WEBVTT - Election with Natasha Chandel 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.640 On the bed Cast, the questions asked if movies have 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:07.280 women and um are all their discussions just boyfriends and 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:11.600 husbands or do they have individualism the patriarchy? Zef in 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:16.480 best start changing it with the Bedel Cast. Hello and 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.720 welcome to the Bechtel Cast. My name is Jamie Loftus, 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.160 my name is Caitlin Darante, and this is our podcast 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:25.880 in which we discuss the role of women in famous 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.720 movies you've seen before. Today is a special one to 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:30.240 This is a special one. I mean, you're hearing us 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.640 on a Tuesday. You don't usually hear us on a Tuesday, 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.280 and it's it's okay. First of all, actually I'd like 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.200 to do a p s A right at the tippity. 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.400 If you're listening to this on election day and you're like, oh, 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.440 I'm just kicking back listening to the Betel Cast and 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.440 you have not yet voted, turn us the funk off 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.479 or listen to us on the way. Sorry, I I 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.280 couched it a little. Get on your bird scooter, get 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.560 in your car, get on your public dancy, get on 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.320 your free can, burn it on your you know, whatever 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.240 mode of transit you want. Just get out there and vote. 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.800 Hope you did your research. Yeah, well, okay, so so 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.200 that that a side. Welcome to the Beck dol Cast. 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.000 If you're not listening to this on election day, sorry 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.640 for coming in so hot, but the message rings true. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.840 You should always vote every next opportunity you have. Yeah, 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.000 where that do ag in? Hey quick plug. At the 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.360 top of the show, we're gonna be doing a live 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:35.200 becktel Cast show here in Los Angeles, so hopefully you'll 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.080 live here. But if not, just travel, get with the program. 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.440 No big deal, just just you know, by flight. Didn't 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.400 come on down. But we're doing a show on Saturday, 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.760 November tenth at nine pm at the Ruby. This time 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.240 we'll be covering the Fifth Element, one of My Thieves, 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.400 with our guest and dear friend, Danielle Radford. Hell yeah. 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.720 For tickets, go to our website becktel cast dot com, 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:03.160 click on the live appearances tab and we will see 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.880 you there. It's a small venue, so grab your tickets asap. Wow, yes, queen, 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.799 go off. Okay, So this is our podcast about the 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.000 portrayal of women in movies. Um. We use the Bechdel 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.800 test as are jumping off point for discussion. Of course, 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.720 a test invented by cartoonist Alison Bechdel that for our 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.320 purposes requires that a piece of media has a scene 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.680 in which two female identifying characters with names talk about 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.720 something other than a man for two or more lines 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.600 of dialogue. Shall we demo? Yeah? Demo? Hey, Hey Jamie, 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.919 Hey Caitlin. Did you vote today? Yes, bitch, of course 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.720 I did? Well, me too. Wow, We're great. I only 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:51.200 voted for women, and that passes the Bechdel test. Okay, 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.280 I was like, well, but what if something? But also 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.440 this still goes. Some female candidates might have some horrible ideas, 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:58.880 so it's good to do your research at advice as well. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:04.679 Darn Tuton, what a productive Bagel pass test passing conversation. 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.360 So that's where. But but we obviously expand the conversation 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.960 to cover many different topics related to how women are 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.720 portrayed in the movie. Today, we've got a great movie 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.080 and a great guest. Yes, indeed, let's introduce her. She 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:22.840 is a producer, writer, actor, and host of the Kind 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:31.359 of Dating podcast Natasha Shandel. Hello, I was just listening 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.840 to you in THEE. I hope I said something half decent. 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:40.520 It was an uplifting one. Yeah, great, then I'd take 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:45.920 full credit for it. So we're talking about Election, the 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:52.000 movie from director Alexander Payne, adapted from a novel by 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:56.520 Tom Peroda. I used to have a doctor named Dr Payne. Oh, 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:58.240 and I had it, and and I had a dentist 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:03.040 named Dr Vagenie, which is hilarious, which is horrible. Why 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.880 did my dentist Why was my dadists last name of Vagina? 