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Welcome to Folklore Friday, where I discuss the world’s Folklore, Myths, Legends, and superstitions. I explore what these stories meant to the cultures that shared them. Also the different uses of Lore in our modern entertainment and the history of it all. Join me and some friends as we discuss Lore in History, and review television and film that feature supernatural, or Folkloric elements.
Episodes
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
We went on Seattle’s worst Ghost Tour! For our anniversary we went to Seattle and one of our little adventures was going on a Ghost Tour. It was my fourth Ghost Tour and Kris’s second. In this episode, we talk about the good ghost tours we have been on and why we liked them, and all the reasons the one in Seattle was so terrible. By terrible we mean, crass, long-winded, inappropriate, wildly contradictory opinions, and more. If you’re planning a trip to Seattle we suggest not going on that Ghost Tour. If you want the link to the website message us through Instagram or email us and we will send you the info. (don’t want anybody coming at us)
If you don’t already follow us on IG
Also you can check out the website here
01:10 Everyday Folklore; My Ears Are Burning
The origin of the phrase My Ears are burning comes from Rome.
02:55 Announcements.
I finished the website yay!!! There are two new features, one is Speakpipe where you can leave me a voicemail.
https://www.folklorefridaypodcast.com/voicemail
The second is you can now leave the show a donation or tip through Buy Me a Coffee!
https://www.folklorefridaypodcast.com/donate
04:30 Worst Ghost Tour!
MUSIC CREDITS
“Skeleton Dance” by Myuu
“Easy Trip Trap” The Brothers Records
REFERENCES
My ears are burning
https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/my-ears-are-burning
https://jonathanbecher.com/2021/07/25/your-ears-must-be-burning/
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/161919/origin-of-burning-ears
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
The couple that inspired The Conjuring universe is what this episode is all about. The first half of the episode is about Ed & Lorraine and their journey to becoming the grandparents of paranormal investigations. Including highlights of their most notable cases, and accusations. The second half is about the Occult Museum, and some of their oddities. Especially the famous Annabelle doll.
Question of the day:
Do you think the Warrens were the real deal, or frauds?
We’ll read the results in the next episode. Message us on IG
https://www.instagram.com/folklore_friday_podcast/
Or email us your thoughts.
Like, review and share with your friends if they're little strangelings like you
Please leave us a review and help our little show grow!
TIME STAMPS
00:35 Everyday Folklore. The Green Eyed Monster
03:30 Intro Chit Chat. Kris is now my co-host!h
06:05 Ed & Lorraine Warren
31:40 The Occult Museum
44:22 Annabelle Story
EF: Green Eyed Monster
https://www.sharecare.com/health/feelings-emotions-relationships/why-describe-jealousy-shades-green
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/green-eyed-monster.html
https://www.marykassian.com/green-with-envy/?cn-reloaded=1
The Occult Museum
The Twilight Zone
REFERENCES
http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/bid/77585/What-Is-The-Necronomicon-Gothic-Horror
https://www.etsy.com/listing/268902056/necronomicon-edited-by-simon-hardbound?gpla=1&gao=1&
https://www.nhregister.com/lifestyle/article/Real-Annabelle-story-shared-by-Lorraine-11382545.php
MUSIC CREDIT
“Skeleton Dance” by Myuu
“Easy Trip Trap” by The Brothers Records
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Following Our Birthday History episode, we wanted to review this movie. Happy Death Day is my favorite type of Horror Movie, Comedy Horror of course! Join Kris and I as we review this movie, talk about our favorite parts of the movie, share Behind the Scenes moments, and some things you may have missed. Also hear about how the main actress had one of the most liberating experiences of her life, while on set!
Be sure to leave a review of us giving a review lol!
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Which werewolf movie should we review?
The Wolf of Snow Hollow or The Silver Bullet. Message us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/folklore_friday_podcast/
Or email us at folklorefriday@gmail.com
MIN MARKERS
|01:25| Every Day Folklore: Third Time’s the Charm
|04:40| Cake or Pie survey results, 06:10 Read a Review
|07:15| Announcement:Episode format change
|08:06| HAPPY DEATH DAY, Review
|47:30| Question of the Day: Which werewolf movie should we review?
INFO REFERENCES
Third Time’s The Charm
https://learntalk.org/en/blog/where-did-the-saying-third-times-the-charm-come-from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southwest/series1/john-babbacombe-lee.shtml
MUSIC CREDIT
“Skeleton Dance” by Myuu
“Easy Trip Trap” by The Brothers Records
Saturday Jun 26, 2021
Saturday Jun 26, 2021
Ever wonder where Birthday candles come from? In this episode I do a quick overview of the origins of traditional Birthday celebrations. I also talk a little bit about my Birthday and a new recipe for a peanut butter and jelly cream pie I tried.
Cake or Pie? Which do you prefer for your Birthday (if you celebrate) Cake or Pie? Which flavor, or do you choose a different dessert? Let me know! You can message me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/folklore_friday_podcast/ or you can email me at folklorefriday@gmail.com. In the next episode I will tally up how many votes for Cake or Pie!
Topics and Time Stamps
|00:36| Everyday Folklore: “Bless you”
|03:00| Standard begging for reviews.
|04:45| The History of Birthdays!
|07:05| The Pharaoh's Birthday
|09:15| Birthday Candles originate from Greece
|10:10| Pagan beliefs behind Birthday Candles
|12:00| German Birthday Traditions
|13:30| Early Catholicism stance on Birthdays
|15:07| Quinceañera
|18:50| Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah
|21:29| What I did on my Birthday!
Info References
https://www.pumpitupparty.com/blog/how-did-the-tradition-of-birthdays-begin/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/birthdays
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/01/24/good-question-how-did-birthday-traditions-start/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/history-of-birthdays_n_4227366
https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/birthday-traditions-around-the-world
Music Credit
“Easy Trip Trap” by The Brothers Records
“Birthday Cake” - Reed Mathis
“Happy Birthday Old Timey” by Jammy Jams
“Desert Caravan” by Aaron Kenny
“Oud Dance” BY Doug Maxwell
“Fairy Meeting” Emily Sprague
“Four Beers” by Kevin MacLeod
“Cantus Firmus Monks” by Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions
“El Gavilan” by Quincas Moreira
“Lachaim” by Kevin MacLeod
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Do you ever wonder what the difference between Supernatural vs Paranormal is? Or Fantasy vs Sci Fi? Well put on your seatbelts because in this episode Kris and I do a deep dive of these types of Genres in Fiction.
|00:38 - 03:25|
Everyday Folklore “Step on a Crack Break your Mother’s Back”
|06:30|
Supernatural Storytelling
|MUSICAL CREDIT|
“Easy Trip Trap” The Brothers Records
“Tragic Story” by Myuu
SOUND CREDIT
"Ambience, Children Playing, Distant, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
|INFO CREDIT|
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-Step-on-a-crack-break-your-mothers-back-superstition
http://www.smartalecksguide.com/2011/09/are-there-dark-origins-behind-step-on.html
|TRANSCRIPT|
Hello, my little strange things. On this podcast I discussed the world's folklore, myths, legends and superstition. I explore what these stories meant to the cultures that shared them the different uses of lore and our modern day entertainment, and the history of it all. Welcome to folklore Friday. Every day
Have you ever heard the phrase step on a crack break your mother's back? This was definitely something I heard and said as a child. Even when the other kids and I would question it, that won't really happen. You won't really break your mountains back. Right? It was still something that was fun to say and a fun game to see if you could walk the entire length of the sidewalk without stepping on a crack. This is something in the category of playground lore, meaning lore or superstition that is said and shared among children. There have been multiple versions of the same and it has changed over the years. There's another version that warn children that bears would eat them. Step on a crack and you'll be a bear snack. Another is step on a line and you'll break your mother's fine step on a home, break your mother's sugar bowl, step on a nail and you'll put your dad in jail.
The implication is if a child steps out of line, violence will come to them or one of their parents.
One could say that the idea behind this game is enforcing societal views. That bad behavior of children reflects poorly on the parents, implying that those children act the way they do because their parents did not teach them better.
Even our judiciary system does not try children under the age of 18 as adults, further enforcing that minors are not fully accountable or responsible for their actions until they turn 18. With that in mind, is it possible that this game and phrase said by children is teaching them early on that their bad behavior affects their parents? And ultimately others around them? Or is it just a silly thing? Kids sometimes say to scare each other? or play a game? Tell me what do you think?
Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Hello, strange Lynx. Just a little housekeeping before I get the episode started. I want to say I'm excited to be back and I've got some fun plans for season two. Hopefully, I'll be able to put out an episode every week. And I really want to get more more listeners involved because I know you're out there I can see the numbers and they're popping up and all sorts of different countries. And so messaged me talk to me, I want to know the things that you want to hear about. I got a text today asking me about Medusa and I was like, hells Yeah, I don't know that much about her except she had snakes for hair. So gonna be researching that. So I want a little bit more engagement. On that note. I hate asking for reviews. I hate it. If you haven't noticed, I don't do it that much. But now, after a year of having the podcast, I can count on one hand the number of reviews I've had. Painful that is to hear myself say out loud. It's horrible. But yeah, I desperately need them and to those who have left me some already I super super appreciate it. And if you're anything like me, you just had your bad leaving reviews. I'll tell you what, I listened to about five different podcasts and I love all of them. I've never reviewed a single one in that messed up but they're actually doing really well and have money and stuff like that. I don't people, okay, so I'm gonna do it with you. Alright. So, so you click on your Apple podcasts. And I'm going to go to a podcast that I like called guide to the unknown. Just a little free publicity for them. All right. Okay. So it opens up this guide to the unknown trailer episodes, you scroll down past episodes, and then it's like boom, ratings and reviews. And then underneath the first review, the latest review that pops up, there'll be a little purple icon that will say right to review. I'm gonna click on that. Hmm, do I want and I can give five stars. Absolutely. title it easy. listening. Okay, these two are so fun. Keep up the good work. And send thanks for your feedback. And now I'm done. Okay, that's super easy. And if you want, you don't even have to write something, you can just go and give however many stars you think I deserve? So again, yeah, the whole reason I do this is so that people can hear it. I put time, effort and money. people that say podcasting is free. Those people are liars, not the good ones. It costs money. The whole reason I do this so that people can hear it, and they can be entertained, and I can hear what they want to learn about. So reviews really helped me out because they bring me up in a search engine so more people can find it. So if you want to leave me a review, that would be fantastic. Thank you so much.
Hello, strange liens. Welcome to season two. I'm your host Megan. And today I'm joined by my husband, Chris. Hello, everyone. I had a good break. But as many breaks often tend to do life happened in the middle. So the time kept getting away from I was like, Oh my gosh, it's almost June. So I'm recording finally. And I am happy to be back recording. Hell yeah. Okay, so today we're going to be talking about supernatural storytelling. I'm not sure if that's going to be the title, either supernatural or paranormal. But why I can't decide it's because we're going to be talking about everything under the umbrella of strange, Supernatural, paranormal, yada, yada, yada and talk about the differences. And honestly supernatural and paranormal I thought they were the same thing. And even though the definitions are different, they're portrayed as the same thing I would say in a lot of entertainment. What about you?
Yeah, I mean, they often get mixed in and they're pretty close. So until you start getting into the actual hard definitions of them then you go Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess I can see the difference there.
Yeah, cuz when I think when when I think supernatural I think all different kinds of monsters and demons and anything spiritual when I think paranormal I only think ghosts. Yeah, good. Like usually where I go with it to like paranormal investigations and stuff like that. Yeah, so that was pretty much what I understood before I did the research. So let's talk about it. Okay. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding, or the laws of nature.
So in the Merriam Webster dictionary, the supernatural definition is, Of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible, observable universe, especially, Of or relating to God, or a god demigod, spirit, or devil.
