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Dr. Vaughn Joy

@gvaughnjoy.bsky.social

10K followers 3K following 1.6K posts

UCL PhD in Christmas Film History • MA in Comic Books • MPhil in Demons • Creator of https://blackwhiteandread.com/ • Author of Selling Out Santa: Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy (2025) • Wife of My Favorite Person • she/her

blackwhiteandread.com

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · Aug 28

Everything is terrible right now in general, but in personal good news, my book has a cover and I'm so excited to share it!!!

Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...

A book cover from De Gruyter. A faded American flag's red and white stripes sets the background. In the foreground are three Christmas baubles: a darker red ball is in front coming in from the left, a white ball is behind it, and a light navy blue ball hangs behind that. White text reads the title: Selling out Santa Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy. On the blue ball white text reads Vaughn Joy and the series name pop culture in context

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 4d

This week, I was prompted to review The Hunchback of Notre Dame from a genre perspective and I realized it's probably the film I would most recommend for everyone right now, young and old alike.

Frollo is a genocidal potential rapist who gleefully orders law enforcement to murder innocent civilians

And you might be like, “V, what the fuck? You just said that this is a phenomenal film for kids? Are you some kind of sick fuck like Disney filmmakers in the 1990s?” And, yea, kinda. How many moments in reading just that little synopsis did you go “well that sounds familiar”? A rapist leader threatening to round up and imprison innocent people because they’re different, because they live lives untethered to his own “norms”, because they dare to enjoy being human, because they provide for themselves and their families by creating art and music, because they promote self-expression, kindness, generosity, and justice? Sounds like something to warn against and to teach kids young that that’s the worst, most evil motherfucker Disney could think of.

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 1d

Updated the Blackademics starter pack again (!) to include Vincent Brown, Imani Perry, the Harare Review of Books and others. Stay tuned for more developments coming soon....

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 2h

Congratulations!!! How exciting!!

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Theresa Therrien @tdtherrien.bsky.social · 3h

So, a lil something I’ve been cookin’ up…

Debut author, Theresa Therrien’s SAINT JOAN BLACKHEART to Annette Pollert-Morgan at Sourcebooks Fire, at auction, in a two-book deal, in a six figure deal, by Rachel Letofsky at Transatlantic Agency (World, English) for publication Spring of 2027

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 5h

Most of the time I'm terrified of releasing Selling Out Santa publicly because I still can't believe someone let me write it and gave me a PhD for it, but someone who is reading it ahead of an interview said they're absolutely loving it and adding it to their own historiography chapter 🥹 and I cried

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · Aug 28

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Jennifer van Alstyne @jenvanalstyne.bsky.social · 5h

What types of academic websites are there? A guide for faculty, researchers, and graduate students, #AcademicSky #ScienceSky

theacademicdesigner.com/2025/types-o...

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Malinda Lo @malindalo.bsky.social · 5h

Hey, Massachusetts! Help tell our legislators they should pass An Act Regarding Free Expression to protect libraries, schools, and authors from book bans by sending them a postcard! Instructions on how to do this and where to get postcards here: www.massfreedomtoread.org/act @massaabb.bsky.social

Take Action — Mass Freedom To Read

www.massfreedomtoread.org

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 7h

"Listening" is the key word there and you can tell from how Shapiro continues his inane question that he is obviously unwilling to do so. He'll turn over creative control of his thoughts to a machine but won't listen to a man whose career is dedicated to helping us expand our thoughts' horizons.

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 7h

We just finished watching Simon's Treme and @americanstudier.bsky.social and I went to a screening and conversation with him and Wendell Pierce last month, and if you spent even 10 seconds listening to David Simon talk about art, you would never "imagine" he'd ever want anything to do with AI.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 21h

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 7h

Sounds brilliant! Congratulations 👏

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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 10h

My next book will be a biography of Jack Nicholson, written as an epic story of the transformation of the movie industry and modern masculinity from the 1950s to the present, with Nicholson as the main character. The title: Leading Man.

New York Times bestselling author and film & TV critic at New York Magazine Matt Zoller Seitz's LEADING MAN, the definitive biography of Jack Nicholson, casting Nicholson as the complex main character in an era of American culture spanning six decades, while shining a light on the actor’s crucial role in shaping modern masculinity, both on and off the screen, based on new interviews and original reporting, to Amar Deol at Grand Central, in an exclusive submission, by Ethan Bassoff at WME.

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 5d

This week for the first in my Spooky Season Monster Mash series, I watched a movie with the scariest monster I can think of: Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame in which the monster wraps himself in unjust laws and bible quotes to commit genocide and assault.
blackwhiteandread.com/monster-mash...

Poster for the animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). From the top of the bell tower, we see between the bells down into Paris blazing in orange. Quasimodo sits on the ledge reaching out for a dove.

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 7h

I didn't notice the sixth of January coincidence! That's mad. I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you liked my take on it too! Thank you for letting me know it led you to the film 🙂

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Lucius Fox In The Box @carnegro.bsky.social · 12h

Pope Leo is spitting.

www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...

Leo questioned a world where the wealth of the elite grows
"exponentially" while many "millions of people die of hunger or survive in conditions unfit for human beings." He also criticized "ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation,"
with false promises "that a free-market economy will automatically solve the problem of poverty."

Leo described a "new tyranny," which shuns any kind of oversight and where the economy is structured "in such a way that sacrifices are demanded of the masses in order to serve the needs of the powerful." The poor, he wrote, are only allowed "drops that trickle down."

The pope openly challenged "prosperity theology" and called Christians to the practice of giving charity. "It will not solve the problem of world poverty, yet it must still be carried out, with intelligence, diligence and social responsibility," he wrote.

Popular movements that challenge "the empire of money," invite people to take on the cause to combat poverty alongside the poor, instead of on their behalf, and "make history," the pope said. It our duty, Leo said, to "make their voices heard, albeit in different ways, in order to point out and denounce such structural issues, even at the cost of appearing foolish or naïve."

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 12h

Queen shit right here. We love to see it

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 12h

10 out of fucking 10.

Tiffany Cabán @tiffanycaban.bsky.social · 13h

I’m introducing a law today to keep ICE off Rikers. We must protect New Yorkers from modern-day storm troopers.

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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 1d

People ask what they can do in this moment: here's a crucially important election. There are 52,000 elections taking place next month, many of which will be determined by turnout.

Alex Burness @burness.bsky.social · 2d

Dispatch from Pennsylvania on a highly unusual state Supreme Court election—one of the few most consequential matters on the ballot anywhere in the country next month. New from me in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

Inside the Clunky Elections to Control Pennsylvania's Supreme Court - Bolts

The GOP is making an expensive push to end Democrats’ majority on a court at the center of election lawsuits, sparking a fledging campaign season with little precedent or template.

boltsmag.org

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Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 1d

Just about done rewatching Treme with @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social, & I love it even more this time around, through the lenses of all that's worst in our moment (foreshadowed by Katrina) & of the best in us that it finds in so much of New Orleans (as do I). 🗃️

www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2025/09/cons...

Considering History: 20 Years After Katrina – a Harbinger of the Best and Worst of America | The Saturday Evening Post

Much of what happened during and after Hurricane Katrina foretold patterns of events that would unfold over the next 20 years – from police brutality to National Guard occupations to the unexpected ge...

www.saturdayeveningpost.com

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 1d

It's truly worth the watch. Full cartoon plays after a brief intro.

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 1d

For no reason, just remembered this explicitly antifascist version of Chicken Little that Disney made in 1943. It's about the danger of following leaders who tell big lies. youtu.be/p_GaYdae4j0?...

Chicken Little

YouTube video by Mousefiles

youtu.be

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 1d

LOUDER.

also

Post from me saying

Anyway, media literacy is a survival skill now. Thems the breaks

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Steven Maher @smaher24.bsky.social · 1d

Chicago has more people than Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North and South Dakota, and Delaware combined. People in Chicago share two senators with 7 million other people in Illinois. Those smaller states have 12 senators all to themselves.

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Steven Maher @smaher24.bsky.social · 1d

Social Studies teachers talking with students about events in Chicago should make note of the fact that Cook County Illinois is home to more than 5 million people, a population greater than each of 26 states.

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Christmas Podcasts Podcast @sean-cpp.bsky.social · 1d

Chad and Seth sit down with Brian from @christmaspast.bsky.social to talk about his new book and more on @christmascousins.bsky.social

christmaspodcasts.com/the-origins-...

The Origins of Everything You Love About Christmas – w/Brian Earl...

Welcome back Christmas Cousins! In this episode, we sit down with the one and only Brian Earl, the legendary host of Christmas Past and author "Of Christmases Long, Long Ago". We unwrap Brian’s own ...

christmaspodcasts.com

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 3d

The Frollo stand among us need to take a hard, deep look in the mirror before Portland burns like Paris.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an excellent film to share with your young ones and a perfect one to help broach difficult conversations of media analysis
blackwhiteandread.com/monster-mash...

Now, I am not a religious person personally, but I have so much admiration of true faith. Frollo is a fascist cunt. He is not a religious person; he hides behind religion and the law to commit genocide, and God (spoiler) gets his ass in the end in a beautiful display of poetic justice. The film reinforces this idea that evil doers can wrap themselves in unjust laws and bible quotes to shield themselves from criticism and twist their own minds into thinking the inhumanity they perform every hour is righteous despite all evidence to the contrary.
This past week, Da Chicago Pope got MAGA's ass when he clapped back to their bullshit by saying it's not really pro-life to oppose abortion, back the death penalty, or support the "inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States.' Get 'em, Leo. Obviously Da Pope is now facing horrid abuse from the Frollo stans among us, but it gives me real hope to think about Da Pope confronting them directly. We know they're Frollo stans, but would they see themselves that way?

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Dr Marie Allitt @marieallitt.bsky.social · 1d

Of course the bigots and fascists don’t want you to study English.

The enemy of fascism is:
Close reading
Clear communication
Questioning the meaning of what you read
Accurate spelling & grammar
Thinking for yourself
Creativity
Understanding the mechanics of argument
Imagination
Enjoyment
Joy

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