Mugglecast vs. Pottercast

[emmagrant01]

I've been listening to podcasts lately. I have a bit of a commute to work, and I had thought it would be fun to listen to HP fic read-alouds and such along the way -- but it turns out that not many people have done podcasts of their fic. (I've only done the one myself so far.) So instead, I went looking for HP-related podcasts.

I found the two biggest and most popular ones right away: Mugglecast (associated with Mugglenet) and Pottercast (associated with The Leaky Cauldron). I've been listening to both for about a month now (they come out weekly).

So what do I think? Well, I have to say they're both interesting in their own way, but I'm always left a little dissatisfied after spending an hour of my drive time listening to either one. Both podcasts are about an hour long, and both feature groups of two or three people from the associated website chatting about HP-related stuff. Both have things I like and things I don't like, and in many cases, these aren't so different.

In general, Pottercast is slicker and better produced, with its regular features and snappy editing. The hosts tend to get off-topic to a degree I find annoying in that Regis & Kelly way, but when they're on-topic, the conversation is usually very interesting. They know their canon well, and I always learn something from listening to their discussion of various characters and events in the books. I like the regular news segment they do and the interviews with fanfic writers and artists. The "extendable ears" segments, in which they interview people involved with the production of the books and the films, are fantastic, and they make the podcast worth listening to. For example, they recently featured a three-part interview with Arthur Levine, who was responsible for bringing the HP books to the US market. He talked about how and why they changed some things in the American versions of the books, and it was fascinating! Occasionally, an HP celebrity cohosts the show (Chris Rankin, recently), which is also a lot of fun.

Mugglecast has more of an amateur feel to it, and this can often be charming. The show isn't nearly as slick as Pottercast, which makes it feel a bit like you're listening in on some random fans' conversation in a cafe or something. Though they are very good at staying on topic during their discussions, the hosts don't seem to be as well-versed in canon as those on Pottercast. In fact, they often get canon details wrong, which makes me talk back to them in my car. ("How can you not know that McGonagall is the Deputy Headmistress? Jesus!")

I have to say that on both podcasts, the level of conversation just isn't as intellectual as it is on LJ meta communities. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I love reading the thoughts of well-educated, thoughtful people who have great expertise in literature and history. The people who host these podcasts, though, sound a lot like my students when they're talking about HP. They get things wrong, or they make comments that seem ignorant of sociology, psychology, education, and history. This is more true on Mugglecast than Pottercast, I have to say, which leads me to my next criticism of both podcasts.

They are made largely by and for very young people. They seem to assume that their audience is teen (or in school) and het shippy, and given the level of banter between the hosts and the voice mails from listeners they sometimes play, I'd say they have their audience nailed. I don't mean to insult young people here, but I listen to these podcasts, and for Mugglecast in particular, I feel like I'm listening in on a conversation before class. (And I'm the teacher, btw.) It feels weird.

I'm also frequently annoyed by the outright dismissal of fan works on Mugglecast. On a recent show, a caller had asked them if they read fanfic and what they liked, and the hosts basically said that fanfic was for young teenage girls and that they had all been into it once but had since grown out of it. They went on to say that fanfic writers should find better ways to spend their time once they hone their craft, particularly by writing original fiction. The basic idea seemed to be that writing fanfic as a hobby was a waste of time -- which makes me wonder why recording conversations with your friends in which you spend ten minutes talking about who would win in a wizard duel between Luna Lovegood and Flitwick is not a waste of time -- but I digress. These guys also said a few weeks back that shippy fic was only written by teenaged girls who had no experience with real romantic relationships. Cue the eyerolling. In the month I've listened, they've made several of these sorts of misguided, ignorant, and insulting comments about how other people participate in fandom (one per show).

Pottercast is a little better in that they seem to respect and give props to many of the different ways fans can contribute their own works to fandom. There is a noticeable lack of attention to slash fic and art, which I guess shouldn't surprise me, considering the gen nature of the site. Slash has come up a couple of times and has generally been met with an uncomfortable fumbling and a quick change of topic along the lines of, "Well, there's nothing wrong with it... I mean, being gay is... you know, what's the big deal? *cough*". OTOH, one of the hosts on Pottercast once made a very strong anti-incest statement and said "archives should just refuse to host that stuff", which struck me as quite judgmental and arrogant for that show. There was another incident where the topic of slash came up, and a host said that most slash was written by middle-aged women. That may be true across fandoms in general, but I really don't think it's true in HP! At least they weren't accusing us all of being lovesick junior high Mary-Sue-writing virgins...

