Speaker 1: On the Bell Cast, the questions asked if movies have
Speaker 1: women and them are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands?
Speaker 1: If do they have individualism the patriarchy? Zef and best
Speaker 1: start changing it with the bel Cast. Hello, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the Beckdel Cast. My name is Caitlin Durante. My
Speaker 1: name is Jamie Loftus. Yeah, we're doing our last names
Speaker 1: now because of someone who's in the room who can't
Speaker 1: speak yet. Right, this is the power part of just
Speaker 1: like you can't talk yet. This bothers our male guests,
Speaker 1: and they usually don't make it. They usually don't interrupt
Speaker 1: a lot. They're usually or sometimes as a male guest,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go ahead and just call out Jack O'Brien.
Speaker 1: We'll do it. We'll do a loud laugh while we're
Speaker 1: doing the intro, and it's like you're not supposed to
Speaker 1: be seen yet, but you're making our guest on the
Speaker 1: micro Aggression l episode slamming the table basically through the
Speaker 1: table at us in the first two minutes. Who else
Speaker 1: is Hampton? For sure? But we are very excited for
Speaker 1: our guest today. So wait, we didn't say with the podcast, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're still in the Power Zone right now the Bechtel
Speaker 1: Casts our podcast about women and how they're portrayed in movies,
Speaker 1: and wouldn't you know that mainstream Hollywood cinema does not
Speaker 1: portray women very well until very recently. I mean, this
Speaker 1: year is pretty good for women in film. I think
Speaker 1: this year is pretty good for women. I was like, sorry,
Speaker 1: have you checked your news out? It's pretty bad out there.
Speaker 1: But we've done several movies recently that came out this
Speaker 1: year that have fared very well by our standards. Yes,
Speaker 1: I Tanya, Ladybird Girls Trip Hidden Figures came out last year. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: so you know we're there's options, it's getting a little better,
Speaker 1: there's more options. Historically, Hollywood has not portrayed women well.
Speaker 1: As my point, I disagree and I have a forty
Speaker 1: five minute argument. So we use the Bechtel test as
Speaker 1: sort of are jumping off point for a discussion. Becktel
Speaker 1: Tests being the test created by Alison Bechtel and the
Speaker 1: comic books Watch Out For and in our version of
Speaker 1: the test, we would like to see movies have two
Speaker 1: female identifying characters with names talk about something other than
Speaker 1: a man for more than two lines of dialogue. Does
Speaker 1: not happen a lot, not enough, but I'm very excited
Speaker 1: for today's episode. It's a common request when we ask
Speaker 1: for requests. I feel like we've seen this movie come
Speaker 1: up just about as often as like we got a
Speaker 1: lot of requests for like Legally Blonde as well, which
Speaker 1: we did on the Patreon. So subscribe and then maybe
Speaker 1: you can hear about what I think about Victor Garber
Speaker 1: spoiler alert. This movie. Yeah, we get requests for it
Speaker 1: because it's a it's a great movie. It's a cult classic.
Speaker 1: Josie and the Pussycats. Yes, and I'm so excited for
Speaker 1: our guest today. She's a friend of the cash, she's
Speaker 1: a friend of you, she's a friend of me. She
Speaker 1: owns and operates a nonprofit art space right here in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: California called Junior High. You gotta check this place out.
Speaker 1: It's great, it's the best. She's a wonderful visual artist.
Speaker 1: It's fay or left for crying out loud. I can
Speaker 1: talk now you can. Thanks for asking permission. Once you
Speaker 1: said that men usually fail at that, I was like committed.
Speaker 1: I said something otherwise, must prove myself some some of
Speaker 1: some of our fem some of our female guests have
Speaker 1: violated the rule. But but statistically, first of all, men
Speaker 1: are allowed on the show simply less. But when they
Speaker 1: when they do show up, they're talking early, they're talking right,
Speaker 1: Like I think we may have an example of like Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Jamie, Hi, I'm Caitlin. Hi, I'm the guy, and
Speaker 1: it's like we did not ask you to make yourself
Speaker 1: known yet. I literally the only thing you told me
Speaker 1: when we were about to record was that you're going
Speaker 1: to do it two minute bit at the beginning, just
Speaker 1: you guys, and not not to be there. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm really good at instructions. You can take a good
Speaker 1: direction better than my best trade, honestly, So, Faye, you
Speaker 1: brought us Josie the Pussycats, and you also brought us
Speaker 1: Josie the Pussycats. Stick to you do? They're so good? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Just can people buy these at your art space Junior High?
Speaker 1: Actually I don't think they're at Junior High right, and
Speaker 1: I should bring some, but I just make a bunch
Speaker 1: of stickers and celebrity junk that's on my website. It's
Speaker 1: just great. So, Josie the Postycats, why did you pick
Speaker 1: this movie? When did you first see it. What's your
Speaker 1: history with this movie. I have no idea when I
Speaker 1: first saw it, because that it was just so much
Speaker 1: a part of me that it feels like I was
Speaker 1: birthed and I knew every line. But I'm obsessed with it.
Speaker 1: I know every word of every song. Kind of embarrassingly
Speaker 1: they did that. I don't know if you guys saw
Speaker 1: it at the hotel, they did, like the full cast
Speaker 1: Q and A and the band played like from that
Speaker 1: did all the recordings of letters from clear like the singer. Well,
Speaker 1: it was so cool you were there, right, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: remember that big aggressively there. I remember those inst stories. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but like the artist was present that night. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: That was like a dream come true. I think Joseing
Speaker 1: the Pussycats might be my favorite band. Can you there
Speaker 1: are very real to me? Yeah, sure, I don't. I'll
Speaker 1: allow it. You know they're the best. And they've released
Speaker 1: a vinyl of all the songs and then there was
Speaker 1: a mini like seven inch djor single for Yeah, I
Speaker 1: should have brought that. I'll show it to you later,
Speaker 1: but it is good marketing. How are you familiar at
Speaker 1: all with the comics that it was based off. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would read Archie all the time as a kid,
Speaker 1: and um, that was like my big gift. I would
Speaker 1: go to My parents would ship me away to Jewish
Speaker 1: sleepaway camp for a month every summer and I would
Speaker 1: just wait till like week two and a half and
Speaker 1: I'd get a package of Archie comics. Are you into
Speaker 1: Riverdale the show? I started watching it and I just
Speaker 1: haven't had a ton of time. But I'm into whichever
Speaker 1: Sprouse twin that is. Yeah, I personally prefer Dylan, you know.
Speaker 1: I think Dylan's Dylan has like the longer hair, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's the thick twin. Yeah, he's cute. I'm here for
Speaker 1: the thick twin. If there's twins, I'm going for good
Speaker 1: to get that. Just call all that right off the bat,
Speaker 1: the thin twin, all right, I'll got the thanks twin.
Speaker 1: You get the thin twin, I'll read a song about it,
Speaker 1: and then you don't really know I feel about twins, Jamie.
