Material Girls
Material Girls

Material Girls

Witch, Please Productions

Overview
Episodes

Details

A scholarly podcast about pop culture hosted by Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman, produced by Witch, Please Productions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent Episodes

The Notebook x Melodrama with Vanessa Zoltan
FEB 18, 2025
The Notebook x Melodrama with Vanessa Zoltan

She's back! Beloved podcaster and author Vanessa Zoltan (she/her) joins Hannah and Marcelle to dig into one of the most famous "weepies" of the 21st century: The Notebook (2004). If you cry at the line "If you're a bird, I'm a bird," have the phrase "What do you want?" ringing in your head, or regularly view the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, then this episode is for you. Hannah first contextualizes The Notebook in early aughts America (think post 9/11 conservative politics) and Vanessa offers some info about Nicholas Sparks, author of The Notebook. They then jump into a theory section all about melodrama! You may be familiar with the concept — perhaps you've even accused a friend or family member of being melodramatic — but can you really define it? What about the idea of "a Melodrama of Failure?" Hannah turns to Elisabeth Robin Anker’s book, Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Politics of Freedom, to bolster her thesis and the episode ends with a conversation about the relationship between the American Dream, sovereignty, Christian conservatism and heterosexuality.


If you have thoughts, questions or comments, submit them over Instagram for our next Material Concerns episode!


For more Vanessa, check out Hot & Bothered, the podcast she co-hosts with Hannah McGregor all about romantic films. You can also listen to her new show Let's Ask Taylor Swift anywhere you get your pods.


Learn more about Material Girls on our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back in two weeks with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us there!


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Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.


*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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64 MIN
Comics & Memes x Culture Text with Neale Barnholden
JAN 21, 2025
Comics & Memes x Culture Text with Neale Barnholden

This week, longtime friend of the pod, Neale Barnholden (he/him), joins Marcelle and Hannah to discuss the materiality of comic books and their influence on modern-day meme culture! They talk reading conventions, colonization, de- and re-contextualization, as well as the raced and classed history of comics. Together, they then dive into Paul Davis's idea of "the culture text" (adaptations, parodies, references of the text created by culture at large). They consider how Richie Rich came to reference Donald Trump in 2016, how comic artist KC Green's dog in a burning house (the "This is Fine" meme) became ubiquitous, and how we might make sense of our current visual culture in relation to the "lurid" history of comic books.


There's a lot to unpack in this episode and if you have thoughts, questions or comments, submit them over Instagram for our next Material Concerns episode!


Follow on Neale on Instagram @ominousgarfield. Buy his book, From Gum Wrappers to Richie Rich: The Materiality of Cheap Comics, at your local bookstore! You can also see more Neale on our Patreon!


Learn more about Material Girls on our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back in two weeks with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us there!


***


Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.


*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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64 MIN
Wicked x Paratexts with Leena Norms
DEC 24, 2024
Wicked x Paratexts with Leena Norms

What is more zeitgeist-y than Wicked Part One? Well, arguably, the memes, interviews, and merch ABOUT Wicked Part One! In this episode Hannah and Marcelle are joined by the wonderful author, Youtuber and internet busybody, Leena Norms, to discuss this year's blockbuster— and the paratexts surrounding it. If you've been targeted an Elphaba eyeshadow palette, a Glinda-themed popcorn bucket, or anything online that says "holding space," then you've engaged with Wicked's paratexts. And guess what? We've got some theory to help you make sense of it all! Whether you loved, hated or still haven't seen the Wicked movie, this episode is for you. No* one was spared its marketing campaign.


*good deed goes unpunished.


For more Leena, head to Leenanorms.com and check out her new book Half-Arse Human! You can also see more Leena on our Patreon!


You can learn more about Material Girls at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Want more from us? Check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next episode with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us on Patreon.


***


Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.


*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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60 MIN