Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree

Jeffrey Thayne and Mike Barnhill join our intrepid crew for this episode. Our continuing mission? To dissect the moral universe of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and ask again why Mormons love Star Trek so much. Klingon boy bands, war criminals, time travel, and more! Show Notes: https://www.popcultureapricottree.com/post/strangenewworldss2 Video editing by Liz Busby; Audio mastering by Carl Cranne...

Hi Barbie! It's time for our discussion of all things pink and all things ... Ken? Meagan Kohler and Suzanne Tanner join us to talk about feminism and the feminine, matriarchy and patriarchy, and individualism versus relationships. Show Notes: https://www.popcultureapricottree.com/post/barbie Video editing by Liz Busby; Audio mastering by Carl Cranney Associate Links: Links to products may be...

Who would have thought a biopic adaptation of a 1000-page tome would become a summer blockbuster? Author Daniela A. Mera and returning guest Conor Hilton join us for a discussion of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. How did we as Latter-day Saints wrestle with the film's ambiguous messages about the development of the atomic bomb as well as the portrayal of sexual infidelity? We think about...

We're back from our summer break. Here's what we've been watching this summer and what we're planning to talk about in the second half of this season.

Can the message of a work triumph over poor artistic execution and a lack of understanding of genre? Jim Bennett and Joseph Addington join us to discuss this less-than-successful film version of the classic musical, which is itself an adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic work. Jim tells us about the pull this musical has on the Utah theater community and Joseph shares his love of the novel'...

Join us as we delve into season three of Disney's The Mandalorian and Din Djarin's quest to be redeemed from his apostacy. Jacob Hess and Jared Esselman join us to discuss the latest and most religious season of the Star Wars spin-off show. We start with the overall unsatisfying religious arc of Star Wars up to this point and how this season turned that around by using a Jewish template fo...

Join us as we dive into Bluey, the super popular children's television show from Australia. Bluey superfan Cassandra Hedelius explains why she loves this show's realistic portrayal of the special brand of humor that comes with raising kids. And BYU-Idaho education professor Ben Pacini tells us how he uses the show to teach his students about educational psychology. We talk about the positi...

In this episode, we delve into the many ways mothers are portrayed in the pop culture. Our guests Carol Rice and Tiffany Hales help us explore the complexity and variety of moms in television, from Tami Taylor in Friday Night Lights, juggling motherhood with her career as a principal, to Marge Simpson's tireless commitment to her family's well-being. Of course, non-biological mother figure...

Dungeons and Dragons is a popular hobby among Latter-day Saints, so we rounded up some dungeon masters for this episode. Shannon Oler and Parker Sappington join us to discuss D&D: Honor Among Thieves, the new movie starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez. This fantasy adventure comedy has us asking how similar are paladin oaths to temple covenants. We also talk about how D&D can be used...

Join us as we get our feet wet in the North Carolina marshes to discuss this adaptation of the popular novel. Guests Jamie Lewis Holt and Shelby Thayne help us discuss how we might use Kya's experiences with Tate and Chase to talk about warning signs of dating violence with our teenagers and young adults. Is Kya justified in seeking justice outside the system when there's little hope it wi...

Can you atone for years of hurt after a major breach of trust by asking forgiveness? And are people inherently awful to each other or are they unable to help caring for each other? We welcome Glen Nelson of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and David Sandhu onto the podcast to discuss The Whale, Darren Aronofsky's latest film. Watch Carl's perspective change over the course of the episo...

Do we understand God as clearly as we think, or do we have to fight through as many difficulties as Louise does when conversing with the heptapods in the film Arrival? Our guests Paul Williams and Michael Davenport have a lot to say about this and other questions. We delve into Louise as a type of Eve and nature of her choice to bring a child into the world in spite of certain death, including med...

Two Pinocchio films, one clear winner? Come compare these two 2022 adaptations of the classic story as we discover that you can buy anything in this world with money except good CGI effects. Our guests Adam Stokes and Rachel Helps get us into some deep discussions about the Mormon doctrine of the resurrection and the materiality of the spirit. And we look at how the two films portray the obligatio...