Speaker 1: When did you first see the movie? On Christmas? At
Speaker 1: your house? Yeah? And I do spend all major holidays together.
Speaker 1: We were together on Thanksgiving and Christin just tragic and
Speaker 1: beautiful of your family where they don't like us, they're
Speaker 1: they're on the East coast. Is too cold, it's too
Speaker 1: hard to get to. Yeah. So I first saw Josie
Speaker 1: the Pussycats. It was probably it must have been like
Speaker 1: two thousand I think it's my freshman year of college,
Speaker 1: so like two thousand four. Friend showed it to me, instantly,
Speaker 1: loved it, bought it on DVD right away, watched it
Speaker 1: dozens of times since then. Definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: Super underrated. A lot of people don't know about this movie.
Speaker 1: If they know about it, they assume that it's terrible. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: because it did not get good in views at the time.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this was like one of those
Speaker 1: notoriously bad Ebert reviews, like this is the worst movie
Speaker 1: movies about girl bands, because he also hated Spiceworld. Really
Speaker 1: to be Affair is really bad, but it's it's one
Speaker 1: of my favor It's bad, but it's it's it's question. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wish it was more popular, so more opportunities to
Speaker 1: whip out the fact that I do know every dance
Speaker 1: from that movie. Mostly I just performed solo to myself.
Speaker 1: But of course, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm like in
Speaker 1: a crazy movie. It's quite right, So, yeah, I saw earlier.
Speaker 1: I just texted the boy this doesn't pass the fact
Speaker 1: return to for him. Um, everything's great. I'm shifting around him.
Speaker 1: I see it like a fucking psychopath and thinking about
Speaker 1: the fishes but from the shape of water. All right,
Speaker 1: well there it starts Sally Hawkins and she is also
Speaker 1: in Paddington and Paddington two. So good for check out Paddington's,
Speaker 1: the Paddington's Paddington, the Paddington's, Paddington Expanded Universe, the cinematic
Speaker 1: universe anyway, So yeah, is it Do you think if
Speaker 1: Paddington to his cannon or Paddington to believe, you would
Speaker 1: question this? He was about to like throw up some
Speaker 1: furniture and I feel unsafe at this time. Okay, So Joe,
Speaker 1: what were we talking about? Okay, so I think we
Speaker 1: can all agree that we enjoy this movie. It's so good.
Speaker 1: This is one of those movies that I truly don't
Speaker 1: know how I had not seen it, because it, like
Speaker 1: every element of it appeals to me, especially and this
Speaker 1: is and normally I will wax poetic about Alfred Billina,
Speaker 1: who I think could have found a really fun bit
Speaker 1: role in this movie. If someone had had their fucking
Speaker 1: head on. But but for me, this movie is Alan Cumming.
Speaker 1: He is the star. I had like a bet with
Speaker 1: myself how far and we'd be untill when you mentioned
Speaker 1: Alan coming, and I think I won. Just she's going
Speaker 1: to bring it up and she will be she will
Speaker 1: take a drink of water right when she says his name.
Speaker 1: I need to love my mouth before I say his name,
Speaker 1: to be fully slippery, so I could talk about Alan
Speaker 1: Alan commy, I mean obviously feminist, icon queer. Un the
Speaker 1: list goes on. He's amazing and this is and a
Speaker 1: British national treasure. I'm guess scott Scottish Scottish Scottish have
Speaker 1: a good one, because that's like the best part in
Speaker 1: the movie when his accent goes away briefly. No, he's
Speaker 1: Scottish's Scottish. Yeah, but I think he had a British accent.
Speaker 1: Yea was pretty terrible. It was not good. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: it turns out because he's a he's a scott Anyways,
Speaker 1: he's the best part of the Good Wife, which I've
Speaker 1: seen every episode after that's weird. Shall I do the recap?
Speaker 1: Do the recap? Wait? Can we say who's in this
Speaker 1: movie besides Alan Cumming, certainly because there's a it's a
Speaker 1: kind of a star star studded roster. It star stud
Speaker 1: So Josie is Rachel Lee Cook, Rosario Dawson plays I again.
Speaker 1: This happens on the pot where we don't remember people's
Speaker 1: names and characters name character name. Her name is a
Speaker 1: Val Val and then Terror Reid is as her slash
Speaker 1: uh and also Parker Posey park anything with Parker Posey
Speaker 1: and Alan Cumming. H. Yeah, So Josie the Possycats is
Speaker 1: about a band comprised of those three characters, Josie, Val
Speaker 1: and Melucts. Yeah. They live in Riverdale and they're just
Speaker 1: trying to make it. You know. They're doing small gigs.
Speaker 1: They don't have a following yet they love music. They
Speaker 1: all lived together and they live in the same trailer.
Speaker 1: There's a boy named Alan M who Josie big old
Speaker 1: crush on. Okay, Alan M hot or not not hot?
Speaker 1: He literally flop thank you. He's a good fashion but
Speaker 1: he's got a cute. I don't think anyone's attractive. If
Speaker 1: I've seen their feet, I understand that. Yeah, Caitlin is
Speaker 1: every because we've watched Josie and the pussycast together twice now,
Speaker 1: and she stands out for for Allan M. Every time.
Speaker 1: She's like, no, he's he's a good dude, Alan M.
Speaker 1: He's like, he's all bangs. Is very much of that.
Speaker 1: I mean, he can't even fix his truck. He has
Speaker 1: to get a woman's help, like that talk one of
Speaker 1: Caylin's favorite tropes, Woman who fixed the car, just so
Speaker 1: much about cars. Allan M's fine, So she begins to
Speaker 1: back pedal, Ellen M not hot, Ellen M. Good guy not.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure he has a leather bracelet on in Pumpably.
Speaker 1: I used to wear a sweatband all the time that
Speaker 1: said I have issues. Oh my god, on sale. I
Speaker 1: almost feel like you should legally be wearing that still
Speaker 1: just it's basically it was a medical band. I just
Speaker 1: didn't know. The font is crazy. There's all there's all
Speaker 1: these pictures of me and my grandma. I'm wearing back
Speaker 1: Price with my fucking things that says I have issues,
Speaker 1: and my grandma is she has this smile on her
Speaker 1: face where she's just smiling, but you can also tell
Speaker 1: she is making fun of me by making me have
Speaker 1: a photo taken in that moment in time, she's fully
Speaker 1: attacking me. I look like shit. Listen, I was twelve
Speaker 1: and I looked like absolute hitch. I have issues. You've
Speaker 1: got issues. I have issues. Well, so did the Pussycats
Speaker 1: because they amazing. Yeah, that was an amazing segue to
Speaker 1: do this professional. She's wait, wait, Kaylen, have you been
Speaker 1: in college. Yes. Not only have I been to college,
Speaker 1: I have been to grad school where I did get
Speaker 1: a master's degree in screen running from Boston University. I
Speaker 1: do not like to bring it up, but here we are. Okay. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So the Pussycats are having issues. You know, they're trying
Speaker 1: to build a following their talented musicians. They've got great songs,
Speaker 1: but no one is listening to them. Meanwhile, there is
Speaker 1: Alan Cummings character whose name is did I say what?