And this I found on masterclass.com of what is supernatural fiction, and it says, the supernatural genre incorporates elements that cannot be understood by science, and operate outside the rules of the real world. supernatural fiction normally concerns itself. supernatural fiction normally concerns itself with matters of God, the soul, archangels, and resurrection. Sub genres include supernatural horror fiction, ie the work of HP, Lovecraft, Gothic, ie Frankenstein, ghost stories, supernatural thrillers and other mccobb stories in the horror genre. So you can see how it all kind of mixes together, but this is stating that supernatural is a bit more limited than what I thought. But when you just look at the definition of supernatural, but this is saying supernatural fiction can incorporate a lot of different things. Continuing from the website masterclass, calm
the paranormal genre of literary fiction includes beings and phenomena that are outside the realm of normal Normal scientific understanding of the natural world. Though the paranormal genre may include supernatural list elements, this fiction genre generally includes creatures that have been popularized by folklore fairy tales and popular culture such as fairies, aliens, shapeshifters and the undead
so this so this makes me think it's like flip flops. I think paranormal I think just ghosts. But when I think supernatural I think everything it just stated that it's actually right flip flops. So continuing on. Sub genres that fall into the paranormal fiction category include paranormal romance, urban fantasy, fantasy, romance novels, and paranormal fantasy. The paranormal romance genre has yielded many New York Times bestselling hardcovers and audio books in recent years which storylines around young adult and high school aged main characters who fall in love with the paranormal creature, okay, and some examples would include the Twilight series, Moon called by Patricia Briggs, I've read all of those Oh, there's so freaking good interview with a vampire That one's famous by Anne Rice. And then I'm just reading off once
it's anything that has to do with vampire apparently.
Yeah, discovery of witches vampires, which is the hollow series I don't know what that is. But I've discovered anything titled The the hollow or has the hollow in it is worth checking out because it's usually paranormal on The Mortal Instruments. Okay, so this included examples of fantasy, mortal, mortal engines. That's what I was thinking of going back. Okay, so this kind of locked in fantasy, together with paranormal but here's the difference. There are some debate in the literary world about whether or not high fantasy fiction dark fantasy and other contemporary fantasy genres fall in the supernatural or paranormal category. Though popular fantasy novels and fantasy series like jrr Tolkien's I didn't know it was our Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and JK Rowling's Harry Potter may include supernatural creatures and elements of the paranormal. fantasy books are generally considered to be their own distinct genre. Okay, and the reason for that is okay, from what I can understand, supernatural and paranormal exist within our world. It's like everything that you know now our world but then add in a vampire, or add in a witch or add in blah, blah, blah. But fantasy exists in a world outside of our world. Right.
So Harry Potter still manages to get outside of our world, because they have their own best secret wizarding world is not really a thing, but it but maybe just had some person who does magic in the normal world. Does that then not make it fantasy?
Yes. So like charmed. would be paired. It would be paranormal, paranormal because they exist in our world. But it's really easy to think of examples like Lord of the Rings, or Oh, come on, what are some other fantasies stuff? I can't think of anything that that new show that we just started watching that you like Shadow and Bone bone. It's like a world that does not exist in our world made up world. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so that actually helped me kind of distinguish the two of them. Okay, okay. And I don't normally like what Wikipedia says. But I really like the wording. It says in the difference of definitions. The supernatural genre highlights supernatural creatures or happenings within the real world. Moreover, supernatural fiction also tends to focus on suspense and mystery and less on action, and adventure. Fantasy usually takes place in another world. We're fantastical creatures or magic, our normal Labyrinth, the labyrinth legend. Yes. Melissa sent. So awesome. Legend. Yeah, Tom Cruise. I only came out a little while ago. Oh my gosh, like 20 years 3030 or 40, maybe 1985, almost forever. before I was born, so hopefully strange links that answers your questions. But yeah, you can see how it can all get mixed together. But the biggest difference I would say is between fantasy and everything else.
Right. And I would say for the most part, you're zeroing in on paranormal stuff. Correct where we thought maybe it was supernatural that you were focusing in on Moreover, it's paranormal or normal.
And I think the thing that messes Up is one the show supernatural everything right and then shows like paranormal investigations paranormal investigator mostly hunt ghosts so turns out they're wrong.
The other ones as far as you know, movies and TV using them supernatural and paranormal usually feel pretty interchangeable. Yeah, I would say so. I mean, it to say that it's supernatural and it just goes beyond the rules of science can encompass a lot of things still. Yeah, but calling it paranormal seems to maybe focusing on it a little bit more insane. Like No, it's these folklore things in particular. Yeah. That we're seeing. Yeah, that makes a supernatural maybe also is saying that around those same kinds of things a little bit,
because the thing anything outside of science, yeah. Proven.
Yeah. You can't scientifically explain this. And it seems beyond the laws of nature.
Okay. So like, like the show fringe or fringe science? Yeah, possibly. But then when you zero in on it, like monsters, magic, or norm, those are paranormal. Okay, actually, that helped me still
end up in those are science fiction type things would hit a lot of supernatural stuff. But sometimes they like to be like, and then this monster exist?
Oh, yeah. And we didn't even talk about sci fi. Okay, so sci fi, you explain it. I don't actually have a definition. But the difference is things that could maybe possibly exist within science, right? Think of
within the realm of scientific possibility, right, but yet have not been yet discovered or proven? Or, you know, a lot of quantum theory. Any time travel thing is potentially possible, maybe because we've thought about it scientifically, but nothing's been proven behind that. So that's the science fiction thing. Most space traveling type things
are way in the future Star Trek, it all has
this potential to exist because science says that it's possible, but we've definitely not gotten there yet.
Yeah, so that's the big difference. sci fi, obviously science fiction, Supernatural, paranormal, my little magic and
yeah, beyond any kind of scientific explanation, because it just defies the laws of nature. Yeah, yeah. But science fiction is saying, Yeah, possible. But we haven't actually worked it out quite yet.
Yeah. So now, we're going to discuss a little bit about history of supernatural specifically when it pertains to folklore and super superstition. First off, it serves a purpose. It wasn't just this small minded thing that people thought up to scare their children. Most of folklore and superstition comes from a time where they didn't have scientific understanding, and they didn't have medical knowledge. So the way your body decayed, or the moon, or things that happen in NIH, that people didn't understand, because they didn't have that understanding of what was actually going on.
This is what they figured out what's going on. And this was their explanation of it. Exactly. Yeah. They believed it to be true, because this is what they worked out.
And it was it. And that was a good thing, because it gave them an answer where there otherwise wasn't one. The example that I use a lot is the idea of changeling children. It's this concept that a fairy would come and take your kid in the middle of the night and replace it with this human like child's but wasn't because it was created out of magic. And the symptoms that they say that these children had, they wouldn't look you in the eyes. They didn't like being hugged, and they had large appetites. And they didn't like socializing with the other children. So like kind of toddler age. So a lot of modern day psychologists and historians say those kids were probably autistic. And these stories go back. So so far, no, I mean, to get into anti vaccine, but here's a good example of this existed long before it had a diagnosis. And the stories offered these families that were just confused. An explanation were there otherwise wasn't one. Well said. So. So that's an example of how folklore can serve a purpose. And it was probably beneficial to those families because they were like, Oh, it's not my fault. This thing came in the middle of the night and took my baby and now I care for this one. Okay. And then something Chris and I were talking about a while ago is people still have folkloric beliefs and superstition To this day, depending on what country or what culture there's some people that are very heavily involved in superstition,
especially superstitious things. ask anybody that plays a sport. They're superstitious at all or if they do anything to make sure that they have good luck going in this Something like that it that's all superstition, because there's no evidence that it's actually working or not. Even though people might still say that they have evidence behind it, because they won that game, or something like that, but so all superstitions behind it. I mean, even just those general big ones of walking on their ladder, it's bad luck and all those different ways to get bad luck breaking a mirror. These all these things just settle into people's brains. And they, then they're, they've convinced themselves of it. And so just take that and think about being told a story about how sticking a stake in a dead person and nailing him into the coffin was make sure that they don't become a vampire. It's easy to believe. Yeah. It's not worth it. No one's telling you that that's not the right thing.
Okay, so as the world continued on, and we learned, how our bodies worked, how things happen that seemed magical turned out to just be kind of a natural process. folklore became something that faded into the background and then became a part of entertainment. So you can see examples of that in Shakespeare. What are some examples in Shakespeare Besides, okay, I can think of Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a strange perfect POC. Yeah, creature. So in Hamlet, there's the ghost of his father. And then what's the one we're there on the iPad, the tempest Tempest, a bunch of magic in the Tempus. Okay, in 1897. book was written called Camilla, which actually came out before Dracula. And it is about a lesbian vampire. The story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Camilla. Then novella, notably, never acknowledges homosexuality and an end to agonistic trait, leaving it subtle, and relatively on mentioned. Now, my opinion is if that was about to human lady love, and ladies, that would not be accepted. And then lady lovingly. Did you like that? So homosexuality was outlawed in different areas during that time. So what made this sneak through to mainstream is because Camilla wasn't a human, she was a vampire. So what I find interesting about this is that they used these kind of folkloric beliefs as a way to talk about something that maybe they otherwise couldn't talk about. So maybe there was some closeted women who were like, Oh, my gosh, I'm not alone. Somebody feels this way. Yeah, and it's a vampire, and it's a vampire. That's what I should be. And thus, the fascination started. So it's interesting to think about how vampires went from this thing of legends that was really scary to this thing that became maybe a little bit more relatable. And there was a level of romanticism and we see the beginnings of that with stories like Mila, and Dracula. And then later, the same thing happen with witches, we saw them starting out as villains, and then they eventually became the protagonists.
So in that, which is went from being villains, to the woman next door, starting with shows like bewitched, which began in 1964, where there was a beloved witch as the main character in it, even though she had to keep her identity hidden as a witch. She's still that the titular character, something similar to that I was thinking of was I Dream of Jeannie. And that started in 1965. So seeming, there's mid 60, things are starting this revolution of these folkloric ideas being these more upbeat, kind of happy things that we can cover and talk about and it's all okay.
Yeah, it was like to be burned at the stake. Yeah. Or like, I'll get you my pretty rich to the east. Now. These ladies existed in suburbia, and so is a much more accepted thing. And it was comfortable for people. And then it went even more so which is begin to be romanticized. And then, you know, vampires had been romanticized since Camilla, and Dracula. And we've seen that become so much more mainstream in the past decade with things like Twilight. But then you can even see examples of you know, Twilight, we've got vampires and werewolves, but now even zombies have their own love stories with movies like warm bodies, and I'm sure there's more but that's the only one I can think of. I can't think of any other zombie zombie story. I mean, izombie kind of Oh zombies cute. will be More people, not just these. Raise your brain. Yeah. Yeah. Thinking sentience, creatures loving intelligent people are ones that also needed to eat people. Yeah. But they figured out or the one way that Drew Barrymore Oh, the Santa Clarita Diet. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that show. Oh, heck, how did you forget that one? I don't know. Yeah, check that out. Listeners because that's on Netflix. Yeah, another suburbian example. She's like a wife. She's a like real estate. That's like, bewitched, but that's totally what that is. That's exactly what it is. It's a strong like magic or, you know, supernatural woman, like her human husband. That's okay. With her being this theory. She's trying to support it and manage it. It's actually trying to keep it secret. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's very feminine thing, because all of those shows are wonderfully feminist in the way that their husbands are accepting with their wives being these things and a good example. Okay, so I want to know is now in the modern world, we know things like zombies and vampires and werewolves we know those things don't exist, because we understand how do we know Yeah. Yeah. But for the most part, they're no longer stories that terrify people. Now, they're stories that are entertaining. So in, Chris, in your opinion, why are these stories entertaining for people, because we still hope they do exist, they exist, still want to grow. And that's why
it's so romanticize being a vampire that then it's not even like, Oh, my gosh, I hope I don't get attacked by a vampire. It's like, gosh, I hope I get turned. So I can be a vampire and vampire things. I mean, that's what Twilight is all about is like, she's, you know, spoiler alert, if you. But I'm Twilight, that Bella eventually turns into a vampire. And then, and now she's a strong werewolf guy. And so it's cool to be this thing. It's neat to be your, you have this power as an outsider. And that's what a lot of people are also looking for, too, is that this, you're this outsider with these special abilities, and you're different from everyone else. But that's pretty cool thing to be.
