The Midnight Myth Podcast

What makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie? We'll try to answer that question through a lighthearted discussion of some of our favorite seasonal flicks. Exploring the sub-genres of Christmas comedies, Christmas horror, and feel-good family films, we'll pull out the connecting threads and notice unexpected similarities.

Films discussed:

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Elf

Gremlins

Krampus

It's a Wonderful Life

Muppet Christmas Carol

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Want more in-depth discussions of these movies? Listen to our previous episodes on Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol.

And check out some very cool episodes on Krampus, Gremlins, and Muppet Christmas Carol by friend of the pod Verbal Diorama.

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Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery

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Welcome to the annual Midnight Myth Holiday Special! This year, we have singing Christmas-grams, narwhals, a throne of lies, and representatives from the four food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup! That’s right, we’re discussing ELF (2003), the instant Christmas classic starring Will Ferrell as the lovable Buddy. We’ll talk about the movie’s value nearly 20 years later, the history of elves and how they became associated with Santa Claus, and the notion of Christmas spirit. Plus, a story of sincerity and belief inspirational enough to power Santa’s sleigh: the story of the most famous newspaper editorial ever written. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

What is canon, and why does it have such a hold on the hearts of fandoms? In this brief Midnight Myth conversation, we’ll meditate on the role of canonical judgment in our beloved pop culture franchises. With a particular eye toward The Rings of Power and Obi-Wan Kenobi, we’ll explore where the term “canon” comes from, and how we can liberate ourselves from its strictures in storytelling.

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Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

CW: discussion of pregnancy and infant loss, traumatic birth, suicide

In this week’s episode, we’re revisiting Westeros and the seeds of a Targaryen civil war. HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon brings an overlooked era of medieval history and politics to the screen - and adds dragons! We’ll discuss our impressions of the series, its attitudes toward women in power, and its sometimes ill-advised attempts to subvert fantasy expectations. Plus, a crash course in “The Anarchy,” the civil war of succession for the English throne in the 12th century. What can we learn from Stephen and Matilda’s bloody 19-year power struggle? And what can we learn from House of the Dragon’s repackaging of history?

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Interested in starting your own podcast? Try using Anchor by clicking on this link to get started:

anch.co/midnight

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If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Oh my god, we’re back again.

It’s been a minute - huge life changes and all. But we’re determined to get behind the mics more in the coming months. This week, a new bonus series begins: Midnight Myth Meditations. These shorter, looser episodes will begin with a question. Something we want to meditate on with relation to our core subjects: history, mythology, philosophy, and pop culture. We’ll look at the question from all angles, with kindness and curiosity.

This week, we’re meditating on the use of the words “myth” and “mythology” to describe untruths, superstition, and world building/lore. Are we using these terms right? What can they teach us about language and critical response?

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Podvoices.help 

Please consider donating to the National Network of Abortion Funds - or to a fund in your community.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Interested in starting your own podcast? Try using Anchor by clicking on this link to get started:

anch.co/midnight

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If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Fellow travelers on the path of the Beam, Derek and Steve are back after a very very very long break having finally finished the Stephen King masterpiece, The Stand. As one of the King's books closest to The Dark Tower, say thank ya, The Stand offers a wealth of references, intertextual links to other King works, and a treasure trove of thoughts, reflections, and analysis. Derek and Steve pick up after part one, Rome Falls, and talk about the book after the super flu all but wipes out the human race. Derek and Steve offer their thoughts on this enigmatic tome, wondering where to place it within the body of King's broader works. Does it live up to its reputation as King's best novel? Lastly, Derek and Steve ask and attempt to answer what this book is really all about, with surprising results. 

If Captain Trips has you down, don't worry, as the Wheel of Ka keeps turning and the Beam's live on, say true? Say thank ya, big big.

Podvoices.help 

Please consider donating to the National Network of Abortion Funds - or to a fund in your community.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Interested in starting your own podcast? Try using Anchor by clicking on this link to get started:

anch.co/midnight

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Instagram

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

#SatanicSummer sends you out as sheep among the wolves, to the heart of Babylon! This week, we’re discussing the sinful delight that is 1997’s Devil’s Advocate. We’ll talk about the religious origin of Satan and theological efforts to explain free will (it’s a bitch!) Then, we’ll dive deep into Devil’s Advocate’s  greatest literary origins: Faust and Paradise Lost. At once a legal thriller, a gothic horror, and a domestic epic, Devil’s Advocate plays in murky moral waters that are a treasure trove of philosophy, history, and mythology.

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Podvoices.help 

Please consider donating to the National Network of Abortion Funds - or to a fund in your community.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Interested in starting your own podcast? Try using Anchor by clicking on this link to get started:

anch.co/midnight

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

#SatanicSummer continues with our roundup and discussion of Stranger Things Season 4. In this season, Netflix’s runaway hit introduced a monstrous new villain and lovable new side characters, and found interesting ways to reshape their formula. Meanwhile, it takes inspiration from the very real, very disturbing moral panic, known as the Satanic Panic, of 1980s America. We discuss the complexities of American social and political change that led to mass persecution of outsiders, as well as the psychiatric “innovation” that laid the groundwork for it. Additionally, we’ll discuss the Dungeons & Dragons villain Vecna, who lends his name to this series’ Big Bad. Who is Vecna the Archlich? Where did he come from? Is he anything more than a namesake for the Stranger Things character?

WARNING: Major spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4! Mild content warning for some of the Satanic Panic details discussed.

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Podvoices.help 

Please consider donating to the National Network of Abortion Funds - or to a fund in your community.

Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Interested in starting your own podcast? Try using Anchor by clicking on this link to get started:

anch.co/midnight

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Join us – and special guest Jeff Lippman of Garden of Doom – for a special episode on Robert Eggers’ feature-length directorial debut, The Witch: A New England Folk Tale (2015). It’s the  story of a 17th century Puritan family cast to the edges of the wilderness, where they’re met with misery and ordeals at the hands of an evil presence in the wood. Turning against their eldest daughter Thomasin, the family succumbs to doubt, pride, and envy as their worst nightmares unfold.

This episode brings delights more sumptuous than the taste of butter, or a pretty dress. We discuss how witch persecution was legally codified in the early modern world, the development of the figure of Baphomet or the Sabbatic Goat, and the ancient and medieval mythologies that connect the threads.

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Special thanks to Jeff Lippman of Garden of Doom! Find Garden of Doom and Garden Views on:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

…and most anywhere you can find podcasts!

Twitter

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Big shout-out to Black Mass Appeal: Modern Satanism for the Masses for their wonderful History of Baphomet.

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And hey! EFF YOU SCOTUS!

We are donating our Patreon proceeds this month to the National Network of Abortion Funds. If you don’t support us on Patreon, consider making a gift to the NNAF or your local/regional abortion fund.

Abortion is health care.

Abortion is a human right.

Protect people with uteruses.

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/midnightmyth/support

Death is only the beginning…

Dear listeners, we have a treat for you today! An epic centuries in the making - we’re thrilled to join forces once again with an adventurer, scholar, podcaster extraordinaire: Em from Verbal Diorama! Even better, we’re teaming up to cover the 1999 action adventure blockbuster The Mummy. One part ancient love story, one part classic monster flick, one part Indiana Jones-style adventure, The Mummy walks genre lines with elegance and humor to create one-of-a-kind cinematic experience. We’ll dive into the history and legacy of the film with Em (wait till you hear who was supposed to direct this one!), learn about the Imperial ironies that dictate historical study of Ancient Egypt with Derek, and explore surprising literary connections to another classic monster with Laurel.

You can check out more of the history and legacy of movies you know (and movies you don’t!) at Verbal Diorama, available wherever you get your podcasts!

Apple

Spotify

And catch up with Em on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Support us at www.patreon.com/midnightmyth

Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, and Wheel of Ka tees and totes!

Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com

Interested in starting your own podcast? Try using Anchor by clicking on this link to get started:

anch.co/midnight

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!