You are listening to Books, Ballads, and B-roll the podcast with your hosts Bee and Alastair.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss: connections between media related to witchcraft, religion, and persecution. Also, we have some special guests on this episode: our friends Fox and Tommy!

Trigger warning

• Rape
• Religious critique
• Spoilers

The book Good Omens is a 1990 novel written collaboratively by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s a comedy about the birth of the Antichrist and the coming of Armageddon that centers around a demon named Crowley and an angel named Aziraphale who become unlikely friends and ultimately team up to try to prevent the end of the world.

• Fox discusses the magic system used in Good Omens, and how it relates to the powers of the different characters
• Alastair discusses the connection to historical depictions of witches and differences from more modern ones
• We talk about the comedic plotlines, religious commentary, and different characters in the novel
• We compare the novel to the show adaptation

Her Ghost in the Fog was released in 2000 by Cradle of Filth, a metal band. The song tells a story from the perspective of a man whose love was killed and raped by a group of men while picking herbs. They excuse their actions by claiming she was a witch. When the narrator comes across his love, who is at this point barely alive, he is devastated. After they make a vow to each other and say their goodbyes, he burns down the church where the men have gone, killing them before then killing himself.

• Tommy talks about the history of church burnings in response to the Christian erasure of Pagan religions, a phenomenon that may have inspired this song
• Tommy discusses the emotion of the vocals and explains the appeal of black metal, a uniquely raw genre

WandaVision is a miniseries by Marvel featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff (aka the Scarlet Witch) and Vision. The show follows Wanda and Vision’s life together in the idyllic suburban town of Westview, New Jersey. As the episodes progress, it becomes clear that something is off. It seems that their life only exists inside a strange magical bubble, which is being observed from the outside by SWORD (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division) by being broadcasted to television as a fictional sitcom. It seems like Wanda is semi-intentionally, semi-unconsciously using her magic to create an alternate reality in which Vision survived the conflict with Thanos.

• One thing that makes the show so fun is that each episode pays homage to a different decade in sitcom history, starting in the 1950’s and continuing until the present day
• The show also incorporates the 1600s, as one of Wanda’s neighbors turns out to have been a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. This is an interesting contrast to the futuristic technology that frequently appears
• WandaVision is more nuanced than some Marvel films where there’s a heavy emphasis on “good” vs. “evil”; Wanda is both the hero and villain

• Flowers and Weeds (Acoustic Guitar & Penny Whistle) by Axletree
• Marty Gots a Plan by Kevin...

You are listening to Books, Ballads, and B-roll the podcast with your hosts Bee and Alastair.

In this episode, we will discuss three different media that incorporate poetry. Just a warning: this episode will deal with themes of suicide, mental health struggles, and violence, as well as events that may be upsetting or fraught.

Another warning: this discussion contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie, we greatly recommend it, although it’s a heavy watch!!

The Dead Poets’ Society, directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Shulman, came out in 1989, but the movie is set in 1959. It’s set at an all-male boarding school in Vermont called Welton Academy and centers around two students, Neil Perry and Todd Anderson, who have been assigned each other’s roommates. Neil is confident, outgoing, and charismatic, but hampered by an extremely strict father who seems more concerned with his son’s academic and financial success in life than his happiness and wellbeing. Todd is more shy and has trouble speaking in front of groups, but he starts coming out of his shell with the help of Neil’s firm friendship and the encouragement of their new English teacher, John Keating (played by the renowned Robin Williams). Keating surprises the class with unorthodox teaching methods that prioritize creativity and independent thinking over memorization of facts, and he instills a new appreciation for poetry in them that prompts Neil and several of his friends to found a group called the Dead Poets’ Society. Under the cover of night, the friends meet in a secluded cave in the woods beside the Welton campus, and read poems aloud. Keating and the club encourage them all to live their lives on their own terms. Todd starts writing poetry of his own, and Neil discovers his love of acting and successfully auditions for the role of Puck in a local production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However, things take a turn for the worse when Neil is confronted by his father’s disapproval of his participation in the play, wanting him to prioritize the career in medicine already planned out for him. Mr. Keating advises Neil to convince his father how important acting is to him, and he successfully persuades his father to let him stay in the play. However, his father unexpectedly shows up to watch the performance and disapproves of it even more as a result; immediately after, he angrily tells Neil he’ll be disenrolled from Welton and put in a military academy, and will no longer be permitted to act. Neil is devastated, unable to express his feelings to his father, and receiving no support from his mother. That night, feeling extremely trapped and distraught, he ends up taking his life.

• We talk about societal constraints and hierarchies, how they often crush the individuality of those they claim to uplift, and how this relates...

You are listening to Books, Ballads, and B-roll the podcast with your hosts Bee and Alastair.

In this episode of Books, Ballads, and B-Roll the Podcast, we share our favorite winter-holiday-themed media!

1. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy - Karen Foxlee
2. Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
3. Girls Made of Snow and Glass - Melissa Bashardoust
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas - directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton
5. It’s a Wonderful Life - Produced by Frank Capra
6. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the Muppets version

1. Jingle All the Way - animated film (2011) directed by Chel White and written by Allan Neuwirth
2. Breadcrumbs - written by Anne Ursu
3. The Littlest Christmas Tree - by R.A. Herman and illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers
4. Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer - 1964 film directed by Larry Roemer and Kizo Nagashima
5. The Little Drummer Boy - 1968 version directed by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass
6. Also the Little Drummer Mouse - by Mercer Mayer

The Spotify playlist can be found here! It includes:

1. Let it Go - Frozen
2. Into the Unknown - Frozen
3. Hark! The Harold Angels Sing - Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
4. tis’ the damn season - Taylor Swift
5. Christmas Tree Farm (Old Timey Version) - Taylor Swift
6. The Christians and the Pagans - Dar Williams
7. All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
8. Christmases When You Were Mine - Taylor Swift
9. White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
10. Winter Song - Sara Bareilles
11. ALL the Nightmare before Christmas soundtrack
12. Basque Carol - Heavenly Angelic Light Orchestra
13. Basque Carol - Transcendental Light Orchestra
14. Ivy - Taylor Swift
15. Do You Hear What I Hear - Perry Como
16. The Little Drummer Boy - 1965 version; Harry Simeone Chorale
17. Carol of the Bells
18. Nutcracker soundtrack
19. Swan Lake soundtrack

• Flowers and Weeds (Acoustic Guitar & Penny Whistle) by Axletree
• Marty Gots a Plan by Kevin MacLeod

• @theHVSPN