Center for Democracy, Art, and Popular Culture
Research
The CDAPC Political Identity and Popular Culture Survey
In the News
- How MAGA Humor Took Over American Comedy. PopMatters, February 16, 2026.
- Laughing in Joe Rogan Land. The Observer, October 2, 2025
- A Baby. A Double Mastectomy. Many Opinions From Fox News Viewers. The New York Times, 28 September, 28, 2025.
- Charlie Kirk Vigil at Colorado State University Tonight. Westword, September 18, 2025
- Paramount Has a $1.5 Billion South Park Problem. Wired, July 24, 2025.
- What to Know About the Controversial Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe Ahead of His Netflix Specials. Time, April 7, 2025.
- They look like Nazi salutes. Here's why some people think they're a joke. NPR, March 15, 2025.
- In 1924 a risqué silent film featured a woman as US president - what happened on screen in the 100 years that followed?. BBC, October 23, 2024.
- “Barbie” was a Billion-Dollar Blockbuster. A CSU Feminist Scholar Explains Why That’s Significant. KUNC, October 19, 2023.
- The Ivankification of Willa Ferreyra. Coveteur magazine, April 19, 2023.
Expert Commentary and Public Scholarship
- Why ‘The West Wing’ went from a bipartisan hit to a polarized streaming comfort watch over 2 decades, reflecting profound shifts in media and politics. The Conversation, February 9, 2026.
- How ‘South Park’ could help Democrats win back the young voters the party lost to Trump. The Conversation, September 11, 2025.
- How liberals lost comedy − and helped Trump win. The Conversation, December 17, 2024.
- Conservatives’ ‘anti-woke’ alternative to Disney has finally arrived. The Conversation, December 8, 2023.
- The movie ‘Barbie’ has put the phrase ‘toxic femininity’ back in the news – here’s what it means and why you should care. The Conversation, August 8, 2023.
- Holy voter suppression, Batgirl! What comics reveal about gender and democracy. The Conversation, July 19, 2023.
- ‘The Diplomat’ negotiates expectations – and myths – about gender, power and politics. The Conversation, May 11, 2023
- How Joe Rogan became podcasting’s Goliath. The Conversation, February 10, 2022.
- How conservative comic Greg Gutfeld overtook Stephen Colbert in ratings to become the most popular late-night TV host. The Conversation, September 24, 2021
- Watch more TV to understand the backlash against the women in the running for vice president. The Conversation, August 7, 2020.
Books
Journal Articles
- Greene, Ryan and Karrin Vasby Anderson. “President Wonder Woman and Congresswoman Batgirl: The Authoritarian Überfrau and Democratic Resilience in Superheroine Comics.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 111, no. 3 (2025): 423-450, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00335630.2024.2406886.
- Marx, Nick. “Netflix, Comedy, and the Algorithmic Absurdity of I Think You Should Leave. In Pete Kunze and Will Costanzo (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Screen Comedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025, 602-618.
- Marx, Nick. “Home Economics: Sitcom Capitalism, Conservative Comedy, and Media Conglomeration in Post-Network Television.” Communication, Culture & Critique, Volume 15, Issue 1, March 2022, 21-35, https://academic.oup.com/ccc/article/15/1/21/6498864.
- Sienkiewicz, Matt and Nick Marx. “Appropriating Irony: Conservative Comedy, Trump-Era Satire, and the Politics of Television Humor.” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Volume 60, Issue 4, Summer 2021, 85-108, https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/349/article/800086/pdf.
- Anderson, Karrin Vasby. “Deflowering the Voting Virgin: Piety, Political Advertising, and the Pleasure Prerogative.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 103, no. 1-2 (2017): 160-181, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00335630.2016.1241891.
- Anderson, Karrin Vasby and Kristina Horn Sheeler. “Texts (and Tweets) from Hillary: Meta-Meming and Postfeminist Political Culture.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 44 (2014): 224-243, https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12111.