Superhero Ethics

We're going way back to the summer of '75, when the biggest concern was being eaten by a shark at the beach! We talk about the ethical questions this movie raised, along with the crazy story of how it got made, with myself, Ashley Coffin, and two special guests who have a life long interest (obsession) with this movie and its story, Mark Garkusha and Steve French.

When not lending his voice to various commercial products or dubbing international reality shows, Mark Garkusha writes, produces, and acts in his actual play Dungeons & Dragons show, The Cast Die Podcast.

Steve Steve French is a voice actor, currently heard as the promo voice of THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, on national commercials for Toyota, and as the host of the UNSOLVED MYSTERIES podcast.

With a new Batman movie coming out, we're looking back at earlier portrayals of the Caped Crusader. With each movie we're looking at every aspect, talking about how this version addresses the ethical issues at the heart of Batman and asking of each portrayal- is this my Batman?

In this first episode, Paul Hoppe and I dive into the first Tim Burton/Michael Keaton Batman movie, Batman 89!

Why has Betty White, and the Golden Girls TV show taken on such an important place in our hearts? What did she, and this show, have to say about issues of racism, sexism, ageism, animal rights, and sexuality, in the 80's and today? And what is more of a superpower than surviving in Miami on a (substitute!) teacher's salary? With Paul Hoppe

Here are the articles I mentioned during the podcast:

Betty White on "The Golden Girls" taught me queer self-acceptance
By Savannah Sipple
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/03/betty-golden-girls-lgbtq-rose/

A Deep Dive into the Queerness of “The Golden Girls”
By Dr. Dr. Thomas J. West III
https://medium.com/queens-of-the-bs/a-deep-dive-into-the-queerness-of-the-golden-girls-5dceb363fd60

We're wrapping up our coverage of The Witcher, Season 2, with our discussion of episodes 7-8. With Ashley Coffin and Paul Hoppe.

Paul, Ashley, and Matthew team up to talk about The Witcher, Season 2! In this episode we cover episodes 5-6 of the second season.

Let's talk Disney, and light happy topics like family and generational trauma! Why do so many of us find the mental health struggles of one or more of these characters so relatable?

We're talking about Encanto with licensed therapist and Disney super-fan, Saron Bryan.

Saron is a therapist in Athens, Georgia who primarily serves queer, polyamorous, and kinky clients. She also enjoys taking way too long to finish reading the Wheel of Time series and questing to find the most ridiculous and gaudy earrings imaginable.

This is the article we reference, that explores why the Columbian context of this movie is so important to understanding it. https://www.polygon.com/22851932/encanto-disney-latine-colombia-in-movies

To hear more of Saron, check out her podcast- https://player.fm/series/tldr-podcast-2367090

Paul and I are talking about some of the content from 2021 that we didn't get a chance to cover, along with talking about 2021 overall. Below is a list of the content we talk about, and the times when we do each one, so you can skip the ones you don't want to be spoiled on.

Squid Game 20:05 - 29:47

Harder They Fall 29:47 - 36:51

Kenshin (though no real spoilers 36:51 - 46:13

Kim’s Convenience - 46:13 - 1:10:07


Shitt’s Creek - 1:10:07 - 1:17:27

Rapid fire! 1:17:27 - end
We talked about a number of different shows/movies for about 60-90 seconds each. The list was:

Judas & The Black Messiah
Ciao, Alberto
The Chicago 7
Narcos: Mexico
Casa de Papel
Master of None

Spiderman No Way Home is out, and it just so happens that it raises an ethical question or two! Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell from the The Most Excellent 80's Movies Podcast join me for the first of what will be a couple of different ethics episodes about this movie- there is just that much to talk about!

But remember the most important ethical issue- no posting spoilers! We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, but if you post on our social media, please nest your posts/comments.

The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast is the podcast where a filmmaker, a comedian and a plethora of hilarious guests make their way through the 80s
movies we think they love or might have missed with modern eyes. The filmmaker is Nathan Blackwell of Squishy Studios. His award winning projects include Voyage Trekkers, Star Saga and the upcoming Last Movie Ever Made. The comedian is Krissy Lenz, Director of the Neighborhood Comedy Theatre in Downtown Mesa AZ! You can catch her onstage every weekend if you are in the East Valley of the Greater Phoenix Area... or just listen to the podcast if you are literally anywhere else on the planet: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/most-excellent-80s-movies-podcast/id1335473596

Paul, Ashley, and Matthew team up to talk about The Witcher, Season 2! In this episode we cover episodes 3-4 of the second season.

Paul, Ashley, and Matthew team up to talk about The Witcher, Season 2! In this episode we cover episodes 1-2 of the second season. We'll have 3 more episodes coming soon, covering the rest of the season.