Because you can still fit in society. Right? You have this this extra thing about you. And I think from the documentaries I've watched on these type of stories, people say that, especially for adolescence, they feel like they don't fit in. And so to see stories like this, where people are existing in a society that looks like ours, but yet there's something unique and inherently different about them. They're like, I can relate to that. I know what that feels like. And so sometimes it's a lot easier for people to relate to. What I think is something that's really interesting about these types of stories is because it's interesting to see characters deal with human emotions. But there's also something that gives them a supernatural power. So everything is supercharged. So if you get jealous, and you have to kill people to live, if you get jealous of somebody, you're like, Oh, I got to not kill that person, I got fight my instinct to not kill them. and different things like that. Or if you have magical abilities, and you get upset, and you like murder five people around you,
yeah, that's like, watch blade. Read the blade comics, because that's why he's awesome. With all those things that you said, you have to watch some blade, because he's dealing with that kind of like, I'm this monster, but I'm a monster killer, I have to battle, this inner monster of mine with these powers that I that I have behind it. And that struggle that he has with himself about who he is. That's big on that. And I mean, that all just then turns into also not just vampires and werewolves in but superhero movies are the same kind of thing. They fall into that same exact kind of storytelling of how do I have? How do I manage these these newfound abilities, these crazy things that are outside of the normal world and still exist and be who I am in the normal world? Where does that balance happen?
Yeah, because the decisions that someone that's just a regular Joe Schmo human have to make are probably a little bit different than someone that has these crazy abilities,
right. Whether they be superpowers or things that potentially make you a monster, like a vampire. Yeah. That's why it's fun to watch it, see where they go with it.
And I like that I think that like vampires and werewolves are interesting, because it's this idea that they are like human, but they're not. So they have to fight their very nature, which is what you were talking about right with with blade. And a really good example that that I like, is the character Damon from the Vampire Diaries, because he's such a good example, because he is just merciless. In the beginning. He's just like killing people left and right. Zero apologies. He doesn't feel obligated to live the human code. Because he's not human. And one of his, one of his lines is, I kill people. It's in my nature. It's who I am. And so it's also interesting to see people not fall into that moral code. Because if you really think about it, they're like, Well, I'm not a human. And so to see, it's also interesting to see bad vampires and bad werewolves.
I could almost see Dexter. Yeah, from the show Dexter saying those? Same, that exact line. Yeah, like, this is who I am. It's in my nature, it's who I am. I think he might have said,
aim it towards bad people.
I mean, that's what makes that it's that it's that gets to be in that same world of what we're doing with the supernatural and paranormal, but it's just a normal guy. Like he's fighting his inner monster. And that's just a great way to tell a story. Yeah, person's inner battle with themselves and are nice, fun, and sometimes easy way to do it. It's be like, well, there,
there's this thing that they're struggling with.
Yeah, they're vampire. They're werewolves, they're whatever this thing is that they have to deal with. And let's see where that goes.
And I think I like that storyline, because you're taking someone that's for the most partly human, and then you're giving them all these different powers. But having those powers of those abilities, doesn't make your problems go away. And that, in my opinion, is why that's interesting, because you still have to deal with all this rain, jealous, wanting to be loved wanting to fit in blabbity, blah, blah, blah, like all of those things are still there. And I think that's really, really good. I don't know, metaphor, or have you another example of why I like these stories. In comparison to say true crime, True Crime can kind of battle with the go over that struggle that you were talking about. With Dexter, it's, you get to see these stories of people that went there, that cracked that completely lost their humanity, and they gave into the darker sides. I don't like stories like that. I get why people like them. But they scare me. terrifying to me, because they're things that really happen. And so when I watch true crime, I'm paranoid for the next week, I look at my neighbors like, that could be a killer, that that guy, that guy checking me out of the grocery store, who knows, and I don't like it. I like these stories, because for the most part, they're not real. Things like that. As far as we know, as far as we know, disclaimer, as far as we know, but I find it soothing. in a weird way. I think I fell in love with the exiles as a kid because I could think, oh, man, I got shit going on in my life. But at least I don't have these problems. At least I don't have some alien or I have to go into some conspiracy of the world even though some people claim that that has happened and then when I feel feel for you, but I'm talking about the non alien stuff. But yeah, I can't I like Chris said, we don't know. I can't disprove spirits, werewolves vampires, but I can sleep through the night if I watched something right as elements.
Because you, you know, you're hoping that your neighbor isn't a vampire. But you're like, could he be a killer? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly.
Okay. And this is a quote from an article that I got that all I'll post the link in the description, we like novelty, something that departs from our everyday experience, some of the attraction of being scared comes from the deviation of having a new experience that we know is safe. Okay, want to split that up into two parts. So first one, it says something that departs from our everyday experience. This is something that Chris and I have talked about, is that Chris loves things that I would say fantasy that's created this whole world and this whole universe
of science fiction will do that too, with you know, jumps into the future of space. Stories, when they're like this is this whole new world, this universe that's been created, you know, Star Wars kind of dances that line of being fantasy and science fiction, because, you know, it's in a galaxy far, far away, and it's creating this whole different new world. But could that exist? You know, scientifically? Yeah. Probably most part. So it's those types of things play in that nice, beautiful place of the new. I like the new instead of what's already here and around me in my everyday life. I don't need other people's versions of their everyday life, I want to see this new, amazing world that has all these new discoveries for me.
Yeah, a good example. Sorry, before we were married, and I was at his apartment, and like, my internet sucked. So he let me come over and use the internet, which is code for watch stuff. He got back from work. And I was watching Parenthood, which is, you know, kind of like a dramedy about being parents and this whole family and how they all work. And there's this scene where this couple who's getting divorced has this, like emotional conversation. And Chris was like, I don't need to watch this. This is depressing. This is real. I don't need to watch it. I don't find this entertaining. And it was just a good example. But some people feel like that's important. And they feel really rejuvenated. My sister's one of those I asked like, what audio books do you listen to? And she's like, I like autobiographies and anything to do with World War Two.
Yeah, I think there's a place for it. I think that it's fine for people who enjoy it. I just not for me.
Yeah. Insane when it when my sister was talking about that. I was like, Uh huh. I only listen to things with vampires and werewolves and witches, like that's the majority, it's autobiographies of comedians. And then like fantasy books, that's how I listened to. Because it's that idea of like, I know what happens in the daily I want something extra. So now we're gonna talk about storylines that are popular in these types of genres,
paranormal supernatural fantasy genres. So one of the first ones that came to mind for us particularly is what we call Freaky Friday. And that's where they just have a Friday and it's freaky. Know what happens there. If you ever seen that movie Freaky Friday is that it's like a swap between two people, you get to live out their life, because some, by some magical or even scientific means their minds get swapped, and you're in their body, and now you have to exist and do the things that they were going to do in their life. And then, you know, discoveries are made, and you get revelations, and you're like, Oh, my stuff was hard. I didn't understand you, and all that deep stuff happens, but it's Freaky Friday for everyone.
And that, you know, obviously, we've seen the movie Freaky Friday, and then there's like other versions of that storyline, but we see it a lot in television writing, especially for shows that are magical. And my favorite type of Freaky Friday is when it's more than just two people. It's a whole night everyone can switch with someone else. Like in Jumanji, the second one. Oh, yeah, that's a really that's, that's, that's my favorite kind of Freaky Friday where they all are getting switched up, and they all are jumping in. And then you get to see those actors act like different characters. Oh, my God, it's perfect. I love it.
And this kind of thing has happened in shows like Star Trek. I know. I've seen a supernatural that's happened in that show for charm term. Both of them even happens a little bit, sometimes in shows that aren't focused around paranormal supernatural things. It's kind of like a almost a dream Dream that they were that person. And then they're like, Oh, crap, I understand them better.
Yeah, but yeah, there's a really good episode in lost girl, where they all get like, switched around. It's Yeah, so there's lots of examples. You can go into that. I like that. Okay. Another type that we've seen, and this isn't maybe not storyline, but a thread for a show is creature of the week. So there's a new threat in every episode. You see it a lot. Or not maybe every episode, but there's usually a new threat, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's not just vampires that she fights. There's all these different types of things that happen. And now we have the show legacies on The CW where Nah, they do such a good job things are just come in all the time. It was also on Teen Wolf, the television series you see it a lot in more like episodic type of writing. And I think it's great because it gives you so many different opportunities to tell different types of stories.
So another great one is what I do typically referred to as a groundhog day scenario, because I'm referring to the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, where he continues to repeat the same day over and over again and he gets reset on the day if he dies. And that's usually what happens or ale don't sleep that night in a wake up and it will be the morning that he just did. And so this is just that time loop one that I really like a lot. There's a lot of great movies that do it Groundhog's Day, obviously is is one of the great ones.
And they always refer to it as Groundhog Day. That's that's that's how well that movie did. And it was one of the first ones and so usually when you're trying to explain that story, you say Oh, like Groundhog Day.
Yeah. Yeah, cuz it's so well, and yeah, so fun. And Edge of Tomorrow is one of my most favorite movies. It's also referred to as live die repeat. That's what Tom Cruise Emily Blunt, where he does the same thing he's repeating the same day. If he dies yes to repeat there's there's all these scientific reasons for why it's happening to him, of course in battling aliens, but that same thing of how do I get through my day? What new discoveries Do I need to make an even in just this one day? What are all the many possibilities? that lie ahead for me? It's just a really cool story,
huh? Yeah. What was that one with Andy Samberg, Palm Springs, Palm Springs. That one was super fun. And one of my new favorites is happy death day. There's happy death day one and happy death. Day two. I like the first one. But first one's definitely better. It's been super, super fun. It's like a horror version. And it's horror comedy. My favorite guy. We're gonna watch that on my birthday. I'm excited. Okay, and this is close to Groundhog Day. But another movie that was made made this theme popular for an alternate timeline is it's a wonderful life. So he wakes up. And his whole world is different. What he knew is completely gone. And that is a really fun type of storyline, which they can do in non paranormal type shows. Usually it's some kind of a dream. But it's that idea that here's an alternate version of my life.
Yeah, alternate reality of what, what if this thing had happened and therefore changed so many other things, and usually some sort of crucial moment in your life had gone differently for you. And therefore, these other things have worked out tons of movies have done that? And yeah,
yeah, there's like the family man with Nicolas Cage. I can't believe I can't think of any
baseball one. Mr. Destiny is another one that has James Belushi in it. And he it's it's very much like a It's a Wonderful Life type of storyline where he did not do well in his baseball career. But then going back, I can't remember how it happened. Maybe he made some sort of wish that What if he did do well in his baseball career, and he did that instead? And so he gets to live out that alternate reality. And then, you know, of course, discovers that his life was so much more fulfilling and yeah, there's always that, that that idea idea to it.
But when it comes to time travel, this storyline can be similar to so like Back to the Future. When he does go back to the future. Everything's different. And if he is in charge of everything,
right, that's the second one with a hose. Yeah. Actually, the first one when he goes back is nice. Nice and clean in his car.
Yeah. But then that truck when he gets a hold of the sports Almanac arena, right? Yeah. So differently. Okay. And then this is one that Chris I feel like has a better understanding, but a MindScape where you're entering into someone's mind. So examples like the cell, which I've never seen, and you told me it was here me too much. Yeah,
it's pretty scary. It's that's kind of scary. That gets to you more, I know. Versus like, Oh, this is this is getting in your head a little bit.
Yeah. Watch out.
But explain it like how
so and that one J. Lo is this sort of psychologist and they she's with this group that have discovered a way to sort of go into a person's mind. And in order to help them. Give them therapy is what is happening because they're unable to speak. In particular, there's this boy who doesn't speak he's kind of, I believe he's at such an maybe artistic level that he's not a Want to communicate well or something else is going on? wrong with them? I can't. It's been a while since I've seen it. But then eventually it turns into that this serial killer who goes into a coma, they need to get into his head in order to find out where he's keeping a girl he had just kidnapped and that he put into a chamber and slowly kills a cell. Yeah, that would bother me. And so they're using this process that she's good at. and Vince Vaughn is an FBI guy who's trying to help her out and yeah, just going through that process and the serial killers that guy from the law bill or loan Order Criminal Intent. Not Buffalo Bill, nevermind. kingpin pressure.
