Communicating Fears in Film: "Beetlejuice"..."Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"! Artwork

Special Topics in Media

Special Topics in Media Studies is a lecture-based podcast that tackles media history one artifact at a time. Each season of the series we will investigate a different mass media theme, medium, or programming genre. While our focus is educational (it is an academic podcast after all), we tailor our conversations toward a broad audience of media enthusiasts.

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Communicating Fears in Film: "Beetlejuice"..."Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"!

October 31, 2024 • Garret Castleberry • Season 7 • Episode 27

0:00 | 1:24:37

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October is upon us! With scary movie season under way we continue our "Communicating Fears in Film" spotlight theme. Host Garret Castleberry is joined by Kyle Hammonds to analyze the spooky movie hall-of-fame fan-favorite, 1988's Beetlejuice, and its juggernaut legacy sequel in 2024's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Each movie is directed by Tim Burton and features standout comedic performances by Michael Keaton. The hosts further the relatively new "Filmic Echoes" methodology, and make the case for why the director's return to original content retrieves an authenticity to Burton's craftsmanship that may have disappeared in recent years.

Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Kyle Hammonds (Guest Host)

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

Fears in Filmography:
Tim Burton. (Director). Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Vermont, USA: Warner Bros./French Film Company/Plan B Entertainment, 2024.

Tim Burton. (Director). Beetlejuice. Vermont, USA: The Geffen Company/Warner Bros., 1988.

Recommended readings paired with Season Seven "Communicating Fears in Film":
Kendall Phillips. Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film. Southern Illinois University Press, 2012.

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

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Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.