Speaker 1: Did I say? No? I did Alan Cumming as himself. Okay,
Speaker 1: we just took that as a moment to repeat the name.
Speaker 1: That's all that was happening. To do it every couple
Speaker 1: of minutes. Sure, I'll die contract thing, especially what it
Speaker 1: said on the inside of your sweatband. I think she is.
Speaker 1: Do not resuscitate, just swiss for Alan Cummings. She will
Speaker 1: pop out of it. Okay. So Alan Cumming plays this
Speaker 1: guy named Wyat Frame and he's like helping to run
Speaker 1: a label called Mega Records and they just got rid
Speaker 1: of their front runner band. Sure can we talk about
Speaker 1: what We'll get to this, but there is top of
Speaker 1: the movie, Alan coming straight up jumps out of a
Speaker 1: plane elegantly and this happens because he's sort of like
Speaker 1: managing this band djor this boy band who's super popular
Speaker 1: who is Donald's face on Meyer and then another guy Why,
Speaker 1: which I love because when du comes back at the
Speaker 1: end of the movie, it's only the guy because it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you couldn't afford the other three from more than One Day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're in a full cat that's not really them, that's
Speaker 1: gotta be Those are some extras. So Alan Cumming has
Speaker 1: to jump out of a plane because this boy band
Speaker 1: starts to figure out something fishy that's going to become
Speaker 1: the record label. So why it basically crashes the plane
Speaker 1: they're on. He jumps to safety and now he's on
Speaker 1: the lookout for a new front runner band to be
Speaker 1: the most popular, and he finds the Pussycats. So don't
Speaker 1: actually could we all do together? How can I say this? Alright, fine,
Speaker 1: So he discovers the Pussycats without even hearing them play.
Speaker 1: He offers them a record deal and they're just like,
Speaker 1: what's all this about? And he's like, it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: just sign with us and we'll make you stars. And
Speaker 1: they're like okay, and then they go, they get makeovers,
Speaker 1: they start recording some music. There's this ominous machine. It's
Speaker 1: like this recording device. They're like, what's all this and
Speaker 1: he's like, don't worry about it. Meanwhile, we meet Fiona
Speaker 1: played by Parker Posey, and we learned that the record
Speaker 1: company that they are running is actually just sort of
Speaker 1: this way to insert subliminal messages into music to get
Speaker 1: teenagers to buy a bunch of crap. So there's product
Speaker 1: placement all over this movie. We did the count. We
Speaker 1: made a note, so I think there's upwards of eighty
Speaker 1: products being hawked throughout the course of this movie. It's wild.
Speaker 1: Some of them are so like some of my favorite
Speaker 1: ones are the ones that only come up once of
Speaker 1: like tidy Cats do five dollars because we'll put you
Speaker 1: in our movie. Like there is a weird, very small
Speaker 1: tidy Cats they actually did during that Q and A.
Speaker 1: They said they did not get paid by any of
Speaker 1: those brands. Really, a lot of brands didn't want to
Speaker 1: be involved, Like I think Gap pulled out, Like they
Speaker 1: had a big Gap thing, like the girls were going
Speaker 1: to be in a Gap commercial and they had to
Speaker 1: pull it. They filmed and everything. Yeah, they got no
Speaker 1: money for product placement. For that, I think no one
Speaker 1: would have knew. Yeah, well, because the movie sends a
Speaker 1: very anti corporate message of like, hey, consumerism is bad,
Speaker 1: product placement is bad. Caps every Wednesday night. Hey, but
Speaker 1: speaking of tidy cats, so did you know that cats
Speaker 1: have eight nipples? This has been cat facts with Caitlin.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I need more sentences to start with,
Speaker 1: speaking of um new mood. So yeah, this whole record
Speaker 1: company is basically just a whole scam to insert subliminal
Speaker 1: messages into music to get teenagers to buy things. And
Speaker 1: then that's what do your figured out? And that's why
Speaker 1: they died. But then the great at the end with
Speaker 1: the Metallica concert joke is so good, Thank god, every
Speaker 1: day I knew the lyrics to enter stand Man. Every
Speaker 1: joke in this movie is the best joke ever. So
Speaker 1: it's the perfect satire and it's so funny. Meanwhile, so
Speaker 1: they make the Pussycats these huge stars, except that they
Speaker 1: changed their name to Josie and the Pussycats. Josie, because
Speaker 1: she's the lead singer, becomes kind of the front woman
Speaker 1: of the band and say, you can find a similar
Speaker 1: story and sorry in my mouth is a little tooluped down,
Speaker 1: started to drown. Uh. Similar themes are explored in the
Speaker 1: Cheetah Girls Extended Universe. Oh I'm not I'm familiar with
Speaker 1: the Barcelona that's the second one, Chee Cheeta Girls too.
Speaker 1: Speaking of sequels, Paddington too anyway, Patty Cats. So as
Speaker 1: the band gets more popular, why it starts to insert
Speaker 1: these subliminal messages into songs that only she's listening to
Speaker 1: this because like Val and Mel are starting to realize
Speaker 1: something's fishy, like something's not quite right here. So they
Speaker 1: try to break the band apart by getting Josie to
Speaker 1: turn on Val and Mel, but it doesn't work. They
Speaker 1: figured out they figure out this whole subliminal message scam.
Speaker 1: There's this great, very long climactic sequence at the end
Speaker 1: where they confront Wyatt and Fiona. There's like a fight
Speaker 1: that happens there there like happens backstage at a concert
Speaker 1: that everyone's waiting for. Alan Cumming has a middle part
Speaker 1: for this entire movie. Yes, okay, that's as you're going
Speaker 1: to lose up again. Just love my mouth. I can
Speaker 1: handle that fact. That was Alan Facts with sponsored by
Speaker 1: tidy Cat. I also my second favorite product placement in
Speaker 1: this movie. I think it would be Adville. The climactic
Speaker 1: scene takes place basically on the floor that's covered in
Speaker 1: Adville logos. Oh yeah, my my favorite is the McDonald shower.
Speaker 1: I don't want that. That's a perfect scene. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: a perfect scene I made, which is crazy because terror Read.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yeah, be were of right. Terry Read
Speaker 1: is the only person in that scene. And terr Read's
Speaker 1: character that I hate that character. She's very annoying and
Speaker 1: I we'll get into it, but I can't stand that character. Anyways.
Speaker 1: Fan service for Carson Daley, who I say, I've said
Speaker 1: it before, I'll say it again. Truly the world most
Speaker 1: mediocre man. Right, couldn't be a more I'm like that
Speaker 1: is someone's dead with frosted dips. Anyways, So the movie
Speaker 1: ends with they confront the record company. The Feds come in,
Speaker 1: they shut them down, even though they were in on
Speaker 1: it the whole time. They're like, actually, sublime messaging works
Speaker 1: much better in movies, and there's great, the best movie ever.
Speaker 1: And then so they play the concert and Josie and
Speaker 1: hot L and m get together at the end and everything.
Speaker 1: I do like that scene at the end because it's
Speaker 1: so goofy and weird. Like the joke is that they're
Speaker 1: screaming across the stadium and they can both hear each
Speaker 1: other and it's so long and they're like, I love you,
Speaker 1: I love you too. I'm like, no, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I okay. Sure, great, So that's the story. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the female characters in it, of which there
Speaker 1: are several. Who who's your favorite perker posey, Oh for sure.
Speaker 1: Fionna is amazing. Yeah. She has like a real desperation
Speaker 1: to be popular that I just also relate to in
Speaker 1: a very sad way, and I think consistently has the
Speaker 1: best looks for sure, Like she gets the looks. It's
Speaker 1: she's the best. And she's just like, hey, girls, is
Speaker 1: a hot gossip, Like she just like wants to hang
Speaker 1: out with a bunch of cool girls. She was like
Speaker 1: the ugly girl in high school, you find out and
Speaker 1: just one so like I'm popular and hang out with
Speaker 1: Alan Conard, spend an albino guy that the whole time
Speaker 1: is that joke insensitive? Probably so seeking your tidy Cats
Speaker 1: allan coming as an albino man also has a metal part.
Speaker 1: Speaking of tidy Cats, yes, um, yeah, no, I think
Speaker 1: that joke is insensitive to people with albinism. I think
Speaker 1: the joke of Fiona's character having a lisp is also
Speaker 1: insensitive to people with lisps. It's not it's not a
Speaker 1: perfect unfortunately, but also and it's of tidy Cats perfect movie. Okay,
Speaker 1: that was it. It was spot on. Thank you, nothing
Speaker 1: but respect anyway, So Fiona, that character is amazing. The
Speaker 1: very best moment of my entire life. I was thirteen
Speaker 1: and at the mall with my mom in a Jay
Speaker 1: Crew and a random person told me I looked like
Speaker 1: Perker Posey and I remember, like what the leather gloves
Speaker 1: next to me looked like like I was just shaking,
Speaker 1: and I was like, and I don't look like her
Speaker 1: as the print the best moment. I still think about
Speaker 1: it when I'm sad. It's my happy place. That crew.
Speaker 1: Once when I was little, my family went to Martha's vineyard.
Speaker 1: We would we can only afford to go for two
Speaker 1: days every two or three years because it's rich people ship,
Speaker 1: but we would go. And one time, when I was
Speaker 1: very young, like five years old, I grabbed onto what
Speaker 1: I thought was my mom's leg in an ice cream
Speaker 1: shop and it was Uma Thurman's leg, and she was
Speaker 1: straight up disgusted with me. Whose poor child is this?
Speaker 1: Can it? Can I kill it? Like there it was
Speaker 1: my We still talk about it sometimes where my dad
Speaker 1: was like, remember when my adorable daughter touched him with
Speaker 1: Thurman and she looked like she wanted to kick her,
Speaker 1: like there did not want a kid touching her by
Speaker 1: total accident. So anyways, that's my happy moment, violating with
Speaker 1: Urman's space and being punished. Sure, okay, So Josie and
Speaker 1: the pussy Cats is a movie about a band of
Speaker 1: all women. You don't see that many rock bands that
Speaker 1: feature even just a single woman, let alone all of
Speaker 1: the members of the band or women. So that's cool.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's I mean, this is not a
Speaker 1: perfect movie. There are some flaws which we'll get to,
Speaker 1: but as far as the portrayal of women, it's a
Speaker 1: movie where the female characters are driving the story. They
Speaker 1: are flawed. They've got lots of different like there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different types of women, and it's movie
Speaker 1: not enough different types of and the characterization is it's
Speaker 1: not the strongest we've ever seen. But terror Read does
Speaker 1: seem like she learned how to drum though, and for
Speaker 1: that she talks about she does you and I because
Speaker 1: I was like, they go out of because you don't
Speaker 1: see any rachel Leak. I mean, I don't think that
Speaker 1: it's not her singing, No, it's not her voice. I
Speaker 1: didn't know. It's the girl from Letters to Cleo whose
Speaker 1: name I can't remember. And oh, okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: But also I don't know why I feel like a
Speaker 1: little bit betray and it's fine. It does ruin a
Speaker 1: little bit of the magic. Yeah, that it's it was
Speaker 1: all fake, the whole story with fake, well not the
Speaker 1: corporate greed that's very real. Cling to that. That was
Speaker 1: like I wanted to talk about. On the second viewing
Speaker 1: of this, I thought it was so just like a
Speaker 1: weird story point that Josie and Melon val from moment one.
Speaker 1: Anytime they're talking about the band, they never say like
Speaker 1: we play music because we love music. They say, we
Speaker 1: play music that we want a record deal, like they're
Speaker 1: fucking capitalists from the moment when which was like, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just like a choice, but it was it was interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean, and I think that pays off later when
Speaker 1: they're like corporate greed is actually bad. But like for
Speaker 1: a moment when they not only are very they're like,
Speaker 1: we want to be famous and we want a record deal,
Speaker 1: and that is the objective a little more so than
Speaker 1: the music at first, but they also viewed and they're
Speaker 1: playing bowling alleys, and they say a few from times
Speaker 1: that they viewed du Jour as their direct competition. It's like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you were playing a bowling at like you're
Speaker 1: check out. But there's that scene when they're on the
Speaker 1: airplane and because they're like taking a flight to go
Speaker 1: and get famous, that's the plane that has all of them,
Speaker 1: like the target plane or is it the one that
Speaker 1: has all the phones on the Motorola plane? That one
Speaker 1: um So in that scene they have this like nice
Speaker 1: conversation about how we're going to be friends first in
Speaker 1: a band. Second, like they're prioritizing so not necessarily prioritizing
Speaker 1: their music over anything, but like they're prioritizing their friendship
Speaker 1: over being in a band. So I mean that to
Speaker 1: me redeems them for maybe being a little bit too capitalist,
Speaker 1: and the fact I don't even think that that's bad.
Speaker 1: I just thought that that's like kind of weird, like
Speaker 1: not something I noticed at first, because I feel like
Speaker 1: usually when we're introduced to these stories, it's like, and
Speaker 1: we just like love playing music so much, and it's
Speaker 1: about the art. And but for like, I mean, like
Speaker 1: iviously they care about the music. But the reason we
Speaker 1: have that whole like scene at their house is I
Speaker 1: think we're supposed to understand that they live together and
Speaker 1: they're broke, and I think that's driving like this capitalist
Speaker 1: need more so than like the fame aspect, because they
Speaker 1: don't seem to really care about that. They just want
Speaker 1: to be able to like not eat raman like they're
Speaker 1: specifically like eating. They're sharing and they say they're the
Speaker 1: only people in the history of Riverdale to share a
Speaker 1: bus pass. There are all three of them in their
Speaker 1: bus pass. I just broke. It's more of a commentary
Speaker 1: on how artists don't get paid who good point taken Wow,
Speaker 1: the guest. Uh it really overstaying interesting? Interesting choice. Fine,
Speaker 1: I've been displaced and I quit And actually this is
Speaker 1: the first time in my life I've ever been wrong.
