The Side Characters

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT the Side Characters is now a part of the Educated Mess Network! A podcast network centered around shows that take "deep dives" into their subject matter and utilize quality sources to inform their work. Please check out the network and the other shows here: podcast network centered around shows that take "deep dives" into their subject matter and utilize quality sources to inform their work.

 

On this episode Jordan and Leah take turns telling eachother about recent nerd news. Jordan covers the Activision Blizzard lawsuit while Leah focuses on Twitches problem with hate raids.  Things in the nerd world are a mess right now, but as always we push forward to a more diverse nerd culture.

Here are some helpful links:

The video Leah mentions in the episode: https://twitter.com/CriticalBard/status/1425240309353570304

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/08/11/twitch-do-better-hate-raids/

Petition for Twitch:https://www.change.org/p/amazon-twitch-do-better-stop-hate-raids-against-people-of-color-and-marginalized-creators?recruiter=54722272&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial&recruited_by_id=66c2c240-bf1a-0130-c868-3c764e051fd7

Article about the day off twitch: https://www.pcgamer.com/after-months-of-hate-raids-streamers-plan-adayofftwitch/

Activision Blizzard News:

https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-controversy-timeline-explained/ 

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/22/1019293032/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-unequal-pay-sexual-harassment-video-games 

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/28/1021828155/activision-blizzard-workers-are-walking-out-after-the-studios-sexual-harassment- 

 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

Hey everyone, Jordan here, I MESSED UP BAD. This episode we are releasing was our hiatus announcement and the reason we have not released new episodes in the last few months. I moved and Leah went to focus on her PHD. Despite that we have been planning and writing, and new episodes will be coming out very soon. I am sorry we didn't get this out earlier but please enjoy the episode.

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

 

On this episode we take the time to talk about the Pros and Cons of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel and Disney seem to be taking a bit of a media take over and we wanted to briefly discuss how this effects the nerd world both negatively and positively. 

 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

On this episode Jordan talks about an experience he had this week. After reading yet another manga, he ran into a horrible portrayal of an African American character. Upon looking into reactions of this character Jordan kept seeing the phrase, it is the artist right whether or not to include diversity and how they portray their characters. After that the side characters sat down to discuss. Is it up to the artist to decide what goes into a work, and if so how does one handle that responsibility . Enjoy this weeks Side Characters Podcast. 

 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

*Trigger Warning, on this episode we talk about sexual violence from minute 25 to minute 42:30.*

*Spoiler warning, we spoil Attack On Titan from minute 45 to Minute 62.*

On this episode we take the time to vent quite a bit a few tropes in media that make us mad. These are usually things that happen in seemingly normal shows that prevent us from enjoying that media. This episode we talk about the trope "rape to relationship", screen time for black characters in media, and the mildly problematic end of Attack on titan. Enjoy~ 

 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

Tweeting the songs of angry men. On this episode we take a deep dive into cancel culture to explore what it means, and if we think it is necessary. Cancel culture has been in the public eye recently due to incidents such as Gina Carano's firing from Disney. Is cancel culture necessary? Does it actually mean anything? Does cancel culture do more harm than good? Tune into this weeks episode!~

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

Helpful Links and Citations :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhrDmrG_3I4

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1527476420918828?casa_token=PI78ws_7XcsAAAAA%3A4w32Clyp5xalddcPUKSJeR1M-b7wosW7OYLnSV_FQFefpThFP69Qvq7I_bksprFbe6wrT3jVU04

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211695820300647?casa_token=sE9FrZ5TY08AAAAA:1txWuu50bAbOa2RaRxw9KaMB9r4D-_9G_f_BhRZqW_kz_pXK2PJ7CJaJ9AGeHUWr24mh5llP

https://www.frieze.com/article/outrage-over-hiring-white-woman-african-art-curator-misunderstands-expertise

Bouvier, G., 2020. Racist call-outs and cancel culture on Twitter: The limitations of the platform’s ability to define issues of social justice. Discourse, Context & Media, 38, p.100431.

Bouvier and Cheng, 2019. Understanding the potential of twitter for political activism. I. Chiluwa, G. Bouvier (Eds.), Activism, Campaigning and Political Discourse on Twitter, Nova, New York, pp. 1-16

Ott, B.L., 2017. The age of Twitter: Donald J. Trump and the politics of debasement. Critical studies in media communication, 34(1), pp.59-68.

Papacharissi, Z., 2016. Affective publics and structures of storytelling: Sentiment, events and mediality. Information, Communication & Society, 19(3), pp.307-324.

On this episode we take the time to dive into the concept of separating the art from the artist. Is separating the art from the artist necessary and responsible, or should you completely cut ties from artist you know have hurt others. We take the time to deep dive in our own personal experience with this idea and talk about how situations where the artist turned to be problematic affected us. Afterwards we discuss separation and how to talk to others about works you like that are made by problematic artist. 

 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

On this episode of Side Characters, we take the time to check in with each other about different topics that we have covered over the last year. 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

 

Once again we are back with more awful tropes for female characters. We discuss the Smurfette principal which is where there is a singular female character amongst multiple male characters. Then we move to the Ms. Male character trope, most commonly found with Ms. Pacman, in which the female character is just a copy of the male character or his powers. We take time to discuss why we hate these tropes, how they've gotten better (or worse) over the years and what we can do to move forward. Enjoy the episode~

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/

 

 

On this episode, we take a break from the heavier topics to talk about something that excites us. Recently the Dungeons and Dragons 5e expansion Tasha's Cauldron of Everything was released. We take the time to do a deep dive into this expansion and how it further diversifies the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Enjoy~

Jordan's recommendation of the week: Laura Jane Grace autobiography

Leah's recommendation: Bridgerton

 

If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you can email us @: sidecharacterspod@gmail.com

You can check Jordan out on his other podcast World Shop @: https://worldshoppodcast.podbean.com/