Our podcast recommendation of the week? It’s a rather special father and son celebration of the movies.
The great thing about podcasting is how accessible it is. You don’t need an expensive microphone or equipment. Regardless of your gender, race, sexuality or age, as long as you have a voice, a topic and the basic technology, you can become a podcaster. Even children can become podcast hosts! Let’s be honest, as adults we have no idea what it’s like to grow up in today’s world. The best way to learn about today’s children, is to listen to today’s children, and someone who we really wanted to highlight this week, is a remarkable young man by the name of Harry Walker.
Harry hosts When Harry Met Movies alongside his dad, Mark. While Mark does the majority of the technical work, it’s Harry who’s the star of this podcast. Like most kids his age, the-then twelve-year-old Harry struggled during lockdown in 2021 with insecurities and homeschooling. Mark wanted a way to help Harry gain confidence during those anxiety-filled and troubling times, and to do so they’d watch movies together. The idea for a podcast originally started as a way to help with Harry’s social anxiety and ADHD, but to also spend some quality time together as father and son. Mark wanted to share the movies he grew up watching with Harry and, most importantly, to see what Harry thought of them.
Mark, who has himself struggled with Dissociative Identity Disorder, often can’t remember certain points or events. Together, he and Harry can chat about movies and strengthen their bond, and it’s through When Harry Met Movies that they can create new memories together rather than worrying about the memories Mark has forgotten. Harry uses listening to podcasts to help him stay calm, especially in busy social situations. A recent visit to Comic-Con was a potentially stressful experience for young Harry, but he handled it like a pro and got a photo with actor, director (and Gollum himself!) Andy Serkis.
When Harry Met Movies is a fascinating insight into this father-son relationship, and listening from the start you can hear Harry becoming more outgoing, confident and not afraid to share a contrarian opinion. It turns out Harry is not a fan of Beetlejuice, but he loves Drop Dead Fred! Don’t expect any horror movies on the podcast though – Harry is not a fan. It’s important to Mark that Harry is as involved in the podcast as much as any co-host would be, including making changes to the format and structure.
Harry and Mark are always so open and honest about their personal struggles, and in doing so have not only helped themselves, but also inspire others to speak their truth, to never be afraid to ask for help and do whatever makes them happy. They realised that their unique approach makes them stand out, and have received so much support from the podcasting community. Harry obviously doesn’t use social media channels, and so leaves the promotion and listener interaction side to his dad.
Harry has recently celebrated his 13th birthday, is doing great at school and is thriving with his new found confidence in himself and his abilities. His dad Mark is so proud of him, and so are we! You wouldn’t expect podcasting to be the catalyst for all this positive change, but even without podcasting it’s very clear that Harry definitely has a bright future ahead of him, whatever he chooses to become.
But for now, you’re a podcaster, Harry!
Recommended episode: Episode 37: Batman (1989) (1 April 2021) – https://whenharrymetmovies.podbean.com/e/batman-1989/
When Harry Met Movies can be found at: https://whenharrymetmovies.podbean.com/
And followed at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarrymetMovies
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whenharrymetmovies/
Facebook:
All episodes of When Harry Met Movies are available and can be listened to or downloaded from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from.
Are you a British movie podcast who would like to be featured on Film Stories? We welcome all suggestions and requests, but we especially want to hear from you if you’re female, POC, non-binary, LGBTQIA+ or have a disability. Email Em – verbaldiorama at gmail co uk (Just remove the spaces and add the ‘@’ and the dots, but don’t send spam. She’s vegetarian.)
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