Oh, yeah, I don't know his name. Vincent D'Onofrio. Oh, yeah, he was in Jurassic World two. Yeah.
So well. Vincent D'Onofrio is actually the serial killer that they have to get into the mind of And so yeah, that's this MindScape it's this place that he's created. And all these things are possible, because he's making these things up in his head. And so it's like, they're in a serial killers head. And that's what's crazy about it. And that's the the MindScape type thing. I've seen it again on Star Trek, and Star Trek does all of these. And supernatural where it's not, they're not playing and they're going into someone's head. And so they have really, it's this world that's in their head. It's it's what they've created, and they
don't know the rules and everything
right. And usually they're trying to bring them out of it is oftentimes the story that's being told is, is get them out of it or get in there in order to figure out something from them secretly Inception does this yes, these minds Yeah, in or they're trying to plant the seed of a thought. And so they're actually going into this person's brain. And
it's such a fun storyline. I've seen it I've seen on lost girl. I've seen it on Xena, actually, I think it's like Xena goes into Gabrielle's mind. And it's a fun, it's a fun storyline. And it's super similar to Christmas saying like, I think it's the same thing. But there's also the idea of a vision quest where you're going into your own mind. But there's other other things that have joined you spiritual guides. And so they're taking you on this journey. So you're not there for someone else, you're there for yourself. But still, you don't know what's going to happen, you can't navigate because you don't know what's coming. Because it's this the world of your mind that you've created. So there's like, Buffy meets the first Slayer, like death is your gift. She's like, I don't understand. And there's there's also really, really good examples of that kind of storyline, too. Okay, and so now we're gonna talk about the transformation type of storyline. And there's two basically, one is it's a forced transformation example, your bit by werewolf up by vamper, you turn into a werewolf, or a vampire, or a zombie, or whatever. And then all the things that you have to go through to now become this new being. And I mean, so many different examples of that. And then there's the other type, which is a coming of age transformation. You were always this thing. And now that you're a certain age, you're now becoming this thing. Because Didn't you say in team wolf, the movie? It was like a hereditary thing?
Yeah, his dad was a werewolf. And so at once he was going through puberty, he finished his transformation into a werewolf. And so his dad was trying to explain that to him and everything. So it wasn't, he was always going to be that he didn't get bit like he does in the show. He was just born a werewolf like his dad is and a just dealing with what that means for him.
And then of course, you're a wizard, Harry. Right.
And a lot of it. Oftentimes these happen on this coming of age thing, which is not an accident, because it's this, like, I'm going through puberty, what are these crazy changes that are happening to me? And then we're just trying to accentuate that story by saying that, oh, it's because you're a werewolf. It's because you're a wizard. It's because you're a vampire. That now you're at this, you know, this crucible, this point that's happening. And these changes are happening so as to relate to the young adult audience that this is focused around.
Yeah. Another good thing that I've seen when it comes to which stories is that they're spellbound, until they're adults. We've seen that in discovery witches and charmed, they don't find out that they're witches until they're like in the early 20s. Right. And that is a really fun way because it's, oh, your parents wanted you to have this normal life until you were ready.
Right? This new amazing discovery Otherwise, you probably would have had a pretty good grip on it by now. And you'd be managing Oh, true, right.
But now it's like all these different challenges. Um, similar to the body swap, the next storyline is possession. But this instead of being switched with someone, it's just something demon, Angel, bad spirit, good spirit, whatever comes into your body. I don't even want to list all those because you can think of them. There's a lot. Now, this is I, I don't really know how to explain this, but I always find it and it bothers me and supernatural stories. Anytime there's a ritual where you have to have blood involved. So many examples. In Buffy, in supernatural, even in Nancy Drew in charmed. Why? Think about it. Think about those scenes. Where do they cut themselves, Chris on their hand
was on the palm, and they're very useful hands. Why did they do a slice in
the middle of it nice and deep and all the way across. You could cut yourself in so many other places, in order to give a few drops of blood spell your, your Lake, your ankle, anywhere except your needed hands and
you've ever get a cut on your hand. It's like the worst place to get a cut. Because it's always moving us why going that deep? Yeah, it's always super deep. And then what they do, they ball up their fist, and then they squeeze the blood over whatever.
Maybe maybe a needle isn't readily available, but somebody grab a needle and just draw a little bit of blood out. Like this huge cover. When you find that knife, I can
jam it into my head.
It hurts.
It's like every single time. I just have this dream in my head. A storyline right there. Yeah, I know. It's not a storyline, but it's an example I just bring up because it just it's a trope. It's like they always cut their hand. I just have this vision of writing this kind of like paranormal comedy horror movie, and it would be like, Oh, we need a blood exchange. And then someone goes for their hand and another character says, Why don't you just do something smart, like your arm or something and be ready with a bandage. I don't know. I just have a premonition. So like a premonition. Usually I find these like a character that gets premonitions or something that can either be really good or not helpful. Like I don't know That's So Raven is a really good example of how she gets these little premonitions of the future right. But sometimes they change and so she's always trying to change them and don't they always just come true no matter what.
I don't know. I didn't see a whole lot of that. So Raven, it's been so Stan what happened in it? But but that's the people getting premonitions or even just I mean, that's the final destination movies right there. Yeah, yeah. Is them having this premonition of the deaths and then trying to avoid that, and then you trying to escape this fate that's ahead of you.
But like you were saying the characters a character on a new show called The Nevers, which I highly recommend to HBO viewers, right, of how she gets these premonitions, but she doesn't know when they're gonna happen. And she knows that she can't change them. And Chris was saying the other night, he's like, her gift is useless,
utterly useless. Good thing, you know, something that you can't remotely change. Yeah, it was a little that's like, No,
I'm gonna get hit by a car. And then you just go, Oh, well, that sucks. Yeah, that's definitely gonna happen.
And there Yeah. So sometimes I like that type of storyline. When you can change it, like charmed. She can usually change it in both versions, the ones that get that psychic inclination of like, what's going to happen. So I like the premonition storyline when you can change it because then you have an upper hand because if you don't have an upper hand, then you're just like, well, dang it, I can't do it now. Okay. And this is kind of something that we see is when someone becomes aware of the supernatural and they have to now deal with the fact that their world has changed. It's world shattering news, Harry euro wizard. wizards exist What? Like
they don't even have to be part of it either. So much like what I was saying with the the the transformation or the bite that you're becoming your werewolf and you are this thing now. It's that that this is different because we're now saying that this person becomes aware that these insane things exist, and they have to just manage their life. Now with that knowledge. That doesn't mean you take any doctor who Assistant that he brings in there his partner and then going like, well, like a look at this world. And that's why brings assistant along because doctor who's used to all this stuff, we don't necessarily care about Doctor Who discovering these new things, there is some fun in that. But that's why
that show is interesting because the assistant has an
assistant comes along so right about them managing this whole new world of possibilities that he's showing to them of all of these crazy new things. And them how this world shattering idea of what's going on here and then having to manage that.
It's also you can see this a lot when it's, say, a haunted house storyline. And you know, usually there's this struggle of No, it can't be real, I'm gonna prove that it's not real. There's that dumb character. It's like, Steve, no ghost is gonna get me and then they're like drug off off screen. And I do think that the way you write that discovery is going to make or break the movie. We've talked about before, how, let's say like a supernatural threat came to us. And we had to therefore acknowledge that it was like the black eyed kids is something that I've talked about. And you're like, I wouldn't be scared about it. I'd be like, Okay, well, how do we get rid of them? Let's look at let's look at what all the scholars have
just laid out in front of you. And you just you're just like absolutely denying it or just like, Oh, yeah, it's a ghost. I saw it. So you know, okay, let's do a salt circle. Let's do all that. Yeah, let's do the ritual. Do the things that you need to do instead of just yeah, saying no. I know, it's holding me upside down, but can't be real. But
I imagined it. Yeah. And then the last kind of storyline is the idea of a powerful magical object. And that the story is built around that you seen in the movie The mask with Jim Carrey Lucky's mask, he puts it on he transforms into this cartoon like creature. And then Infinity Gauntlet, and the stones are the stones called
the Infinity Stones. The Infinity Gauntlet, it gives that that person a bunch of power, right? These
things that also sort of change your perception on reality because it has this whole nother level of possibilities that are usually supernatural paranormal beyond the explanation of science of the laws of nature. The Holy Grail is another one we talked about the fifth element with the stones and actually, you know, the Fifth Element herself. The Sorcerer's Stone in Harry Potter and Harry Harry Potter just continues to throw those types of things on this list. The fairy wand and elderberry the elder was elderberry elderberries are real. It's like a thing. They aren't good. Yeah. So it's a great way of telling a story is powerful, magical object. Whoever possesses it some sort of crazy thing different than will change for them. I mean, just the genies lamp. Yeah, great example of that.
I think there's something called the skull of truth. And it's supposed to be the skull that like Shakespeare uses. It's Yorick. It's that and whoever's in the same room as the skull, they have to tell the truth. So that would be kind of handy. I do think. So, those are some of our favorite storylines within the genre. Let us know if we missed anything.
There's plenty more. I'm sure we missed some. There's all sorts of different ways. I mean, watch every single Star Trek episode, and they do all sorts of these different things. Yeah. 15 years of supernatural wasn't just by chance that they only cover the storylines that we mentioned. I know. Yeah. So there's other Yeah, they're out there. And they're awesome. And each one gets to be used again and again and again, and thrown little different elements at it. And that's one of the reasons why. supernatural paranormal things are so much fun, because it does not get old.
Yeah, it doesn't get old when you have so many options to play with. Right? And you can mix these things around. You can have like, oh, a Freaky Friday, within Oh, we also have to get this powerful object and this powerful object is what made us do the Freaky Friday thing in the first place. Oh, it's so great.
So many versions. And like we said that, that these they transcend just being in even in their own story, worlds of fantasy, science fiction, Supernatural, paranormal and even the drama series. We'll touch on some of these storylines that are primarily focused in these types of world and then they'll sort of explain them away of why this, you know, the real world is still functioning here that they had a dream, the dream, but it's, they're all incredibly awesome ways to tell stories and that's why I just,
yeah, eat it up. Eat it. Oh, yeah, same. Alright and as we end Make sure to follow me on Instagram at the folklore Friday podcast and message me message me if there's any storylines that you like, or if there's a topic you want us to discuss, because I am looking for feedback. And as I end I wanted to tell Chris and you my listener, so as listening to this podcast, if you'd like my podcast, and you're really gonna like it's called stories with Sapphire, ah, do you ever just look at someone and their accomplishments and you go, I want I want those. She's living my best life. Like, that's this chick for me. And so I was listening to this episode where she tells these scary stories. Sometimes people write in sometimes she narrates, sometimes they they narrate, narrate, I can talk. So I listen to her podcast a lot when I'm working because I do sign work. And I usually find it really soothing but on my way home to you love in my life, Chris. I was listening to this one. And it made me gasp out loud. Because I was like, Oh, I don't like that at all. This, like family, and they kept being haunted by this ghost of someone that looked a lot like the daughter and kept saying, Mommy, Mommy, and it sounded, you know, pretty general. And they said, Please leave and as most ghost stories do the ones that end will that left but then you find out that it was like the ants. Baby, she had a miscarriage. And they said, Oh, the aunt said we couldn't bury it in him. I think it was her her son couldn't bury him in the cemetery. So we buried him in the house. And out loud I went what she said, she put the remnants in this big glass jar with alcohol and put it under the floorboards of the couch, like render underneath the couch. It seems like work to just do that. That's easier to bury airy and live somewhere just disintegrate and become part of the earth.
That sounds very natural to the work to do what they did. It's like preserving it in like a free pickle jar. Yeah,
that's the most disturbing thing I've ever heard. I don't know if it was like a cultural thing. And if it is, I'm sorry, but they didn't say it was and I would be so disturbed if I found found that. Sure. You know what? Just like it was very disturbing to me. So check out that. Yeah, check that out. Check that. It's very good. Also check out guide to the unknown. I've been listening to that one a lot. Super like it props to them. But also listen to all of the other previous episodes for folklore Friday. Oh, yes, please. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you for joining me, Chris. Oh, thank you for having me, Megan. And we'll see you next time on folklore Friday. Bye. Thanks for listening my little strange things. I hope you join us next time. scare you later.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Friday Mar 19, 2021
Friday Mar 19, 2021
It has been a year since I started this podcast! In one of the worst years 2020 I was able to start this podcast and it saved my sanity!! I'm going on hiatus till June to take a breather, adjust to my new job, and work on some personal projects. I will back in June with new episodes.