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:10.120 We don't know. If Dr Vagenice gives me a root canal, 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:14.800 it does that pass? Then these are the real questions. 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.240 So Natasha tell us about your your history, your relationship 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.719 with this movie. I watched it around when it first 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.039 came out. I really have a horrible memory, so I 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.720 won't be the person who ever remembers me watching something 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.440 in a movie theater. But unless it was Titanic, I 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:36.919 oh my god, Titanic. Yeah, that's remember watching in the theater. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:42.080 Everything else after that just is gone. Usually threepisodes like 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.280 usually Jamie, let's do another and I yeah, let's scratch election. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.600 This is a Titanic podcast. Now, Usually it's one of 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.880 us to bring up Titanic, and our guest is always like, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.160 why are they talking about Titanic? Well, I was just 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:56.839 gonna say we could bring it back to an election, 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.400 because really, if they were to have voted off, who 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.120 should have got off that fucking vote? It would not 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.200 have been half of those people who actually got off. 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.279 Can you imagine, like what a better world it would 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:13.360 be of some of those rich motherfucker's had drowned? Hot takes? Yep, 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:19.159 but and some working class women survived. Yes? Great, but yes, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.320 I so I watched I watched Election again around when 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.320 it first came out. I thought it was hilarious. I 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:30.760 thought Reese Witherspoon was a great antiher, like it's the 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.240 kind of characters I like a lot um and I'm 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.719 still not sure. When I watched it again, I'm like, 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.880 do I like her? Do I not like her? Likes? 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.359 And I love that about her just as an actor, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.159 And honestly, like, who thought when that movie came out? 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:53.320 Was that twenty something years or less than twenty years later? 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:59.039 I feel like it's the exact thing happening or happened. Yeah, 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:04.839 the parallels between this movie and the Clinton Trump campaign 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.200 are There's a lot to unpack there because I think 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:08.919 I think that I mean, we can get to this 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.880 in a bit, but I think that Tracy Flick is 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.760 already partially inspired by Hillary Clinton in this movie because 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:16.919 this is at the end of the Clinton administration, the 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.400 public is always already well aware that Hillary Clinton has 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.800 ambitions beyond what was the quote of making cookies and 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:29.320 right Also, I have some Wikipedia trivia for us hit 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.440 that the novel that this movie is based upon. The 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.159 novel was inspired by two key events. The first one 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:41.080 was the nine two Bush v. Clinton election campaign, this 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.680 of course being Bill Clinton and not Hillary, but I 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.039 think that that's when that quote may have first come 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.480 out though, like that she was not going to be 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.479 your average first lady if he was elected UM. And 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:56.000 then in that campaign Ross Perrot entered as a third 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.160 party candidate UM, which is echoed in the movie by 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:03.280 Tammy Metzler. Showing up was Tammy Metzler, the literal Green 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:09.360 Party is she like fucking Nager. That's crazy, well, Gary Johnson, 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.520 but if you fast forward her now, she'd be Trump. 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.880 She I started that that. That's what I was a disrupter, right, 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.120 like the one who's like, don't she's not really care 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:23.320 about this. You do this, don't do that. I'm gonna 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.080 drain the swamp. I'm going to get rid of this 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.760 no more student body whatever. I was crazy, right, That's 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:32.600 what I think I was thinking along those lines. But 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.000 that totally makes sense that she, I guess in this 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.880 context would be third party like Green Party. Yeah, whoa, 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.880 This movie is crazy, so I really liked it. The 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:46.400 other thing that the novel was inspired by was a 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:53.360 incident at a high school in Wisconsin where a pregnant 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:57.160 teenager was elected homecoming queen, but the staff announced a 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:02.200 different winner and burned the ballots to cover it up. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:06.760 Horrible that that's so crazy, would so not work in 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:12.320 today's social media world. Absolutely, but in pulled it off. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:18.920 I mean, thankfully homecoming doesn't define our lives. Speak for yourself. 