by Alice-Ginevra Micheli, Contributing Writer
We all have that feeling. You know the one: You finish watching a movie and something about it hits you in just the right spot. Whether it was the theme, the story, or even the characters, there was a quality about it that almost makes you want to turn around and go back a second, third, or even fourth time!
Bar the reality of living in the movie theater for the rest of your days, you turn to the rest of pop culture and start to look for other avenues where you can find that same feeling.
Well I’m here to make this plight easier for all. Each month, I take a piece of pop culture that was prevalent in the social consciousness — whether it is a movie, TV show, or something else — and then recommend other forms of media for those who want to stay in that world a little bit longer.
Welcome to your One Stop Pop, internet!
Do you all remember what I said about August being quite a dry month? I feel like this can be applied to September as well for similar reasons. It’s too early for awards season, and too late for summer, so we end up finding ourselves in this weird in-between moment where sometimes the odd gem will show itself, but more often than not, we’re lacking.
However, like many times throughout the year, television is often there to pick up this slack, and this is the case today as well.
For my friends, I will be giving a list of recommendations based on the encompassing series that is Sex Education, now that it has finally reached its end. Breaking gender norms, educating us all in matters of the heart, and below, and in general being a wholesome and lovely show for people to watch, Sex Education has many fans that are heartbroken now that they won’t be able to look forward to more in the future.
Of course, I’m sure the cast will be popping up across many of our future media consumption, but in the meantime, let me entice you with some suggestions for content that could keep you at bay for at least a little while…
Book: The Heartstopper Series by Alice Oseman
There was no way I was getting through this list without bringing Heartstopper up at least once, so we might as well start with it.
For anyone that knows me personally, you know that this piece of media caused a deep seated obsession (read: addiction) when the show came out last year. However, what I’m recommending today is not the show (although you should watch it), but its original format of graphic novels.
To put it simply, the story follows the lives of Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring as they meet and fall in love. We also meet a lovable cast of characters along the way, who help flesh out the world and the story beyond the simple romance. Its connection to Sex Education in both tone and quality is quite paralleled, and will have readers feeling many of the same emotions as they did going through the adventures of our Moordale teens.
There’s exploration of LGBTQIA+ relationships, mental health, and family dynamics, and it is one of the most wholesome and nostalgic stories you will ever read. The illustrations are simple yet beautiful, and perfectly display the growing story as it evolves from page to page.
There are currently four volumes out, with number five and six to be published soon, as well as a couple of novellas that you can dive into if you don’t want it to end (like many of us end up doing).
Album: All of Us Flames — Ezra Furman
Ezra Furman is as quintessential to the Sex Education experience as any of the cast or writers when it comes to making it stand out against the rest.
Present from the very first two minutes of the show, Furman’s music has defined the quirky, entrancing spell that this show has successfully cast on its many viewers. Just like Simon & Garfunkel are quintessential to the soundscape of The Graduate, Ezra Furman’s melodies came to determine much about Sex Education across the seasons.
So of course it would make sense that I suggest her most recent full album so that fans can sit on their bed and contemplate life.
All of Us Flames, which was released in 2022, is a soundscape that evokes a dreamlike state, while also allowing the listener to step foot into a dystopian reality, allowing them to be brought back to earth when the tide gets a little too high.
Exploring her shifting identities as trans woman and as Jewish-born, among other pieces of her life, it’s an intensely personal album that will help Sex Education fans delve deeper into this musically inclined world, and only grow more appreciation for the show itself, and what it managed to accomplish in the long run.
Movie: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
As a millennial, there’s not much that can bring back memories more than the romantic comedies of the early aughts. Especially when I was adolescently inclined, when it was quite literally hitting me at my densest core.
This is true especially of the absolutely iconic British coming-of-age film, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Following 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson, we see as she and her friends traverse one of the most perilous times of a person’s life: adolescence. Listening to her diary entries, we join her as she tries to love, learn to kiss, and maybe even learn to be a better, more mature person.
Amongst the stacked British cast is the magnanimous Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing our main love interest, Robbie, in one of his very first roles. Young, and a lot less intense than he has been parts since, he manages to traverse the perils of teenage-hood, as well as the rest of the characters across this, and our main show this month, Sex Education.
However, getting back to the recommendation at hand, this movie shares a lot with what people have come to know and love from our Netflix show. However, it comes along with the added ability to fling any older (read: millennial+) viewer back to what it was like to be young and in love, and ignorant as to what that really meant.
It’s light, it’s fluffy, and it has some great music, so I highly recommend checking it out.
Video Game: Firewatch
Now, these recommendations have been a tad too obvious. All very in line with what Sex Education is in its entirety. So now it’s time for our left-of-field pick — stay with me.
Firewatch is a mystery game — like I said, stay with me. Set in 1989, the player is Henry, a man who has retreated from a messy life to work as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness, and his only emotional lifeline is a person on the other end of a handheld radio.
But when something strange happens, the player will find themselves exploring a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making interpersonal choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship they have.
It’s a thinker, it’s a morality tale, it’s tense, and most importantly, it centers around relationships. This is a highly thematic game that will have you questioning your choices, as well as how you develop meaningful relationships in your own life — and how those of the Sex Education characters ended up.
Presented in the first person, this is a game that will result in many conversations, maybe around a campfire?
Well, this is a relatively nice month, I’d say. Most of these recommendations should have you feeling pretty good after completing them, and if not good, then satisfied at least. Hopefully like how you felt when that final episode of Season Four happened.
I’ll return next month with something (probably) spooky, but until then thank you for visiting SiftPop’s One Stop Pop — we hope to see you again soon!
You can read more from Alice-Ginevra Micheli, and follow her on Instagram and Letterboxd