Sunday Feb 28, 2021
Sunday Feb 28, 2021
Did you know that cupid wasn’t a baby at all? He was actually a handsome Greek God. In this episode I am joined by my husband as we go over the story of Cupid and Psyche. PS I usually do an Everyday Folklore but this episode took more time than expected, so I did not have one but I will next time :)
MIN MARKERS:
00:40 Shout out to my listeners
01:46 What we knew about Cupid before researching.
07:20 Our dramatic reading of The Story of Cupid and Psyche, part 1
23:15 Thoughts on the story thus far
29:31 The Story of Cupid and Psyche, part 2
35:50 Thoughts on the conclusion of the story
MUSIC CREDITS:
“Down” by Joey Pecraro
“In the Throes” by Asher Fulero
“Maestro Tlakaelel” - Jesse Gallagher
“Float” - Emily A. Sprague
“Fairy Meeting” by Emily A. Sprague
“Cast of Pods” by Doug Maxwell
“Hallowed Days” - by Chasms
“Down” - by Joey Pecoraro
“Passed” by Riot
“Angelic Forest” - Doug Maxwell
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Happy Valentine’s Day! In this episode I am joined by my life long friend Sarah. She always makes me laugh and has good perspective to bring to the table. This Holiday was really fun for me to learn about. We discuss the dark origins of the Holiday including Lupercalia, and St. Valentine. We also talk about how the Holiday changed over the years, and sweetheart candy hearts, and how the heart shaped chocolate boxes became popular. To top it off we go into the Psychology of the Holiday, and Tips on how to have a great Valentine’s day whether you’re in a relationship or not.
| SEGMENTS |
| 00:50 | - Everyday Folklore, is Chocolate an Aphrodisiac?
| 05:38 | - Meet my guest, Sarah
| 06:20 | - What we knew about Valentine’s day before researching.
| 12:30 | Valentine’s Day originated from Lupercalia
| 18:42 | History of St Valentine’s Day
| 26:15 | Valentine’s Day grows in popularity
| 32:35 | Sweethearts Candy & Hershey’s Kisses
| 38:42 | Heart shaped boxes of chocolates
| 42:20 | Psychology and Valentine’s Day
| 56:25 | Tips for a better Valentine’s Day
| MUSIC CREDITS |
“Easy Trip Trap” by The Brothers Records, “Far Apart” by Causmic, “1940's Slow Dance” by Doug Maxwell_Media Right Productions, “Gaviota” by Quincas Moreira, “Vishnu” by Patrick Patrikios, “No.4 Piano Journey” by Esther Abrami, and “Mourning Dove” by Zachariah Hickman.
| INFO REFERENCES |
Chocolate an Aphrodisiac?
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/health/18real.html#:~:text=Nowadays%2C%20scientists%20ascribe%20the%20aphrodisiac,when%20people%20fall%20in%20love, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201505/your-brain-chocolate, https://www.eharmony.com/dating-advice/relationship-questions/fact-or-myth-is-chocolate-an-aphrodisiac/
| VALENTINE’S DAY |
https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/st-valentine-beheaded, https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/who-was-saint-valentine-the-patron-saint-of-lovers, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Valentines-Day, https://www.psycom.net/relationships/valentines-day-advice, hhttps://www.insider.com/why-showing-love-on-valentines-day-is-good-for-you-according-to-science-2019-2, https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/valentines-day-good-for-heart#1, https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/health-benefits-celebrating-holidays
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Self explanatory in this episode I am joined by my friend Holly as we review the TV series A Discovery of Witches.
| MUSIC CREDIT |
“Easy Trip Trap” The Brothers Records,
“Heaven and Hell” by Jeremy Blake
| DIALOGUE CREDIT |
INTRO
"A werewolf can be killed only with a silver bullet?"
- THE WOLFMAN
"Because I'm the chosen one and there are vampires"
- BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (film)
"You in danger girl"
- GHOST
"My name is Sabrina Spellman, and I will not sign it away."
- THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA
"Am I dead?"
- THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
"We don't allow black magic."
- LEGACIES
"Witches aren't real."
- CHARMED
"Once the world was full of wonders but. . . . . . It belongs to humans."
- A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES
"I myself am, strange and unusual."
- BEETLEJUICE
Friday Jan 29, 2021
Friday Jan 29, 2021
A Discovery of Witches has soooo much to cover that I have split this review up into 3 parts. |
| MIN MARKERS |
|1:30 | Everyday Folklore, Broken Mirrors
| 6:10 | Beginning chit chat and banter
|11:00| Review of A Discovery of Witches, part 2
|INFO REFERENES| Everyday Folklore, If you break a mirror you get seven years bad luck.|
https://www.twowaymirrors.com/mirror-superstitions/ |
https://www.framemymirror.com/5-superstitions-and-myths-about-mirrors/ |
https://www.illuminated-mirrors.uk.com/blog/7-years-bad-luck-the-truth-behind-the-superstition/ |
https://folklorethursday.com/folklife/seven-years-bad-luck/ |
| MUSIC CREDIT |
"Glass Smash, Bottle, C.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
“Easy Trip Trap” The Brothers Records,
“Skeleton Dance” by Myuu
“Heaven and Hell” by Jeremy Blake
| DIALOGUE CREDIT |
INTRO
"A werewolf can be killed only with a silver bullet?"
- THE WOLFMAN
"Because I'm the chosen one and there are vampires"
- BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (film)
"You in danger girl"
- GHOST
"My name is Sabrina Spellman, and I will not sign it away."
- THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA
"Am I dead?"
- THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
"We don't allow black magic."
- LEGACIES
"Witches aren't real."
- CHARMED
"Once the world was full of wonders but. . . . . . It belongs to humans."
- A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES
"I myself am, strange and unusual."
- BEETLEJUICE
| TRANSCRIPT |
Megan Erickson
Welcome to folklore Friday.
Megan Erickson
In the episode description I have listed the segments of the show with their minute markers. That way you can skip right to what you want to hear
every day.
breaking a mirror is seven years bad luck. This superstition is believed in various parts of the world. But where did this belief come from? Many cultures believe that a mirror can be a window to the soul. Which is why many folkloric beliefs are that supernatural creatures such as vampires have no reflection because they have no soul. The lore of seven years bad luck upon breaking a mirror is thought to originate from Roman lore. The belief was that every seven years life and the soul would renew itself. And any parts of your life that were not quite right would fall into place and all would be right. A mirror was thought to have a window to the soul. So if a mirror was broken, especially if your image was the final thing it reflected, then you were bound to endure seven long years of misfortune until the cycle ended and your good luck was renewed. And since we are human, we are prone to be clumsy in one way or another. So there were measures that could be taken to avoid misfortune if you happened to break a mirror. Some of the rituals included taking the shattered pieces and burning them by the light of a full moon. Or taking one fragment to a cemetery and placing it against a tombstone to transfer the bad luck to someone who no longer roamed the earthly plane. The thought was the bad luck would dissipate into the ground since the soul was no longer there to attach itself to. In Russia and Kazakhstan, breaking a mirror evicting evil spirits from their home, they will hunt the person who caused the damage as an act of revenge. In Fung Shui a broken mirror distorts good energy. In Switzerland, the last person to look in a broken mirror is the first to die. But others claim your misfortune depends on how the mirror breaks. If it breaks into small pieces, your bad luck will be small. But be afraid if your mirror breaks into large pieces, because your bad luck will be significant. And once the mirror is broken, looking at your reflection in the shards is bad luck in both India and Russia. in psychology, there is a term called the broken mirror syndrome. It is applied to women who have suffered domestic abuse from a male partner. The thought is that she no longer sees herself as whole and complete, but broken, only viewing herself through the eyes of her abuser. Although this term is metaphorical, it does paint a picture of how viewing yourself through the distorted view of an abuser can make one feel broken. Is it possible that in the past when people would see their reflection And broken pieces of a mirror, it would scar them psychologically. Could it be that seeing one's reflection literally broken into pieces was so emotional, that it was easy to think that misfortune lay ahead? To see one space in shards could remind someone that As humans, we are breakable physically and emotionally. And the lives we live are just as fragile. So, which is it? A superstitious belief that the soul renews every seven years? Or the psychological effects of seeing one's reflection in broken glass? Tell me, what do you think?
Unknown Speaker
Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Megan Erickson
Okay, hello again. So I'm joined again by my friend, Holly. Hello. Oh, and my name is Megan, I keep introducing my guests, but not myself. So I'm your host, Megan. And Holly is doing a FaceTime with me because I he, I went through and I was editing our episode. And there was just a few things that we said that were inaccurate. We were comparing this story to another story. And we were just bashing on that other story, which there's a lot to bash but the things we were saying weren't accurate. And so there's a lot of that I couldn't use. But this because Holly, and I think very similarly. Yes. And there was just also some good stuff that I wanted to talk about that we didn't talk about, and it gives me an excuse to call Holly so on if you don't know, Holly lives in Spokane, I live in Bellingham. So that's why we're doing FaceTime. And I let I when I went to visit her and her husband, I logged on to two of my streaming accounts. And then and then I said, you need to watch this show on this one, and then this show on the other one, and so I gave him Hulu and shutter and it hasn't affected us at all, by the way, like so cuz I told Chris, you like what? I was like, Well, I'm the one that pays for Hulu and shutter. So I think I can decide. He's like, okay, but if it cuts out, like, you gotta change your password. But it's totally fine. But you guys watch Brooklyn nine, nine, which was the show that I suggested.
HOLLY
Good. Oh, my gosh.
Megan Erickson
It's so good. What else have you been watching on Hulu?
HOLLY
So let's see. So we did nine, nine, and I'm not gonna lie oh nine.
Megan Erickson
Andrew Knight quoted all the time. Now. It's so easy to do. It's so fun.
Unknown Speaker
It's so amazing.
Unknown Speaker
And then I found out that chip and Joanna Gaines is a fixer upper. And I used to watch that show when I was younger and actually had to be. And I remember some of the episodes and oh my gosh, I flipped when I saw that on there. And so I started watching that. And then I realized that I can only watch it on weekends. Because I was watching it during the week. And then I realized I was not going to bed. I had to like pace
Megan Erickson
yourself.
HOLLY
Not watch it during the week. I'm only allowed to watch it on weekends. So I guess what I'm doing?
Megan Erickson
I've done Yes, I've done similar
Unknown Speaker
show is that it's just like it makes you you get so involved. You can't help it. Next thing you know, it's like two o'clock in the morning and you have to be up at 5am like,
Megan Erickson
Oh my gosh, that just happened. Yeah. I think that's why Chris and I have the rotation rule. Like we don't just binge something, we say okay, let's watch an episode of The Great and supernatural and criminal minds. And so because you're getting this like, mini story, but sometimes they'll get on a kick. There's some shows that are too much. You can't want like Katherine, it's called the Great bits about Catherine the Great you would not like it. It's like, it's really explicit. Like when they do sex stuff. They do sex stuff. When they do violence. They do violence and it's like oh my god and so that's the show. You can't binge. So we usually do our harsh shows first, and in the medium, and then we end on a comedy because I can't end the night on criminal minds, because I'm just like, Okay, I gotta cleanse my palate. So we always have. Yeah, we have an extreme show, a medium show and a comedy. And our comedy right now is How I Met Your Mother. editor's note. Btw, I am aware that there are things that can be problematic with How I Met Your Mother, because it's an older show. And since this podcast is half film and TV reviews, I'm aware. It's an all white cast. And one of the characters is pretty much a womanizer. So even though I watch it, I acknowledge it's problematic. Just had to put that in there. Okay. So that's like what we watched when we're done watching the others.
HOLLY
Yeah.
