Fantasy/Animation
Film, TV & Pop Culture
About
Christopher Holliday is Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Visual Cultures Education at King’s College London (UK). Alexander Sergeant is a Lecturer in Digital Media Production at the University of Westminster (UK), specialising in the history and theory of fantasy cinema. Each episode, they look in detail at a film or television show, taking listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation.
Episodes
- KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
The final episode of the current series of the podcast addresses the phenomenon of KPop Demon Hunters (Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans, 2025), the most watched original animated film of all time on Netflix whose global reach, critical and co…
- Footnote #79 - Orientalism
This episode discusses Edward Said's concept of Orientalism, analyzing its critical framework for the distinction between East and West. Topics include Orientalist rhetoric, the West's constructed image of the East, and the implications fo…
- Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998) (with Lewis C. Seifert)
This episode features a discussion on Michel Ocelot's animated film Kirikou and the Sorceress, with hosts Chris and Alex joined by guest Lewis C. Seifert. They delve into the film's themes of magical realism, power, and struggle, its origi…
- Footnote #78 - The Imagination
This episode of Footnote examines the imagination, discussing its role in generative cognition and philosophical thought. It covers topics like film theory, the distinction between escapism and productive imagination, and cinema as a mediu…
- Helen Hill (with Karen Redrobe)
Professor Karen Redrobe joins Fantasy/Animation podcast hosts Chris and Alex to discuss the work of experimental filmmaker Helen Hill. They explore Hill's animation techniques, including direct animation and stop-motion, and her thematic c…
- Footnote #77 - Expanded Animation
This episode examines the concept of 'expanded animation,' covering its performances, technologies, and various forms of production, exhibition, and consumption. It delves into how expanded animation connects with cinema's evolution, live…
- Immersive Experiences and The Sphere Las Vegas (with Tim Jones)
The latest episode of the Fantasy/Animation podcast marvels at the era of technologically-powered immersive experiences and high-tech live concert performances through a case study of the Sphere Las Vegas, whose 16K resolution/160,000-squa…
- Footnote #76 - Performativity
Performativity gets the Fantasy/Animation treatment in Footnote 76 of the podcast, with Alex taking Chris through the power and implication of language, utterances, meaning, and those writers who have thought about how we do things with wo…
- SuperTed (1982-1986) (with Elain Price)
Special guest Dr. Elain Price (Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, Swansea University) joins Chris and Alex for this rundown of SuperTed (Mike Young, 1982-1986) where they reflect on the series’ contribution to - and place within - histories…
- Footnote #75 - Identification
Chris and Alex reflect on the question of identification in this latest Footnote episode of the podcast, drawing out what it means to identify (or not) with characters as both fictional agents and a set of archetypes. Topics include recogn…
- Leeds Animation Workshop (with Terry Wragg)
Episode 169 marks the Fantasy/Animation podcast’s first engagement with the work of the Leeds Animation Workshop , a pioneering women’s animation collective formally established in 1978 to produce and distribute animated films on a variety…
- Footnote #74 - Deconstructivism
Following the recent podcast episode on Space Ghost Coast to Coast (Mike Lazzo, 1994-2008) , Alex takes the reins for Fantasy/Animation Footnote 74, taking Chris through Jacques Derrida and deconstructivism as a philosophical doctrine, whi…
- Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994-2008) (with Jacqueline Ristola)
In Episode 168 of the podcast, Chris and Alex are delighted to be joined by Dr Jacqueline Ristola , Lecturer in the Department of Film and Television at the University of Bristol, to discuss the Cartoon Network’s adult live-action/animated…
- Footnote #73 - Rotoscoping
Footnote 73 looks at animation’s historical relationship to the body and how physicality was transcribed via the rotoscoping process as part of the construction of the earliest animated characters. From the Fleischer Studios pioneering the…
- AI and Animation (with Mihaela Mihailova)
The creative - and highly controversial - relationship between animation and artificial intelligence provides the focus of Episode 167 of the Fantasy/Animation podcast, which features as its special guest Dr Mihaela Mihailova , an Assistan…
- Footnote #72 - The Hero's Journey
