about British royals, from The Favourite, to The Crown, to the Lifetime original Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance. We also discuss the current state of the British Monarchy from our expert opinions (Oprah should be the Queen), and the various lights in which the BMCU has portrayed generations of the royal family. And because BuzzFeed has a quiz for everything, we also reveal which British monarchs we are. 

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

It's Rhonda's Birthday Bonus so we're talking about one of her favorite media franchises, the BMCU! In the British Monarchy Cinematic Universe Tony Blair looks exactly like Michael Sheen.

We're geeking out over movies and TV shows about British royals, from The Favourite, to The Crown, to the Lifetime original Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance. We also discuss the current state of the British Monarchy from our expert opinions (Oprah should be the Queen), and the various lights in which the BMCU has portrayed generations of the royal family. And because BuzzFeed has a quiz for everything, we also reveal which British monarchs we are. 

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

We're wrapping up this topic and a little sad about it! This week we take a look at three different lenses through which we can view the story, characters, and messages in WandaVision: the unreliable narrator; the psychology of grief; and the Male vs. Female Gazes

Join us next week for Rhonda's Birthday Bonus! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and visit ThePopDNA.blog for links to everything we discuss!