This episode examines how colonial themes persist in stories set in the present through a case study in Supernatural (2005-2020).

Concepts:

• Monster theses
• The strenuous life
• Home intrusion
• Fears of miscegenation
• Othering
• Men who know Indians
• Female captivity narrative

Sources:

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” University of Minnesota Press.

Leow Hui Min Annabeth. "Coloniality and the Chicana Gothic: Traveling Myths in the Pilot." In The Gothic Tradition in Supernatural: Essays on the Television Series, edited by Melissa Edmundson, 91-102.

Palmer, Lorrie. "The Road to Lordsburg: Rural Masculinity in Supernatural." In TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural, edited by Stacey Abbot and David Lavery, 77-89.

Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. 1992.

Have you ever wondered where the trope of the home intrusion boogeyman comes from? The origin of the cultural fear of kidnapping? This episode gives an introduction into the basis if these tropes in American media.

Warnings: Frank discussion of fictional portrayals of sexual violence

Concepts:

• Common sense
• Home intruson
• Female captivity narrative
• Fears of miscegenation

Sources:

On the concept of common sense:

Agnew, John. Hidden Geopolitics: Governance in a Globalized world. Rowman and Littlefield. 2023.

Hixon, Walter L. The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy. Sheridan Books. 2008.

On the female captivity narrative:

Slotikin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. 1992.

On gender in Duel in the Sun:

Corkin, Stanley. Cowboys as Cold Warriors: The Western and U.S. History. Temple University Press. 2004.

Pirates are some of the most romanticized villains in pop culture, but what is the true story of their history? This episode attempts to dispel myths and bring to light truths about the origins and functioning of piracy, as well as uncovering the basis of some pop culture portrayals.

Concepts:

• The periphery as space for difference
• Piracy as resistance to colonization
• Core and periphery

Sources:

Kardulias, P. Nick, and Emily Butcher. 2016. “Piracy in a Contested Periphery: Incorporation and the Emergence of the Modern World-System in the Colonial Atlantic Frontier.” Journal of World-Systems Research 22 (2): 542–64. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2016.652.

Yangas, Taylor. 2014. “Black Pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy: Men Seeking Escape and Transformation.”

Kinkor, Kenneth J. "Black Men under the Black Flag." In Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader, edited by C. R. Pennel, 195-205.

Rediker, Marcus. 1993. "When Women Pirates Sailed the Seas."

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