Megan Erickson
He's strange links. So because this is a review of a full season, I have the review split into three episodes. So this is more so a review for fans of the show a discovery of witches, because there is so much to talk about. The book series is jam packed, and so is the show. There's so many different themes and metaphors that I am in love with. And so I do think it's worth my time to talk about, I don't think I've split anything up into three episodes before, but I love it. So and so I hope you enjoy. Okay, so we split this episode up into two parts, because there was a lot to talk about. And we're re recording some of it. So some of the audio is going to be different, because I'm going to include some of the stuff that we said. And then I'm going to include some of this stuff. So I'll be all wonky. But as someone that wants to analyze things, I'm going to always analyze them in a fair way. Even if I don't like the story and this story I love but there was another story we're comparing it to, which I don't like and I was giving a lot of bias opinions. So and being an adult, so I'm correcting myself. Okay, so one of the things that we talked about is that there was a review that said that this story was derivative, and derivative, meaning we've seen this storyline before. I don't agree with that. And here's some of the reasons why. Number one, the vampires had no things. And when we were watching that, did we even talk about it? I don't even think we talked about it. It was just
Unknown Speaker
I feel like we mentioned it at one point. But everything was just so smooth. I don't know if this is like the right way to put this. But whenever they would bite somebody was always so smoothly done. Uh huh. That I never really thought you think oh, yeah, they don't have. Yeah, I don't know.
Megan Erickson
No, it's so true. Because weird to think about, it was really an effortless kind of story to watch. And they didn't focus on the blood. And the gore. The story was, the storyline was all of these different things happening. And it was only until I was going back through it with a fine tooth comb to get clips for the podcast, and I want to do like a YouTube review. For I was like, Oh, that's a huge difference very, very big. Because it's so good. Oh, no,
Unknown Speaker
I was just gonna say cuz I cannot think of like, there are a decent amount. I mean, even just all the different versions of Dracula that are out there, like just all the different versions and different genres of vampire. And as far as I can remember. Now, granted, you may want to double check me, but as far as I can remember, every single one of them, they always had things like that was one of the key ways is to tell that someone was a vampire. Yeah, you had some that until they were ready to feed their things would grow for the board
Megan Erickson
drop down. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker
exactly. Or Yeah, you know, like, yeah, or they would just be there all the time, or, you know, for whatever reason, kind of thing. Yeah, but they were always there. Like it to some degree. And so, to me, it's just such a weird concept to think I know Empire without bangs. I just, it just kind of blows my mind.
Megan Erickson
It's really unique. And I think it goes into because we talked about how the demons also just look like people. And everyone looks for the most part human unless you're supernatural. You can like sense things. And it just goes into that. I don't know it, I really liked the way she wrote it. Because they all there's all of this like, intolerance between the species and like, it's like a metaphor for racism. And yet, if you stand them up next to each other, you're not going to know who's who, or what's what you're not going to know, a demon from a witch from a vampire from a human because they all look the same. And there's just something kind of like really equalizing about that. And it's, it's interesting. And so about the things there was like one part because I was trying, I went through it, and you can see him bite. But there's only one part you see actual, like bite marks, and it's when Matthew was fighting with Baldwin.
And he bites Baldwin, and when he pulls his head back, it's a full bite mark. It's like, if you bite into an apple, it's not like the two things. And so I was like,
HOLLY
Oh, my God. Yeah,
really? I know.
Megan Erickson
And that's, and that's something that you'll find when you read the book is the way Deborah Harkness writes it is she compares vampires moreso, to Wolf's than to bats. And it's this really, really unique, they don't really have a lot of time to do that. In the show. There's one part in the show where Diana's trying to figure out what she's going to feed him for, for dinner. And she has like her laptop open, it says feeding habits of wolves. And that's like the one thing that they should. Yeah, and I didn't, because we were just into the story, I didn't want to be that person. I was like, no selling the book. It says, oh, but they do get more into it in the second book, because they go back in history, err in the past. And there's different things where people say, oh, a werewolf, there was a werewolf attack or whatever. And they say that all things, people that they thought were werewolves, they were actually vampires. And it just psychologically felt better for people to imagine that it was an animal like creature, rather than someone that looked human, which is very, like spot on for psychology. And so even though I freaking love werewolves, that was my only problem with this whole series, is that it didn't have vampires, witches and werewolves. I was a little bummed out. But the more I got into it, I appreciated how unique this storyline was. Because it's no it just never has been done before. Where they're not like that. They're actually like wolves. And it's, and when you read the book, you're, you'll appreciate that because it's like, all these nuances that, you know, the show didn't have time for and it's, it's interesting.
HOLLY
There.
Megan Erickson
Okay, another thing we talked about, but I want to bring up again, because so here's the list of things that makes this a unique story is that there are adults and it's not a teenage girl, and a vamp and a male vampire, which is really popular, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Buffy. Like, those are like the big ones as far as like TV and movies that come to mind. And this is just not that that coupling. Right.
Unknown Speaker
And I also we were talking, I don't know if this is gonna, like, jump us or anything. But we also talked about like, because she's not a teenager, like her style, and everything is much different. Like, she's, you know, the things that she thinks about as a teacher aren't the same things that like Buffy the Vampire Slayer would, would be thinking about as a teenager. And so it kind of brought in a whole new. That makes sense. It kind of Yeah, it's like a whole new concept. And how we were talking about like, how we love that she just, she didn't look dolled up.
HOLLY
Mm hmm.
Yeah. She just she just looked like a professor.
Megan Erickson
Hold on a second. loki My dog is whining at me baby.
Sorry, Holly. I know. It probably wasn't picking up but he was like whining at me. And I was like, No, the wrong time. Yes. So going back to music she did. She looked like a professor. She dressed like a professor. Her the things that were in her life that were important to her were very independent and adult driven. And they they could have made a change and gussied her up from the character in the book to what happened in the Siri in the TV series, but they didn't. They stuck to it. And I was doing some research and Deborah Harkness the author was like a huge part of The TV show, so, um, she like approved every casting and a lot of the costuming. And it does like if you look at, like she's a nerd, like she dresses like a nerd because she is one. And it's so it's so good. And it just kind of helps cuz
Unknown Speaker
I feel like you can be seen as a nerd even when you're guessing that, yeah, if you're going to a job that you love and are literally just surrounded by books, it's like, I don't know, when I get into my book mode. Oh my gosh, like books don't have eyes, they don't care what I look like. And so, in one of the first episodes, where do you see her getting ready for work? And all she does is like look in the mirror and then throw her hair up into a ponytail. And then it heads out the door with a piece of toast and coffee. Yeah. And that's like, done. No, I found that so many times. Go to the library. Yeah, you know, and it's like it is this is one of those things where it's like, you are so more prepared to do the studying of the book and to find out the information, then you would care to like, I mean, you do put some care, you know, you'll wash your face, they'll shower, you don't look like you walked out of a dumpster. But you're not gonna be a professional, you know, hairstylist and spend an hour on your hair or whatever. But it's, it's just that that nuance that they brought in to really just show who she is and what she's focused on. Later. I just, I really loved how they did that. And it makes sense that the author was part of the entire casting, and everything because whenever that happens, I usually really love the series. Because it does it follows along with what she saw in her mind, and what her story was about and making sure that it sticks to that.
Megan Erickson
Yeah, so and it's really good because like in the book, they talk about how she has like really unruly on rulli I can't say unruly hair, like it's kind of like she can't control it. And they could have flat ironed her hair, they could have like, made it look pristine, but they didn't. And I mean, it didn't look bad. But yeah, the first like couple episodes, she's just so excited to go to the Bodleian Library and work on her research paper. So she just doesn't do a lot with her hair. And it's not, I'm not saying that like putting on makeup or getting gussied up. And being feminine is bad. I'm just saying, this is another thing that makes this story unique. Because you're not seeing this airbrushed teenage girl, you're seeing this woman that's so excited about her research. And that is her world. And that's what's important to her. And that's not something that we've seen a lot and I'm not saying like Bella Swan was gussied up, she was very plain. But it's it's just the fact that they could have chosen to make this character look different. But they didn't they stuck to what was like true in the in the book. And that was and that was really great. And I kind of wonder if because it's a it's a production of the UK. that that wasn't an issue because if you watch American films, it's there's just a lot more. I don't know there's more supermodels looking people. I feel like when you watch American productions versus like, things from the UK.
HOLLY
Right? Oh, and
Megan Erickson
on and on that note, this doesn't this isn't part of the list that makes a derivative, but it is a change. So in the book is about the Claremont was actually like, way younger she like appeared to be in her 40s. And so her and Diana looked way closer in age. And there's like a scene in the second book, which she says, move out of the way my daughter in law needs to come through and like everyone in the restaurant is like why your daughter in law because they're only like 10 years apart. But they made her older in the TV series and I actually think it worked a lot better because it gave that more of maternal feel for his elbows character, rather than Oh, your quote unquote mom that sire do is pretty gorgeous. Are you sure you've never had a romantic thing with her because it's not like a blood relation when it comes to siring vampires. It's very different. But the fact that they made her older, helps to like for me to be like, Okay, this is actually working for me. I appreciated that.
Unknown Speaker
And that was actually another thing that I really loved about her character. That because when you first hear about her, you haven't met her yet, and the witches and you know, the witches are talking about her and they're like, Oh my goodness, like you Can't stay at her house like she caused all this damage. All these problems like builds so many of our kinds, and then later you find out it's because they killed the love of her life.
Megan Erickson
Yeah. Not like bad, which is Yeah,
Unknown Speaker
yeah. And not only that, but that because I feel like with a lot of vampire stories, because they have such a long lifespan, they tend to have many a lover. And yeah, that's true. I love that she spent 1000s of years with one person and guide, she never left like she refused to change his office was still there with her.
A Discovery of Witches
This was your husband's office. It's still his
office.
Unknown Speaker
I loved that they brought that aspect into it. Like, and I'm not saying that this has never been done. Yeah. To have a couple be in love for that long and to not have flings at least or something.
Megan Erickson
Yeah, no,
Unknown Speaker
it's it's just, it was very, I really loved that aspect. I love that they brought that in. And then of course, you also have those other characters that are just like, Yeah, no, I don't ever plan on getting married. And I don't ever plan on Yeah, just one
Megan Erickson
person. Like, yeah, I
Unknown Speaker
want to live the free life. And I'm like, and again, that's totally fine. Just to have like, I loved that they didn't just make one main brand of a demon or a vampire or in this, like the, like you were saying, like, line them all up, and you wouldn't have been able to tell. And I love that she did that and so many more aspects than just the fact that
Megan Erickson
they all look human. Oh, you just reminded me of something? Um, yes, that is true. I never. I've never thought about that. Before that Felipe and his co just chose to love each other for years upon years. And there's something like that aspect of eternal love. Like they have that and I it is really like heartbreaking but romantic. When Matthew says, oh, that used to be Felipe's office and she goes that's still his office and you're just like oh my heart. Oh god. And okay, yeah, now is about was gussied up but that's because she's supposed to be she has a fancy lady and they did great like, God that shot when they're like going to her castle set tour. There's just this like shot of the back of the back of her as she's like walking down the stairs. And she her hair is like impeccable. Just this perfect, like French roll. Oh god. Like, even when she goes hunting. She has like, like fancy writing gear on and like leather gloves. And so but that's because that's her character. She's this exquisite French ancient vampire. I they did good with her. I really, I really liked that. I loved it. I loved it. It was done. So well. Like it was a great introduction for her character. And they did because it's a series they had time to, like introduce these characters visually. Because you don't have you got to do like quick introductions, like you know, in Harry Potter, they had a lot to jam into like one movie. But with this they could take their time and you could see Isabelle walking around her magnificent castle and like looming waiting for Diana and Matthew to come you. You can take time, you know, getting to know these characters. And I thought that was good. Um, you said something? What did you say? You were talking about? I don't remember what you said. But it reminded me of you see, like different types of vampire. So like, there's good and bad in every species. I think that was that. Okay, so you kind of see how Matthew and Marcus and Miriam are in their conversations when Marcus tries to turn his friend into a vampire because he's dying and then it doesn't work and it's really sad and really awful. I'm gonna find that quote, hold on. I have like another page. So Matthew is picking up Marcus and they're they're driving in the car and he says Matthews kind of scolding Marcus a bit and he says, Did you get his consent as in to turn him into a vampire? And he shakes his head No, because he's like, he was dying. I was trying to save his life.
