Whatcha Gonna Do? A Media Autopsy of Hulk Hogan

Whatcha Gonna Do? A Media Autopsy of Hulk Hogan

Author: Sascha Funk July 25, 2025 Duration: 36:37

This week, the wrestling ring lost its biggest icon. Hulk Hogan has passed away, but the media-created superhero he embodied will live forever—and it's time to put that creation under the microscope. In this special episode, I'm not just eulogizing a legend; I'm conducting a media autopsy on the entire phenomenon.

We'll deconstruct the 1980s "Hulkamania" as a pro-American propaganda machine, analyze his 90s "Hollywood Hogan" heel turn as a genius act of creative destruction, and explore his later life as a reality TV ghost. This is a look at the man who was a brand, the myth that was a product, and the complicated legacy of a cartoon character who became all too human.


In a world saturated with constant notifications and algorithmic feeds, FUNK !T | Mindful Media & Communication offers a necessary pause. Hosted by Sascha Funk, who leads the media studies department at Thammasat University, this podcast is a deep and practical exploration of our daily interactions with technology and information. Each episode moves beyond surface-level tips to examine the underlying structures of our media environment, asking how we can engage with it more consciously. You’ll find conversations that dissect digital trends not just for their novelty, but for their real psychological and social impact. The discussions here are about building resilience and intention-whether that means refining how you communicate professionally, understanding the design of the platforms you use, or simply finding more agency in your personal scrolling habits. This isn't about rejecting technology, but about developing a sustainable and critical relationship with it. Sascha brings academic insight into accessible, actionable territory, making the complex dynamics of media feel relevant to your everyday life. For anyone feeling adrift in the digital noise or curious about the forces shaping our modern conversations, this podcast provides both a compass and a toolkit. It’s a space for learning how to be present and purposeful in a mediated world, one thoughtful discussion at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

FUNK !T | Mindful Media & Communication
Podcast Episodes
Never Gonna Give You Up [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:47
This past week three things happened. The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened globally to $234M — a film about an industry that sacrifices craft for speed, made by sacrificing craft for speed. The first half and second half feel…
How Censorship Works in 2026 (It Looks Like Accounting) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:53
We're heading into the final weeks of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - CBS' number one show for nine straight seasons. The official reason: "purely a financial decision." Two weeks earlier, Colbert had criticised a s…
The Therapy Aesthetic: Decoding Bieber's 2026 Coachella Set [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:03
Justin Bieber’s 2026 Coachella headline set wasn't just a concert; it was a real-time renegotiation of the performer-audience contract.This week on FUNK !T, we analyze the most polarizing performance of the year. We expl…
The Pentagon Learned from TikTok [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:46
The US military released footage of the Iran strikes this week. It was edited. It had music. It cut like an action trailer. 40 million impressions in 24 hours — before most people thought to ask what they were actually w…
Why We Can't Legislate the Algorithm (A Media Theory Analysis) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:26
You cannot build a 19th-century border wall around a 21st-century cloud.Body:This week, the German government (CDU) pushed a motion to strictly ban social media for youth under 14, requiring digital ID verification to lo…
The Bangkok Simulation: Why Global Cities Are Becoming "Non-Places" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:18
Recording from the streets of Bangkok, Sascha Funk analyzes the city not as a tourist destination, but as a living motherboard. Using the framework of "Splintering Urbanism" and Marc Augé’s concept of the "Non-Place," we…
The Gamification of Reality: Betting on the Apocalypse [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:27
Prediction markets like Polymarket have turned the news cycle into a casino. But this isn't just about gambling; it's about the Gamification of Reality. We have moved from being "Citizens" (who try to influence outcomes)…
Surveillance Sport: The Death of the "Human" Element [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:26
In the final week of Milano Cortina, we are witnessing the collision of "Sport" and "Surveillance Capitalism." When a curling match is decided by a capacitive touch sensor rather than a human eye, we have entered what Ba…