Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart (Jen Sookfong Lee)

08/21/24 • 53 min

When I first read Jen Sookfong Lee's thoughtful memoir 'Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart,' I knew I'd have to have her on the show. A fellow Vancouverite, Jen's memoir explores what it was like growing up in a Chinese-Canadian household, cleverly set against the lens of pop culture.
We chat about what it was like growing up wanting to see more of yourself on screen, how kids of immigrants can use pop culture as a tool to navigate the world around them, why we should be paying more attention to the culture that informs us, and so much more.
If you enjoy the podcast, you will most definitely love my new Substack 'we need to unpack this'. It's free to subscribe and breaks down all the cultural beats I've been thinking about. If you like the show, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you really like us, consider leaving a 5 star review and sharing with your fellow culture stans. If you have a culture beat topic you’d like the show or Substack to explore, follow along or DM on Instagram where we share cool links, form show ideas, and generally gossip @haveyouheardpodcast
Find more of Jen here and follow her on Instagram

Previous Episode

Introducing my new Substack - 'We need to unpack this'

I started a Substack! It covers all the podcast culture beats you love, but also standalone topics that are best explored through writing. I'll also provide recommendations, interesting links, and the usual hot goss. It's called 'we need to unpack this,' and you can subscribe to it for free here.
The first two pieces are all about Blake Lively, both in what she’s really trying to sell us, (no, it’s not just the promise of good hair or sparkling craft beverages), and breaking down what the backlash from the press tour from ‘It Ends With Us’ tells us about ourselves. I’ve been thinking about her and Ryan Reynolds for an embarrassingly long time - both in how they’ve positioned themselves, together, as industry power houses, and how they seem to evade a lot of the backlash from overexposure and earnestness we don’t tolerate as much from other celebrities.
If you enjoy the podcast, you will most definitely love the Substack. And if you want to get into the social media of it all, follow along on Instagram @haveyouheardpodcast. Thanks for listening, your support and feedback make doing the show so much fun, and I really appreciate it. If you have a culture beat topic you’d like the show or Substack to explore, shoot me a DM on Instagram. Enjoy the Substack!

Next Episode

Trad Wives with Caro Claire Burke

So excited to continue the trad wife conversation with writer and content creator Caro Claire Burke. I first stumbled across her hot takes on my TikTok fyp and she quickly became one of my favourites. Caro has a book coming out next year that I absolutely can’t wait to get my hands on. Her fictional novel Yesteryear was born from her fascination with the trad wife discourse and follows a Trad Wife influencer who suddenly finds herself stuck in the past; it has so much buzz that Anne Hathaway has already signed on to produce and star in the movie adaptation. I can’t wait to read this!
I loved getting deeper into trad wives with Caro as we discuss the intersection of trad wives and politics, religion, motherhood, and empathy; she is such a big picture thinker, and l learned so much from her. Find more of Caro on TikTok and Instagram, and listen to her podcast Diabolical Lies.
If you enjoy the podcast, you will most definitely love my new Substack 'we need to unpack this'. It's free to subscribe and breaks down current cultural obsessions. If you like the show, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you really like it, consider leaving a 5 star review and sharing with your fellow culture stans. If you have a culture beat topic you’d like the show or Substack to explore, DM on Instagram where we also share cool links, form show ideas, and generally gossip @haveyouheardpodcast
Helpful References & Links:
How Mormonism Churns Out the Most Influential Tradwives (Caro Claire Burke)
Meet the Queen of the Trad Wives (The Times, Megan Agnew)
The Edenic Allure of Ballerina Farm (Anne Helen Petersen)
Blonde Highlights are Gender Affirming Care (Diabolical Lies podcast)
Gender was Made for White People (Substack, Anna Marie, PHD)
Amazon MGM Wins Auction for Hot Book Yesteryear (Deadline)