Building on their recent podcast episode on Kung Fu Panda (John Stevenson & Mark Osborne, 2008) with screenwriter John Yorke , Alex takes Chris through the mechanics and mysteries involved in the hero’s journey, Joseph Campbell’s famous st…
- Kung Fu Panda (2008) (with John Yorke)
Episode 166 of the Fantasy/Animation podcast high kicks its way into the world of DreamWorks’ successful Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008-) with this look at the series’ first big-screen instalment, Kung Fu Panda (John Stevenson & Mark Osborn…
- Footnote #71 - Synthespians
Listen as the brand new Fantasy/Animation Footnote tackles the complexities and contradictions of digital performance and cyber stardom via this discussion of synthespians, a term very much anchored to early-2000s concerns around the futur…
- Wicked: For Good (2025)
Just as it did to kick off 2025, the Fantasy/Animation podcast returns once again following the festive break to celebrate the New Year with another visit to Oz, with Chris and Alex reflecting on movie musical Wicked: For Good (John M. Chu…
- The Polar Express (2004)
The Fantasy/Animation Christmas special pulls into the proverbial station with this look at The Polar Express (Robert Zemeckis, 2004), a computer-animated adaptation of the 1985 children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg and a film noted for it…
- Footnote #70 - Pantomime
Sound, performance, and the body come together in this Footnote episode discussing pantomime as an entertainment spectacle, as Chris and Alex seek to map the possible connections between pantomime as a popular theatrical tradition emerging…
- Babes in Toyland (1934) (with Rob King)
Chris and Alex make their first foray into the world of Laurel and Hardy with this reflection on Babes in Toyland (Gus Meins and Charles Rogers, 1934), a film based loosely on the Mother Goose fairytale albeit with a few other nursery rhym…
- Footnote #69 - Transnational Cinemas
Chris and Alex take on transnational cinemas in this brand new Footnote episode of the podcast, thinking through the mobility of - and interactions between - films and filmmakers across national borders and what it means for cinema to ‘tra…
- Lotus Lantern (1999) (with Muyang Zhuang)
Chris and Alex are delighted to be joined for Episode 162 of the podcast by Muyang Zhuang (Assistant Professor at Tongji University), who is a specialist in Chinese cinema, media, and visual culture in East Asia, with a special focus on an…
- Footnote #68 - Historiography
The next Footnote episode of the podcast maps the stakes of telling history and what it means to construct historical narratives through cinema as a form of historical writing. Listen as Fantasy/Animation ’s resident lapsed historian Alex…
- Tee Collins (with Robby Gilbert)
Episode 161 of the podcast features an examination of the animated career of Tee Collins , a pioneer of the medium whose place within received histories has tended to sideline, rather than celebrate, his contribution to the industry and ae…
- Footnote #67 - Pepper's Ghost
Inspired by the recent podcast episode on Casper (Brad Silberling, 1995) that featured a conversation with the film’s lead animator Mark Austin , Chris and Alex maintain the Halloween theme for this latest Footnote instalment that examines…
- Casper (1995) (with Mark Austin)
The Fantasy/Animation podcast presents its Halloween special with this deep dive into Casper (Brad Silberling, 1995) featuring a conversation with the film’s lead animator Mark Austin , who as part of the team at Industrial Light and Magic…
- Footnote #66 - Enviro-Toons
The first Footnote podcast of the new season kicks off with this discussion of enviro-toons, a category - perhaps even sub-genre - of animation that speaks to the complex relationship that exists between the representations of (and labour…
- The Lion King (1994)
The Fantasy/Animation podcast returns for a brand new season with Chris and Alex marking the end of their summer hiatus with another trip into the magic of Disney’s animated features, this time to remember the pleasures of the pride lands…
- Archive Episode - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) (with Simran Hans)
For the final archive episode of 2025, Chris and Alex once again swing their way back into the superhero world of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman, 2018), revisiting their discussion of Sony…
- Archive Episode - Wizards (1977) (Live @ Cinema Museum)
Chris and Alex go all the way back to 2020 for the penultimate archive episode of the podcast for this summer, remembering their discussion of Ralph Bakshi’s high fantasy animated epic Wizards (Ralph Bakshi, 1977) , which was originally re…
- Archive Episode - Inside Out (2015) (with Eric Herhuth)
To coincide with the release of Pixar’s science-fiction computer-animated feature Elio (Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi & Adrian Molina, 2025) this summer, Chris and Alex take listeners back a decade to 2015 and the emotional worlds created…
