The Side Characters

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...

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. Afte...

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 tro...

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 recomme...

This episode we cover a topic that encompasses most of what we have been talking about up to this week. Tokenism, the act of adding representation just in-order to check off a box. Does tokenism just mean African American characters who are seemingly out of place, or is it much deeper than that? Enjoy this weeks episode!~ If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the conversation you...

As part of the push for a consistent schedule we are recording shorter less involved episodes while we prepare our much bigger episodes. This episode we are taking a look back at one of our favorite series and putting it to the scrutiny of current times. Does Full Metal Alchemist still hold up based on current values, or does it fall short? Find out our opinions on this weeks Side Characters .  If...

This week we are joined by guest and friend of Leah to talk about mental health in nerd culture. We cover topics such as how mental health is portrayed in media and how we would like to see it portrayed. Thank you for listening! Media mentioned: Gris, Night in the woods, Breath of the wild, Bojack Horseman, Leah has been watching: Schitts Creek Jordan has been playing: Spiderman: Miles Morales, Ma...

Quick Update! There is no new episode this week, but we are working hard to make sure we can hold a more consistent schedule in the future! Thanks for listening!!   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/

This episode we continue down the line of talking about wanting characters with agency. This time we cover the trope of fridging, in which a female character is brutalized in order to forward the plot or motivate a mail character. This term was coined after Green Lantern #54 in which green lanterns girlfriend was killed and stuffed into a fridge in order to create a plot point and motivation again...

Genki Girl Wikihow as mentioned in the episode: https://www.wikihow-fun.com/Be-a-Genki-Girl We continue down the line of exploring tropes in media, focusing on tropes that funnels women into a singular  idea, including the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" and the "Genki Girl". The Manic Pixie Dream girl is an idea of a women who exist in order to enlighten a man's life. The Genki Girl is a female characte...

This week we cover something a little more topical. The topic is the 2020 Mulan Live action remake and the nefarious underworking behind the scenes. Turns out the movie was less about representation and more about capitalism and pleasing China. Then the discussion turns to the question of should we support media that has representation, even if it that representation is through negative means? The...

We are back from a short break with a new episode! This week we decided to change things up and focus on happy things, diving deep into nerd nostalgia. We talk about beloved properties of the past and give a little bit of insight on who we are as nerds.  Properties mentioned in this episode: Reboot, Hey Arnold!, Cousin Skeeter, Doug, Dragonball Z, Smart Guy, Gundam, Rurouni Kenshin, Full Metal Alc...

"You mad?" Did this question trigger your anger as much as it did ours? Have you ever had your feelings invalidated, called crazy , or even your entire argument crushed based solely on your race or gender? Then you might be a hysterical person just like us. This week we deconstruct more stereotypes, focusing on the "Angry black man" "Sassy Black woman" and "Hysterical woman" stereo type.    If you...

Sometimes the Scariest thing in a horror movie isn't the demon possessed psychopath or the evil sludge monster. Sometimes the true horror comes from the tropes that define the genre and have a negative impact on diverse representation. That's where the Side Characters step in to discuss negative tropes in Horror. On this episode we will take a deep look at the tropes: The black guy dies first, hel...

From Mickey Rooney's Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's to Marty McFly inventing Rock'n'roll to Scarlett Johansson's suddenly white Major Kusanagi, media has been painting the town white for far too long. While some things get better, there are still a bunch of white folks saving everyone who isn't them and sometimes pretending to be people who don't belong to them. Let's talk about repainting...

*Disclaimer/Trigger Warning* Around minute 57 through about 1 hour minute 13 the gang talks about sexual violence. We take this topic very seriously but do think it is necessary to talk about during a talk about consent.  On this episode Jordan and Leah are joined by guest Glynn to talk about the portrayal of romance and consent in nerd culture. This is a topic we all care about but know that nerd...

Hey guys sorry for the late release this was 100% my fault - Jordan On this episode we are joined by special guest Ryan and Karleen from InstantThreePlay to talk about gaming and the different perspectives that exist in gaming. It's a fun romp with some amazing guest, enjoy! You can check out Ryan and Karleen at Twitch.tv/instantthreeplay If you have any questions, comments or want to continue the...

This week we talk about female armor and costuming in video games and other media. We cover the over sexualization of female characters and define what is meant by the "male gaze"   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.co...

Sorry guys there was a minor tech issue, the episode is now fully there! Thanks for letting us know there was a problem.  This week to break up all of the heavy topics we take time to talk about media that too us stands out.  This media includes: She-Ra, Steven Universe, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Marvel Rising, Avatar the last air bender, D&D, Beastars, Horizon zero dawn and many many more. ...

Representation in media is a topic that is constantly talked about these days. Some people say that things are fine, groups are equally represented in the media. Others think they are under-representation or the representation that they do receive in media is negative. So what does it mean to be represented? What does good representation look like? Where are we today when it comes to representatio...

Have you ever been told you weren't a real fan of something because you didn't fit another person's qualifications. Have you ever had to prove to someone that you like something? This week on Side Characters we are talking about gate keeping in nerd culture. What does it mean to gate keep, and what can we do when someone is gate keeping? A few handy links: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/08/the-gat...

Welcome to the side characters podcast. This podcast will be focused on talking about diversity in Nerd Culture. On this first episode we take the time to introduce ourselves and introduce the topics of diversity, nerds, culture and then nerd culture. We will be releasing episodes every two weeks, and further cover topics including but not limited to, gaming, gate keeping, and representation.  If...