The Gifted Child Symposium

In December 2020, audiences around the world were blessed with the first season of the hit Netflix TV show, Bridgerton : a sexy, romantic romp that blended all of the glamour and escapism of a Regency era romance with diverse representation across race and sexuality. The team behind it all called it ‘colour-blind casting’ - except, it wasn’t quite so blind in reality. Six years, four seasons, and...

At first glance, Celeste appears to be a very straight-forward game: a 2D platformer about a girl climbing a mountain, where the aim is to get to the top of the mountain. It’s a borderline cliché. So why is it that this game is considered to be one of the best of all time? Join us this episode as we delve into the philosophy of games, with big thanks to the work of C. Thi Nguyen. Why do we play ga...

Crosses, holy water, and a pair of red leather pants: Buffy the Vampire Slayer put these Christian symbols on the small screen and used them to defeat the forces of darkness. Throughout its seven (fantastic) seasons, the show depicts sacrificial deaths and biblical resurrections in the midst of its camp monster-fighting and iconic villains, always trying to get the upper hand in the battle of good...

Old libraries and dusty tomes. Gothic spires and cobblestone streets. Corduroy trousers and tweed blazers. Ink stains and candle wax. Dark Academia is every English lit grad’s wet dream, and we, your local former gifted children, are by no means immune to its charms. And neither is Netflix it seems. Join us this episode as we discuss the pervasiveness of Dark Academia across all corners of pop cul...

The Gifted Children are going back to school! Today’s lesson: LESBIAN VAMPIRES! Most specifically, their history and legacy, from Carmilla to First Kill and stopping by some of her most iconic cinematic appearances. Joining us for this episode is the utterly brilliant writer and filmmaker Lulenoxx, whose immense knowledge and passion for queer theory, history, and media makes them the perfect gues...

You know them. You love them. You find them inexplicably attractive. In this first ever minisode of the Gifted Child Symposium, we discuss the evergreen trope of the broody male love interest. Think Mr Darcy from Pride & Prejudice , Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses , Edward Cullen from Twilight , and many, many more. What is it about these mysterious, sullen, tall, dark, and handsome m...

TV musical episodes - truly the marmite of TV episode genres. Love ‘em, hate ‘em, tolerate ‘em, you can’t deny that they are amongst the funniest and most memorable episodes in  your favourite TV shows. You get to watch your beloved characters sing and dance, whether they want to or not. That’s all there is to it… right? In this episode, we dig deep into our ability to over-analyse the most banal...

Have you ever thought of Willy Wonka, not as mad genius or whimsical chocolate maker, but as a corrupt CEO? In this episode, we will discuss and shed light on how he and Mark Zuckerberg have more in common than you realize. This is also the first (although not the last) time The Gifted Child Symposium is featuring a guest! We are joined by Max Elliott, our theme song composer and resident Charlie...

Welcome to the first episode of 2025! We’re kicking off the year with a deep-dive into ‘the lakes’, the bonus track on Taylor Swift’s 2020 Grammy-award winning album folklore . Some may wonder how two people can spend over an hour talking about a single 3.5 minute long track, and to that we say: are you even surprised anymore? Let us first point out that we are huge fans of Taylor Swift’s songwrit...

What do Chaucer, Shakespeare, and MsKingBean89 have in common? What unites them, beyond their abilities to speak to the masses of their time, pioneering brand new literary traditions that represent their own lived identity? RIP Shakespeare, you would’ve loved AO3. Welcome to the second episode in our two-part series on fanfiction, in which we explore the enduring and necessary tradition of transfo...

If you’re anything like us, some of your favourite books exist only on a little site called Archive of Our Own, and some of your favourite authors are only known by a weird internet username, and some of your favourite characters are well known fictional characters, but only written by this one specific anonymous pseudonym. This is the first episode in a two part series about fanfiction. This time...

Is heterosexuality enough to take down a tyrannical government? That is the question YA dystopian novels in the 2010s were brave enough to ask. Over a decade later, we take it upon ourselves to try to answer it. In this episode, we analyse some of the most iconic and still-relevant-to-this-day books such as The Hunger Games, Uglies, and Delirium, exploring the tropes and inconsistencies that made...

Remember Cars ? It has probably lingered in the abyss of your childhood memories - the story of an arrogant race car who learns the meaning of community and becomes the best racer. But if you've revisited this franchise recently you may have been haunted by very different concerns. Turns out, the world of Cars is a capitalist nightmare (relatable) that implicitly endorses eugenics (not relatab...

Tired of living through major historical events? Do you feel like the times are never going to stop being unprecedented? Does every news alert fill you with existential dread and anxiety? Introducing the wonderful optimism of Red, White & Royal Blue ! This month, we invite you to dare to imagine a world in which the bi, mixed race, First Son of the United States and the gay spare to the Britis...

This time, we’re taking on a film basically everyone has an opinion on: Barbie (2023), dir. Greta Gerwig. We will dissect the gendered societal structure of Barbieland, praise the rise of himbos, discuss the tradition of utopian narratives, and apply some good ol’ Audre Lorde to girl’s night (which is every night). Music by Max Elliott Bibliography Babb, Tiffany. “The Ken Problem.” Popverse , 10 A...

This episode is all about the bear, the myth, the legend: Paddington. Whether you know him as the British icon who has tea with the Queen, or if you know him as the quirky little bear with a big heart, Paddington Bear's reputation certainly precedes him. Join us this month as we attempt to unpick the dynamics of Paddington's dual identity as both a model Brit and model immigrant. We will b...

Have you ever looked at two fictional characters and thought to yourself omg they are gay and so in love despite the aggressively platonic or heterosexual relationships they’re shown in? Have you ever been personally victimised by a straight showrunner for 10 seasons of TV? In this episode we discuss shipping and the psychology behind it, as well as queerbaiting and Roland Barthes’ "The Death...

Who says we don’t talk about Bruno? In this episode, we take a deep dive into Disney's Encanto , and the specifics and non-specifics of its world. Enjoy as we dissect its bizarre societal, religious, and physical structure, musing over issues such as are the Madrigals an absolute monarchy? Can Julieta's arepas cure mental illness? And where in the world is Colombia according to Disney? Mus...

For our first episode, we analyze the literary classics known as The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer through the lenses of the Biblical Fall. Starting with the claims of anti-feminism that plagued the books and movies in their time, we develop our argument by deeply considering the books’ religious allegories and Mormon values, the mechanics of vampire sex, and how old exactly is Carlisle Cullen....

Welcome to The Gifted Child Symposium Podcast!