Dr. Vaughn Joy
@gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
10K followers 3K following 1.6K posts
UCL PhD in Christmas Film History • MA in Comic Books • MPhil in Demons • Creator of https://blackwhiteandread.com/ • Author of Selling Out Santa: Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy (2025) • Wife of My Favorite Person • she/her
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gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Everything is terrible right now in general, but in personal good news, my book has a cover and I'm so excited to share it!!!

Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
A book cover from De Gruyter. A faded American flag's red and white stripes sets the background. In the foreground are three Christmas baubles: a darker red ball is in front coming in from the left, a white ball is behind it, and a light navy blue ball hangs behind that. White text reads the title: Selling out Santa Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy. On the blue ball white text reads Vaughn Joy and the series name pop culture in context
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
americanstudier.bsky.social
Once more before Sunday ends, here’s today’s thread of public scholarly goodness. Please share as widely as possible, thanks! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Bad faith media literacy is even worse than no media literacy because he's deliberately trying to reframe heroes and villains in language that sounds smart and challenging of the source text for people without the media literacy skills to know this is a bad faith propagandistic take. What a dick.
Post from me reading 

Anyway media literacy is a survival skill now. Thems the breaks
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Update: I found this site with the team logos through time and I was reminded that the cuntiest logo the NFL has ever had is the vintage Buccaneers logo from 76 to 96. Fascinating stuff.
newarena.com/nfl/the-evol...
The Evolution of Every NFL Team’s Logo
32 teams offer 32 very different designs. We have iconic ones like the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, and horrendous ones like the Cleveland...
newarena.com
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Has anyone written a history of art in the NFL? I'm curious about the changes in logos and marketing over time. And when did painting the field start? Are the field painters unionized? Is it now automated like a stamp? I would like to read this
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Felt. And I'm sorry. I'll post here if/when I figure something out!
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Humanities largely, probably history or interdisciplinary studies focuses
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Bad faith media literacy is even worse than no media literacy because he's deliberately trying to reframe heroes and villains in language that sounds smart and challenging of the source text for people without the media literacy skills to know this is a bad faith propagandistic take. What a dick.
Post from me reading 

Anyway media literacy is a survival skill now. Thems the breaks
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
And my book, Selling Out Santa, for the history and film lovers looking for the cross over event of the season, explores the tumultuous 1946-1961 post-war, early Cold War period in Hollywood via a case study exploring the political, and cultural changes in the Christmas films of the long 1950s:
Selling Out Santa
Christmas is not just a day or a frame of mind as Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) imparts in Miracle on 34 th Street (1947); Christmas is also a vehicle for national mythmaking as an idealising mirror for...
www.degruyterbrill.com
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
For the film lovers on your nice list, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas is recently revised and updated to include Christmas films from the last 15 years with fun facts, rare films, and merry movie magic in a fun and informative guide to the genre:
Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas
Don't waste a second of your valuable holiday time on another boring Christmas movie. In this merry and informative guide, film critic Alonso Duralde takes us o…
www.bloomsbury.com
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
americanstudier.bsky.social
First, a reminder that these threads are now shared on my wife @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social & my new public scholarly website, Black & White & Read All Over. Check it out & make sure to subscribe to keep up with the threads & more!
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Hey guess what!!?

🎄🎄🎄 It's 75 days til Christmas 🎄🎄🎄

And I just so happen to have the perfect gift right here in a Christmassy book bundle for the readers in your life:

My book, @aduralde.bsky.social's Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, and @thomasruyssmith.com's Searching for Santa Claus ↓↓
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Everything is terrible right now in general, but in personal good news, my book has a cover and I'm so excited to share it!!!

Selling Out Santa is about Hollywood's manipulation of the Christmas holiday for socially conservative ends in the early Cold War 🗃️
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...
A book cover from De Gruyter. A faded American flag's red and white stripes sets the background. In the foreground are three Christmas baubles: a darker red ball is in front coming in from the left, a white ball is behind it, and a light navy blue ball hangs behind that. White text reads the title: Selling out Santa Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy. On the blue ball white text reads Vaughn Joy and the series name pop culture in context
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
This week's review is a monster in itself, winding through my thoughts of a crystalline structure of the cultural lives of ideas. So, if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now's your chance to uh, well, — I warned you!
blackwhiteandread.com/monster-mash...
Poster for James Whale's 1931 Frankenstein, tagline The Man Who Made A Monster
Down the left side and across to the right are illustrated headshots of characters in the film including Boris Karloff as the creature and Mae Clarke illustrated in a full body pose in a wedding dress
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social
GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.
thevoidencore.bsky.social
The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Selling Out Santa engages these criticisms and says "please do keep enjoying your favorites while also growing your ability to discern propaganda when you see it, because these times demand that of you" in a hopefully fun, accessible, engrossing history of these Hollywood Christmas classics 🎄
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Thank you for your response!
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
I see the listing says specialization open, but would film studies and/or 20th century cultural studies fit with the department's curriculum?
Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy
fraying.bsky.social
You can’t hate fascists and use AI slop generators. They’re the same thing: total destruction of truth at scale.
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
Everyone nailed it even with different eras of Diane Keaton. It was perfect.
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
I'm trying! I've got lots of podcasts lined up too
gvaughnjoy.bsky.social
I am so terribly saddened by this news. What a vast loss for Hollywood.

I love her whole Stardom so much. The dress code for my wedding was "Diane Keaton" because that's all the direction you need to be perfectly attired for any occasion.