q's pop culture panel weighs in on the worthy, contentious, and mind-boggling stories from the week in arts and entertainment. Opinionated and irreverent, our panel takes pop culture seriously (but not too seriously).



Today's panellists are journalists Rachel Giese and Stephen Marche and Emily Keeler. Up for discussion:

Captain America: Civil War. Can superhero movies carry some political weight? Emily isn't quite convinced of Iron Man and Cap's prowess as political figures, "Sometimes we a a culture kind of go very far out of our way to read into what is just two and a half hours of tough guys in suits beating each other up," she says.





Trudeau and viral videos: As Justin Trudeau orchestrates viral moments we ask: is it effective, or just icky? Rachel thinks that Canadians hold our politicians in high regard and the viral videos from the Prime Minister don't live up to our standards. "This kind of goofy stuff like the yoga pose, I think we don't have as much of an appetite for it 'cause I think it just goes against what we want our politicians to be."





J-Lo's Ain't Your Mama. We examine whether J-Lo's new feminist anthem is really attacking the patriarchy or is J-Lo just stepping on the feminist bandwagon? Stephen argues that the medium of distributing and ultimately commodifying feminism is flawed. "I think it's really important to remember that in all these discussions pop culture is inherently exploitative. It is inherently about beautiful people. If J-Lo didn't look the way that she looks, she would not have a say."





