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olivia stowell

@oliviastowell.bsky.social

2.9K followers 670 following 1.7K posts

theory bimbo, professional reality tv watcher tv/film editor @ Mid Theory Collective phd candidate studying television, race, gender, labor, and industry

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Nov 8

i’m really really proud of this essay i wrote about the reality tv classic Laguna Beach for Public Books. idk if anyone is reading things just for fun & thought right now, but if you are, try this! www.publicbooks.org/pre-recessio...

Pre-Recession Bliss, or Ignorance: “Laguna Beach” @ 20

There’s a connection between Laguna Beach’s lush close-ups of LC’s face and its recurrent, luxuriating shots of Orange County mansions.

www.publicbooks.org

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jul 29

how and why was it decided that the academic jobs wiki would be hosted on a fandom platform

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jul 8

anyone want to team up for scms 👀 i work on TV (esp reality TV), digital cultures and subcultures, unscripted content (TV and digital), and social media/platform studies and creator culture, w/ emphases on race, gender, and labor!

Society for Cinema and Media Studies @scmstudies.bsky.social · Jul 8

Conference proposal and award submission portals are now open! Questions? Be sure to check the General Conference Guidelines and Procedures on our website.

#SCMS26

Read more here: conta.cc/40ac5rj

Image of a bridge announcing submission portals are now open for 2026 SCMS conference.

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 17

omg i would love to syllabus swap, because i'd love to see yours! let me PM!

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 17

i used to get texts like this all the time and then i started replying in a polite, friendly way with (genuine) questions about Palestine and now i never get them

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 17

blah blah blah obligatory "work won't love you back." but actually i do feel enlivened and attuned when i do this work. and *i* love me back. and it is amazing when students talk about learning new ways of seeing and new ways of thinking, when they get brave enough to ask their questions.

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 17

I hope that this isn't my last class and that these aren't my last students. But if they are, they were SO GREAT. Honestly, I have been very very lucky, to love teaching and to have had students who love learning. This work brings me joy. I'm so lucky to have gotten to do it for 6 years!

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 17

Today I taught the last class of my summer reality TV course. This fall, I'm going on the academic job market for the first time. I told my students at the end of class that there is a non-zero chance that they may be the last students & this may be the last class I ever teach at the college level 😭

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 16

lol when i first saw the title my brain immediately went “historical materialists” lol! the movie definitely has class on the brain but idk if it says anything interesting at all about class…i’m tempted to write about it but idk if i have a new take, i feel like ive seen my gripes in other reviews!

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 16

as a romcom aficionado, a frequent moviegoer, & someone who has done a fair bit of dating, i really did not like celine song's MATERIALISTS. the film is nice to look at, but weirdly cast, weirdly written, & honestly circles back around to propping up the incel-like dating ethos it's trying to skewer

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Reposted by olivia stowell

Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · Jun 13

Start your weekend with MTC Summer reads and join us for any and all! More information on our website mid-theory.com/reading/

Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · Jun 2

This summer MTC will be running two reading groups, one fiction and one theory. We hope you can join us for one or both. You can find more information on our website:
mid-theory.com/reading/

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Reposted by olivia stowell

Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · Jun 11

sometimes the hardest part is getting started! tell your friends, your students ✨

Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · Jun 11

In addition to our reading groups, MTC will host a writing workshop on job market materials this summer. First meeting will be June 27th @ 2pm ET. Second meeting first week of August, date TBD. More information: mid-theory.com/mtc-writing-...

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Reposted by olivia stowell

Jay Shelat @jshelat1.bsky.social · Jun 13

Come read good stuff with us!!!

Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · Jun 2

This summer MTC will be running two reading groups, one fiction and one theory. We hope you can join us for one or both. You can find more information on our website:
mid-theory.com/reading/

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 9

some days my work really makes me feel tired and frustrated, and other days what i get to do for work is pick which drag race lip syncs i'm going to include in my lecture about reality tv and queer politics, and i remember how cool and lucky my life is

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 6

revising my original tweet to *song of the year in light of this 🙂‍↕️

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 6

belle-a’s immediately evident tiktok brainrot and her egregious blaccent truly like make me feel enmity between myself and society

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 6

i know this is not the central cultural event right now but i have to express that it’s been a LONG time since i have instinctively and immediately hated reality cast members as much as i hate nic, austin, and belle-a on the current season of #LoveIslandUSA

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

ok this made me for the first time connect “can’t talk to you” in this flight tonight with “i wanna talk to you” in all i want! thank you for sharing!!

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

guarantee that whatever sabrina carpenter does next cannot rival heaven or las vegas

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

i need bluesky polls so people can vote:
“i want your love above and under me”
“i want to love a boy that won’t love me”
“i want to love me”
other???

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

the reason why this would be the perfect song of the summer is it’s a rorschach test

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

in lieu of cultural consensus around a “song of the summer” this year i am making an executive decision that the song of the summer is “heaven or las vegas” by cocteau twins

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olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

theory and therapy very concordant!!

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

sadly he had not lol

olivia stowell @oliviastowell.bsky.social · Jun 5

he had never heard of wittgenstein but was very compelled by my simplified rendering of the private language argument lmao! and i did also share what you said about “the dark side of the moon.” the reading group’s power!!

Reposted by olivia stowell

JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · Jun 5

This year, in the absence of any media outlet or corporation asking me to write about Pride, I challenged myself to write a Pride essay I’d actually want to read. This is what I wrote. open.substack.com/pub/johnpaul...

Shelter

An autobiography in Pride Months

open.substack.com

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