Welcome to the Cozy Cottage of Cultural Criticism!
Mumbling into the mic is your host, Patrick Anthony. And the main thing you need to know about me is that cultural criticism is my favorite pastime! It is a creative, meditative practice I want to get better at and this is the space in which I'm choosing to do so.
Thoroughly informal & uncut, consider this little podcast a rallying call encouraging everyone to get into the ouroboric study of how society shapes media and pop culture & how media and pop culture shapes society. "Everyone's a critic." As they should be...
In the Great, Dark Realm of Transgression (Halloween Special)
*Disclaimer: This special Halloween considered episode is a "lost" episode that was recorded October of last year (2021) and recently recovered.
Within horror lies the tantalizing dare to transgress, to wade in the dark, be pushed forward, deeper into its immersive abyss by a perverse, often hedonistic curiosity. What things, good, bad, and ugly can be found there and what can we do with them once confronted? The realm of horror has more answers than you might think…horrific illusion is one hell of a drug!
Horror is the best genre. You won’t be able to convince me otherwise. An assertion as subjective as our own individual fears, but what about the fears we share as a society, in terrifying universality? What then? Let us consider...in a special episode of HomeBodyMedia inspired by the month of Halloween itself.
This special episode's “Stray Media” explores the fascinating transgressions found in Nia DaCosta’s 2021 evocative iteration of “Candyman” & Julia Ducornau’s blisteringly beautiful “Titane”. I also briefly encourage you all to take a peek at Paramount+’s compelling supernatural drama “Evil” & highlight Michaela Coel’s first venture in literary publishing, “Misfits: A Personal Manifesto”.
Supplemental / Contextual Content:
A List of My Favorite Horror Films (https://letterboxd.com/atprickb/list/terror/)
Horrality: The Textuality of the Contemporary Horror Film (http://www.philipbrophy.com/projects/chapters/horrality/chapter.html)
Candyman (The Impact of Black Horror) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VKtExlE_Ec)
The Posthumanist Queer/Trans Gothic of TITANE (https://fathersonholygore.com/2022/01/22/the-posthumanist-queer-trans-gothic-of-titane/)
Under Her Skin: Julia Ducournau lets us in on the years of fury, angst, and comedy that fueled the Palme d’Or-winning, genre-smashing Titane (https://www.vulture.com/2021/10/julia-ducournau-on-writing-titane-2021s-boldest-film.html)
The Deeply Personal Horror of “Midnight Mass” (https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3684646/deeply-personal-horror-midnight-mass-guest-essay-filmmaker-mike-flanagan/)
Michaela Coel's 2018 James MacTaggart Lecture (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odusP8gmqsg)
8 Jun 2022
Welcome Home: An Overtly Overlong Introduction
This is a house of (informal) cultural criticism. Your host, Patrick Anthony, welcomes you Home for much-anticipated discussion regarding media and pop culture--from film, television, music, books, articles, social media, podcasts, and much more!
4 Sept 2021
Ain't Nothing Righteous In It
The panopticon of phony, punitive morality has got us all acting brand new lately, huh? Extending upon my previous considerations on social accountability and power, I dive even deeper into the paradoxical fragility of power and its corrosion and distortion of justice, morality, and knowledge. How can we rebound from a growing pathology of passing the buck of accountability back and forth before we lose sight of what we’re even fighting for? Of course, I make a bid for cultural criticism. I also explore the hateful grievances parading as social and moral concern that a certain section of society holds against two successful anomalies in mainstream music; Lil Nas X & Lizzo. This episode’s “Stray Media” details David Lowery’s new contemplative epic “The Green Knight”, a LONG ass sociological deep dive into the recent HBO satire hit series “The White Lotus” created by Mike White, and a soulful reconsideration of Lorde’s latest and most polarizing record, “Solar Power”.