- Archive Episode - Sub-Saharan African Animation (1966-2013) (with Paula Callus)
For this second archive episode, Chris and Alex revisit Episode 81 of the podcast that gave listeners a quickfire journey through Sub-Saharan African animation with Paula Callus , a Professor in the National Centre for Computer Animation a…
- Archive Episode - Space Jam (1996) (with Paul Wells)
To mark the return of the Fantasy/Animation archive instalments, Chris and Alex once more delve into the podcast’s back catalogue for this relisten of Episode 70 and their discussion of Space Jam (Joe Pytka, 1996) , which featured very spe…
- Footnote #65 - Pervasive Animation
The current cultural “pervasiveness” of animated media and the medium’s durable status as a vital intermediary between ‘us’ and ‘the world’ is the focus of this latest Footnote episode, which tackles “Pervasive Animation” as it has been un…
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Patrick McKay & J.D. Payne, 2022-) (Live @ PCA 2025)
This podcast special was recorded live at the recent Popular Culture Association Conference in New Orleans, USA, April 2025, where Alex was delighted to be asked to participate in a roundtable discussion on Amazon’s prequel series The Lord…
- Footnote #64 - The Golden Age of Animation
Fresh from last week’s discussion of Mickey Mouse , Chris and Alex are once again joined by Dr David McGowan (Lecturer in the Contextual and Theoretical Studies of Animation at the University of the Arts London) to map the mythology of the…
- Mickey Mouse (with David McGowan)
For this new episode of the podcast, Chris and Alex try and do justice to the global stardom of perhaps the most famous animated character of them all - Mickey Mouse. They are joined by Dr David McGowan , who is Lecturer in the Contextual…
- Footnote #63 - The Censored Eleven
Chris and Alex take a look at animation’s historical and troubling relationship to race with this examination of the Censored Eleven, a collection of controversial Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons produced during the 1930s and 194…
- Rise of the Guardians (2012)
To mark the Easter break, Fantasy/Animation crack open Rise of the Guardians (Peter Ramsey, 2012), the 2012 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation studio and a Hollywood blockbuster adapted from the children’s book series…
- Footnote #62 - Object Relations
The Fantasy/Animation Footnotes complete their unofficial ‘psychoanalysis trilogy’ with this look at object relations and a branch of psychoanalytic approaches to film that emerged as a competing way of thinking about cinema linked to the…
- Up (2009) (with Tom Brown)
Chris and Alex are back in the warm embrace of Pixar Animation Studio, looking at their tenth computer animated film Up (Pete Docter, 2009) - a real high point in the company’s run of critically and commercially successful animated feature…
- Footnote #61 - The Gaze
The Fantasy/Animation Footnotes return to psychoanalysis in order to make sense of the world through gazing and gaze theory. Alex once again takes the lead in discussing Laura Mulvey’s seminal work on the gaze but also how it offers just o…
- World of Tomorrow (2015-2020) (with Elizabeth Cox)
For Fantasy/Animation ’s very first look at California-born animator, writer, and independent filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt, Chris and Alex are joined by Elizabeth Cox , founder of independent animation studio Should We Studio , to discuss Hert…
- Footnote #60 - Psychoanalysis
Listen as Alex takes Chris through the desires and distresses of psychoanalysis in this new Fantasy/Animation Footnote, working through its status as a branch of psychological theory and the contribution of the seminal work of Sigmund Freu…
- The Wind Rises (2013) (with Esther Leslie)
Chris and Alex return to Japanese anime and Studio Ghibli for this reflection on The Wind Rises (2013), Hayao Miyazaki’s then-final animated feature that plots the life of Japanese aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi, and which also offer…
- Footnote #59 - Magic
Fantasy/Animation turns to a kind of magic for this latest Footnote episode, and the role of the magical in the distinction that lies within fantasy between the knowingness of illusion and the pursuit of rationality. Expect turns to how ma…
- Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) (with Lisa Scoggin)
Chris and Alex delve into the stop-motion world of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro & Mark Gustafson, 2022) for Episode 152 of the podcast, joined in this discussion of loss, love, control, and craft by musicologist and a…
- Footnote #58 - Wonder
In this latest Fantasy/Animation Footnote, Chris and Alex wonder about wonder - a term that emphatically traverses both fantasy and animation as fields of study, yet with alternate meanings and connotations related to everything from mid-1…