A Discovery of Witches
Think of the risks took you could have been seen. James was my friend and a brilliant doctor. I can bear full potential to go two ways you can get consent. Chrysler cars, how many times just be told right?
Megan Erickson
You get very upset and raises his voice. Because in so you see that there's that setup of you asked for their consent. So with this group of vampires, changing someone without consent is a huge No, no. And so then when you see that, and then you see Juliet and jubair, to bear doesn't ask her, he just bites her neck and drinks her blood and reads her memories, no questions asked. And so it's a really good setup to be like, oh, and then these guys, they don't care. These guys are the bad guy. And it was just, it was a really good way to set up what's important to these characters and how they act. And then they did the same thing with the satu, the witch that tortures Diana, the first time you meet her, magically, like grabs the guy, she doesn't even touch him and pulls him down to the ground. And then she says a spell on the earth opens up and swallows the guy, and then he's gone forever. And so it was, it was a really good way to show who you're rooting for.
Unknown Speaker
And then that actually carried me on to another thing that we had mentioned about the territory's how, like, there's, you know, with some shows, it's like, if a vampire is not invited into a home, he literally is stopped from going into that. Oh,
Megan Erickson
yeah, yeah.
Unknown Speaker
That's not the case. It's not the case here. Yeah, they don't go into each other's territory out of respect. And there are rules that if you are caught in some somebody else's territory, they do have the right to basically destroy you. However, if you have not gone into their territory, then it's a whole, like, it's amazing. The amount of hit, I feel like almost like hidden politics were put in your world that a lot of people don't even know about. And this is how they run. This is how they survive. If we don't want to start a war. We stay off each other's land. If some of one of your guys comes onto my land without permission, I have every right to kill him.
Megan Erickson
Yeah, right. However I want and it's like that's an agreement between the three species and everyone's fine with it, which is why he takes Danna two sets or because it's to Clermont territory. And so the fact that a witch comes and kidnaps her, it's like, Okay, this is this is war, you not only came on my territory, but you took a guest that I had in my home that was under my protections, a huge deal. Very big deal. Oh, so good. I love this show so much. Oh, and I know, we talked about this before. But another thing that I appreciate about this is that it's not human and vampire. It's not predator and prey, but it's a vampire, a powerful vampire with a powerful witch. And so they're equally matched. And I don't know if I said this in the last one. But there's this level of restraint for both parties. He has to restrain himself from wanting to feed on her and she has to control her magic, so she doesn't murder anyone. And so that's, that's, that's another thing that makes this unique is because most vampire stories, it's all about the vampire controlling himself. And it can be a metaphor for like sexual drive, you know, oh, I don't want to push this girl to do something she doesn't want to do. But I want to do all the time, because I'm a man, you know. And so it's that is derivative. We've seen that a lot. And this leads into most vampire stories are just a love story. It's just the relationship of the vampire and the human, and other things happen around that relationship. But in this story, it's all about the book of life. And the reason that Matthew and Diana meet is because she finds the book of life, and it's a huge deal. And it has potential to give each of the species like power over the other one. And he's the only one that says hey, by the way, danger. And she's like, whatever, you're a vampire, we're not supposed to talk go away. And then people come and they threatened her. And so the reason that they're drawn together is because of this book. So there's this whole other story going on, and their love story happens within that story. And that's another reason why this is a more mature, kind of like storyline to follow.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I did love that even in like so when he's first telling her all of that, like, you know, so when you get this book, just so you know, people are gonna try and kill you. Yeah, she is. She says like, whatever. You're a vampire that I've heard stories that have that. And then it's like, all of a sudden all these people are trying to kill her but the people that trying to kill her are so nice. Because I want to get
Megan Erickson
Yeah. And he's just honest with her. Oh, my God, that's true. Nice.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, and he likes she's like, Are you threatening me and he actually gets offended. He's just like, No, I'm
Megan Erickson
mourning you. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. And it's just like it was just such an amazing moment because it's like, cuz even me in my mind when I think of vampires I think, you know, an animal type species like I think of animal instincts, animal urges, you know, there's those uncontrolled things. Trouble will contain everything that you just yeah, you know, it's just instincts. And here, they're not just including that, like, they're also including the fact that you just made me sound like a horrible human being. Yeah, I actually a person that was rude of you. Why would you do that? It's just like, just such a turnaround for me. I just love that scene. So but Yeah, I did. I love that kind of how he's, I mean, any seems be compared to everybody else. He seems like he's just being an absolute jerk to her. When really once you get through all of it, you realize he's the only one giving her the facts? Yeah, not sugarcoating it for her.
Megan Erickson
I love I love the way you said that, because they're all nice to her like Peter Knox is like, Oh, I knew your mother and all this. And then Julian says, come over for tea and spill your secrets, you know. And she has no idea that they're, they're just trying to get the book from her and everything that she tells Jillian Jillian tells Knox. And so when she figures out, oh, these guys aren't good at all. She goes back to Matthew. And that is a good, that scene is really, really good. It's just her and she's walking. And you can tell she's like, panicking because she's you know, she puts her hand against the wall, or the, like, cobblestone wherever she is, and, and all these things start to add up. And you see scenes of like Jillian saying, Oh, these things get out when really you know that Jillian's the one that spread them around, and, and she's crying a little bit. And then the next scene, she goes to Matthew. And she basically says, You said people will come after me. And you're right. And he asked her, why did you come to me? The only one that didn't want to hurt me. And she's asking for help. And what I like about that story is, it's or that part is asking for help isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength. She wants to know who her allies are. And instead of thinking of the things that she's been taught, which is in vampires don't mix, don't talk to them, she goes, I'm going to get over that, because I definitely don't want to be like those guys. The Witches that want to kill vampires, and this vampire was only trying to help me. So I'm gonna go do that. And that part is like a turning point because she decides to get over that kind of discriminative thinking, and she's asking him for help. And I thought that part was like, it was also like, a really mature part of the storyline. And that, and that is when they really start to be like, interested in each other. Because then she starts asking him, how old are you? And it's just such a Oh, it's such a sexy idea. This, you know, like, 2000 year old vampire talking to a historian like, that's gonna make any historian excited.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, my gosh, yeah, I could I like, what he's like talking about the people that he's literally had conversations with, like, scientists and amazing people. And she's freaking out, just like, That's so cool. And he's just like, it's normal. And I was right there with her. I was just like, yeah.
HOLLY
We're gonna get lazy.
Megan Erickson
It's so good. She like, there's this look on her face. The extreme, I'm gonna do like a reaction thing on YouTube, where I just like take scenes, and I go, this is what's happening in this scene. And this is why it's amazing. But there's this part where she goes, how old are you? And he's kind of standing sideways. And he just turns her he gives her like this, like kind of smirking, smile, kind of like, wouldn't you like to know? And he doesn't tell her he like doesn't tell her until like, the fourth episode or something. And it's just, it's so it's so what's so sexy about that is that it just wasn't it hasn't been done before into. She's not just interested in him as what he is, but who he is and what he's seen and that that's sexy. Like that is a very interesting concept. And there's even a part in the series where he's talking to his friend And Hamish who's a demon will do you? Do you love her? And he's just talking about how she is and, and the things that he you know the qualities he likes about her. And he's like, well, how does she feel about you? And he says, she's a historian. I'm her latest research project. And he's kind of like, the she like me, or does she just like, the life I've lived, and he's kind of like a little insecure. But he's also mature enough to recognize, I hope she's interested in me, not just the life I've lived, which is really good that they pointed out his awareness of that whole situation. And so, oh, it's just so it's so good. Oh, okay. And I didn't make a list. But some of the historical things he says he knows Charles Darwin. He knew Shakespeare. He knew the guy that came up with that first understood that the heart was a pump. Don't remember his name. And then he knows elicit he knew Elizabeth Tudor. So he wasn't just like, he was like a man about town. This guy like he knew people. He wasn't just there when things went down. He liked new kings and queens. And it's just so cool. Because after they have that initial conversation of, Oh, I'm pretty dang old. And he understands that she's a historian. He comfortably brings up things regularly after after they're like starting to get to know each other. Like, she's like, what do you smell when he's smelling his wine? He says something about currents. And he was like, oh, Elizabeth Tudor loved them. They ruined her teeth, though. And it's just like, Oh, God, like, it's just so interesting. I yeah. So that is such an excellent way to tell this type of story.
Unknown Speaker
Well, and I love like, again, even with that example that you just gave where she, where she's asking, like, what do you smell like how you smell like, she wants to see the it's, in my mind. It says she wants to see the world how he sees this world. Yeah. Not only is he much older, but his senses are heightened. Like, when we smell a rose, you know, we smell a rose. But if he smells a rose, it could literally just overpower him. Because the sense that he may not like the smell, just because it's so strong day.
Megan Erickson
And he's smelling like other things to
Unknown Speaker
things that we don't even notice. Yeah, it's just like any things like when he talks about hearing heartbeats and stuff, and it's just like, it's like, that's something you can't help. Like, it's just something you hear her. But it's like, for us, it's like, heart beating right now. Like, we're just standing next to each other. That's so cool. Yeah, I love her. She shows that like, she shows that interest not only in him, but his story. Cool. Like you knew all these people. But I also love learning about you in this world today. Yeah, I think they really did a really good job. Try that was a lot of really nice job of making sure that they showed that, you know, even though as a historian, he really is just an amazing person to talk to you. But as a person, he's also just a really amazing person to talk to back that as they keep going. They realize that both of their goals are the same kind of are the same goals. They both want to make sure that nobody has power over somebody. Yeah. They both just want to make sure that everybody's equal. And so they're both trying to do whatever. They can make sure that this book that can give people the power to over rule, everybody else doesn't fall into anybody's hands that's actually going to try and overrule.
Megan Erickson
Oh, I am so excited for you to like keep I want you to read like all the books, but you got to watch. You got to watch it and then you got to read it. But it's more than wait because like the the book is hidden for most of the first book. And for the second book as well. It's only like at the end really like oh, and then like something happens but like it is freaking worth the wait. It is so good. I think there was the book. I like didn't expect it. I was like oh my gosh, that's amazing. There's so it's so good. You're gonna nerd out cuz it's it's really late. I gotta get my phone charger from downstairs. I'll be right back. It just blinked at me.
HOLLY
Welcome back.
Megan Erickson
Okay. Okay, well, now I want to talk a little bit about Out of breath.
I just like to hear myself going.
I hate that. I like ran up the stairs was like the worst feeling in the world. You're like,
Unknown Speaker
damn it.
Megan Erickson
I should not be that out of shape.
When I come up,
Unknown Speaker
and by the time I get to the apartment, I'm just like, I can't read. I can't read. And I'm just like, I am not out of shape.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Megan Erickson
It's a bad feeling. Oh, man. Okay, so I want to talk a bit about the witchy stuff, because it's really easy to talk about him as a vampire and their relationship, but her kind of journey into like, finding herself is really cool. And to like, read about it in the book. And then to see it visually represented. Oh, my gosh, because they did, it was like better than what I had in my head. And that, you know, that rarely doesn't happen, at least, you're like, well, I like the book better. It's really easy to like, go down that road. But I didn't feel that way at all. And I think part of that is because it's a series, they have eight episodes, 840 minute episodes to go through a book. And so they have time to take time, basically.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, to get those little hidden nuances in there and all the little hidden gems that they can pull out and, and you might not even realize that it's there until like, three episodes later when it's like, oh, yeah, they did do that, didn't they?
Megan Erickson
Yeah. Okay.
HOLLY
I love that.
Megan Erickson
I'm glad you brought that up. Because I is it if I what I think of when you say that is she has these different dreams about spiders, and like being like in spider webs. And one of the critics said, Oh, when you see a woman, like have her third dream about spiders, you have to wonder how high your tolerances I was like, Yeah, but she was those dreams had purpose. wolky I can't play right now.
HOLLY
Okay.