Supplemental / Contextual Content:
A Brief History of America Hating Sex Workers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPNbYtv0Gpo)
The Choice to Vaccinate Has Never Been Free (https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/unseen-vaccination-costs/)
Atomization: The Kaleidoscope of Meaning (https://meaningness.com/atomized-mode)
Who benefits from all this outrage & division? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3mmg4bEQeQ)
The Truth is Paywalled But the Lies are Free (https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/the-truth-is-paywalled-but-the-lies-are-free/)
Why Cultural Criticism Matters (https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/31/18152275/criticism-explained-cultural-writing)
I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There. (https://gen.medium.com/i-lived-through-collapse-america-is-already-there-ba1e4b54c5fc)
How Lil Nas X is Revolutionizing Hip-Hop as an Empowered Gay Star (https://variety.com/2021/music/news/lil-nas-x-montero-industry-baby-1235038104/)
X Factor (or “You Was Never Really Rooting for Me Anyway) (http://www.sonofbaldwin.com/2021/07/23/x-factor/?fbclid=IwAR23nzobY1Frk7znvjXbxl1PxnGzKZ4iXR9mjbmd6bWgTcFoyFsNcUFbMlU)
Fatphobia and Its Racist Past and Present (https://www.npr.org/2020/07/20/893006538/fat-phobia-and-its-racist-past-and-present)
The Green Knight doesn’t have to discuss race to make its racial messages clear (https://www.polygon.com/22632726/green-knight-color-decoding-race)
TV’s White Guys Are in Crisis (https://www.vulture.com/2021/08/tv-white-men-the-white-lotus-ted-lasso.html)
Corporate America’s $50 Billion Promise (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2021/george-floyd-corporate-america-racial-justice/)
A Composer Breaks Down the Music Theory Behind Lorde’s “Solar Power” (https://www.stereogum.com/2154471/lorde-solar-power-music-theory/columns/in-theory/)
31 Jul 2021
This Summer of Farce
As scholar & activist Cornel West spoke truth to in the opening lines of his recent letter of resignation from Harvard University, "This summer is a scorcher!" This is true for myriad reasons...some of which I try to unpack here. Forgive me if I barely scratch the surface, as it is a quite mammoth undertaking. Recent events might signal that the heat is finally getting to us...it's getting weird, y'all!
Not only is it getting weird, but also...quite perilous. Everywhere we look we see evidence that points to a society permeated, and in most cases, satisfied with farce in the face of dramatic change. And one can't help but wonder about the danger that bodes for the our collective future. As such, in this episode, I contemplate the "why" of the Olympic Games and the historical rigidity of the International Olympic Committee, ponder rapper DaBaby's recent public faux pas, and consider the constraints & disappointments that come with taking refuge in academia and the realm of celebrity. It's the overall lack of social accountability for me...
Meanwhile, in "Stray Media" I talk about the latest media I've consumed: Janicza Bravo's "Zola", the HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl, Willow Smith's pop-punk album "lately, I feel EVERYTHING", and more!
Supplemental / Contextual Content:
The obscure foundation funding "Critical Race Theory" hysteria (https://popular.info/p/the-obscure-foundation-funding-critical)
Let the Games … Be Gone? (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/sports/olympics/tokyo-olympics.html)
Straddling the line between gender and sex: How racism, misogyny, and transphobia intertwine to define notions of womanhood in the world of elite sports (https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2020/12/07/straddling-the-line-between-gender-and-sex-how-racism-misogyny-and-transphobia-intertwine-to-define-notions-of-womanhood-in-the-world-of-elite-sports/)
I Don't See an End to This (https://www.vulture.com/article/essay-dababy-lil-nas-x-homophobia-hip-hop.html)
Tenure's Broken Promise (https://www.chronicle.com/article/tenures-broken-promise)
THE GRAPEVINE | THE COLONIZATION OF BLACK BEAUTY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIg6if0NBlY)
Logos Lose Their Power on the New 'Gossip Girl' (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/style/logos-lose-their-power-on-the-new-gossip-girl.html)
WILLOW’s pop-punk revolution: “I’m in love with the weirdos and the people who don’t conform to conventional societal norms” (https://www.kerrang.com/features/willow-pop-punk-revolution-love-with-the-weirdos)
2 Jul 2021
My Name is Patrick & I Have a Few Things to Say Regarding the Foolishness...
Welcome Home!!!
For the very first episode of HomeBodyMedia, I unpack the upcoming BET Original Film, "Karen" that has social media cringing, get into how Kevin Hart's continued gripe with "cancel culture" hints at deeper issues, briefly touch on the sentencing of Derek Chauvin, examine Britney Spears' conservatorship and its exploitative origins, & drag conservatives and racists for their lame, purposeful dedication to misunderstanding Critical Race Theory at every turn. And bit more. Lots of foolishness to get into....
Supplemental / Contextual Content:
bell hooks' "Theory as Liberatory Practice" (https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=yjlf)
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