By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and use of cookies and similar technologies. We store cookies and similar technologies on your computer or device to provide you with a great experience and help our website run effectively.
Do you have a strong opinion that’s a little bit ... spicy?
Maybe you believe bananas and cheese belong together, or perhaps you’ve spent hours extolling the virtue of 2019’s Cats to friends and family. MoPOP has just the place for strong opinions loosely held. We present to you the Hot Takes Symposium: our new program where fans can convene to discuss and defend their strangest points of view to an indifferent moderator.
EVENT DETAILS
SEPTEMBER 25, 2021
6:00pm PT
ONLINE LIVESTREAM
ALL AGES
This program uses a pay-what-you-can ticket model — every little bit helps! All proceeds contribute to MoPOP programming, along with the preservation of our collection and our educational initiatives, all of which support our mission of making creative expression a life-changing force.
Hot Takes Symposium Topics
POPx
Whale, Actually
Jane Don't presents Whale, Actually, a provocative and scandalous exploration of whales and their insidious strangehold on popular culture. Have you ever marveled at the exquisite beauty of whales on an episode of Plante Earth? Do you know every line of Free Willy? Then you have fallen prey to one of the greatest cover-ups in modern history: the popularization of enormous (potential) killing machines. Whale, Actually illuminates the dark corners of whales' vast propaganda effort and will definitely prove that Willy NEVER should've been freed.
PowerPoint Party
I Will Survive? Survival of the Kasi
MoPOPs Public Engagement Producer, Kasi Gaarenstroom will be taking a look at some of her favorite slasher films and pondering how she would fare in them. Would she survive a night with Freddy Kreuger? What about camp at Crystal Lake? Tune in to find out if she’s Final Girl or First Kill material.
Janine Brito
Eliza Skinner
Troy Walker
Andrew Orvedahl
Debate Club
Who would survive: The winner of Alone or Survivor?
Which survival reality show better preps its winner for survival? Hosted by Andrew Orvedahl, Eliza Skinner, Troy Walker and Janine Brito, we’ll be putting the rigor of reality tv shows Survivor and Alone to the test to see which one produces survivalists, and which one leaves contestants without a paddle.
Jane Don't
POPx Whale, Actually
Jane Don't is a world-famous underground superstar and Professor Emeritus at Don't Tea Tea Technical Institute--a for-profit online college started by Dr. Don't and run out of her studio apartment. Dr. Don't received her undergraduate degree in comparative playlist-making from the University of Mind Your Business, Denise!!!! and wrote her doctoral thesis on the socio-economic effects of having TOO perfect an ass. Dr. Don't resides in the big city baybeeee, where she performs, goes dancing at all the hottest clubs, has cocktails with the girls and uh, grades papers or whatever it is nerds do (not kiss people? lol). She is a Libra with a Pythagorean moon and her favorite color is vodka.
Kasi Gaarenstroom
PowerPoint Party: I Will Survive? Survival of the Kasi
Praised for her encyclopedic of vines, Kasi Gaarenstroom is a scholar of all things internet niche. Self-described as an ‘older Gen-Z', and in order to further herself from the reality that she might be a millennial, she is currently a devout student of TikTok. Though, her true passion is the study of the Brennaissance, colloquially known as the resurgence of action hero and heartthrob, Brendan Fraser. You can find her doing research on ‘The Mummy 1999’ and other Fraser classics. She hopes to complete her book “The Rise and also the Rise of Brendan Fraser” in the next ten years.
Janine Brito
Debate Club Member | Team 1: Eliza Skinner and Janine Brito
Janine Brito is a tenured professor of TVology as well as a television writer and comedian who has performed on Late Night with Seth Myers.
Eliza Skinner
Debate Club Member | Team 1: Eliza Skinner and Janine Brito
Eliza Skinner has a double doctorate in Couch Potato methodology. She's a comedian, the head write of Earth To Ned, and she's won an Emmy, making her perhaps the only person here qualified to cast judgement on TV shows.
Troy Walker
Debate Club Member | Team 2: Troy Walker and Andrew Orvedahl
Troy Walker is a television and video game sommelier, with over twenty years experience. He's also a television writer, comedian, and actor who has appeared on Comedy Central's Corporate.
Andrew Orvedahl
Debate Club Member | Team 2: Troy Walker and Andrew Orvedahl
Andrew Orvedahl is an adjunct professor of Binge Watching, and the author of: Screen Time—Why Your Kids Aren't Getting Nearly Enough. He's also a writer, actor and comedian who has appeared on The Tonight Show.
The Hot Takes Symposium uses three different formats for pop culture obsessives to air their “hot takes” on their favorite movies, TV shows and more: a PowerPoint Party, Debate Club, and a POPx on the given theme.
Each Hot Takes Symposium will include
.
PPP (Powerpoint Party)
Feeling nostalgic for Word art, swipe-in transitions, and clip art of the presentations of yore? Join us for this visual, slide-based discussion of the speaker's hot take.
Debate Club
Modeled on the infamous high school debate club. Debates in this format will be between entities in the same pop culture universe (ex. Batman Returns Batsuit vs. Batman Begins Batsuit).
