From Transmedia to Immersive Worlds: An Interview with Dr. Carlos A. Scolari on the Evolution of Media and the Future of Storytelling

/
From Transmedia to Immersive Worlds: An Interview with Dr. Carlos A. Scolari on the Evolution of Media and the Future of Storytelling

Renata Frade interviews Carlos A. Scolari, an eminent media theorist focused on digital interfaces, media ecology /evolution and interactive communication. Read to understand how "transmedia" might be going the way of "multimedia," how contemporary media is evolving, and to learn more about major research projects on teenage media engagement and platform labor in Spain.

Read More

OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part Two)

/
OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part Two)

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. In this in-conversation piece, Do Own (Donna) Kim, Utsav Gandhi, and Gabrielle Roitman exchange critical, intercultural, and personal readings of The Substance (2024). In Part One, Donna opened the conversation with the “love yourself :(“ South Korean (henceforth Korean) Internet meme. Now, in Part Two, Gabrielle and Utsav expand on her reading by exploring other connections, from American pop culture to immigrant experiences and queer bodies. “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger. More beautiful. More perfect….The one and only thing not to forget: you are one. You can’t escape from yourself.” (excerpt from “The Substance” product introduction video) Is “love yourself” the solution? Can we? How? We welcome you to join our conversation.

Read More

OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part One)

/
OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part One)

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. In this in-conversation piece, Do Own (Donna) Kim, Utsav Gandhi, and Gabrielle Roitman exchange critical, intercultural, and personal readings of The Substance (2024). In Part One, Donna opens the conversation with the “love yourself :(“ South Korean (henceforth Korean) Internet meme. Then, in Part Two, Gabrielle and Utsav expand on her reading by exploring other connections, from American pop culture to immigrant experiences and queer bodies. “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger. More beautiful. More perfect….The one and only thing not to forget: you are one. You can’t escape from yourself.” (excerpt from “The Substance” product introduction video) Is “love yourself” the solution? Can we? How? We welcome you to join our conversation.

Read More

OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Anora

/
OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Anora

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. With this video essay, Green and Red perform a poetic analysis of both the style and content of nominee Anora, evoking Kogonada's use of the dotted line and the driving poetic force of Catherine Grant's "Carnal Locomotive."

Read More

OSCARS WATCH 2025 – A Complete Unknown: A Conversation With Jonathan Taplin

/
OSCARS WATCH 2025 – A Complete Unknown: A Conversation With Jonathan Taplin

This post is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. The following is an edited extract of a recording made recently for the production of the How Do You Like It So Far? Podcast, hosted by Henry Jenkins and Colin Maclay. Our guest is Jonathan Taplin, an American writer, film producer and scholar. Taplin is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Chairman of the Board of the Americana Music Foundation. Taplin's early production work included producing concerts for Bob Dylan and The Band. In 1973, he produced Martin Scorsese' first major feature film, Mean Streets. In this excerpt from our upcoming podcast episode, we discussed A Complete Unknown (2024), what it was like to be at the Newport festival (which is the climax of the film), and how Taplin sees the current state of American popular culture. We will post here when the episode is released.

Read More

OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Political Fears and Fantasies in Edward Berger’s Conclave

/
OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Political Fears and Fantasies in Edward Berger’s Conclave

This post is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. The political thriller is a genre that most effectively exists in close proximity to history. Regardless of whether its narratives are based on actual events, they draw on the political fears and paranoias of an era. It is why, historically, we have seen the genre congregate around moments of significant political tension or fear. We live in such an era now, with the divisive unorthodoxy of Trump being but the most prominent of numerous international examples of the growing divide between left and right and a breaking down of previously accepted political norms. That being the case, it should not be surprising to see a political thriller, Edward Berger’s Conclave, find its way into what is a notably political Best Picture field for this year’s Academy Awards.

Read More

OSCARS WATCH 2025 – I’m Still Here: A Harrowing Retelling and Warning

/
OSCARS WATCH 2025 – I’m Still Here: A Harrowing Retelling and Warning

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. Fouquet weaves connections between nominees I'm Still Here, A Complete Unknown, and The Apprentice as well as real-world political events in Brazil and the United States. She questions whether we are ready today to prevent the tragedy that befell the Paivas and the hundreds of families affected by disappeared Brazilians, as there is every sign of history repeating itself.

Read More

NEPF Promotes a Bridge Between Fanfiction Academic Studies and Fandom in Brazil

/
NEPF Promotes a Bridge Between Fanfiction Academic Studies and Fandom in Brazil

In Brazil, NEPF is the only academic space dedicated to fanfic research, and, because of this, it has become extremely important for many graduate students and researchers around Brazil. So, readers of Pop Junctions, we're here to share all the work we’ve done at NEPF with you. From now on, you’ll be able to follow the various academic and artistic productions carried out and disseminated by the center through regular publications here. For all of us at the center, it's an honor to be here showing our work in such a prestigious and important space for Fan Studies.

Read More

“Popular” Dolls: A Discussion of the Wicked Movie Dolls in the Context of Wizard of Oz Merchandizing Culture

/
“Popular” Dolls: A Discussion of the Wicked Movie Dolls in the Context of Wizard of Oz Merchandizing Culture

In this final installment of the themed series on toys, Henry Jenkins and Lauren Sowa discuss how the many Wicked branded toys and dolls fit into the larger culture of dolls and collecting that has a long history with The Wizard of Oz transmedia property. From book, to stage, to screen, and back to book, and stage, and screen again, The Wizard of Oz has over a hundred years of cultural influence – with branded merchandising following its every step down the yellow brick road. 

This themed series on toys asked contributors to think about a toy/toys/toy company and explore how various cultures, groups, audiences, or companies find and make meaning (or money) through such play.

Read More

Marvel on the Shelf: The Art and Play of Action Figure Display

/
Marvel on the Shelf: The Art and Play of Action Figure Display

There are many ways that adults enact the practice of action figure collecting: they might be driven by completionism or nostalgia; motivated by a hunt for rarities; alter the design through customization; maintain purchase value by keeping packaging intact; participate in a toy community economy through swapping, reselling, and second-had purchasing; and/or engage in a sense of play and expression through various forms of display. It is the latter of these expressions – the art and play of display – that I want to discuss here, which draws upon my own experience as an action figure collector.

This post is part of a themed series on toys that asked contributors to think about a toy/toys/toy company and explore how various cultures, groups, audiences, or companies find and make meaning (or money) through such play.

Read More

Telling Your Toy Story: Fans’ Storytelling Practice in Shanghai Disneyland

/
Telling Your Toy Story: Fans’ Storytelling Practice in Shanghai Disneyland

It was 4AM in Shanghai, and a group of people in colorful clothing suddenly appeared. They were headed for a magical place: Shanghai Disneyland. They were up so early to wait in line for hours in order to get their hands on limited series products and to meet the characters – some, like Mulan, from major films but others, like LinaBell, solely from a toy line – in the park. This might seem extraordinary, but it’s actually an everyday occurrence—let’s talk about it.

This post is part of a themed series on toys that asked contributors to think about a toy/toys/toy company and explore how various cultures, groups, audiences, or companies find and make meaning (or money) through such play.

Read More

Barbie in Pakistan: The Toy, the Movie, and the Cultural Ambiguities

/
Barbie in Pakistan: The Toy, the Movie, and the Cultural Ambiguities

In Pakistan, Barbie the movie transcended its form as mere cinematic spectacle and metamorphosed into a tool through which the complex, unspoken, and ambiguous scales of morality can be analyzed. Farooqui's recent research on the reception of this globally successful movie examines the responses of its Pakistani viewers to show the complex national landscape of reactions that went far beyond simple movie criticism.

This post is part of a themed series on toys that asked contributors to think about a toy/toys/toy company and explore how various cultures, groups, audiences, or companies find and make meaning (or money) through such play.

Read More

EMMYS WATCH 2024 – Curbeth Thou Enthusiasm: Is Larry David a 21st Century Shakespearean Fool?

/
EMMYS WATCH 2024 – Curbeth Thou Enthusiasm: Is Larry David a 21st Century Shakespearean Fool?

This post is part of a series of critical responses to the shows nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series at the 76th Emmy Awards. This piece frames Larry David's role in Curb Your Enthusiasm to that of the Shakespearean fool, and ponders his ability to remain positive in the court of public opinion despite his irreverent scripts.

Read More

EMMYS WATCH 2024 – 'The Bear'

/
EMMYS WATCH 2024 – 'The Bear'

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the shows nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series at the 76th Emmy Awards. Here, film critic Megan Robinson argues that The Bear is—in fact—a comedy precisely because it's so traumatic for the characters involved.

Read More

EMMYS WATCH 2024 – Frederik Cryns Interviewed by Henry Jenkins on ‘Shogun’

/
EMMYS WATCH 2024 – Frederik Cryns Interviewed by Henry Jenkins on ‘Shogun’

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the series nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series at the 76th Emmy Awards. Here, Henry Jenkins interviews Frederik Cryns, historical consultant for Shogun and a professor of Japanese History at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan.

Read More

EMMYS WATCH 2024 – Fit for a Queen: The Final Season of 'The Crown' and Its Royal Fans

/
EMMYS WATCH 2024 – Fit for a Queen: The Final Season of 'The Crown' and Its Royal Fans

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the series nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series at the 76th Emmy Awards. The final season of the Netflix series The Crown concludes a series spanning sixty years in the lives of the British royal family, the Windsors. From the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, this season repeatedly engages with stories about how fans impact the lives of the royal family, for good or for bad. The series itself blurs the lines between history and fan fiction. Though considered prestige television, often nominated for awards and celebrated by critics, The Crown is at heart a culturally sanctioned form of royal fandom that contributes to the ongoing fascination with the British monarchy.

Read More

Visitors are Coming: Fan Tourism in Northern Ireland

/
Visitors are Coming: Fan Tourism in Northern Ireland

In the first of a series of blog posts on screen tourism, Bethan Jones reflects on the impact fan tourism has had in Northern Ireland thanks to Game of Thrones – not only for fans or the tourism industry, but for film and television production and perceptions of the country itself.

Read More