I suppose that overall, I like Pottercast better than Mugglecast. The Mugglecast guys never fail to insult the ways I participate in fandom nearly every show, so I'm thinking I should spare myself the annoyance and stop listening. They don't seem to take their show as seriously as the Pottercast folks do, either -- which is fine, but it's not as interesting to me as a thoughtfully-produced show. Pottercast isn't perfect, but many of its features more than make up for the frequently-annoying host banter at the beginning (enough with the Chipotle crap, already!) and the occasional insult to my whole corner of fandom.


And that brings me to another thought. You know what we need? A slash-oriented podcast. Wouldn't it be great if there were a weekly hour-long podcast about all things HP slash-related? There could be regular segments like:

• A group of people (the hosts or special guests) talking about a different (featured) ship each week


• A "news" segment where any HP news that impacts slashers could be reported


• An interview with one fanfic writer or artist


• A segment featuring a "technical" discussion of an issue in writing or creating art


• A fangirl squee segment, where callers could leave voice messages squeeing about their favorite fic or ship


• Readings of short fics by their authors

I have neither the time nor the technical expertise to organize such a thing, but if anyone would like to take it on, I would love to be involved in some small way. It seems like the organizers would probably best be the sorts who run the fandom newsletters -- well-read and well-connected. Wouldn't it be fun to get some of the great meta folks together on one call and listen in as they discuss the implications of new canon in HBP for Snarry, or the parallels between Harry's or Lupin's struggles and those of the heroes in GLBT lit, or to listen to your favorite writer talk about the process of creating her most famous fic, and so on?

I'd love to see and support something like that. We need a podcast of our own!

ETA: It looks like we might be onto something here. Plans are being made for a slashcast! Stay tuned... .>.>

Comments

[zhonnika.livejournal.com]

Mmm... that would rule. I'm all for a slashcast. *thumbs up*

[awaywithpixie.livejournal.com]

Sounds cool, although I know nothing of podcasts other than how to download them and get them onto the iPod. I can't even get the microphone on my computer to work!

[lovepanic.livejournal.com]

a slashcast would rock my WORLD *_*

[eristeleute.livejournal.com]

A slashcast??? That would be worth downloading even on my abysmal dial-up. And while I no longer read the fic and LJs of a lot of online authors, I can't think of any fanfic writer whose opinions are as erudite, focused, and entertaining as yours. I wholeheartedly support any plot inspiration bunnies that would convince you to start or help out with something like this! :)

[elanna9.livejournal.com]

most slash was written by middle-aged women

Sadly, I think I qualify at this point. ;)

Interesting. I've never listened to a podcast. (Generally don't listen to the radio or watch talkshow type television; dunno, I guess I prefer to get the info via reading.) But I felt as though I'd done so vicariously based on your description (and enjoyed it.)

I might well make the effort to listen to a slash podcast though. *g* Yeah!

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

I'm giggling over the thought of me reading one of my stories with my accent! LOL!

I wouldn't even no where to begin with creating a Podcast, but I think it's a fantastic idea!

[uncrown.livejournal.com]

I thought about doing a podcast for slash end of fandom not too long ago actually, but it quickly came to my attention I have neither the time nor the organization skills (or quite frankly the appropriate range experience since everything I pay attention to is Harry/Draco with an occassional side of Sirius/Remus) needed to pull off such a thing. I did listen to your podcast a while ago and loved it. I was listening to it on the way to a job interview to calm my nerves and couldn't stop giggling. I'd love to see something done with this idea.

[dramedy.livejournal.com]

*is inspired*
I mean, having ashow, where you discuss canon, fanon and slash, and all sorts of things??? oooh, count me in. I know how to record voice-things to my computer, and my sister cou;d help with that too. >:)

*dances* I would love to be involved if you start this..and if you don't, I will :P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Check out Char's comment below. :-D

[charlotteschaos.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't have the technical expertise at the moment, but I could certainly get one... and I did do radio at one time... ;) Do you need to be in the same room to do a podcast? Becuase we do have a fair number of educated slash fans in Austin... :D

And I have my own server...

And I'm a web designer...

hmm....

[charlotteschaos.livejournal.com]

hm, and slashcast was available and I took it. And I have recording equipment already... I'm guessing we can't really talk about this Sat ;)

[oconel]

I think it's a very good idea (and it'd help me to improve my English!!)

[pombagira.livejournal.com]

just listened to you podslash mirror mirror.. and WOW so cool.. great accent!! *grins*

and some slash voice stuff would just be fantastic.. weeee!!!

[arestoktra.livejournal.com]

I agree, Poottercast is better than Mugglecast. I wish there was a Slashcast too, but, I doubt if there'll be any soon. Or not.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

There will be! We're working on it... ;-)

[sorion.livejournal.com]

You know what we need? A slash-oriented podcast.