Speaker 1: The hard day for me. Um. There's a couple of
Speaker 1: things I want to mention, things that I did not
Speaker 1: enjoy way about the movie. One is the trope that
Speaker 1: drives me nuts. Where a movie to show that the
Speaker 1: girl is not like the other girls. She's good at
Speaker 1: fixing cars. We see it in that stupid Julie Roberts
Speaker 1: movie about running away from your wedding and Pretty Woman
Speaker 1: of her Cars. Really, I haven't seen it in a
Speaker 1: long time. I need to rewatch Pretty Woman, Megan Fox,
Speaker 1: Megan Fox and Transformers. Although there's a good case to
Speaker 1: be made there or whatever there's there's sometimes when it happens,
Speaker 1: I am totally fine to accept it, like in Titania
Speaker 1: when that happens, or in Hidden Figures when it happens.
Speaker 1: But to me, they're like nothing about her skill to
Speaker 1: being good at fixing cars doesn't pay off at any
Speaker 1: point in the story, or it just it just feels
Speaker 1: intact on to this movie. It's weird and I don't
Speaker 1: think ever comes back and I feel like that that
Speaker 1: is like kind of cinematic shorthand for like, she's a
Speaker 1: guy's girl, can hang and uh, And I think that
Speaker 1: that's all that we're supposed to take away from that,
Speaker 1: And it's just because that suns d's Alan M's car
Speaker 1: and he's like, well, my truck died, you gotta help
Speaker 1: me fix it. And they're sort of like kind of
Speaker 1: flirting and bonding during that scene while she's fixing, straight
Speaker 1: up playing guitar acoustic guitar, barefoot a car. He's awful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And anyone shows up and starts playing the acoustic guitar
Speaker 1: at me, I'm fully upset at me. You can't just
Speaker 1: play it near me, You're playing it at me directly.
Speaker 1: I would love to link in this episode the band
Speaker 1: camp extension for my ex boyfriend who wrote the full
Speaker 1: album Your Body Is Dumb after I broke up with them.
Speaker 1: Never play the guitar around me, I'll scream, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: The boy you texted earlier was a drummer, so I listen,
Speaker 1: you can do that facet of his personnel. You can
Speaker 1: drum around me. That's fine, okay. I've never had an
Speaker 1: issue with drummers. People it's acoustic guitar. No, I had
Speaker 1: the same guitar ex boyfriend thing. It was like and
Speaker 1: the kind of the base went home from college, saw
Speaker 1: him over this summer. Literally asked if while we were
Speaker 1: like hanging out, just sitting like bias her in a
Speaker 1: suburban town in Maryland, if he could take out his
Speaker 1: acoustic guitar and play something. And I was like, I guess, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm bone dry. I'm basically a eunuch. If you play that,
Speaker 1: I've never if you wouldn't make someone less horny than
Speaker 1: they've ever been in their life. And I would say
Speaker 1: I'm pretty on a pretty high horny percentile. If the
Speaker 1: country you're constantly loved, I will say him at all times.
Speaker 1: But man, if you're considering playing the acoustic guitar, it's
Speaker 1: you're doing it for you, and it's so clear when
Speaker 1: you're doing that. I play my guitar and it's like, no, No,
Speaker 1: you know who doesn't do that drummers because they would
Speaker 1: also look crazy, that would I thought, if I just
Speaker 1: bring my little rupert pad out and I have I
Speaker 1: have a great track record with drummers. My high school
Speaker 1: boyfriend was drummer, and you are a clarinetist shout out, yes,
Speaker 1: it's okay, you can was a clarinetist. Okay, we're clarinet really,
Speaker 1: that's why I got confused. I was a double read girl.
Speaker 1: Not to sorry, just the one single reads for me.
Speaker 1: We should probably be in a band to clarinets A
Speaker 1: reality of the pussy Cats, Jamie and the Tidy Cats.
Speaker 1: It's perfect good clarinet like that kind of physical response
Speaker 1: my blood pressure just like a wow. Okay, So anyway,
Speaker 1: more about the movie. Another thing that I didn't necessarily
Speaker 1: pick up on that much until this sort of watching
Speaker 1: this movie through the Bechtel cast lens was the fact
Speaker 1: that the band so Josie, Val and Mel are all
Speaker 1: really mean to their manager's sister, whose name is Alexandra.
Speaker 1: So they have a there's a character named Alexander, he
Speaker 1: is their band manager, and then his sister played by
Speaker 1: Missy Pyle, Alexandra, like they do a lot of like
Speaker 1: body shaming to her. They're like she comes in and
Speaker 1: they basically call her fat. They're like, oh, did you
Speaker 1: lose weight or something like that. She's at one point
Speaker 1: like putting on lip glass and values like, oh that
Speaker 1: lip glass won't hinde your mustache, like they're doing. They're
Speaker 1: like really cruel to her in a way that I
Speaker 1: don't understand why this is, and it feels really unneeded
Speaker 1: and bizarre. It's a very bizarre. But like I would
Speaker 1: almost to the parade almost rather and I know that
Speaker 1: this is like Archie Cannon or whatever, but I would
Speaker 1: almost rather that character not even be there than her
Speaker 1: be there and only be used for the things that
Speaker 1: she's used for, because it really is like she there's
Speaker 1: no consistency with her other than like she hates, like
Speaker 1: she's like jealous. She doesn't even like work for them.
Speaker 1: She's just around and around and mean and like her,
Speaker 1: she's only driven by and I mean, listen, I can
Speaker 1: relate to living a life driven by spite. But it
Speaker 1: just it does doesn't make sense with the story. It's weird.
Speaker 1: They do like kind of bring it and they're like
Speaker 1: they said to her, why are you here? And she
Speaker 1: says I was in the comic books. It's very fourth Wake.
Speaker 1: But the fact that the way they treat each other,
Speaker 1: like yeah, but if you're that aware of how you're
Speaker 1: adapting it, then it's like, do a better job with
Speaker 1: that character. Yeah, I mean, there's two thousand one, the
Speaker 1: body positivity movement wasn't popular yet, so there was lots
Speaker 1: of body shaming in this movie. And it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's just a glaring thing in an otherwise perfect movie.
Speaker 1: Um no, yeah, so I it's so easy to insert
Speaker 1: the trope in a movie of like girls being petty
Speaker 1: and caddy towards each other. And it really liked me
Speaker 1: this time around seeing it. I I'm interested in your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this late days. Uh. For Vale's character played
Speaker 1: by Rosario Dawson, I feel like, and it made me
Speaker 1: think about because she's the only woman of color in
Speaker 1: this movie, I think, is that true? Well, that's depressing,
Speaker 1: and I feel like her character is like underdeveloped in
Speaker 1: in comparison to the other two in the band. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Josie is going to be the most characterized, she's the protagonist,
Speaker 1: but it's I feel like there is a tendency, especially
Speaker 1: when she's already being presented as a token character like
Speaker 1: she's you know, she's the only woman of color we
Speaker 1: see on screen, that the movie kind of like sabotages
Speaker 1: characters like this. I think it happens in The Craft
Speaker 1: a lot as well, where the one woman of color.
Speaker 1: We see she gets less to do, and mainly what
Speaker 1: we know about her is that she is supportive of
Speaker 1: the white people around. Like that's really all we know
Speaker 1: about that, Like, and she's integral to the plot obviously,
Speaker 1: but like Terror read like she has a very distinct
Speaker 1: character and it's like she's ado fist, She's all you know,
Speaker 1: We're gonna get a forty five minutes scene with her
Speaker 1: in Carson Dalia and I'm going to love every second
Speaker 1: of it. Josie has like very distinct personality trades. Val
Speaker 1: does not really have that, and I feel like what
Speaker 1: she mainly has is that she is supportive of the
Speaker 1: other two. And uh, that's just something that I thought
Speaker 1: about the characterization there. Yeah, she's definitely robbed in terms
Speaker 1: of like having a developed character. Yeah, it does feel
Speaker 1: a lot like usually if there's a movie with mostly
Speaker 1: white women and then one woman of color, that character
Speaker 1: often we know the least about her background, her backstory,
Speaker 1: her family life, anything like that. We know the least
Speaker 1: about that, We know the least about her personality. And
Speaker 1: I think that where a too hazard to guess. I
Speaker 1: would think that because there are so many white writers
Speaker 1: in you know, Hollywood working. I feel like there might
Speaker 1: be like a feeling of like, oh, well, there's only
Speaker 1: one person of color in the entire cast. I don't
Speaker 1: want to fuck it up because but then the result
Speaker 1: is they just don't really write a character for that person,
Speaker 1: and that is also not a good result, and that
Speaker 1: just means that we should have people are writing a
Speaker 1: movie exactly. I think that's what Sophia Coppola said when
Speaker 1: she wrote and directed that Beguiled adaptation, where she's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to I am not a person color,
Speaker 1: so I don't know how to write character. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't know what the Bechdel test was. Who the consequences
Speaker 1: of that, Like, I understand the hesitancy to misrepresent a
Speaker 1: character if you do not have that same experience, right,
Speaker 1: but then like talk to something exactly, it's give someone
Speaker 1: else work, you know, it's or let that like co
Speaker 1: write something with someone. If you want to write a
Speaker 1: movie where some of the characters are people of color, excellent,
Speaker 1: bring on a co writer, bring out consult with people.
Speaker 1: Like it is not hard, I mean, and it's not
Speaker 1: it's not egregious in Josie and the Pussycats, but it
Speaker 1: is just like something that I was thinking. She also
Speaker 1: has the worst makeover. I mean it's like every highlights
Speaker 1: on a shadow, she's just like, we'll brush your hair
Speaker 1: for a minute. And I feel like they dress her
Speaker 1: in outfits that are not flattering to her, which is
Speaker 1: crazy because it's like, what is not going to hang? Well,
Speaker 1: she's a babe Rose. Sorry, I know, it's just really bizarre.
Speaker 1: She's perfect. That make over scene is speaking of tidy cats.
Speaker 1: That make over scene is so blue? Why was that
Speaker 1: was that whole scene shot in like fluorescent lighting? Because
Speaker 1: there it's so it's that scene makes me laugh because
Speaker 1: it's blue in a way that most is usually reserved
Speaker 1: for action movies, right, sci fi kind of stuff, very blue.
Speaker 1: And then they're they're so uncomfortably improvising through this scene.
Speaker 1: Were like at one point, Terror is just like holding
Speaker 1: a brush and she's like, yeah, you're like throw some
Speaker 1: cotton balls at each other. It'll be hilarious. Just like
Speaker 1: interpretation of the Blue was that it was supposed to
Speaker 1: be kind of like surgical, like they were supposed to
Speaker 1: be like going through this very like regimented like idea
Speaker 1: of beauty and marketing and branding to like because it
Speaker 1: felt very like it does look sterile. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: everyone's wearing like lab coats and ship Yeah. But it
Speaker 1: also maybe one of their key lights broke ye. Maybe
Speaker 1: they're like, we have all these blue gels, what seemed
Speaker 1: to use them in I just inherited a bunch of
Speaker 1: blue gels to my ground, like twenties cents. I'm fat
Speaker 1: with blue gels right now. We have got to use it.
Speaker 1: And I also, do you think and do we know,
Speaker 1: because you know so much about Cannon, were they friends?
Speaker 1: They don't seem like they ever spent a moment together
Speaker 1: outside of the set of Jesse the Pettycats actors. No,
Speaker 1: they made that very clear during the Q and X
Speaker 1: incredibly drunk or incredibly something and just kept bringing up
Speaker 1: like she was like, we haven't really seen each other
Speaker 1: since then, but that was such an incredible time, just
Speaker 1: like over It's like that was your time. Oh God,
Speaker 1: can we just talk about her character for a second,
Speaker 1: because I mentioned she's just I don't even know what
Speaker 1: they're going for. She's very I mean, she's this characters
Speaker 1: like she loves rainbows and puppies and she you know,
Speaker 1: just wants everyone to get along. And you know she's
Speaker 1: got a heart of gold, but she's also just extremely
Speaker 1: annoying and stupid, and it's like, don't why why write
Speaker 1: a character like that? I think I've had a Yeah again,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not familiar with the Archie comics, so
Speaker 1: I don't know how that character is represented in those,
Speaker 1: But I don't know. She's just and maybe it's just
Speaker 1: because it's terror Read bringing that role to life, and
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think she's very talented. Wow. Yeah, sorry guys,
Speaker 1: we're going to go there hot take terror Read maybe
Speaker 1: not the most talented actor. I am not a feminist icon. Sorry. No.
Speaker 1: I do think a lot of that is like stories,
Speaker 1: because when in the comic book world you literally have
Speaker 1: like this is the dumb friend because you have talk
Speaker 1: bubbles to work with. It wasn't like really fleshed out.
Speaker 1: But I'll always make the argument with that, when you're
Speaker 1: adapting something, you can take the liberty to change or
Speaker 1: turn it down a little bit. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: with the casting choice, they made it clear what they
Speaker 1: wanted the character to be, not to keep piling on
Speaker 1: terror Read. Anyways, the scene between her and Carson Daly
Speaker 1: is great. It should be put in the museum. Carson
Speaker 1: Daly is so boring. And in that scene too, this
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite, Like there's all these cardboard
Speaker 1: cutouts of like TRL guests and if you watch it
Speaker 1: you can really spot out. It's like, can't how many
Speaker 1: predators are in frame right now? A lot of what's
Speaker 1: that word you use when we talked about the Gride, Oh,
Speaker 1: stuff that's in the frame. That that's a film degree. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I recognize it for my own film degrees. That word
Speaker 1: speaking of, I also have a film I was wondering
Speaker 1: when you were going to ask me on send the
Speaker 1: means on send and the Carson Daily scene is full
Speaker 1: of what we now know to be sexual. There's no
Speaker 1: less than for Johnny Depps in that there's a ton
Speaker 1: of There's a ton of Matt Damon's also, Arie Spears
Speaker 1: problematic guy. There are a number of like peers of
Speaker 1: ours comedians. He was on Man TV for a while.
Speaker 1: There are several he did a Cosby impression that was
Speaker 1: like he did Causby impression. Yikes, doesn't talk well at all,
Speaker 1: of course, and then as a person comedian friends of
Speaker 1: ours will like post something on Twitter and he will
Speaker 1: then troll them a lot for like stuff that they've
Speaker 1: said he's not a good airy spears, Yeah, slide right
Speaker 1: into our mentions. Spears, Yeah, I dare you. I'm kidding. No,
Speaker 1: I really don't want any come place, don't, don't, don't,
Speaker 1: don't talk to us. I just want to quickly talk
Speaker 1: about the Alexander character. Their band manager. One, he physically
Speaker 1: strikes his sister apparently more than once in a day
Speaker 1: because he kicks her in the shin or something like that,
Speaker 1: and she's like oh. He's like, oh, I'm sorry that
Speaker 1: my bad. I was an accident, but that was twice
Speaker 1: since one day. Huh, so he's like heated lee hitting
Speaker 1: her Another weird choice. Why do we see this choice
Speaker 1: being made of a man physically striking a woman and
Speaker 1: then later on this guy's a piece of ship because
Speaker 1: later on they're all in the bathroom after Alan Cumming
Speaker 1: has been like here have a record deal, and they're
Speaker 1: like the Starbucks back there in Starbucks and they're like
Speaker 1: this is suspicious. This is all happening really fast, and
Speaker 1: Alexander comes in and he's like, what if you're like
Speaker 1: having a band meeting, I should be here, and they're
Speaker 1: like this is the ladies room, which like, why do
Speaker 1: we have to have separate Russian and two one? Speaking
Speaker 1: of tidy? You thought I was gonna so And then
Speaker 1: they're like, we'll get out of here. This is the
Speaker 1: ladies room, and he's like, what it is? Nothing I
Speaker 1: haven't seen before, And then I think val In an
Speaker 1: attempt to get him to leave, she's like, anyone have
Speaker 1: changed for a tampon? And he's like, bye, gross, So
Speaker 1: no comments. He can't, he can't hang. He cannot. He's
Speaker 1: not just one of the girls. He's not Joe's even
Speaker 1: bet he's I bet he's probably probably because he's fixing
Speaker 1: too many cars, something I definitely has to do with
Speaker 1: a car. He is fucking the tail type of a
Speaker 1: car and it's not a damp on insight, No, no tampons.
Speaker 1: I think if we just saw had you know, if
Speaker 1: men hung none used hampons around their rooms kind of
Speaker 1: like dreamcatchers, that would be nice, that would be nice.
Speaker 1: And then if you wake up and there's a bloody
Speaker 1: tampon hanging in a man's room, it just means that
Speaker 1: they had a dream. What I think that like like
Speaker 1: mobiles that go of our baby's cribs should actually just
Speaker 1: be dirty, damp on, not dirty. Although maybe, let's why
Speaker 1: are we shaming women for bleeding? Free bleed all the time?
Speaker 1: On your baby? This is a final way of feminism,
Speaker 1: the last way. It's just like stick it, okay, if
Speaker 1: we can get back on track the point and I don't,
Speaker 1: I also might be reaching, but please, the movie isn't
Speaker 1: making a comment on this, which is you know, not
Speaker 1: the biggest deal because there's a quick scene and like,
Speaker 1: that's this is not what this movie is about him
Speaker 1: being grossed out by bodily functions. But I feel like
Speaker 1: we almost never see representation of a man not being
Speaker 1: grossed out by a woman bleeding, And it would have
Speaker 1: been a nice opportunity for him to be like I
Speaker 1: don't care about tampons, and then I don't see it,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, you missed an opportunity movie, yeah
Speaker 1: for him, or maybe you know, maybe win some points
Speaker 1: back and be like I have a quarter yeah, And
Speaker 1: I don't think we should have to be paying for
Speaker 1: these right? Why are we not giving amazing moment icon?
Speaker 1: Why are we paying for there's a public health issue
Speaker 1: there anyways, there's a few oh you mentioned Jamie. The
Speaker 1: scene when they're recording in the studio for the first time,
Speaker 1: wind blowing. Where's it coming from? Why do we have
Speaker 1: to see women's hair blowing around? I think that that
Speaker 1: was a joke, Like because Cook's hair is going it
Speaker 1: is like, I want to bear a breeze. It was
Speaker 1: designed and knowing a breeze would just survive design for
Speaker 1: a breeze. Yeah. Yeah, And so it's like I want
Speaker 1: to hear the recordings of that session because it would
Speaker 1: all be like, it's just hard. And then terror Reid
Speaker 1: hitting a symbolic it's a full on. That's like, if
Speaker 1: that is a joke, it's one of my favorite jokes
Speaker 1: in the whole time. I think it's I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's a joke. I feel like if it was
Speaker 1: a joke, they would have played up the wind more.
Speaker 1: It's almost a subtle to be a joke. I don't
Speaker 1: know either way. He's not known for its subtlety. No,
Speaker 1: it's not shout in a weird scene when I don't
Speaker 1: know what to make of this, but you see him
Speaker 1: like he's giving this instructional, like here's what we do
Speaker 1: with this company. We trick teenagers into buying a bunch
Speaker 1: of crap. He's like, we live the most ass kicking
Speaker 1: country in the world. And then this woman in a
Speaker 1: bikini like stands by him in like way of the
Speaker 1: American flag, which is a joke. But I think that
Speaker 1: that's commentary because he's wrong, and all we all know
Speaker 1: that they're they're weird. Money fuck Dungeon is wrong. There's
Speaker 1: no way around it. I feel like we haven't talked
Speaker 1: that much about Parker Posey's character. I love female villains.
Speaker 1: I like that we have a male and a female
Speaker 1: villain in this movie. Mainly, I feel like, probably just
Speaker 1: to let Alan coming in, Parker Posey be together, and
Speaker 1: they're so great together, and it's like can you kiss?
Speaker 1: They do? I know they do, and but but it's
Speaker 1: like not in every scene, and I love My favorite
Speaker 1: moment is when I think they do like a laugh
Speaker 1: off in in her creepy bedroom like a villain so good.