Megan Erickson
Thank you. Sorry. He's just like banging at the door. Okay, so she, yeah, she has these different dreams where she's like in bed, and she has this giant spiderweb like across her body. And then you Yeah. And I thought they did really good. And then you find out that she is spellbound. And the way that she spellbound is that she was laying in bed as a kid and her mom's like, okay, honey, we're going to tell you a story. And then her dad did this spellbinding. And it looked like a spiderweb. It looked like they were like tying these things over. And as she's getting spellbound, her mom is saying, well, her parents had to tie her up and little ribbons. But one day, those ribbons would be free. And she could untie them when she needed. And it's just kind of like, Oh, it was such a sad part of the story. Because she didn't know. And so the reason that she felt like she wasn't a good witch, all of her life is because she was actually spellbound, but they were spellbinding her to protect her from Peter Knox, because he basically wanted to, like snatch her up and trainer at some special, I don't know, training place. And so that's why they did that. But what did you think of how how they did that storyline as someone that didn't read the book, like seeing all the spider dreams and then seeing it later? How did you think that that was executed?
Unknown Speaker
It definitely. So in seeing the spider dreams, I just I mean, when they're showing something that many times know that they're trying to foreshadow something like you're doing it very blatantly. And so, you know, it's got to be kind of a big thing, because they're not trying, you know, some some foreshadowing is just very little. And it's, it's kind of okay, if you miss it, because it'll be thoroughly explained. You know, it's just kind of one of those things that if you miss it, it's fine. If you catch it, it's cool. But this was one of those, you know, foreshadowing moments where it's like, you need to know this, because this is a big deal. This is going to be a big piece later on. And so I definitely kept trying to think of what it would be for and I just could not, I mean, I also I'm not gonna lie, Andrew, can attest to this. I hate spiders. They freak me out. I don't like them. I'm totally fine with them. Being in nature. I'm not going to just sit there and stomp on spiders out in nature, because Yeah, however, you if you're around me and Andrew long enough, every once in a while you'll see the secure Andrew say, Holly don't look. And but because he's trying to hide the fact that there's a spider close to me so that he can kill it before I see it. He should say,
Megan Erickson
Look over there in like the opposite direction.
Look at that corner to your right.
Unknown Speaker
Left is just as bad. I'm just like so usually to my left and be like, Oh yeah, I'm pointing to my left. Oh, right, go right. But it just looks at me like, dude, you're doing right? I don't. But yeah, and so I definitely saw that full circle. I saw that as a foreshadowing. And so once I did once they did bring in the the fact that the parents had to spell bind her and when you see what that spell looks like, and I mean, how many of us remember things from when we were super young? And honestly, is not anything like what actually happens?
HOLLY
Yeah. Kid
Unknown Speaker
minds. And you know, and with the story that's being told by the mom. It's very psychologically understandable. That is a dream that she would have. Because after seeing and I mean, it really does. It looks like little spider webs that are just you know, faffing around. And even though the moms like oh, yeah, they're beautiful little ribbons just wrapping around to protect the girl. But I mean, if it looks like a spider web, then a kid's gonna be like, Oh, yeah, pretty little spider web. Yeah. And if you keep going, you just remember that spider web part. You lose a lot of it in translation. And so it made to me, it made a lot of sense, as a child growing up, that that is something that would have better, especially since it is something that because I mean, obviously when you're when you've got magic that's that strong. And it's trying to literally break out of you. Yeah, I mean, you see that even in the very first episode, like, when she first comes on screen, they show her her magic trying to break out of her. Yeah. And she hates it, it freaks her out.
Megan Erickson
She's like, Oh, no, no, no, no. And Mike looks around. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker
yep, with the papers. Mm hmm. And so it's, in my mind, it would be very understandable for a brain to do whatever it can, because that's the another amazing thing about this show is I feel like they are very, very in tune with a lot of things that happen to a normal person,
Unknown Speaker
right?
Unknown Speaker
And so our brains are hardwired? To give us answers.
Megan Erickson
Exactly, yeah,
Unknown Speaker
see something? Or if we hear something our brain is hardwired? To give us an answer to it. If something sounds like water, like water dripping, as water dripping, right, not actually be water dripping, but our brain immediately matches it up to what we already know. And something that she already knew was spider webs. Yeah. So it's and for something like that, to be such a big deal in her life for so long. And for her it to be something that really affects her, you know, as she's growing, and just knowing that she's this horrible witch, because she doesn't want to be a witch, she's no good at magic. She never has been. And it's like, Okay, this is just something I don't want in my life. And but you can still feel it inside you trying to break out. And it's like, and to see those spider webs. I could, like psychologically, it just makes sense that that is what the brain would connect to get that answer. And I just really enjoyed it.
Megan Erickson
I really, I'm so glad you did. Because like, in the in the book, it was, you know, like reading like, oh, and then she has a dream that she's covered in spider and I was like, okay, but like seeing it was really cool. The way they did it with the music and the lighting was, it was really good. And I think it did what you said like it painted this picture of, she had this kind of like trauma as a kid. So psychologically, this is her brains way of saying, This is what happened to you, you know, and the and it's so it was so good. Okay. And that also reminds me so there's a part where Matthew is explaining to her, how he's studying different creatures, and they're like, I don't know, DNA markers. There's probably a better way to say that, but he's saying like, okay, here's a witch from 1500. And here's her DNA. Here's one of her descendants, and she has less of the witch markers, meaning her magic is decreasing and this line of witches that The cells or whatever in their bodies are decreasing. And he explains that the more witches are depend, or the less witches dependent on their magic to survive, like a 15, which from the 1500s, is probably going to use her magic a lot more than somebody say, in 2018 that has technology and can buy like groceries from the store instead of tending to her own garden, sprinkling them a little magic on there to make sure that her family's fed. It makes sense. And so he says, the less witches use their magic for survival, the more and more it's decreasing. And he says until they'll eventually become extinct. And Diana's reaction to that is very big. And she's shocked, obviously. But when I watched it the second time, I realized I realized, oh, because she's not using her magic. And so late, because as Matthew is explaining, he goes, the more and more that happens, they will any kind of pauses, and, and then I realized, Oh, she's not using her magic. She's part of the problem. And after he paused, it goes extinct. So he's kind of like saying, Yeah, like, if you have kids. Yeah. And it's, it's very poignant, because she said, I don't want to use magic because my parents died. Because they used magic. And people persecuted them. And, and that's how they were murdered. And, but it's also kind of shocking to realize, oh, but if I don't use magic, does that mean I'm part of this problem, that my family line will eventually just be human because I chose to not use it. And that's like, that's really that's really hard hitting and I do think that that has a lot to do. I don't know if I was in that situation. Are you like, well, I gotta do some spells man, because that is no bueno. Like,
Unknown Speaker
that is not good news.
Unknown Speaker
Isn't that crazy? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker
I definitely understood the whole like, but I always, you know, even though they said the word kinked. And everything I had always said to me, it always went into Oh, they'll become human. They just won't have magic, right? And so in my mind, I was like, oh, they're not really extinct, because they're not dying. They're just not no longer magical. But then hearing you say it like that. It's like, No, no, like, if they no longer have magic, then witches will no longer exist.
Megan Erickson
Yeah. They'll just like a witch. One day, we'll have a baby and the human and they won't have that in common. And oh, there's this Oh, go ahead. I'm gonna
Unknown Speaker
that drags me over to the winter. So I said, I'm sorry. I'm so bad with the names. It's the the to Diem
Unknown Speaker
ends.
Unknown Speaker
And, and for their couple. They're married. Yeah, the couple and the girl is pregnant, and later, and she's a demon. And you know, and she's married to a demon. And later on, you find out that Oh, yeah.
HOLLY
Parents work witches.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. And that is a big deal. is a witch? Yeah. And it's like, so they're doing everything they can to kind of hide everything. Like well, crap. Now what like that had never been heard of was two witches getting together and ending up having a demon baby. Mm hmm. And so it's like, and I but I thought it was so interesting. Because like, as you go back into genealogy, obviously to find out what happened and see that yes, you actually do have demon and witch blood in your bloodline genes in your bloodline. And so that is one it's kind of like and I'm not gonna lie it started getting me thinking on like, how somebody can have all brown haired people in their family like mom dad brown hair. oldest son, oldest daughter, second oldest son brown hair, and then all of a sudden the fourth kid bright red hair. Yeah. Just kind of like wait what happens and then later on you find out Oh, no, you actually have a pretty strong you know, Irish beam in your family. Yeah, so you've always had these
Megan Erickson
you they've just never they're just never surfaced before I said, Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
Now Yeah. And so I always thought so hearing it that like that. Oh, that's how I thought about it was all these different, you know, little things all of a sudden popping up and I just thought it was so interesting. And I loved that they kind of like they didn't obviously be like, Oh, yeah, check out Jenny ology, but it was just like, no, knowing your history, knowing your pass can help you to prepare for your future. And I like concepts because that whole learning from past mistakes and using it to better the future. I love that concept. And I feel like that was not obviously it wasn't like a main story, but I loved that it was it was a john here.
Megan Erickson
Yeah, it was a good part of the story. Um, so that couplets Sophie and Daniel, and Nathaniel's mom, Agatha is on the congregation. So she's a representative for the demons. And they wait to tell Agatha. And she's like, it's Sophie's decision. She goes, No, I need to tell her and her husband says, No, I don't think you should. And then she explains, I think that our connection is so strong, because she's a witch. And well,
A Discovery of Witches
I was born of which.
You're a witch? No, no, I'm,
I'm a demon. But, but my parents were witches and my grandparents and
there is before them.
The baby could be a witch,
I've got a pretty strong feeling that she is.
Unknown Speaker
And you can tell me, if our baby is a witch born of demons, should we everything the congregation fears and wants to destroy? can trust me? My god, I don't want to put you in a difficult position.
A Discovery of Witches
I'm your mother.
Unknown Speaker
You come first. Both of you do. I miss child, grandmother. My loyalty and love are to you.
Megan Erickson
So that's her saying like screw the congregation, if you Your parents are witches and your babies, which I'm going to protect you. And that was a really good moment, because she could have gone either way. Because if they if the congregation finds out, they could try to kill her and kill her baby and stuff. And it could have been like really bad. But you see her character and where she's going. And then eventually, she gives them information that leads them to Diana, and it's really good. I want to I gotta pull up this quote. Okay, so this is Matthew talking about what will happen when creatures go extinct.
A Discovery of Witches
It's not going to happen immediately tomorrow, but it's already been gone. One day, they'll be just one species. Humans. Frost, they won't notice the difference, because they've never noticed us. But gradually,
Unknown Speaker
eventually, they'll come to see all the magic has seeped out in the wild. And I look around them. And everyone will be the same.
HOLLY
And I actually love that they did that.
Unknown Speaker
Because if you think of all these animals that are starting to go extinct, like even in our world right now, right, and thinking of other animals that have gone extinct, I mean, just look at the dinosaur. There are absolutely none left, there are one and two creatures that are distantly distantly related. But that's it. And so I like how he said how it's not just going to be like a big, oh my gosh, everything's just been sucked out like a vacuum. Because that's not how that kind of stuff works. It's one individual at a time. Yeah. When you're at a time kind of thing. It's never just a quick thing. And so But yeah, I like how he mentions how everyone will just start looking around and realize that there's just literally no magic in the world anymore.
Megan Erickson
And isn't that Oh, it's so poignant, because it can be used as a metaphor for so many things like, yeah, animals that will probably go extinct in our lifetime. And, you know, and there's a big concern with bees. And there are people where it's their job just to rehabilitate bees. And then now there's certain regulations, bee workers with that make honey, there's regulations, because it's like, yeah, we want honey. But you know, we want even more to make sure that bees still exist and are pollinating different flowers. Because if those flowers go away, then that's gonna ruin that ecosystem. And it's just this huge domino effect. And so to think about just one thing, going away, it affects it's a huge domino effect. And it can be, it can be so bad. Oh, it's really it's really, really good. metaphor, I think, which is really great.
Join us next time for part three. Please rate and review and share with your friends if they're little strange things like you. Thanks for listening.
I hope you'll join us next time. scare you later.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai