Afleveringen
-
Weâve had listeners asking us to do an episode on sapphic pop for months now, and were trying to figure out who we wanted to co-host. Then Melody sent me a text: I FOUND THE PERFECT PERSON. That person is Trish Bendix, who just published a sprawling look at the past and present (and popularity) of sapphic pop, from Big Momma Thornton to Chappell Roan. I absolutely loved this conversation, where we did our very best to answer your questions about everything from the â80s sound in contemporary sapphic pop to Jojo Siwa âinventingâ the genre. Plus we talk about âConstant Cravingâ at least three times (which Melody had never heard!!!!) Make sure you check out the show notes to links to all the songs we mention in the episode. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
This is a dream come true of an episode: we got the owners of The Ripped Bodice to talk to us about all the ins and outs of running a romance-only bookstore. We talk about everything from the genesis of their annual State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing Report to their fav recommendations for tweens and teens âŠ..and how they deal with âvintageâ romances in the store. I found everything about our discussion fascinating â plus, if youâre a paid subscriber, you get very good advice on how to recommend books to others!
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
This episode is the Culture Study Podcastâs version of a Just Trust Me. Itâs difficult to describe exactly WHY itâs so good, just that after we finished recording (with Lilah Raptopoulos, host of the podcast Life and Art) Melody and I both immediately texted each other with: SO GOOD!!! The episode is ostensibly about figuring out how to cook in the world of infinite recipes, but itâs also about how we pass down recipes (or gatekeep them), recipes as a form of memory making (and retrieval), recipes as heritage⊠capped off with some practical advice about how to organize the recipes you do have (and how to ascertain if a recipe is âgoodâ).
I canât wait for you to listen, and if you donât think youâre a person that invested or interested in recipes: just trust me.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
This is a public episode. If youâd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe -
Weâre more than twenty years into the current reality boom â and things are getting complicated. What are the unspoken and spoken ethics of signing up to become a reality star? What resources (about harassment and protection, about brand deals) should be made available to anyone who signs a reality contract? Are reality stars scabs during strikes â and should they unionize? WHAT MAKES THESE MELODRAMAS SO COMPELLING? WTF IS SCANDOVAL??? Hollywood correspondent Natalie Jarvey joins me to talk through it all.
(And just to be clear, even if youâre not a huge reality television person, this episode has something for you â I watch very little but Iâm very invested in reality melodrama reality labor as labor)
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
Jennifer Romolini is one of my favorite thinkers about ambition, and workism, and the stories we tell ourselves about what we must endure in order to find a modicum of security and pride â and she also happens to be a true scholar of all things Ben Affleck. Months ago, I asked her to come on the podcast to talk about the intersection of Affleck and ambition, but we held the episode for a bit to give it some distance from the (also excellent!!) J.Lo episode. But weâd had it scheduled for today for several weeks â and Iâm writing this intro just hours after the news broke that Lopez had filed for divorce.
The good news is that everything Jenn and I talk about re: Affleckâs star image, ambition, striving, his relationship to stardom just generally â all of that still holds true. Just ignore the part when I say that I donât think theyâre going to get divorced. And I canât wait to hear your thoughts.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
TikTok is filled with wonders. Itâs SO weird. It can make you feel like the algorithm is telling you something you donât even realize about yourselfâŠ.or it serve you a whole bunch of cyst draining videos. In order to answer your questions about WTF is happening in your feed, I knew I needed a weird internet aficionado who also understands the way our tech platforms actually work. I needed Katie Notopoulos. Join us as we talk about the parallel dimension that is TikTok Live, the difference between Reels and TikTok content, those bizarre âbugs all over meâ videos, nail tapping ASMR, the clean girl aesthetic, and SO MUCH MORE.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
Trad Wife Discourse is everywhere. Itâs been everywhere for a while, in part because it offers a twisted fantasy of ease to women who are attempting to negotiate life, and family, and career in a society whose policy is actively hostile to women working outside the home. But Iâve seen a spike in interest in the ramp-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where a Trump victory â paired with the explicit goals of Project 2025, J.D. Vance, and Christian Nationalism in general â will make trad wife life just, well, life. It doesnât happen overnight. It happens incrementally, as choices are very slowly taken from you, or made more attractive. To get to what lures women into this life, and just how difficult it is to escape, I wanted to talk to someone who gets it in a way that those lurking in the Instagram comments simply cannot. So today weâre talking with Tia Levings, who left her trad wife life and, through a bunch of therapy and processing and support, figured out how she wanted to tell her story.