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:27.360 We just did carry so a lot of very true 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.600 once your history with election. I didn't see it until 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.800 I think I was in college, so it would have 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.320 been like the mid two thousand's, so not that long 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.640 after it came up, but certainly not right away. But 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.199 I remember really enjoying it. But it was one of 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.160 those movies that I liked but just was like, Okay, 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.160 I've checked that off my list, move on to the 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.520 next one on our list. Didn't ever go back and 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.160 re visit it, but I'm kind of bummed that I didn't, 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.320 because upon rewatching it to prep for this episode, I 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.599 was like, oh, this is like a really this is 0:08:55.640 --> 0:09:00.400 a fun movie. The Tammy character, especially, I I'm like, 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.640 so here for and uh yeah, I really I enjoy 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.040 this movie quite a bit. I saw this movie yesterday 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.439 for the first time, which listeners of the show will 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.200 not be shocked to hear. I've never I've only seen 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:17.360 the movie Doubt, plus any Titanic and Titanic plus all 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.600 the movies we've done here. Mine is The Majornks, which 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.320 I didn't actually watch, which is so often brought up 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:24.720 in our iTunes reviews. If you're leaving us it tuned reviews, 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.319 I encourage you to mention that as a plus as 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.959 a meta textual thing. I saw this movie the first 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.520 time yesterday, and I really really like it, especially like 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.680 I mean, there's so many great performances in that but 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.839 this is the only movie that I've seen anyways of Also, 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.640 Matthew Broderick playing like a really despicable guy that you're 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.079 supposed to hate, but he plays it so like, I 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.640 don't know, I really enjoyed his performance, especially, and I 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.199 just want to talk about how Reeseaway's potent. I think 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.560 it's like she's so, she's so talented and she's so 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.199 interesting where I feel like she's played a care her 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.200 that has kind of the same description every time, but 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.520 she plays this character so many different ways over the 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.319 years that it's just like, yeah, like making fifty different 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.400 recipes out of the same basic ingredients, right with her. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.640 So including a couple of movies that we've covered, which 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:20.800 is our most recent episode of Cruel Intentions, where she's 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:26.120 like in high school, she's like the virginal but she's smart, Yeah, 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:30.400 like very smart, ambitious young woman going to a private 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.120 school and then getting tricked into having sex with Ryan 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.480 Philippi and usually men are like threatened by her. Yeah, 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.280 and then l Woods of course, on our Bonus Matron 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.959 episode doing Legally Blonde, kind of a variation on this character, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.480 but so entirely different all the way up to Big 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.280 Little Lies, like that was sort of like a like 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.680 returning to form a little bit of like that's a 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.319 more mature version of the characters she got famous for playing. 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.640 She's so she's very interesting to me, yes, indeed, And 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.040 this movie is great. Yeah, Yeah, I mean, the one 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:02.920 thing that really stuck out to me were like there 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.840 were so many themes that they talked about through it 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.760 that you know, even like right off the top through 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.680 Matthew Broderick's like narration, the talk of destiny at first, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.559 and then they and then they talked about like morals, 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:19.719 it's just like a big one, and and then just 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.280 you know how much just too ambitious. It was like 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.040 so many things that are so relevant. And the ending, 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.200 I think, I know that we haven't even done the 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.760 recap yet, but the ending of this movie. I watched 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.040 it four times because it's just like the movie is 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.480 firing on all cylinders, and like the last five minutes 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.560 where you know, the whole time you're experiencing the movie 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.480 through unreliable narrators. But it's like in the last couple 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:48.320 of minutes where Matthew Project's narration is still so cocky, 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:50.839 and then you see like it's so stark at the 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.600 end that I one, I wish I had the time 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.360 to go back and watch the whole thing over with 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.920 that in mind of like, oh, you can't trust a 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.120 fucking word that comes out of this guy's mouth from 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.440 the moment, but what you know, but like, I can't 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.520 wait to watch this movie again. It's okay, yeah, so 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:13.679 I'll do the recap um. We meet Tracy Flick played 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.600 by Reese Witherspoon. Of course, she is in high school. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.600 She's an overachiever. She is running for student council president. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:25.200 We meet Mr McAllister played by Matthew Broderick. He's a history, 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:28.840 everyday guy. He likes his wife, and he likes his job. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.120 He's just a nice Keith. Well, it starts out like 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.439 it's Matthew Broderick. You like him, right, he's a teacher 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.320 this time, Yeah, you like that probably, but he seems 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:44.080 to be perturbed by Tracy Flick. And then in the 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.960 back story we learned that Tracy had a sexual relationship 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:54.199 with another teacher, Mr. Nevatney, who got fired and he 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:58.960 moves away, but he and Mr McAllister were best friends. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:02.079 Locker room talk, you get. We got a whole scene 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.679 of locker room talking where we'll talk about this too. 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:08.880 But that I think the movies pay us so well, 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.920 and like, you start to hate Matthew Bradgick character in 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.719 such specific increments where you're given a little bit of like, well, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.800 I didn't do anything wrong, but he was complicit as 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:23.080 something wrong happened, where he's always the moral high ground, 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.160 even in that conversation where his best friends like, I'm 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:31.320 having sex with a minor cool, right, and then Jim 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.480 the Matthew Bradgick character says like, well, that's not ethical. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:37.840 Fucking ethics teacher. He's like, well that's not ethical and 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.360 that's bad and dada, but he doesn't really do anything 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.960 about it. He just kind of stands by as it happens. 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.240 He's just tell me all the details, please describe it 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.760 even further, and then I'll go watch my creepy VH 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.040 exactly and I'll just tell you that this isn't right, 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.959 but keep going and picture Everything's like, I don't want 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.719 to hear that, but secretly we're pretty sure he does. Um. 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.520 And this is one of the reasons this relationship between 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:05.840 this teacher and student is one of the reasons that 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.800 Jim McAllister does not like Tracy, and we'll go into 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:15.560 other reasons, but so Mr. McAllister doesn't want Tracy to 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:20.360 win the student council president, so he approaches Paul played 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:26.640 by Chris Klein. What an interesting jock care I love 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:31.240 I can't wait to talk about him. Such an interesting right. 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.680 So he's a he's a popular kid. He's you know, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:36.040 star of the football team. He I kind of love 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:40.120 if he's dumb as rock, but he's sweet. He's always 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.840 a character too, right, Yeah, that's kind of thing. He's 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.120 so good at it. What's the other Anyways, I'm gonna 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.160 dig up some other Chris Clin dum dummy parts, American 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:54.360 pie Yeah, yeah, yeah, big one. So Mr McAllister gets 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.760 Paul to run an opposing campaign for president and helps 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:03.080 that Paul will be Tracy Flick. So Paul starts campaigning, 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.280 and then we meet Paul's sister Tammy, who is getting 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:11.000 broken up with by this girl Lisa, who then starts 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:16.000 to date Paul and then to retaliate. Tammy also starts 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.600 running for student council president as Donald Trump sort of, 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.400 where she promises she's like I don't care, I just 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.640 want to do it to bother people. And she's literally 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:32.040 like Kanye Maga hat like just trolling everyone because she's mad. 