The Best and Worst of Fiction

This weeks episode is about The Magicians. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pYZmsvmkxNBA4PtK8owJEznUbfIew1omPPmwkJybjqw/edit

In the final episode of the podcast I discussed The Magicians. I talked about how the show was able to represent real world problems, such as depression, alcoholism, addiction and many more, in a fantasy setting, and how the show was able to display those issues so well, despite being a strange adult comedy fantasy hybrid.

Personally I feel like the execution of this episode is lacking, and not up to the standard of the other episodes. One of the problems I ran into when recording episodes of the podcast in general was that the level of stress I was in at the moment greatly affected the final outcome, which is something I hadn’t dealt with as much when creating written work. The composing process, specifically dealing with podcasts, got increasingly harder when I was faced with outside problems. When recording this specific episode I hadn’t slept in 22 hours and I feel like it shows in the final outcome.

Overall I feel like the student learning outcomes I utilized the most across all 6 episodes were critical reading, critical reflection, and of course the composing process.

This episode discusses es the Netflix original The Crown. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y9tt08MUOaS2ksYj-HhTZEc74RUrVLS8NbreXsS-izg/edit

In this episode I discussed the Netflix Original The Crown. This was a turn from my usual podcasts, because it's a historical drama, rather than a work of fantasy of science fiction, but since it's such an excellent show, and one had watched recently and would enjoy discussing and analysing, I decided to make an exception. I talked about how the show managed to recast an entire series and still manage to keep the quality of the show. I also enjoyed the unique way the show would sometimes leave historical events up to the viewers interpretation.

I feel like the student learning outcome that stands out to me when thinking back to the creation of this episode was critical reflection. In this episode I talked about aspects of the show that make the show enjoyable, but I took it a step further and analysed what I believed created those aspects, as well as analysing why they worked to make the show better.

This weeks podcast is about the Star Wars franchise. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qFa305NGS9W9IjS_IU8jaGgGVZDD62MTsYWPhXI8NDQ/edit

In this episode I discussed the Star Wars franchise. For this episode I wanted to go a slightly different route from the other podcasts I had done where I talked about the series as a whole, and I talked individually about each movie and many of the tv shows in the franchise. It created a different pace in the episode, and focused on the show from more of an enjoyment standpoint, talking more about the characters and plots, rather than larger problems or messages that I have discussed in previous episodes.

When creating this episode I again used the critical “reading” and the composing processes student learning outcomes. I think that all five outcomes are used to some decree in each individual podcast, however some learning outcomes are better displayed in different podcasts. I feel like this podcast is one of my weaker ones, and therefore I think that I didn’t utilize the outcomes as well as I could have when creating the podcast.

This weeks episode so about the MCU.

In this episode I discussed the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I discussed this from both an enjoyment and a more analytical standpoint, talking about both which movies can be considered good movies, even apart from the superhero genre, as well talking about how the movies have dealt with sexism and racism.

One of the five student learning outcomes that I utilized the most when creating these podcasts was critical “reading”. I say that in quotations because the bulk of the research that I used for these podcasts were in the form of movies or shows, but I believe that it still applies. I used the same methods of analysis and interpretation that I would if I were reading a text, however the source was just a different form of media.

This episode discusses both the Harry Potter books and movies, talking about why it’s so enjoyable as well as some of the characters, and the author. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hy4heThIlpHuRtiyOn98TtkCcB7RP-nTyNHZFh4pGQA/edit

In this episode I choose to talk about both the Harry Potter books and movies. I discussed the different problems with representation in the books, as well as problems with JK Rowling herself. I also discussed what makes the Harry Potter series one that is so loved by many people.

One of the student learning outcomes that I utilized most when creating this episode was critical reading. This was a series I had read many, many times, and I reread sections to better talk about it for the episode. Although this is a work of fiction, it can still be helpful to read the text while having in mind some of the same information you would consider when finding the credibility of research. For example considering the author's motivation behind aspects of the work of fiction.

Discussing Game of Thrones specifically the final season. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_GYZoDL4YirB4juP1tx3CTnx9OhBEnajmsOvhOsO11w/edit

I chose to write my podcasts about some of my favorite fantasy and science fiction works. When deciding which one I would choose for my first podcast I picked Game of Thrones because I knew that show was one I could find many topics to speak about. One thing that I enjoyed about picking this topic is that part of the research was watching the show. I already tend to watch shows, especially one like Game of Thrones, with some level of analysing different aspects of the show in mind, so I had fun turning those ideas into a podcast.

Writing the script for the first podcast came easy to me compared to when I have written in the past, I think because it was about something I actually enjoyed writing about, which I rarely get the opportunity to do. When writing the script I utilized the composing process, creating a draft, and heavily detailing that draft out to create a final script. Personally I think I went a bit overboard on the first draft, almost feeling over prepared when creating the podcast.

I have never particularly been a fan of recording myself. I’m both a perfectionist and someone who often stumbles over her words. This first episode is the one I struggled the most with in that respect. However I think that through these episodes I was able to more easily accept that it wouldn’t be perfect, but that if I could get my ideas across through the podcast I would have succeeded.