The Pop Culture Professors

It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we conclude our analysis of the FX series Alien: Earth with episode 7, “Emergence” and episode 8, “The Real Monsters.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we continue our analysis of the FX series Alien: Earth with episode 5, “In Space, No One…” and episode 6, “The Fly.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we continue our analysis of the FX series Alien: Earth with episode 3, “Metamorphosis” and episode 4, “Observation.” We continue to investigate the series’ dominant problematic of crossing boundaries, and hypothesize as to the reason for its divisiveness: it’s generic placement somewhere between science fiction and fairy tale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and today we react to the first two episodes of Alien: Earth. We break down the themes and ideas in the series, focusing on its central questions of transhumanism, the Peter Pan mythology, and the dream / nightmare imagery. We consider how this series is consistent with and differs from the Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986) movies, particularly on the central political and ideological problematics invoked. We further consider the nature and motivations of Wendy and the Lost Boys, Boy Kavalier, and Yutani. Finally, we ask how the Xenomorph, and the other alien specimens, fit into a show that seems largely focused on its AI characters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We break down the themes and ideas in 28 Years Later, with a particular focus on the politics of this Danny Boyle / Alex Garland sequel to 28 Days Later. We react to the humanitarianism of Dr. Kelson, the role of the islands within the movie, and analyze the visions of family, fatherhood, and masculinity presented. We explain the controversial ending to the movie, and consider the extent to which the movie is commenting on Britain past, present, and future. We begin, though, with a review of the film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and we analyze the movie Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan, just released on streaming. We address the political themes of the movie, focusing on its generic identity as a Southern Gothic, the historical context in which the movie takes place, its engagement with ideas of utopia, community, freedom, and the siren songs that often lead communities down false roads in search of these goals. We appreciate the aesthetic achievement of the movie, which is perhaps Director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan's best and most complete work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and we continue our analysis of Andor season 2 with the conclusion to the series. We break down, analyze, and explain the political themes in these finale episodes, focusing on freedom, order and their interconnectedness in both the rebellion and the Empire. We explore the extent to which farce is an operative mode of storytelling in this arc. And we consider Cassian's statement that "nothing is ending," finding it to be both an accurate log-line for this arc and also a statement of some of the broader politics of Star Wars writ large - a cyclical story of the failure to consolidate political order by the Empire and the forces opposed to it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and we continue our analysis of Andor season 2 with episodes 7-9. We break down the politics of these episodes, focusing on the question of when in a rebellion must you break cover and insist - publicly - on the truth. We see a second major theme of this arc as discipline. The rebellion is moving from a para-military to a military posture, and requires increasing discipline from its members as it does so. Further, Cassian fights a battle in this arc between his belief that he makes his own decisions, and the discipline enforced on him by the needs of the rebellion and his own destiny.  We consider how these themes of truth and discipline intersect with and shape the actions of Mon Mothma, Cassian Andor, Bix, Dedra, and Syril. We were delighted to be joined this week by Prof. Rob Farley. Rob blogs at Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and we continue our analysis of Andor season 2 with episodes 4-6. We break down the politics of these episodes, focusing on the mirrored political challenges faced by figures from the Empire and the Rebellion. We see a big theme of these episodes as “too much information,” as both sides struggle to distinguish friend from foe, signal from noise, the authentic from the inauthentic. We discuss classic political problems portrayed in the episodes such as collective action problems, anticipatory compliance, preference falsification, and treating people as means or as ends in and of themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and today we react to Andor Season 2, episodes 1-3. We break down the politics of these episodes, focusing on the motives and aims of the rebellion and the Empire. Both sides have major coordination problems in these episodes, although the causes are very different. We explain and analyze the recurrent problems of authoritarian control and rebellion against it, and the way Andor comments upon them. We see a major theme of these three episodes as “the personal is political,” as micro motives are tied to macro causes on all sides. We also explore the dynamics of misinformation, double-talk, and masks worn by Dedra, Mon Mothma, Luthen Rael, and Cassian. We argue that Cassian is perhaps the most confident and action-oriented character at this point in the show, as he is able to operate out in the open as a mature and competent rebel leader. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and what impact will AI have on being human in the next decade? Elon University’s Center for Imagining the Digital Future just released a big report on this question, based on a survey of nearly 300 global tech experts. These insiders predict major changes in the very near future to the way we think about work, life, and ourselves. We talked with Lee Rainie, the director of the center and co-author of the report. We also discuss another center report, on the impact of AI on higher education, as well as Lee’s earlier career as a political journalist. Lee has spent decades studying expert opinion on technology - before joining Elon he spent 24 years directing the Pew Research Center’s studies of the internet. Prior to this, Lee was managing editor of U.S. News and World Report. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and on the 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, we explore what The Great Gatsby means in America today. In this deep-dive we ask: What did Gatsby mean in 1925, and how have those meanings changed in 2025? What mythologies of America does Gatsby circulate, and challenge? How does Gatsby read to a Brit who never read it in high school, and to an American who only encountered it as an adult? Is Nick Carraway right that Gatsby is the only pure soul in the story? Can we rescue utopian imaginings from this dystopic picture of America? Is there a hidden story of race submerged beneath Gatsby’s overt story of class? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and we spoke with Duke Law Professor James Boyle about his new book The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood (MIT Press, 2024). We spoke with Boyle about how our legal and moral understandings of personhood are being challenged by advances in AI. We discussed the role of the law, popular culture, tests of sentience, and our capacity for empathy in shaping this urgent debate. James Boyle is William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School and founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and can you fall in love with ChatGPT? Can, and should, you have sex with a robot? We asked Professor Kate Devlin, a leading researcher on intimate relations between humans and artificial intelligences, to help us navigate the new landscape of sex and love with robots. Kate is a Professor of AI & Society in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London. She’s the author of the excellent book Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots (Bloomsbury, 2018), which examines the ethical and social implications of technology and intimacy. We had a rich conversation with Professor Devlin about the future of intimacy, the reality of the sex robot, the gender politics of depictions of AI in science fiction, and a lot more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the UConn Popcast, and we've been experiencing a revolution in the past few years, as artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly common part of everyday life. Powerful AI tools are now integrated into our work, our schools, our creative industries, and our experiences of dating and companionship. This is a disorientating experience, one that changes not only our views of technology, but of ourselves. Can we look to a past technological revolution for help?   We revisit Sherry Turkle's classic text The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit (MIT Press, 1985) on how the sudden spread of the personal computer through society in the 1980s similarly challenged the human relationship to technology. What can Turkle's text, which combined the fields of ethnography, psychoanalysis, and technology and society, tell us about today's AI revolution? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices