Over*Flow
Over*Flow: Martha Stewart’s Star Persona and the 21st-Century Influencer
Emma Ginsberg / Georgetown University
Emma Ginsberg details the development of Martha Stewart’s enduring star image and contemporary influencer persona, which centers around whiteness, privilege, and affluence.
Finance, Decadence, and Me You Madness
Andrew deWaard / University of California, San Diego
Andrew deWaard discusses how Louise Linton reflects the issues surrounding capitalism both on and off-screen.
Read moreAnd You Love The Game: Stream-Pop as a Never-Ending Scavenger Hunt
Eric Harvey / Grand Valley State University
Eric Harvey discusses how contemporary music stardom pulls fans and commentators into a rabbit hole of never-ending engagement.
Read moreThe Higher the Hair, The Closer to God: On Queen Charlotte’s Wigs
Jacqueline Johnson / University of Pittsburgh
Jacqueline Johnson examines the deeper significance of the wigs in Netflix’s Queen Charlotte.
Read moreExtreme Weather as Everyday Genre in Subway Flood Videos
Juan Llamas-Rodriguez / University of Pennsylvania
Juan Llamas-Rodriguez explores how subway flood videos transform extreme weather from spectacle into genre. As infrastructure crumbles under climate-induced disasters, viewers shift between individual frustration and collective crisis awareness. These videos blend intimate, smartphone-captured perspectives with a wider, omniscient view of urban vulnerability, bridging personal experience with public crisis. In doing so, they force audiences to confront their roles in a destabilising climate.
Read more This AI is brought to you by…
Matthew Crain / Miami University
Perplexity, an AI search engine, is introducing advertising to generate revenue, driven by the demands of venture capital investors. The author questions the impact of this shift, highlighting concerns about privacy, the dominance of ad-based business models, and the future of AI-powered technologies.
Read moreK-pop Fandom is Fast Becoming an Empowering Space for LGBTQ+ Youth Around the World
Thomas Baudinette / Macquarie University
K-pop fandom is emerging as a global safe space for LGBTQ+ youth, offering community and resources for identity exploration. This trend creates a paradox, as the fandom’s empowering effects contrast with South Korea’s largely homophobic societal norms.
Read moreDigital Transmissions: Thinking Historically About Broadcasting and Electronic Sell-Through in the Digital Era
Eleanor Patterson / Auburn University
Eleanor Patterson challenges the idea that the post-network era is defined by a break from prior distribution models, highlighting a long history of offering broadcast programming as singular, “on-demand” commodities.
Read moreParallel Hierarchies: Navigating Assistantship in Hollywood’s Above and Below the Line Divide
Kiah Bennett / Muhlenberg College
Bennett examines the unique position of Hollywood assistants as “across-the-line” workers and reveals critical insights into the industry’s hierarchical structures and gatekeeping mechanisms, particularly regarding race, gender, and class dynamics.
Read moreOutside YouTube, Inside Netflix: Bo Burnham and Contemporary Production Culture
Ben Rogerson / Texas Tech University
Through a combination of musical performances, formal reflexivity and cringe confession, Bo Burnham’s 2021 Netflix comedy special Inside theorizes on the self-management and exploitation of creative labor in the contemporary media industries.
Read moreWho Severed the Tiger’s Spine?: Traumas of Occupation and Partition in Exhuma
Soohee Kang / University of Texas at Austin
Soohee Kang explores how Exhuma (2024) works through legacies of colonial occupation and subtly hints at the trauma of Korean partition.
Read more“Scan to Join!”: Selfie Fan Cams and the Sporting Event
Laurel P. Rogers / University of Texas at Austin
Laurel P. Rogers reflects on the “selfie fan cam” at sporting events.
Read moreAmazon MGM Studios not playing by its book in India
Mansa Narain / University of Texas at Austin
Mansa Narain discusses how Amazon commodifies DEI initiatives in India, prioritising profit over genuine inclusion.
Read more