Content Warning: In our conversation, we talk explicitly about emotional and physical abuse and coercion. If youâre not in a place where you want to listen to that discussion, Iâd suggest skipping this episode.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
This is a public episode. If youâd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe -
How do the politics of taste and HGTV shows intersect? Why do we watch, why do we feel the way we do when we watch, and how is taste shaped in the process of watching? When Jonathan Menjivar, host of the fantastic podcast Classy, told me he wanted to talk all things HGTV, I was thrilled. In this episode, we discuss the aesthetics of âquiet luxury,â Ben and Erin Napier vs. Chip and Joanna Gaines, the newly ubiquitous neo-farmhouse look and so much more.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
A seven-part Netflix docuseries on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders called Americaâs Sweethearts? Oh my god, WHAT a rich text. The uniform, the dances, the body norms, the coded language, the particular feminine ideals, the intersections with Texas culture and evangelical culture â thereâs just so much there. And I was thrilled when Sam Sanders and Zach Stafford, two of the co-hosts of the indispensable Vibe Check, agreed to help answer all of your (excellent) questions. (We couldnât get the rights to Thunderstruck, but you can just imagine it playing over the intro and on repeat forever.)
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
How are romance writers â and the recent romance boom â chipping away at the norms of Big Publishing? Does self-publishing lead to more diverse authors and characters? How has Amazon both expanded and limited the market? Thatâs what weâre grappling with in todayâs episode.
Back in June, romance novelist Nisha Sharma broke down all the tropes and trends of contemporary romance. Next month, weâll have the owners of a romance bookstore explaining the the big (and complicated) business of romance-only bookselling. And today, we have Christine Larson, author of Love in the Time of Self-Publishing, walking us through the labor dynamics of romance publishing. If you like thinking about different ways of organizing labor, youâll find all of this fascinating â and if youâre a romance fan, itâll make you think a lot about which books end up in front of you and why. Youâre gonna love it.Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
J.Lo is, as we say in the Culture Study universe, a rich text. There is so much history, so many layers of accumulated meaning, so many relationships, and so little in terms of actual revelations. She gives so much and yet offers so little! Chelsea Devantez is a celebrity memoir aficionado, a humor writer, and a newly-minted J.Lo scholar â and the absolute perfect co-host to unpack all of your J.Lo questions, like why does Mariah hate her, why canât she and Ben be happy, what the hell is going on with the new movie, and what does she actually want?
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
Why do jeans make us FEEL THINGS? I mean, I have a lot of feelings about the âgoing out top,â but at least I no longer have to deal with it. Jeans, theyâre still here in my wardrobe, making me feel uncool. Itâs the actual garment, sure, but itâs also a garment in constant fashion flux â and almost always designed to fit one sort of (thin) body. Thereâs no one better to talk about big jeans feelings than Virginia Sole-Smith, whoâs written a four-part series on âjean scienceâ and the relationship between jeans production (and jeans ânormsâ) and anti-fatness. Whether youâre clinging to your comfort jeans or trying to figure out what shoes to wear with a barrel leg or banishing jeans from your closet, this episode is for you.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
This is a public episode. If youâd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe -
Most people I know think the monarchy â any monarchy â is pretty ridiculous. And yet: most people I know also know a lot about Meghan Markle and followed the #whereiskate conspiracy theorists at least part way down the rabbit hole. Theyâre rich celebrities, sure, but theyâre also embodiments of empire in decline â and I wanted to think through how royal fascination manifests differently depending on where you live, how you were raised, and identification (or lack thereof) with âyourâ generation of monarch. Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman are scholars, podcast hosts, and Canadians â and the perfect people to navigate all of your questions about colonial hangovers, misogynoir and Team Meghan vs. Team Kate, and when and how weâll actually see an end to the monarchy. I loved this conversation, and I think you will too.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
Sephora teens are teens who hang out at Sephora â and theyâre a point of cultural anxiety because 1) theyâre buying a lot of makeup and skincare products and 2) we have complex and contradictory feelings about when we should start caring about makeup and skincare products, even though absolutely everything in our culture tells young people they shouldâve started caring about these things yesterday. Do Sephora Teens just want a public place to hang out without their parents? Didnât we *also* play around with makeup at their age? But wait where are they getting all of this money? I I was so thrilled when Elise Hu â author of a whole book on the contemporary skin care industry and mother of three teen/tween girls â agreed to come on as co-host for this episode⊠and I canât wait for your thoughts.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
