Is Money Ruining Fanfiction?
The world of fanfiction has changed a lot since our 2017 episode, Fanfiction (Don’t Judge.) At the time, I thought that 50 Shades of Gray – the novel that began as Twilight fanfiction – was a fluke. I...
29 Juli 43min
Choose Your Own Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey is part of a long line of film adaptations, but Homer’s epic poem has quietly shaped another medium: role-playing games. The structure of The Odyssey is practicall...
15 Juli 41min
The U.S. of Play - Part 2: Silly Putty, Twister and Monopoly
In honor of America's 250th anniversary, we're continuing our mini-series on iconic American toys and games that took on lives of their own. Strong National Museum of Play curators Michelle Parnett-Dw...
1 Juli 42min
How Folklore Spirited Anime Away
Anime and manga are a global phenomenon, and their popularity continues to grow. Many of these stories are populated by supernatural beings called yōkai. Even though yōkai can be portrayed as ghosts, ...
3 Juni 37min
The Father of Sword and Soul
Charles R. Saunders loved Tarzan as a kid, but he was also repulsed by the racism in those books since Charles was Black. So he created a counter narrative about a warrior named Imaro who lived in a f...
20 Maj 37min
Many Faces of Jekyll and Hyde in Pop Culture
Pop culture has been full of Jekylls and Hydes: Bruce Banner and The Hulk, Norman Bates and Mother, Walter White and Heisenberg, The Nutty Professor and Buddy Love. They all echo the archetype that Ro...
6 Maj 38min
Holmes and Watson: True Crime Podcasters
John Watson is a former army doctor who became a true crime podcaster when he met a consulting detective named Sherlock Holmes. You can hear about the cases they’ve solved in the podcast Sherlock & Co...
22 Apr 42min
