e327. Decoding Literary Criticism: From BookTok to Shakespeare

Recently an 18year old college student who calls herself alisha not alihsha posted a vlog where she argues in favor of what she calls “being a hater” in her video essay “Booktok, brainrot, and why it’s okay to be a hater” Somehow she went viral and became the topic of conversation for a bit on so-called “BookTok”, TikTokers devoted to… well, talking about books. But is she really a hater? And is it really ok? Or is she just talking about how she wants to be a literary critic in general. And now that we mention it, what is literary criticism anyway? In this episode of VoxPopcast, hosts Mav and Katya, are joined by guest Nicole Freim, to delve into contemporary pop culture dynamics and how literary, media and cultural criticism really works. We discuss the significance of literary criticism versus book reviews, and the historical evolution of ‘high’ versus ‘low’ literature, with references from Shakespeare to popular modern works. We even talk about how critics on TikTok and other internet sites can contribute to academic discourse. Do you agree? Listen and let us know in the comments below. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call For Comments * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme * Follow Nicole on Twitter: @nfreim * Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick * Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast * Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast * Subscribe to our YouTube channel * Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!