Summary of HPOE38:

1. Introduction: Ariel and Stef introduce the episode by discussing the critical lens they apply to Disney mediums and their expectations from the content they consume.







2. X-Men 97 Discussion: The hosts delve into the newly released X-Men 97 series on Disney+, exploring its continuation from the original animated series and the incorporation of nostalgia through commercial breaks and episode pacing.







3. Therapeutic and Educational Uses of Nostalgia: Ariel shares how nostalgia in media can aid in trauma therapy, while Stef discusses its application in educational settings to connect with students.







4. Character Analysis: The discussion covers the character dynamics in X-Men 97, including the controversial Magneto and Rogue storyline, the depiction of characters like Storm, and the evolution of Jubilee.







5. Memory and Identity: They explore how the series addresses themes of memory, identity, and perspective taking, particularly through the neurodivergent experience and the fresh perspective of children.







6. Closing Thoughts: The episode concludes with reflections on using X-Men in after-school activities and classrooms, highlighting the series’ potential to discuss diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

Hello everyone, welcome to Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Ariel, a licensed therapist who uses clients’ passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness. And I’m Stef. I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help connect with my students and help them grow and learn about themselves. Here at Happiest Pod, we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens. Why? Because we are more than just fans and we expect more out of the mediums we consume. So Stef, what are we talking about today? Well, it’s a hot topic.

Hot and old at the same time. And then it goes into Whitney Houston’s whatever you want from me. Just kidding. We are not talking about Whitney Houston, even though she is an icon and a goddess. RIP. We are talking about X -Men 97. Those are fireworks. Why are we talking about this? Well, obviously the new series has come out on Disney +.

if you’ve been living under a rock, which is okay. X -Men 97 is essentially starting where the old animated X -Men left off. So it is taking place in 1997. I do have some questions about that. However, it is even bringing back the nostalgic experience of commercial breaks and having to wait for the next film.

Yeah, and also the pacing, I think, of it. Just short 30 -minute episodes, things that we would watch after school every single day, or maybe even before school, if they did a rerun before you headed out to the bus or the car, however you got to school, walked. I think it really transports not only millennials like us who experienced it back, but also kids now who are viewing it on a streaming site.

but also being limited in how much they can consume each episode. So it’s very interesting to play on nostalgia. And I know we both talk about nostalgia in our practices. So what do you use nostalgia with connecting to your clients or maybe helping them through something that’s difficult? Well, so as you know, I work with a lot of clients who’ve experienced trauma and oftentimes that trauma occurred when they were a child or in childhood.

So reclaiming memories, reclaiming experiences from childhood in their adulthood with the experience of childlike wonder is a huge healing process. Oftentimes what happens is that clients experience a loss, a lot of grief and loss around something that mattered to them, something that really brought them joy. If the trauma happened,

in childhood during those times. So I have like, even now with the X -Men, I have clients who didn’t finish watching the series because that was around the time that something severe had happened. So getting an opportunity to re -experience new stories and still activate that inner child that loves the show, that hears the music, is ready for the intro, it re -formats parts of the brain and…

creates the ability to have new memories as well as retrospective memories of that trauma through traumatic growth. Right. And I’m so happy that you said a lot of the things that IE would use, but in a different way. In the classroom, nostalgia is really another word for connecting with kids and where they’re at. So everything that they have coming into the classroom is an experience. It’s a memory. So whenever you’re introducing a math lesson, a reading lesson, you ask them, have you seen something like this before?

How can you connect this with something that you already know? So nostalgia is just a fancy way of reaching even further back. Because I mean, to them, nostalgia is maybe like four to five years back when they were like five. If I’m thinking about my fourth graders when I was in the classroom, their nostalgia doesn’t reach that far back. So I don’t think maybe the word is correct, but the concept is still the same. If you’re trying to…

connect to kids wherever they’re starting off from in order to teach them a new concept, you have to see what’s there first. And that includes trying to figure out how they react to a certain procedure, how they react to a certain thing. That’s why som