I'd actually listen to that one... ^-^

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

What you said about opinions concerning fanfiction as voiced on mugglenet coincides with what I've read and heard lots of times and it's so annoying! I mean - what kind of women ARE "allowed" to say or write anything erotic? If they are young, they are too young, inexperienced, love-sick - meaning ridiculous. If they are elder, they are ridiculous as well, presumably writing because they don't get any anymore...I have never read or heard the same about men!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Right -- that was definitely the immplication. :-P

[askani.livejournal.com]

i've never actually listened to a podcast. do you need an ipod to listen to them? or is it possible to download them on the computer?

and the slashcast sounds like a great idea.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

They're just mp3 files, so you can download to your computer and listen to them through media player or whatever you use. :-)

If you have iTunes (the software is free, like win media player), you can actually subscribe to podcasts, so when the next episode comes out, it gets downloaded automatically. There are other podcast subscription services that work with other media players, so you might look into those too.

[longtimegone]

I'm not at podcast girl in general, but I've found that both sites are dismissive of contributions to fandom that don't fit into their ideal. I don't really have a problem with that, per se, as they are the ones running the sites (both of which I've found useful for information and such in the past), but it doesn't really make me want to sit for an hour and listen to them talk about Harry Potter. :))

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. I was really excited about them at first, and after listening to a handful of episodes, I was a little more "Meh..." My interests are just in other places. :-)

[longtimegone]

I love your icon! :))

They were talking about ships a few weeks ago, and they completely ignore the canon!adult/canon!teen ships. I ship post-Hogwarts HG/SS, and would love to hear something about our folks.

Yeah, they do ignore it. I don't really care that much for HG/SS myself (though I've read a few good fics featuring that pairing), but a discussion about it would be interesting to listen to, most definitely. Actually a discussion about cross generational relationships in fanon as a whole would be a great subject for a podcast.

[tqpannie.livejournal.com]

Hey! I'd be interested in helping on something like that. Very interested. Hmm...

You are tempting me to start something. *sigh* Killing me you know that right?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Check out Char's comment above.

[araythea.livejournal.com]

I think that's its a great idea. I've downloaded some of both casts before and I wasn't impressed. They just seemed rude. :P I would love to help if anyone gets stuff together. Char seems to have ideas. XD

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

W00t! Char can make it happen, I'm sure. :-D

[darthmyrrh.livejournal.com]

Haven't listen to neither Pottercast or Mugglecast , but Slash(y)cast? Yeah, baby, yeah!

All the more reason for me to get an iPod Video. (Yes, I've been looking for more excuse to spend more money on gadget.. XD)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Slash podcast ALL THE WAY! Migod, I would set up my iTunes to get Podcasts (which I haven't bothered to do so far) for that.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

A podcast for the rest of us! That would be awesome. :-)

[spookykat.livejournal.com]

That would totally be worth buying an ipod for.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you wouldn't have to buy and iPod -- you can listen to them on your computer too, just like any mp3. :-)

[physixxx.livejournal.com]

i actually have webspace we can use for the slash podcast.

it'd be awesome, actually!
(so long as everyone minds their plosives :wink:)

the domain is www.everyoneloveschocolate.net

but i could probably change it.

i'd LOVE for there to be a slash-podcast site!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Actually, it would be best to go through a site like libsyn (where I have my dinky little podslash), because they are set up especially for podcasting. It would be so cool to have a slashcast, though!

[princess2000204.livejournal.com]

I think having a Slash-Oriented Cast would be an awesome idea! It's hard to find anything that's slash related. I don't have an i-pod yet, but if there was somthing like this, then I sure as hell would be getting one ASAP.
^_^


If anyone does start something like this up, I'd be more then happy to help

[shanna-souzou.livejournal.com]

I've never listened to Mugglecast being a TLC-news fan myself. While I find most of the features to be tedious, I do enjoy the mostly thoughtful discussion and hysterical trivia with Noe on Pottercast. I'm glad someone else noticed the fear-of-slash attitude on Pottercast. At first I thought they might have avoided it in order to shield their youngest listeners and thought I was merely being paranoid, but apparently I'm not the only one who was hearing the negativity regarding slash. I see it more predominantly on the website but while fans may disagree, I don't understand while every theory in the world can be entertained by the PC-group but not romantic orientation. As seen in the past, slash does not spawn the shipping wars that Hr/H does and even that topic isn't completely ignored on the show in the same way that slash is. If they want to keep out the more ellicit shippings (incest, adult-minor, etc) that's their choice to make, but to ignore romantic slash is a slap in the face to a large number of HP fans.

If slashcast happens, and I'll be putting it into my nightly prayers, then keep us updated because I would subscribe in a minute! While its only a niche of the HP community, I can already see dozens and dozens of topics for discussion or imagine readings of my favorite fics.