Material Girls

As you know, we love to laugh! That's why we were thrilled when a brilliant listener, Dix McDevitt (she/her), pitched us an episode about giggling in the Harry Potter series. In Revisions, we talk through Disability Studies, Queer Theory and Trans Studies to prepare for a framework devised by Dix herself about diegetic, semi-diegetic and non-diegetic laughter. Intrigued? You should be! This episode made Coach gasp in awe many times over and had Hannah and Marcelle laughing even more than usual. Tune in for a conversation about Harry's various responses to all kinds of laughter — and his particular distaste for giggling girls.Did you know that we're launching a new show? WELL WE ARE! We've shared a pilot on Patreon to get the input of all our Patreon supporters as we develop the new show! Have strong opinions? Know what you like in a podcast? Want to help us co-create the next iteration of our show? JOIN TODAY and you can be part of that dialogue AND you can get access to a ton of audio perks like unedited audio, bloopers, comics, Q&As, and so much more! Become a supporter at patreon.com/ohwitchplease. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. Of course, you can always follow us on Instagram or Twitter @ohwitchplease to stay connected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We said we would and so we did! Here is our episode on l'auteur! In this episode, Marcelle leads us through a brief Revisions segment because there is just too much to get into! We talk ideology, discourse, structuralism, celebrity and capitalism before heading into a chat about two dead French guys (Barthes and Foucault) and 'the death of the author." Then in Owls we put our theory to work as we think through J.K. Rowling's presence in the circulation of the Harry Potter series and the way new technologies of publishing have changed the scope of her "author function."If thinking about "the author" makes you crave a great way to say fuck transphobia and transphobes, please donate to our fundraiser for Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre — an organization that's been directly affected by JKR's transphobia. You can find the link here and on our website ohwitchplease.ca. We're halfway to our goal of $5000 by April 30th. We can do it with your help!Also, did you know that we're launching a new show? WELL WE ARE. We've been talking about it a bit over on Patreon and that's where you should go if you want to be totally clued in to the happenings at Witch, Please. But, to give you a taste, here's what you need to know: We're launching two pilots in the next month on our Patreon to get the input of all our Patrons regarding which show we should keep making! Have strong opinions? Know what you like in a podcast? Want to help us co-create the next iteration of our show? JOIN TODAY and you can be part of that conversation AND you can get access to a ton of audio perks like unedited audio, bloopers, comics, Q&As, and so much more! Become a supporter at patreon.com/ohwitchplease. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. Of course, you can always follow us on Instagram or Twitter @ohwitchplease to stay connected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, Marcelle is joined by Michelle Thompson to discuss Hogwarts Legacy! If you've been curious about this game and the shitstorm surrounding it, think of this convo as your primer! We'll be back in two weeks to add to our Appendices. If you want more of Michelle, check out her podcast Never Was a Gamer! If you want to watch Stephanie Sterling's full video about Hogwarts Legacy, check it out here!Enjoyed the episode? Get more bonus content just like it on Patreon! You can become a supporter at any tier for more perks and bonus content include episodes, interviews, bloopers, comics, merch and more. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. Of course, you can always follow us on Instagram or Twitter @ohwitchplease to stay connected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we bring in a guest, Niki Fitzgerald (she/her), to talk about Witch Hunts. Niki is an NHS doctor specialising in Care of the Elderly and General Internal Medicine. She has recently completed her Masters in Applied Medical Humanities and her dissertation was titled Is Medicine Obsolete? An Abolitionist Feminist Reimagining with Flourishing and Care. Niki joins us for a rich conversation about the shift from feudalism to capitalism which corresponded with the Witch Hunts of the 16th and 17th century. She gives us some really helpful new context to better understand the long history of female subjugation — and some new tools for making sense of Wendelin the Weird from the Wizarding World! If you liked our episodes on Class, Magical Capital, Feminist Theory and the Nation State, you will love this episode!Longtime listener? Help us produce this show by supporting us on Patreon! You can become a supporter at any tier for more perks and bonus content include episodes, interviews, bloopers, comics, merch and more. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. Of course, you can always follow us on Instagram or Twitter @ohwitchplease to stay connected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to our Appendix Season — a chance to look at the Harry Potter series as a whole.In this episode we bring in a guest, Andrea Dara Cooper (she/her), to talk about Holocaust Studies. Andrea is Associate Professor and Leonard and Tobee Kaplan Scholar in Modern Jewish Thought and Culture at UNC-Chapel Hill — and she is the author of Gendering Modern Jewish Thought (Indiana University Press, 2021). Tune in for a conversation about the function of allegory in Harry Potter. When does it work in this series? When does it fall short? What are the political implications of relying on the Holocaust to make new meaning in a fantasy world both chock full of stereotypes and severely lacking in diversity? If you enjoyed our episodes on Animal Studies, Eugenics, and Werewolves as Metaphor (just to name a few!), this is required listening!Note: Hannah's computer crashed while recording so we apologize for the poor quality of her sound! Help us produce this show by supporting us on Patreon! You can become a supporter at any tier for more perks and bonus content include episodes, interviews, bloopers, comics, merch and more. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. Of course, you can always follow us on Instagram or Twitter @ohwitchplease to stay connected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our Appendix Season — a chance to look at the Harry Potter series as a whole. To kick it off, we're revisiting Sentimentality with a deep dive into Beth Driscoll’s book The New Literary Middlebrow! "But middlebrow is not synonymous with sentimentality?!??!" That's right, but by halfway through this episode you'll understand why Hannah had to bring in Driscoll's writing for a broader conversation about the appeal and mainstream success of the Harry Potter series. If you liked our previous episodes on Sentimentality and Eugenics, you'll love this first-ever Appendix Season episode! Start this season off right and join our Patreon! You can become a Patreon Supporter at any tier for more perks and bonus content include episodes, interviews, bloopers, comics, merch and more. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. Of course, you can always follow us on Instagram or Twitter @ohwitchplease to stay connected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're on a break! Please enjoy this episode of #WitchPleaseTellMe, a monthly Patreon perk we're sharing with you in between seasons! We'll be back in two weeks with our first episode of Season 8, "The Appendix Season." Until then, please enjoy a rambling, fun and chaotic episode featuring the entire Witch, Please Team (Hannah, Marcelle, Coach, Zoe and Gaby). You'l hear all about our plan for Season 8, along with way too many intimate details about everyone's relationship to parasociality (other stuff, too!)If you like this episode, hop over to Patreon and become a supporter for just $5/month to hear the rest! If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. For access to our transcripts, visit ohwitchplease.ca. To stay in touch, follow us everywhere @ohwitchplease. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we wrap up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and thus Season Seven of Witch, Please. We talk about Hermione and Ron's sex life in Granger Danger and the history of white wedding dresses in Lewk Book. And, of course, we round out the episode with Marcelle's Devastating Fun Facts TM. This may be the end of Season Seven. but don't fret. We're going to be back in a few weeks for our eighth season (still about Harry Potter) that we've affectionately and aptly titled "The Appendix Season." Listen to the episode to hear more about what we have planned (hint: lots of special guests!). As always, you can become a Patreon Supporter for more perks and bonus content. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, no stress! Please leave us a review instead — it truly helps sustain the show. For access to our transcripts, visit ohwitchplease.ca. To become a Patreon supporter head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease.To stay in touch, follow us everywhere @ohwitchplease. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We'll be back in two weeks for our final Season 7 Wrap-Up Episode, but this week we're sharing a bonus interview from Patreon. We were so honored to have been joined by Kiana and Vicky in December for a conversation about Women for Iran (formerly Women for Liberty of Iran) an organization comprised of Iranian women supporting the people of Iran from the UK. In this conversation, Kiana and Vicky answer Hannah and Marcelle's questions (ones you may have, too) about the state of the protests in Iran, what context we need to understand the ongoing revolution, why the death of Mahsa Amini marked a turning point for the movement and how we might be able to support the ongoing fight for justice.Please take a listen and be sure to follow @WomenForIran on Insta and Twitter! For more information about Women for Iran, you can click here. Kiana also recommends this Twitter account and this news outlet for updates. Note: This episode was recorded in early December. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're finally here, Witches — at our long-awaited House Elves episode. We've been talking about Dobby, Kreacher, Winky and the general house elf population for so many seasons and we finally have a perfect guest joining us for discussion. Jessica Marie Johnson (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Johns Hopkins University and a Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She is also the Director of LifexCode: Digital Humanities Against Enclosure. Jessica is a historian of Atlantic slavery and the Atlantic African diaspora. She is the author of Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World, and, if you believe it, she used to babysit Coach!If you're a longtime listener of the show, please consider becoming a Patron before the New Year. We're hoping to reach 1000 patrons by January 1st and we're really close! For just $2 USD/month you can help us pay our producer, our apprentice, ourselves, our website costs, etc. Patreon support is simply what what makes producing this show possible. If you find yourself with a spare $24 this year, we'd be really grateful for your financial support. If becoming a paying subscriber isn't in the cards right now, please leave us a review instead! Reviews help more listeners find us and that's a huge help! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.