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!
Alright, alright, you can all calm down, I have returned. I know you were possibly loathing my absence, and thought that I was defying my audience by staying away, but we all know how stressful the holidays can be, so you’ll forgive me if I took a break. However, I’m back for good… and I’m getting ahead of myself.
While there are quite a few movies that showcased their exuberance at the start of the year, none exploded our airwaves quite as intensely as the first part of the much anticipated Wicked. A book-to-movie-to-book-to-musical-to-movie adaptation, this is a story of friendship, conspiracy, identity, and the most ear-wormy songs you’ve ever had the pleasure of being stuck with.
So it is without further ado that we break down what made this film oh-so popular, and recommend some other media based on that…
Book: Circe by Madeline Miller
We begin with looking at the obvious theme behind Wicked — it’s literally in the title, guys. What does it mean to be wicked? What does it mean to be viewed as a villain? And is it always a bad thing?
Circe is one of many current Greek myth retellings that have taken the literary world by storm since books were a thing. However, this one centers on a character made infamous in The Odyssey for her waywardness, and vulturous seduction, telling the “real” story behind her femme fatale decisions.
In this novel, we follow the titular Circe, the daughter of the sun God Helios, as she discovers her powers of witchcraft, only to be exiled by Zeus to an isolated island, never to be seen again. However, her troubles are far from over, as during her time on the island, she encounters mythological figures, and faces the wrath of gods, ultimately choosing between her divine lineage and the mortals she loves.
The best way to describe this book is lyrical. In its story and in the way it portrays Circe, this is beautifully written. The audience is taken on a journey of love, loss, hate, and sadness, and subsequently left with a fully-formed character who might be misrepresented by history, but has still got some power in how her life is led — much like a green-skinned witch we all may know and love.
TV Show: Galavant
Now, what if we took a misunderstood hero, a glamorous villain, and a conspiratorial plot, and added some of the best musical music you’ve ever heard? Why then you’d have one of the greatest shows to ever be cancelled: Galavant.
Beginning like any medieval-set, King Arthur-inspired story, Galavant tells the brave tale of a knight looking to reclaim his lost reputation as a hero by fighting the evil King Richard, who is also responsible for stealing Galavant’s lover, Madalena.
From the moment the show begins with an introductory song about the characters, the scene we’re entering on, and the raised musicality of it all, you know what you’re in for. If you’re a fan of musicals, subverting established story plot points and/or absolutely fascinating characters that never quite fit one mold or another, this is a show worth picking up.
Although it’s a tragedy that the show was cancelled after two seasons, you can at least rest easy in knowing that it won’t take very long to binge all the episodes, after which you may then curse the Gods for ripping such a great show away from you. That does seem to be the TV fan’s ill fate.
Musical Soundtrack: Six
Continuing on this thought train, we now make our way over to a station holding six of the most misrepresented characters from history: the six wives of Henry VIII.
Presented as an all-girl group concert, this show is equally educational and entertaining. The audience watches as each ex-wife of Henry presents her case as to why she is the most downtrodden yet talented member of the group, and therefore deserving to be the lead of their afterlife band.
Each wife takes on elements and inspiration from one or two famous divas from history, such as Anne Boleyn’s Lily Allen-esque riff, and the Alicia Keys type refrain from Catherine Parr.
It’s magical, energetic, and just so much fun to be a part of, something you can still experience by simply listening to the soundtrack. While there are still plenty of performances happening worldwide, if you’re unable to make the time for one of them, you can just pop in your headphones, find the album, and sing your heart out like your favorite wife.
There’s also something quite freeing about it, as the music does center around how they’ve been defined by their husband for centuries, and now are finally able to take the story into their own hands, through an absolutely fabulous post-death concert!
Video Game: Hollow Knight
While Wicked might be one of the biggest big-budget blockbusters to come out of 2024, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t share something in common with some smaller indie titles out there. One of those being the quietly confident Australian-made independently developed video game Hollow Knight.
There’s a lot about what makes this game magical that I don’t want to spoil, so I’ll keep the summary to the basics: The player will forge their own path through a deceptively epic action adventure surrounding a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Throughout, you’ll find yourself exploring labyrinthian caverns, facing battle-scarred creatures, and making friends with the most unseemly of creatures. This is all also presented in a beautiful 2D animation style that has been hand-drawn by artists.
For something that is seemingly so cute on the outside, it’s quite deep in its storytelling. While you’re hopping around on a platform-like play style, you’re also uncovering deep hurts, and long-forgotten traumas that lie at the heart of all that is wrong in this world — and it’s your job to finally heal it.
Just like Wicked presents a story about everything not being as it seems, so too does Hollow Knight challenge what the difference is between what lies in the dark, and what lies in the night, and whether you’re the person to finally solve that ultimate mystery.
And so we have come to the end of our first column of 2025, wrapping up one of the most interesting years we have yet had in cinema. With one of the big bangs being such a crowd-pleasing nostalgic musical blockbuster, let’s hope that paves the way for even more exciting cinema over the coming months. I’ll return next month with something — there will have to be something — that was of interest this month. 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