Welcome to Special Topics in Media - Season 7, Episode 0, "Teaser"

In this "teaser" episode to Special Topics in Media, communication and media studies professor and host Garret Castleberry provides an overview of this series (0:28) and its educational focus. His introduction conveys this season's master theme "Communicating Fears in Film" (1:30) before unpacking each of the five units under investigation in season seven (1:50). Season seven focuses on the mass medium of film, and unit themes include:

Unit 1 - Monstrous Metaphors
Unit 2- Cold War Creatures
Unit 3 - Astrophobia
Unit 4 - Nightmarish Nature
Unit 5 - Eastern Othering

Garret then reveals this season's primary cohost (4:11) while putting listeners at ease that this program is dialogue-driven (aka discussion-focused) and not a monologue-style series. Finally, he provides an educational context that informs listeners about the focus of the series (5:30).

Host: Garret Castleberry

Producers: Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

Recommended readings paired with Season Seven "Communicating Fears in Film":
Kendall Phillips. Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture. Praeger, 2006. 

Stephen Prince. Apocalypse Cinema. Rutgers University Press, 2021.

Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's official academic YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiwBM1_UlP-HHWsW5IlOQ5Q.

Garret's academic website is located here: https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.

Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/418934097068422.

Follow Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics.