Queerly Popular

Today we talk about the 2018 hit,  Love Simon . The movie was based off of the book  Simon vs. the Homo Sapien's Agenda by Becky Albertalli. I talk about seeing this movie 14 times in movie theaters and a total of almost 70 times since it came out. I also talk about why I love this movie, look at (and reenact) a few scenes (see the links below for those and more!), and some of the more problematic...

Welcome to the final episode of the first season of Queerly Popular! Today, we are going to talk about the 2007 film  Shelter , a film which won many awards at various festivals. This is in my top three queer movies of all time along with Love, Simon and  The Thing About Harry . Although it is an independent film like Defying Gravity , the production values, acting, and dialogue are so much better...

No, not the song from  Wicked ! I am talking about the 1997 independent film of the same name. It was one of the first pieces of queer media that I ever watched and holds deep meaning for me because of that. The movie is low budget, the script isn't the best, and the actors are new, but for all that, it has a big heart and a lovely message about making things better if you really, really screw up....

Today, we are talking about the show  Queer as Folk , which was on Showtime from 2000-2005. It was a groundbreaking show that also had many problematic aspects including a lack of representation in terms of race, gender identity, and socioeconomically; a relationship between an adult and an underage boy (he was 17, so not a child, but still!); and biphobia. Despite its problems, it truly was a gro...

Today, we are going to talk about the book  Red, White, & Royal Blue , a 2019 romance novel which uses the enemies to lovers trope. It is a story about the First Son of the United States and and English Prince (not Crown Prince though) falling in love and the various travails and issues that follow. They have finished filming the movie for release on Amazon Prime in 2023 (summer, I believe). As al...

In this special episode, I talk (ok, rant) about the bullying of Joe and Kit that has taken place recently that forced Kit to out himself as bisexual and that drove Joe to deactivate his Twitter account temporarily. Warning: I am really pissed off and use some definitely NSFW language (mainly f-bombs and using a euphemism for excrement). If that offends you, skip this episode because I ain't gonna...

And here we go with what is one of my favorite movies. This movie was a huge part of my coming out story as a "there but for the grace of God go I" comparison. I love this 2003 movie because it gave me hope for my future when I was worried about what it meant to be queer and religious. This is a fairly heavy episode because I do talk about religious trauma and because suicide does come up as a par...

I am so excited to have this for you! This is an interview I had with a singer/songwriter/Heartstopper fan named Elvis. I found out about him when he was releasing short versions of songs about each of the chartacters on Instagram and then discovered he had other songs on Spotify. We have a lot of fun talking about how he found out about Heartstopper, bonding over Elite (he is so coming back for a...

We have another special episode for you today! We have two guests with us to talk about the hit show Heartstopper. Our guests today are Brian G. Murphy and Pastor Kari Parsons; a pastor, wife, and mother of two teens. We take the oppirtunity to talk about the importance of Heartstopper, what it means to us, why we watch it, what impressed us, what character were our favorites, and so much more. Yo...

Today we have our first of three episodes about the Netflix show Heartstopper. Based off a graphic novel, it is the story of Nick and Charlie that tells how they meet and fall in love. Today I talk about what I love about the show (which is most of it!), what I don't love (how Tao ignores what Charlie needs and Elle's outing of Narlie), and some other thoughts. This really is my favorite show, so...

Today we have a special treat for you. Brian G. Murphy of the Queer Theology podcast is a guest on our show to talk about Love Victor! Brian is a relationship coach, the co-host of the Queer Theology podcast and the co-creator of the Queer Theology website. He also helped run one of the biggest Everwood fansites in the early 2000s. We talk about Victor's journey, Isabel's journey and some mistakes...

Today we talk about Love Victor , the Hulu show that takes place in the same high school as 2018s Love Simon . The show ran for three seasons on Hulu and is also on Disney+ now (in the US). I focus on Victor and his relationships with Benji, Rahim, and Isabel. I also talk a little about Lucy and Lake in the third season. If you want to see more in-depth reviews and more about other characters, as...

Consider this part 2 of the discussion from the last episode. We talk about why it is important to have queer actors play queer characters, why having cis actors play trans characters is particularly problematic, and answer a few common objections to the idea. To see a schedule for the remainder of the season, follow us on Instagram or Twitter (@queerlypopular). Please remember to rate and review...

Today we are talking about why it is important to have people represented in the creative process: writing, directing, editing, acting, producing, etc. We also talk about some examples of representation (both good and not so good) and how it has changed over the years. The next episode will be about why it is important to have queer actors play queer characters. And yes, it really is important. If...

Welcome to Queerly Popular, a podcast about queerness in pop culture. This episode is an introduction to the podcast, a brief explanation of how it came into being, and about two pieces of media that I *WILL NOT* be talking about (and why). Our next episode will be in two weeks and will be about the importance of representation in pop culture. https://linktr.ee/mychelvandover- My Linktree Podcast...