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.480 Yeah basically yeah yeah, because she's running on the platform 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.720 that student government is stupid and if she wins, she 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.880 will dismantle it. Just an anarchy platform. Yeah, he's giving 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.520 me chills. But the people love it. The people are like, yeah, 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.280 Tammy here, I love it way more than Paul's campaign 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.480 because he is a terrible public speaker. But that's because 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:58.200 so my name is Paul. Who was that equivalent? That's 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:00.400 the one I was trying to figure out. That's like 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.240 Ted Cruz or something like. The guys like, oh, I'm 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:10.000 supposed to that's way more like, you know, he was 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:14.280 sort of the nicest Bush. And then you're like, okay, right, 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.600 there's even almost at like please clap moment where no 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.480 one says that allowed, but his like speech ends, there 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.640 are crickets, and then Mr McCallister has to be like, yeah, 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.320 if only we had found out, like almost twenty years 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.800 later that police clap actually came from election and Jeff 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:35.680 Bush love that well. Fun fact. According to according to 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:43.520 director Alexander Payne, Election is Obama's favorite political movie. I'm sorry, 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.400 I'm stuck. I haven't thought about police clap in a 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:53.120 long time. Jeb Bush implored people to clap for him, 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.880 and that's clap facts with Caitlin. Okay, um, so people 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.880 are loving Tammy also more than trace He's campaign because 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.240 she's just very you know, bureaucratic. By the book, she's 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:09.240 too prepared. Yeah, So Tracy is very frustrated and she 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:14.520 rips down all of Paul's campaign posters and then Tammy 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.400 sees Tracy throwing them away in a dumpster. But Tammy 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:22.159 decides to confess to Tracy's crime because that kind of 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.760 helps her platform to have, like, yeah, I don't give 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.439 a fuck. Yeah. The parallel to that is Bernie Sanderson. 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:35.159 We're finding the whole just like I just got to 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.160 figure out how this is all parallel to everything that 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:43.760 fired up. So meanwhile, Mr McAllister is falling in love 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.920 with Mr Nivatny's ex wife Linda, or he thinks he is. 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.680 They have sex once, but things very quickly fall apart 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.640 after that whenever Linda tells Jim's wife Diane, and then 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.280 he gets kicked out of the house. Um. And then 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.520 the next day is election day at the school, the 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.680 students are casting their votes, the committee is making their 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.000 count and then the chairman of this committee a student 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:16.080 named Larry. Larry, Yeah right, he's like really advocating for 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:21.800 Tracy because truths why is all about the truth? Because 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.720 Tracy wins the election by one vote, and Mr McAllister 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.680 he comply cannot allow this to help. He goes full 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.520 Florida like Florida two thousand young Man, the hanging Chad, 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:37.920 the chest, the cha chas. He pulls two of those 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.840 chats off and he throws them away so that it 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:45.480 looks like Paul wins the election. Tracy is devastated, but 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:50.560 Larry feminist icon, he's suspicious, so you know, he apparently 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.480 goes to investigate. The two ballots that were thrown away 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:58.199 are discovered, and then Jim McAllister has to submit his 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.760 resignation from Carter Hi, which I have so many thoughts. 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.439 But how the exit system for male teachers work at 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:09.960 the school too? Oh yeah, we'll get into that. Also, 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.240 the side story about him getting it on with well, 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:18.919 he's lecturing Tracy, right, huh. He's he's trying to preach 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:26.080 morals and ethics. Meanwhile, friends, yeah, he's trying too. That's 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:30.359 so frustrating to It's just this movie is so so 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.920 that happens, and then we see something we never see 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.080 it in movies usually where it's like he loses his job, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.760 he loses his wife, and then we kind of flash 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.880 forward for the end, right, because he starts his life over. 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.040 He moves to New York City, he gets a job 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.600 at like the Natural History Museum. He is still harboring 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:53.239 resentment for Tracy Flick and and he says he doesn't right, 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.119 he says he doesn't. He lives in a basement. But 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:01.280 he could not be more clear than that was triggering. 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:03.320 I was like, I used to live in New York. 