This week I’m joined by Walt Hickey, the author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything. Among the many topics discussed on this show: the surprisingly durable effect of Warner Bros.’s merchandising efforts aimed at adults; how identity and pop culture become hopelessly (and negatively) intertwined; and how violent movies can help stop violence from occurring. If you find this podcast interesting, I hope you check out Walt’s book; it has tons of charts (one of which is reproduced above) and many fascinating nuggets I simply did not have time to dig into with him today. And make sure to share this episode with a friend!
Great pod....will get the book when I can
I have Funko Pops...but, I am a general toy collector to begin with...I have all the major Harry Potter ones, some Alice in Wonderland ones, and Lord of the Rings ones...and I have given Star Trek ones to my boss as gifts...I think they are too cool...and there are others I want, though I missed some that you can't get anymore other than on E-Bay for really BIG bucks...I still can't get over I can't find a good Balrog representation that doesn't cost a fortune.
I collect because they make me smile, not for what they are worth etc...
How well I know...I broke my wrist swing-dancing after watching Swing Kids (1993.) They made it look so easy.
Back in the ancient days I was at an employee retreat. My boss at the time decided wouldn’t it be fun if she wrote famous names on slips, we would put them on our foreheads and ask each other questions in order to guess who was on the slip. I asked of my fellow employees the following: Fictional Character? No. Historical Person? No. Living Person? Yes. Somehow I was never able guess the name on my forehead. It was William Tell. The good news is that my boss left and I replaced her.
I have to wonder whether America would have elected Donald Trump president if it hadn’t spent years cheering on charming sociopaths like Tony Soprano.
I'm picking up a copy of this book! As a film buff, it sounds fascinating, and it'll make a nice (and likely, needed) change from so much of the political and history stuff I read.
Great interview, Sonny, thanks 🙂
The "violent movies" study only considers rates of violence *same night* as a release? The idea that movies only affect people *while* they're watching, or until bedtime, is an odd one to highlight in a pop-culture program. I had never supposed that anyone thought that's what the pedagogical concerns were about.
Ha, fair enough, but again: it’s worth thinking about a *possible* effect versus what seems to be a fairly *concrete* effect.
You had me at the Warner Bros. Store…