After our GREAT discussion of A Court of Roses and Thorns we realized we wanted to talk a lot more about romance: about the so-called âboomâ and whatâs fueling it, of course, but also about various tropes (sick bed, forbidden romance, grumpy protagonist), race and cultural specificity, the level of âspiceâ and how it shows up on the page, and how to manage your own romance reading behavior. Melody heard Nisha Sharma speak at Romance GenreCon last year and knew she was the person to address so many of your questions. Whether youâre new to romance like me, donât read it but are interested in why other people do, or have immersed yourself in the genre for years, I promise thereâs something in this conversation thatâs going to stick in your head for days.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
Spoiler: No, millennials are not the most nostalgic generation â weâre just in a deeply nostalgic moment in our lives, reckoning (sometimes gracefully, other times less so) with no longer being the Main Character in the generational story. But this moment does give us opportunity to talk about the shape and purpose of nostalgia, how YouTube both amplifies and short-circuits it, and so much more â featuring one of my favorite nostalgia thinkers, Gabe Bullard. We talk about gum commercials, inflated Limewire persecution threats, Bagel Bites, and interrogate the idea of âcore memories,â and I cannot wait for your thoughts.Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
This is a public episode. If youâd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe -
The very first episode of this pod was on how clothes got so shitty â and it prompted a whole bunch of you to write in with your questions about how the entire experience of obtaining those clothes became so shitty. Some of it is just whatâs going on in the fashion world more broadly (and a continued refusal to believe that anyone larger than a size 12 wants cute, well-made clothes that fit and wants to pay you money for them) but some of it is just the weird ever-changing world of online shopping, which encourages our worst impulses and often leaves us with earrings that look nothing like the picture and make our earlobes turn green. To answer your questions (about best online shopping practices, about email marketing tactics, about how to quell or at least abate your anxiety shopping) I wanted to talk to the best and smartest shopper I know: Caroline Moss.Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
I spent years of my life studying celebrity images and what makes them meaningful to us. A celebrityâs actions or words can make or deepen our connection to them â or they can really piss us off. But why? Is it just a classic case of dashed expectations? What makes, oh, Taylor Swift hanging out with Matty Healy so disappointing? For this episode, I asked celebrity feelings expert Margaret H. Willison to come answer your questions about the broad contours of celebrity-directed anger â and work through some very specific examples. I promise: youâll leave this episode with a more textured understanding of your own celebrity feelings.
Note: This episode was taped before the conversation re: the Met Ball and celebrity silence on Gaza; you can read more about it here.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
If you grew up in or adjacent to evangelical culture, the sounds of â90s and early 2000s Christian Rock are as familiar to you as the beginning bars of Britney Spears âHit Me Baby One More Time.â The Newsboys, dcTalk, Jars of Clay, Third Day, Jennifer Knapp, Caedmonâs Call â these groups peaked just twenty years ago, but the sound and vibe feels like an archeological find. Same for the crossover âsecularâ hits from Creed, Lifehouse, Sixpence None the Richer, and Switchfoot. Where did Christian rock go? Did it just get devoured by Nickelback and Noah Kahan? Was it actually good? And what purpose did it actually serve in what we now understand as the evangelical culture war?
Leah Payne, author of a God Gave Rock & Roll To You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music joins us to root the rise of Christian rock in history â and consider the ways it was wielded to control teens. If you grew up in this culture, there will be a lot of nostalgic groaning; if you didnât, weâve worked hard to make it as accessible as possible â and help connect some dots about how evangelical ideologies work their way into the mainstream.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com -
A platform where you can record what youâre reading and talk to others about what theyâre reading doesnât sound like a recipe for dystopia. But throw in a negligent billionaire conglomerate owner, optimization culture, and a competitive industry in which the line between reader and author is continually blurred⊠and you have a legitimate book loverâs hellscape. In other words: Goodreads! Today, Iâm joined by book lover and book critic Maris Kreizman to talk about the rot at the heart of the platform, what feeds it, and whether thereâs any hope of salvaging the entire enterprise. (Plus: a special bonus section where we give advice about dealing with self-imposed pressure to read X number of books a year). Also: it doesnât matter if youâve never gone on Goodreads in your life. If you read books, if youâre interested in the way we talk and think about books, youâre going to appreciate this episode.
Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Let us know here.Thanks to Bookshop.org for sponsoring today's episode! Use promo code CULTURE to get 10% off your next purchase.
To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com - Laat meer zien
