I love this tweet as it puts the usual dynamics on their head: Tip for students going off to college: study 80s/90s pop culture. Particularly Ferris Beuller, Princess Bride, Simpsons seasons 2-5. Your gen x/early millennial profs will try to connect with you through...
This post is the first of our 'Throwback Thursday" series, where we re-publish an earlier post on a topic that is currently in the news, or is receiving renewed attention or debate. This original...
I was a fan of X-Men long before I was a fan of Poli Sci. So, I am eagerly awaiting the chance to see Days of Future Past, which may or may not do kind things to one of the very best X-tales. + For...
This summer may be the most Marvelous yet with Captain America 2, Spider-Man 2, X-Men Days of Future Past (otherwise X-Men First Class 2) and Guardians of the Galaxy. Sure, not all are by Marvel...
I know it has already been a week, but I'm still thinking about the Oscars. Not the fashion (boring!! predictable!!), or the hostess (boring!! predictable!!) or the winners (boring!! predictable!!), or the speeches (ok you get my point)- but rather a short list of questions I still need help with. Answers welcome. 1. Was bell hooks right? Was 12 Years a Slave "sentimental clap-trap" that "negated the female voice?" What were the politics of white washing, white guilt, and white erasure at the awards? 2. How the hell did Joaquin Phoenix NOT get nominated for 'Her' and how DID Leonardo...
Everything is awesome! But I do wonder if the song from the Lego movie (see below) is not just a secret appeal to irredentism: "Everything is cool when we are part of a team!" So, everything is better when folks are united, and what is more united than a mother country with its lost territory? "Everything is better when we stick together!" Better when we ethnic kin are unified? "Side by side you and I are gonna win forever!" Seems like an irredentist appeal to me. "We're the same. I'm like you. You're like me" Homogeneity for the win? "Everything is awesome when we are living our...
The Pop 5 is a new 'test' series of posts touching on events in pop culture and linking them back (briefly, hopefully, and sometimes loosely) to IR and politics. The posts are meant to be LIGHT, but also to take seriously the influence of popular culture on how we understand the world. It is, after all, one of the dominant lenses through which our students frame IR. I'm a self diagnosed pop culture addict with a list of shameful (and juicy) fixes (one of my most shameful pop culture habits will be revealed later in the post). The focus today is on five recent pop culture events and what they...
In the category of “pop-culture-not-talked-about-by-normal-Ducks,” People magazine’s cover story last week was on ABC’s The Bachelor, Sean Lowe, and his pledge to remain a virgin re-virgin until his wedding night. As someone who graduated high school in town of less than 1500 in Kansas, I think this type of pledge is pretty typical: many teens and young adults make a pledge, usually in front of an audience, to avoid sexual conduct until marriage. And, not surprisingly, most teens do not keep their pledge.[1] In fact, there are some studies that indicate that these virginity pledges are...
Twitter went nuts when President Obama said he could not get the Republicans to do what is right because of his finite powers, that he could not do some sort of Jedi mind-meld! He mixed his space franchises--Jedis may have Vulcan-like abilities, but the mind meld thing is of Star Trek. So, this sent twitter on a wonderful spiral for awhile. Some of the highlights: RT @jpodhoretz: "By Grabthar's hammer, you will be sequestered." — Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) March 1, 2013 RT @angelaisms: "Dammit Luke, I'm a doctor, not your father!" #ObamaSciFiQuotes — Philip Klein (@philipaklein) March...
Full disclosure: I am incapable of being completely, or even mainly, a detached observer or commentator when discussing either Star Wars or Disney, having grown up largely surrounded by both enterprises in equal measure. Anyone who walks into my office sees, hanging over my computer, two posters: a 50th anniversary Fantasia one-sheet, and an Episode I theatrical teaser poster. And chances are if it's the first time you've come to visit me there, I'll end up telling you why "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and the saga are the largely same cautionary tale about hubris. And scattered around the...
Too good to wait (spoilers for Dark Knight Rises):
SURVEY: Ladies: Do you like having the option of wearing pants, do you enjoy taking time off after giving birth and do you like that people don't freak out if you have to breast feed in public, is voting something you're glad you can do- what about getting a university education, short hair, tampons, female doctors, bras that don't torture, or working in fields like engineering? Gentlemen: Is it nice to know that the women you may date will likely have an education, opinions, and that if you choose to get married you're not going to be expected to be the sole family earner? Do you like not...