Supercontext: an autopsy of media

This 1977 record seems to mythologize a certain version of New York, so we look at how it was made to get to the core beneath its poetry, guitar solos and critical success. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Marquee Moon Additional Resources: Television's Principles How Television Made ‘Marquee Moon,’ the Best Punk Guitar Album Ever Television’s Punk Epic “Marquee Moon,” 40 Years Later Invisible Hits: When Eno Met Television https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/punks-founding-father-richard-hell-306738.html Waterman, B. (2011). Television’s Marquee Moon. New York: Continuum. Rolling Stone. 1/7/93, Issue 647, p22. Lloyd, R. (2018). Everything is Combustible. Mount Desert, ME: Beech Hill Publishing Company.

This 1996 comic-book-based-cartoon aired on MTV in 10-minute bursts of weirdness. We discuss its themes of tragedy and trauma, together with how it represents feminism, while still objectifying the female body. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: The Maxx Additional Resources: The Maxx -- The Only Thing MTV Never Screwed Up The Maxx messed up afterschool MTV viewers with its dark surrealism FEMINIST REPLAY: MTV'S THE MAXX Why The Maxx Was the Perfect Comic for '90s MTV Shaping The Maxx: Adapting the Comic Book Frame to Television MTV’s Oddities Part 2: The Maxx: Julie’s Pangea, Laura’s Ghostwood  

This book attempts to redefine the novel by combining narrative with an imagined anthropological record. We discuss Le Guin's background and mission, as well as larger questions about cultural misappropriation and utopianism. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Always Coming Home Additional Resources: Future Ethnography of the Inhabitants of the Valley of the Na, and The unBible of Ursula K. Le Guin PAPERBACKS; THE KESH IN SONG AND STORY Always coming home… Ursula K. Le Guin‘s Folk/Electronica Album Can Teach Us a Lot About Storytelling The Journeys of Ursula K. Le Guin. By: CARPENTER, ZOË, Nation, 00278378, 10/24/2016, Vol. 303, Issue 17 Taking Politics to Another World. By: Pilon, Dennis, Canadian Dimension, 00083402, Sep/Oct2007, Vol. 41, Issue 5 Le Guin, Urusula K. “On the Frontier,” in The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination, edited by Le Guin. Boston: Shambhala Press, 2004.  

This 2009 psychological thriller pretends to be a found footage horror film, when it's actually a dramatic exploration of grief. We discuss writer/director Joel Anderson's process, as well as the funding, distribution and historical themes in the movie. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Lake Mungo Additional Resources: Why Lake Mungo is the best ghost film you’ve never seen Lake Mungo Filmmaker Joel Anderson Interview - Media/Culture Reviews Lake Mungo – A picture never lies… Mourning an Aboriginal death Pleistocene human remains from Australia: A living site and human cremation from Lake Mungo, western New South Wales Australian Ghost Stories Detail a Very Isolated, Lonely Brand of Terror Alice Kept Secrets: Cinematic Grief and ‘Lake Mungo’ (2008) SXSW '09 Interview: "Lake Mungo" Director Joel Anderson Review of Joel Anderson's faux documentary thriller LAKE MUNGO Scribe tapped for 'Lake' remake

It's our third annual Christmas ghost story episode and we're looking into this 2011 debut of the popular horror anthology series by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. We discuss Murphy's mission, the show's popularity and its contrast of trashy excessive violence and sex, with themes of mainstream, heteronormative patriarchy. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: American Horror Story: Murder House Additional Resources: 'American Horror Story': Ryan Murphy talks premiere and Rubber Man -- EXCLUSIVE Ryan Murphy Talks American Horror Story Keetley, D. (2013). Stillborn: The Entropic Gothic of American Horror Story. Gothic Studies, 15(2), 89. Nussbaum, E. (2018). Mk. Big. New Yorker, 94(13), 52. 'American Horror Story’: Ryan Murphy warns finale's brutal labor scene is 'the most shocking scene we’ve ever done' -- EXCLUSIVE Set Pieces: The haunted house of 'American Horror Story' Jamie Brewer of 'American Horror Story' Is First Woman With Down Syndrome to Star in Off-Broadway Play Interview with Jamie Brewer What Hollywood Can Learn From TV's Gayest Show Kim, Yaeri. "Only the First of Many": Repetition and Subversion in American Horror Story: Murder House, Feminist Studies in English Literature, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2014 Available from:"Only the First of Many": Repetition and Subversion in American Horror Story: Murder House [accessed Dec 16 2018]. Buyers of $3.2M 'Murder House' Haunted by 'American Horror Story' Fans, Lawsuit Says

This 3-disc debut by an accomplished saxophonist was universally acclaimed as a sea change in music. We discuss how Washington was influenced by friends, family, history and dreams, while trying to challenge his listeners with genre-defying sounds. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: The Epic Additional Resources: Meet Kamasi Washington, the High Priest of Sax Horn of plenty: Kamasi Washington's epic approach to jazz Interview: Kamasi Washington Talks About ‘The Epic’ Kamasi Washington Is Leading a Musical Revolution — and It's Time to Learn His Name CHANGING THE GUARD: THE EPIC JOURNEY OF KAMASI WASHINGTON Kamasi Washington Has Conquered the Jazz World. What Does He Do Next?

This long-form essay by one of the hosts of On the Media argues that our current sociopolitical conflicts stem from a dissolution of facts and reality. We look at Gladstone's manifesto for producing her radio show to unpack her project here, while considering her advice for bolstering our own personal realities. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: The Trouble With Reality Additional Resources: The Facts Must Matter: On “The Trouble with Reality” Gladstone's Book Answers The Question: What Ails Our Democracy? Q&A: Brooke Gladstone on the media, Trump, and truth Brooke Gladstone 'On The Media's' Brooke Gladstone on 'The Trouble with Reality' Interview: Journalist Brooke Gladstone And 'The Trouble With Reality' On The Media’s Brooke Gladstone on the redefinition of truth in the Trump era Journalist Brooke Gladstone Explains The 'Trouble With Reality'

This 12-part comic series seems like a fan's homage to Carl Bark' Disney stories, but we uncover how the values of "hard work" within (and the corporate machinations of many publishers) led Rosa to quit making comics out of frustration and resentment. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Additional Resources: Don Rosa on himself Don Rosa Collection IntroDUCKtion to the Life and Times of $crooge McDuck Going Quackers  

This 1987 filmed monologue changed the way mainstream media considered autobiographical performance art. We discuss how Gray made the film with director Jonathan Demme and the emotional themes throughout that resonate after his suicide. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Swimming To Cambodia (film) Swimming To Cambodia (book) Additional Resources: Georgakas, D., & Porton, R. (1993). The art of autobiography. Cineaste, 19(4), 34. Through a Lens, Intently. By: Salomon, Andrew, Back Stage East, 19305966, 5/25/2006, Vol. 47, Issue 21 Johnson, B. D. (1992). The talking cure. Maclean’s, 105(28), 44. FILM: SPALDING GRAY'S 'SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA' Swimming to Cambodia: A Channel for Spalding Gray’s Seismic Prose Theatrical Cinema: How Stop Making Sense, Swimming to Cambodia, and Bronson Combined Two Art Forms The Mask Behind the Voice Everything You Need to Know About the Movie That Inspired “Parker Gail’s Location is Everything” Demastes, W. (1989). Spalding Gray's "Swimming to Cambodia" and the Evolution of an Ironic Presence. Theatre Journal, 41(1), 75-94.

This influential 1979 album combined art education with working class political activism to play with the meaning of pop music. We discuss the production of the record and the band's conflicts (or lack thereof) with their record label and the BBC. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Entertainment! Additional Resources: Dettmar, K. J. H. (2014). Gang of Four’s Entertainment! New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic. Gang Of Four Track By Track Andy Gill meets Andy Gill Jerky, punky, funky Gang of Four Anthrax Hoover, M., & Stokes, L. (1998). Pop Music and the Limits of Cultural Critique: Gang of Four Shrinkwraps Entertainment. Popular Music & Society, 22(3), 21. Smith, M. R. (2005). So Sweet. Remix, 7(7), 106.