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Pop Detective

@popdetective.bsky.social

2.7K followers 430 following 180 posts

Video essays focusing on the intersections of society, masculinity, politics, and entertainment. Hosted by Jonathan McIntosh

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · May 27

New video essay examining the myth of the "alpha male" and how that false ideal propagates through popular culture: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpvp...

The Myth of the Alpha Male

YouTube video by Pop Culture Detective

www.youtube.com

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 1d

Just finished reading. Poignant and troubling. I’ll be quoting the chapter on “AI girlfriends” in an upcoming video essay I’ve been working on this summer.

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 5d

This book is extremely important and spot on in how it pinpoints the latent misogyny emended in AI chatbots and other new tech. Check out “The New Age of Sexism” by Laura Bates

Book cover entitled “The New Age of Sexism” by Laura Bates

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 4d

Just when you think she’s found the most disgusting possible application of technology, she reveals an even worse example of misogyny.

Reposted by Pop Detective

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 5d

This book is extremely important and spot on in how it pinpoints the latent misogyny emended in AI chatbots and other new tech. Check out “The New Age of Sexism” by Laura Bates

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 5d

This book is extremely important and spot on in how it pinpoints the latent misogyny emended in AI chatbots and other new tech. Check out “The New Age of Sexism” by Laura Bates

1 14 67

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 8d

Ah yes, the New England version of awesome

Reposted by Pop Detective

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 20d

The Sound of Music (1965)

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 20d

The Sound of Music (1965)

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Reposted by Pop Detective

Film Updates @thefilmupdates.bsky.social · 24d

Javier Bardem at the #Emmys: "Here I am today denouncing the genocide in Gaza... Free Palestine!"

(via @Variety)

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Reposted by Pop Detective

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 24d

"I just want to say, go birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine," "Hacks" star Hannah Einbinder at the #Emmys

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 24d

That's the very short version but honestly it would require a whole video essay to flush it out.

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 24d

Very briefly - "War is hell" is a worldview wherein war can be seen as trial by fire, something awful/twisted but necessary and important. Embedded in that is the idea that going through hell makes men, and the nation, stronger as a result. And/or war is viewed as an inevitable part of human nature.

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 24d

Fun fact: Walter Murch was the film editor on both movies which meant he was editing his own sequence into another film.

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 24d

There's a scene in the movie Jarhead where soldiers are shown the surfing sequence from Apocalypse Now to pump them up before invading Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. It works, the soldiers leave filled with blood-lust. That scene is based on real events. The US Marines really did that.

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · 24d

An important thing to understand about this is that Apocalypse Now is not an "antiwar" film. Francis Ford Coppola said so himself. It's a "war is hell" narrative. The film and especially the cool surfing scene has been co-opted by the US Military and conservatives to promote imperialism for decades.

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Sep 6

Working on a new thing…

Blu-ray cover for Weird Science special edition.

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 30

This trend is annoying but it's also insulting to young folks. It points to a larger pattern where Hollywood is increasingly formulaic and talks down to viewers, especially kids.

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 30

After all, if someone doesn't say the word "awesome" out loud, how will the audience know if a thing is awesome or not? It's impossible in a medium like film.

a chipmunk is sitting in a car with the words " this is awesome " on the screen

Alt: Dale from the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers movie yells "This is awesome!"

media.tenor.com

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 30

The "This is awesome!" trend in family films is a silly pet peeve of mine. A character loudly exclaims that something is awesome. The obligatory line typically comes during, or right after, they do said awesome thing. I've collected almost 200 examples so far: letterboxd.com/popdetective...

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Reposted by Pop Detective

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · Aug 25

80s nostalgia AI slop: A niche like any other, reverse engineered by 20-something digital nomads in Bali to boomerfy the masses as they astral project to a fake past in service of making fractions of a cent per view on Zuckerberg's cultish algorithmic slop machine

www.404media.co/80s-nostalgi...

80s Nostalgia AI Slop Is Boomerfying the Masses for a Past That Never Existed

AI makes it easier than ever to slip into the comforting glow of nostalgia.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Pop Detective

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · Aug 14

Next time you run into anyone who thinks it doesn't matter that slop machines have no brains, maybe show them this. CEOs and senior management in #education who integrate this into their institutions are incompetent - or getting kickbacks. #academicsky

Joman @joman.bsky.social · Aug 13

Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

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Reposted by Pop Detective

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · May 27

New video essay examining the myth of the "alpha male" and how that false ideal propagates through popular culture: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpvp...

The Myth of the Alpha Male

YouTube video by Pop Culture Detective

www.youtube.com

5 96 200

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 8

Tech Bros have turned the internet into an hellscape of bullshit. At the top of every google search we're greeted with an "AI Overview," which is an avalanche of misinformation, fabricated drivel, and hallucinated nonsense. None of the data returned by "generative AI" can be trusted as reliable.

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Reposted by Pop Detective

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 8

Marlene Dietrich performing masculinity in the pre-Code Hollywood film "Morocco" from 1930

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 8

Marlene Dietrich performing masculinity in the pre-Code Hollywood film "Morocco" from 1930

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Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 3

You can follow on Patreon for free to see the full supercut BTW, you don’t really have to donate to the channel. Shhh don’t tell anyone 🤫

Pop Detective @popdetective.bsky.social · Aug 3

Followers on Patreon get a peak behind-the-scenes of my researching process for creating video essays. This montage features 12 minutes of media references to the old cliché where a caveman clubs a woman over the head and drags her back to his cave. www.patreon.com/posts/behind...

Behind-the-Scenes Supercut: Caveman Courtship | Pop Culture Detective