E34 Trope Spotlight: Demon Lovers with Dr. Sam Langsdale

Sex. Love. Literature.

Happy Halloween, SLL Listeners! This episode is a special spooky season treat: a Trope Spotlight episode on ~Demon Lovers~ 😈. We’re joined by comic-scholar, friend of the show, and fellow monster aficionado Dr. Sam Langsdale to tackle the deliciously demonic topic. Together, we parse through what makes a demon a demon-as well as what we want from a demon lover-throw in some monster theory, and share some of our many favorites.

Episode Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:30 Opening Banter

02:57 Guest Introduction

12:37 What's Sparking Joy

25:42 Demon Lovers Discussion

Show Notes:

You can find Sam on Bluesky @samlangsdale.bsky.social or on her website, www.samlangsdale.com. And here's a link to Monstrous Women in Comics, too - https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/M/Monstrous-Women-in-Comics

Bonus Treats🍬

• Lanfear Gif sets, because she deserves more that one: https://www.tumblr.com/ofthebrownajah/732098078959665152 ; https://www.tumblr.com/dykedivorce/729834242890153984/the-wheel-of-time-lanfear-in-2x07 ; https://www.tumblr.com/hcmoeroticisms/729915504717873152/natasha-okeeffe-as-lanfear-in-wheel-of-time-207 ; https://www.tumblr.com/ghostintransit/729144619593547776/lanfear-in-wheel-of-time-s2-ep6
• Chu Kong (AKA cat demon) gif set: https://www.tumblr.com/dingyuxi/726930914058338305/love-you-seven-times-%E4%B8%83%E6%97%B6%E5%90%89%E7%A5%A5-2023-dir-li-nan
• Xiang Liu (AKA sexy snake man) gif set: https://www.tumblr.com/yesdramas/724227274238574592/tan-jianci-as-xiang-liu-in-lost-you-forever-%E9%95%BF%E7%9B%B8%E6%80%9D
• Nightcrawler posing like Burt Reynolds: https://twitter.com/peppard_anna/status/1554151790614134785 (but also, just look at the whole thread)
• "Smited, Smote, Smitten: A Reading on Queer Longing in Good Omens" by Maya Gittelman - https://www.tor.com/2023/10/04/smited-smote-smitten-a-reading-on-queer-longing-in-good-omens/
• Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Podcast - https://goshgollywow.com/

As two people who study, analyze, and have a literal podcast about media, we stand in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike–along with their counterparts in other industries/countries, who also deserve fair wages and labor protections–none of the works we discuss here or in other episodes would exist.

Lit discussed this episode: Fionna and Cake, Wheel of Time (Season 2), Glow Up, Wednesday, Love You Seven Times, Lost You Forever, Howl's Moving Castle (Book and Film), Good Omens 2, Fruits Basket, Stuffed - A living pillow romance, Inuyasha, Love and Redemption, The Good Place, Castlevania, Beauty and the Beast, Lucifer, Excalibur, Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Podcast, Monster Prom, Monster Camp, Love Between Fairy and Devil, Obey Me: One Master to Rule Them All, Shadow & Bone, The Witches of Eastwick, Till the End of the Moon, Monsters and Girls

Don't forget to subscribe to Sex. Love. Literature! You can find us on Instagram and Threads @SexLoveLit.

The SLL Theme music for this episode is “TipToes” by Myuu. What’s Sparking Joy BGM is "Candy-Coloured Sky" by Catmosphere | https://soundcloud.com/ctmsphr; Released by Paper Crane Collective; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

SLL is a podcast relishing the romantic, the sexy, and the scandalous in pop-culture. English academics by day and podcasters by night, hosts Ayanni and Corinne take a semi-scholarly look at why the “sex-stuff” in media matters in the bedroom—and beyond.