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.439 I was like, I remember these times. Well. Um, so 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:12.480 he still hates Tracy. And it's even though he would 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.840 have you believe that his life is great, he actually 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:19.440 feels bad for her, right right, right, right right, Um, 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.560 But we'll talk all about that. But yeah, that's pretty 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.320 much the end of the film. So let's take a 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.640 quick break and then we'll come back to discuss woo 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:39.000 and we're back. So this story is basically a pathetic 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:43.000 man who ruins his life because he were since wimmen 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:47.200 and what it blames down to. Yeah, yeah, So we 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:52.160 see a female high school student who, unlike most high 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.800 school students in movies and certainly many that we've talked 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:59.480 about recently, Um, she has aspirations beyond wanting to get 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.560 a boyfriend or beyond wanting to go to prom. In fact, 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.560 we don't even know how she feels about prom because 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.840 she never mentions it. But we do know how she 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.639 feels about student council because the whole movie is about 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.040 her wanting to win. So if we're getting into the 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.680 Tracy discussion, there's there's so much about her that it's like, 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.040 I don't know, like unusual and like tricky to unpack 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.399 in the context of the story, or was for me 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:29.080 where I would argue almost every character in this movie 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:33.359 grows and changes very little, and like their situations change, 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:35.200 but they like I think almost part of the point 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.480 of the movie is no one really changes, where they 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.159 just kind of continue lying to themselves and others. And 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:45.199 that's politics, baby, Like I get it. But Tracy in 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:50.240 particular is is interesting because we're introduced with kind of 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:56.040 a common shorthand to characterize a female character, which is 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.840 you put her in a very fucked up, what seems 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:04.640 to be a statutory rape relationship that clearly does even 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:07.720 though it I think this movie avoids, certainly avoids making 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:11.879 it the center of her story, but it clearly affects 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.000 her a lot. And the way this movie plays that 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:19.600 storyline is very bizarre. I mean in terms of the metaphor, 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.600 I don't know if that's like a politician that has 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.800 a sex scandal or what that was supposed to symbolize. 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:29.600 But in terms of like in this story it is 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:33.600 an adult and a minor, I was a little confused 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.720 at why it didn't seem to affect Tracy Moore. If 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:38.400 the story is going to go out of its way 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:42.919 to be like, here's a statutory rape that happened, and 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.960 then it does seem like Tracy, to her credit but 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.280 also a little bit to my confusion, continue to do 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.200 everything in high school that she was going to do anyways, 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:56.040 almost unhindered by this relationship. I thought it was a 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:59.680 little weird. I don't know. Yeah, I had a hard 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:04.400 time kind of processing this component of the story is 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.560 well because she, as far as we can tell, as 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.520 far as the story presents it, she is a willing 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:16.600 and consenting participant of this relationship. That's that. And and 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:19.879 this is another place where the voiceover where you know 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:24.320 the voiceover is biased and not necessarily true. But I 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:27.439 think movies like Do This a lot where she literally 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:31.240 says I know what you're thinking, you know, and it's like, yeah, 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:34.280 I know what I'm thinking. You're getting raped by your teacher, 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:39.040 And movies almost say like by acknowledging it, they get 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.240 a past. But it's like, no, that's still what's happening 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:44.040 in the movie. But she says, like, I know what 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:46.760 you're thinking. It basically says I was a fully consenting party. 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:49.840 Don't worry about it, did it? But like the breakup sucked. 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:54.159 But it's like she almost kind of it seems like 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:57.359 the relationship ends because her mother finds out about it, 0:23:57.760 --> 0:23:59.439 and we don't see enough of the mother in this 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:03.480 movie either. It's very weird. Yeah, so the mother finds 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:05.960 out about it in a scene that happens off screen 0:24:05.960 --> 0:24:08.320 because we only see the aftermath of it, which is 0:24:08.960 --> 0:24:12.760 Dave Nevatney being very broken up over the relationship ending. 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:16.359 We don't play for laughs, Yeah you were in love, 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:18.920 Like that whole thing is played for I mean, he's 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.440 supposed to look pathetic and he's very clearly in context 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:24.840 of the story and the wrong but just was weird 0:24:24.880 --> 0:24:27.480 that it fits the tone of the movie, but him 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:30.200 looking like pathetic and then being like, Okay, you gotta 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:31.879 work at a grocery store because when they bring it 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:34.760