Serious Fun

Serious Fun makes a triumphant return for a new season with the first part of the Countdown to Comic-Con event! With a plethora of new games, movies, and comics coming out this fall, Spider-Mania is alive and well - but what about Spider-Man makes him endure and why do we care about him as much as we do? CU-Boulder Media Studies professor J. Richard Stevens sits down with Bryan to talk about the character, his enduring faith in humanity, his origins as a borderline horror character, and why we love this spider-guy so much.

Music and other clips:

Michael Giacchino – Theme (from “Spider-Man”) [Original TV Series] – Spider-Man Homecoming

Danny Elfman – Main Title, Spider-Man (2002) Original Motion Picture Score

Audio from "Spider-Man" (2002), Dir. Sam Raimi, Sony Pictures

Serious Fun is proud to present another live panel show from UntitledTown 2018! This time around, Bryan moderates a panel on hybrid storytelling featuring "Bend in the River" creator BJ Hollars, and Appleton Storycatchers Tara Pohlkotte and Kathryn Gahl. They'll talk about their own work and how to go beyond prose and page to tell a great story - from podcasting to setting poetry to music and more.

Live from UntitledTown 2018, Bryan moderates a panel with "Imagine Wanting Only This" author & art director and New York Editor for "The Believer" magazine Kristen Radtke and Milwaukee-based comics artist, educator, and hip-hop MC Mistaloo Meff (creator of "Angry Kat: Zombie Protocol"). It's all about comics, from the mechanics of sequential art to breaking into the industry to representation and beyond!

The Serious Fun Women's History Month series concludes with a celebration of the unsung and underappreciated women in popular culture. Panelists Dr. Rebecca Nesvet, Dr. Kris Coulter, and Dr. Michelle McQuade Dewhirst cover female achievement in everything from screenwriting to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to sports bras and hair care products, discuss ways to promote and celebrate women's accomplishments, and even call out Paul McCartney along the way. (Recorded live at the Common Grounds Coffeehouse on UWGB's campus, April 5 2017.)

Our special Women's History Month series continues with a discussion of gender issues and body image in popular culture, recorded live at the Common Grounds Coffeehouse at UWGB. Panelists Dr. Jana Fogaca, Dr. Christine Smith, Alison Gates, and Kwynn Carter share their own experiences with body image and explore where our obsession with the "perfect" female body comes from - from classical art history to the Kardashians and beyond.

(NOTE: There are some sound issues for the first minute or so but it's better after that - apologies!)

Tired of convention panels on feminism and gender issues in media that are just dudes who look like Bryan? So is Serious Fun. As part of the celebration of Women's History Month, we're launching a three-part series about issues facing women in popular culture - all recorded live at the UWGB Common Grounds Coffeehouse with all-female panels. First up - the female action hero. Once a rarity, we're now seeing women take charge and punch faces more regularly in pop culture - but what does that mean for feminism and what does it mean to be an empowering character? Panelists Dr. Ioana Coman, Selena Deer, and Anna Katner talk about this issue from Wakanda to Wonder Woman and beyond.

In this Serious Fun, we dig into the cultural phenomenon that is Marvel Studios’ Black Panther. The movie has already made All Of The Money worldwide, but why is it resonating so strongly? What does it have to say about complex topics like the African diaspora, Black liberation, and the responsibility of a king and a country to its people and the world? And is Shuri a great character, or the greatest character? Bryan sits down with University of Oklahoma Journalism and Mass Communication professor Dr. Meta G. Carstarphen and UWGB Psychology Chair Ryan Martin for a wide-ranging discussion of all things Wakanda! (Note: this episode contains spoilers for the movie so get out and see it beforehand.)

Music and other clips:

Ludwig Göransson – “Wakanda”, Black Panther: Original Score

Ludwig Göransson – “United Nations/End Titles”, Black Panther: Original Score

Kendrick Lamar and SZA – “All the Stars”, Black Panther: The Album (Music From and Inspired By)

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Corporation - “Black Panther Teaser Trailer”

SHOW NOTES:

www.blackpantherchallenge.org for readings, lesson plans, and more.

https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/965598447595171842 - Imani Gandy’s tweet chain on Black Panther

Some of the editorials and think pieces mentioned:

TaLynn Kel – “An American Monster in Wakanda” http://talynnkel.com/blog/2018/2/16/an-american-monster-in-wakanda

Christopher Lebron – “Black Panther is Not the Movie We Deserve” http://bostonreview.net/race/christopher-lebron-black-panther#.Wom7odN6Y4Q.twitter

Benjamin Dixon – “The Most Important Moment in Black Panther No One Is Talking About” http://progressivearmy.com/2018/02/18/important-moment-black-panther/

Charles Pulliam-Moore – “Black Panther is Marvel’s First Shakespearean Epic” https://io9.gizmodo.com/black-panther-is-marvels-first-shakespearean-epic-1822779133

Leading experts agree: last year was the most 2017 of any year yet. At least the video games were good. Join Bryan and returning guest Steve Watts as they talk about the best and brightest the year had to offer in digital interactive entertainment in the first-ever live streamed episode of Serious Fun!

This week on Serious Fun – is there such a thing as ethical sports fandom? Or does the often exploitative nature of college and professional sports mean that we’re complicit in some of the very things to which we are often morally opposed? Bryan sits down with freelance journalist Jessica Luther, author of “Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape”, to discuss her work as well as topics ranging from the systemic problems inherent in college and other levels of athletics to the role the media play in perpetuating these problems to what we can do to challenge the status quo and make sports more inclusive.

This week, Bryan talks with UWGB Associate Provost and historian Clif Ganyard about pop culture's ongoing fascination with World War 2. Has using the conflict as a backdrop for comparatively simple popular culture in turn simplified our view of the war? How do games like Call of Duty and Wolfenstein and films like Inglourious Basterds turn the war into an abstract...and how might they be used to educate as well? All this plus a lengthy discussion of Captain America.