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Material Girls

Material Girls

By: Witch Please Productions
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About this listen

 A scholarly podcast about pop culture hosted by Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman, produced by Witch, Please Productions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Witch, Please Productions Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Point-and-Shoot Cameras x The Punctum

    Point-and-Shoot Cameras x The Punctum
    Dec 24 2025

    To make sense of the recent resurgence in point-and-shoot cameras, we’re returning to French philosopher and cultural theorist Roland Barthes! We begin with a conversation about the major technological shifts that have occurred in photography between 1980 (when Barthes published Camera Lucida) and today. Hannah then leads us in a theory section all about "the Punctum." Together, she and Marcelle parse Barthes' understanding of what makes photography distinct from other mediums and how Time is entangled with our emotional relationship to snapshots captured on camera. If you've never heard of "the Punctum," let this episode be your introduction to one of Barthes' more moving contributions to our theory tool belt!


    ***


    Happy holidays from the Material Girls team! We'll be back next week with an Hour-Long All-Team Material Concerns episode! To learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!).


    Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more!


    Need a last minute gift for the holidays? You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift


    Works Cited:

    Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Trans. by Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981.

    Cooke, Alex. “The Rise and Fall of the Point-and-Shoot Camera.” FStoppers 6 November 2025. https://fstoppers.com/historical/rise-and-fall-point-and-shoot-camera-715387.

    McLennan, Tara. “Hashtag ‘Sunset’: Smartphone Photography and the Punctum of Time.” The International Journal of the Image 7.1 (2016): 33-43. https://doi.org/10.18848/2154-8560/CGP/v07i01/33-43

    Murashima, Claire. “Why Gen Z loves the digital compact cameras that millennials used to covet.” NPR 10 December 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/09/nx-s1-5209770/gen-z-digital-compact-cameras-millennials-trendy.


    Music Credits:

    “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020

    Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Material Concerns: Robust Public Transit Anyone? Pt. I

    Material Concerns: Robust Public Transit Anyone? Pt. I
    Dec 16 2025

    We begin this week's Material Concerns with stressing out Marcelle through vulgarity — and then swiftly turn the conversation over to a nice and long check in. of course, it wouldn't be a Material Concerns episode if we didn't do at least one other segment! We wrap up Part I with a Fixation Station that is maybe more of a Ok, Hear Me Out. Happy listening and join us for Part II on Patreon!


    Part II features Consumer Retorts, Creature Report and a quick voice memo dispatch from Coach to Hannah. To listen, join our Patreon for as little as $54/year! You'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! Go to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!


    ***

    Music Credits:

    “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020

    Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
  • The Lord of the Rings x Arcadia with Text Me Back! With Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays

    The Lord of the Rings x Arcadia with Text Me Back! With Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays
    Dec 9 2025
    We always nerd out, but in this episode we're joined in our geek sesh by the incredibly charming, brilliant and funny Lindy West (she/her) and Meagan Hatcher-Mays (she/her) to discuss (drumroll!) The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As you may already know, Hannah and Marcelle share a love of JRR Tolkien's world and in this episode they finally get to discuss Peter Jackson's adaptation from the early aughts.The episode begins with an overview of the books' popularity in the middle of the 20th century and their lasting impact on fantasy and science fiction literature, television and film. Hannah then offers some context for the release of The Fellowship of the Ring. Together, we consider the desire by the public to escape in a post 9/11 world and the fantasy of a pastoral utopia! Hannah then offers some theory! We're talking Arcadia people!This episode is a perfect listen for fans of The Lord of the Rings, as well as anyone who has ever fantasized about knitting in a cottage away from the hustle and bustle of industrialized cities!Works CitedFrey, Angelica. “Cottagecore Debuted 2,300 Years Ago.” JSTOR Daily 11 November 2020. https://daily.jstor.org/cottagecore-debuted-2300-years-ago/. Huffstutter, P.J. “Not Just a Tolkien Amount.” LA Times 24 October 2003. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-24-fi-frodoecon24-story.html. Kruske, Kyle. “Lord Of The Rings’ Hobbiton Shire Set Took A Whole Year To Make.” Screenrant 18 December 2021. https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-hobbiton-shire-set-one-year-build/. Lois, Gemma. “‘The Lord of the Rings’: A Thematic Echo Of The Industrial Revolution – Extended Edition.” A Musing Clio 23 June 2025. https://gemmahistory.home.blog/2025/06/23/the-lord-of-the-rings-a-thematic-echo-of-the-industrial-revolution-extended-edition/. Sanders, Sam. “Tolkien Acknowledged That Black People Exist in Arda, So Why Can’t Everyone Else?” Vulture 16 September 2022. https://www.vulture.com/article/rings-of-power-black-hobbits-lord-of-the-rings-amazon.html. Shanahan, Paula. “Authentic Fantasy: The Representation of the Shire as a Nostalgic Arcadia.” Thesis. Submitted to the Department of Design and Visual Arts in candidacy for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Design for Stage and Screen, 2023. https://illustro-iadt.figshare.com/articles/thesis/Authentic_fantasy_The_representation_of_the_Shire_as_a_nostalgic_arcadia_Astudy_of_the_visual_and_design_references_within_the_shire_in_the_film_adaption_of_The_Lord_of_the_Rings/25435744?file=45129961. Wikipedia, the encyclopedia of the people. 2025. More Info:For more Lindy and Meagan, check out Text Me Back! — one of Hannah McGregor's all-time favorite podcasts! You can also follow them on Substack here! Be sure to pre-order Lindy West's upcoming book Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane.To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca.We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease!Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
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