In this episode, we dive into everyone's favorite show starring Jesus, The Chosen. With guests Dallin Crump and poet Merrijane Rice, we give a Latter-day Saint perspective on the multi-season New Testament adaptation phenomenon. What does Drew Barrymore's Cinderella adaptation Ever After have to do with The Chosen? What scenes were the most moving to us as Latter-day Saints? What's it like to prod...

Normally hashtags are not lethal, but you can always expect the worst of technology in the dystopian world of Black Mirror. This episode is a crossover with Radical Civility , a podcast run by our friend Ben Pacini, all about having difficult conversations with civility and respect. We use the Black Mirror episode "Hated in the Nation" as a jumping-off point to discuss the ways in which social med...

Just a quick announcement to let you know that season 2 will be starting on January 26th. We'll let you know what we're going to be discussing so you can follow along from home. Show Notes: https://www.popcultureapricottree.com/post/season2preview

Rounding out our first season is our discussion of Amazon's Rings of Power series. We do some buy-or-sell discussion on the various plotlines that are crammed into this eight-episode, billion-dollar series: Galadriel, the Southlanders, Elrond and Durin, and more. We talk about some of the ways that the series fails to capture the pre-modern worldview that's characteristic of Tolkien's writing and...

For our Christmas episode, we discuss the perennial favorite Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol , and why it has been made and re-made so many times in TV and film. We discuss the themes of repentance and re-integration, why the story is so Christian and yet barely mentions Christ. Our lively discussion compares and contrasts many incarnations of the story, from the 1935 black and white ver...

A conversation about Mormonism in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, live from Dragonsteel 2022. Our panel digs into the LDS symbolism and theology in the Wax & Wayne series. Crack open your Book of Mormon as we discuss the problem of theodicy when God is someone you know (and might be someday!). We also talk about how agency is more complex than we think. Was the shattering a fortunate fall...

Join us for a discussion about the weirdness that is Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle with William Morris, author of The Darkest Abyss: Strange Mormon Stories, and Ivan Wolfe, who throws trees for fun. We talk about the contrast between the book and the movie and why this movie's weirdness makes it a great anti-war film. We also talk about the uniqueness of a movie that focuses on housework a...

If you're ready for some spooky watching, Midnight Mass will fit the bill. Join us for our Halloween special as we discuss horror director Mike Flanagan's 7-part miniseries about the small fishing town of Crockett Island and its Catholic priest. We'll cover portrayals of religion in Hollywood, moral choices for vampires, life after death, forgiveness and judgment, along with other supernatural hap...

Sure, Top Gun Maverick is a near perfect summer blockbuster, but what moral lessons can we draw from it? We talk about the difficulty of forgiveness, the nature of teamwork, and Ben Pacini returns to sell us on heroic masculinity. We also get a glimpse behind the scenes from Brad Wilson of Keslow Camera, who provided the specialized gear to shoot the fighter jet footage in the film.   Show No...

Fire up your warp drive and order some Postum from the replicator! It's time for a super nerdy, super Mormon discussion of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We talk about the return to episodic storytelling, the theme of sacrifice, and which episode was based on a classic science fiction short story by Ursula LeGuin. Find out which episode disappointed us and which returning villain freaked us out. A...

Join us for a cozy discussion of the delightful Japanese film Mirai. We talk about how this film compares to other depictions of family dynamics and how the film is unique in highlighting a stay-at-home dad (or househusband, if you will). Is this film the best way to motivate yourself to do family history? Listen and find out!   Show Notes: http://www.popcultureapricottree.com/post/mirai

This movie may be so-so as a science fiction property, but we think it's excellent as a film about family relationships, grief, and raising teenagers. This episode has a lot of callouts to other time travel films and tv shows as well as some disagreement about the appropriateness of young Adam's questions for his older self. We also reveal that Liz mixes up Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks (oops!). Join u...