Speaker 1: I love it. Any other two actors, that's the worst
Speaker 1: scene of all time. It's insufferable. The main thing I
Speaker 1: want to say about Josie the Pussycats is that it's
Speaker 1: a It's not a movie that's seeking to dismantle the
Speaker 1: patriarchy necessarily it's a fun movie. It doesn't necessarily have
Speaker 1: an agenda, except it has the like anti corporate, anti
Speaker 1: capitalist agenda, but that also feels weird in a movie
Speaker 1: that has so much product placement. Although it makes me
Speaker 1: feel better that those companies did not pay because like
Speaker 1: it could have been like really cheap for them to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, well, yeah, we can just make a
Speaker 1: bunch of money of this movie. That we're saying is
Speaker 1: at they did that too, though, it's like taking the
Speaker 1: money of these big corporations and making fun. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of there for that. Yeah, but I think
Speaker 1: it's they could work either way. Yeah, so that's that's
Speaker 1: more the agenda of the movie than necessarily be Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, like I totally agree that. It's like
Speaker 1: it seems like the you know, whatever, the objective of
Speaker 1: this movie was decided and then you know, other areas
Speaker 1: were not given as careful consideration as we would help
Speaker 1: where it's like we basically see of the female characters,
Speaker 1: especially we see like one body type of across the board.
Speaker 1: It's a very thin movie. It's a very white movie.
Speaker 1: It's you know, like there's obviously places where it could
Speaker 1: be doing much better and that should be acknowledged. But
Speaker 1: also it is like such a good money so and
Speaker 1: it like, God, did you see Alan Comming? Oh, we
Speaker 1: didn't talk about the most important scene in the movie,
Speaker 1: which is when Alan Cumming is driving his car sponsored
Speaker 1: by Ray Band. So he's looking for his new band
Speaker 1: and I'm already like, oh, Alan Comming is on screen right,
Speaker 1: and then he almost hits Josie and the Pussycats with
Speaker 1: his car. And then it's like this moment where Meat
Speaker 1: loaves Paradise by the dashboard light. Is meat Love one
Speaker 1: of the greatest actress of our generation. Sorry, one of
Speaker 1: the currently one of the worst singers in the entire world. Sorry,
Speaker 1: And then Alan Comming breaks the fourth wall turns and
Speaker 1: doesn't he like wink or something. Yeah, he gives like
Speaker 1: a slide, little like smile. No one does a better.
Speaker 1: He should have gotten an oscar just for that. My
Speaker 1: favorite Alan Coming performance ever is like one second in
Speaker 1: an HBO commercial where it's like, I don't even know
Speaker 1: what they pulled from, but I've watched the commercial a
Speaker 1: lot where there's it's Alan coming on stage. I think
Speaker 1: it's like a tape live performance and he just goes Broadway,
Speaker 1: and you're just like, there it is. We don't need
Speaker 1: to make art anymore or porn, or we can all
Speaker 1: retire that's beautiful and sexual beings. We can retire Broadway
Speaker 1: by speaking of tiny cats. Let's talk about that. Whether
Speaker 1: or not this movie passes the Bechdel test, I think, yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: sure it does. I like how we pause, like we've
Speaker 1: done a lot of movies lately where there's like not
Speaker 1: even a discussion to be had about it. We're just like, yes,
Speaker 1: of course it does. They talk about their music a
Speaker 1: lot in Friendship Friendship, and and there's a lot of
Speaker 1: female characters, but we didn't really talk about the friendship aspect.
Speaker 1: But I do like think that it is great to
Speaker 1: see female friendship portrayed in a way that is like
Speaker 1: very supportive and loving throughout because it's you know, like
Speaker 1: the corporate Alan Cumming and Parker Posey try to drive
Speaker 1: a wedge into the friendship and they can't because well
Speaker 1: they do for like a quick moment, right, But I
Speaker 1: mean that's like with weird science. But it's like, but
Speaker 1: if there's never there's never a moment, and then like
Speaker 1: even when there's never a moment, which is not manufactured
Speaker 1: by these villains that tears them apart. It's a very
Speaker 1: strong friendship. Cheetah Girls a little bit different. I have
Speaker 1: no idea what Cheetah Girls is really the Disney movie.
Speaker 1: Is it a like Disney original even Simone? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the girl who went on to date Rob Kardashian from
Speaker 1: three and then the other girlfriend three and then the
Speaker 1: white girl. But is it a Disney Channel movie? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is. It is a d com. Okay, that's why
Speaker 1: I've never seen a single Disney Channel never seen. I
Speaker 1: don't think I've ever missed one. I just started my
Speaker 1: own podcast. Is me watching decom? Would I have to
Speaker 1: skip Smart House? I'm still scared of it? Are you
Speaker 1: still scared? Has so much power over them. I think
Speaker 1: about that House is that it was very smart. By
Speaker 1: the way, Aristotle was in the corner giggling his little
Speaker 1: face off. All right, you can take over hosting a
Speaker 1: Smart House episode. Who is who is the male star
Speaker 1: of Smart House? Wasn't it this? No? No, it was
Speaker 1: a white family. I thought it. I thought it was
Speaker 1: the boy from Smart Guy for a second now anyway,
Speaker 1: So yeah, the female friendship. We see a similar thing
Speaker 1: in like Spice world where they're you know, they're Do
Speaker 1: you think there would be conflict in a in a
Speaker 1: band scenario where there's always you know, there's egos, and
Speaker 1: there's all kinds of stuff that might come between them
Speaker 1: as a band and as friends. But the only thing
Speaker 1: that does briefly come between this band, enjosing the Pussycats,
Speaker 1: is manufactured by the villains. It's literal brainwashing, brainwashing, and
Speaker 1: she barely succumbs. She's comes to it, but then she
Speaker 1: quickly figures out like, hey, like this is weird, and
Speaker 1: she figures out what's happening. And that's to say that again,
Speaker 1: the female characters of this movie are driving this story.
Speaker 1: Sometimes in movies, even if there is a female protagonist,
Speaker 1: like she doesn't even get to like figure out the
Speaker 1: big mystery or like even participate in the climax of
Speaker 1: her own movie, which is what we saw. And like
Speaker 1: snow White in The Seven Word or in Aladdin where
Speaker 1: Jasmine is literally physically thrown out of the screen while
Speaker 1: the conflict is resolved. Yeah, she's also wearing she's also
Speaker 1: a sex slape. There's a lot going on. Goods can't
Speaker 1: wait to sit forward? Are you going to do that? Oh?
Speaker 1: For sure. For sure that that red bikini. I mean
Speaker 1: that was a large part of my child as far
Speaker 1: as a queer icon any miago iago. So yeah, the
Speaker 1: female characters in this movie are without question participating in
Speaker 1: the story, driving this story. Uh, their friendships are solid.
Speaker 1: It's a fun movie. You know it's you gotta watch it.
Speaker 1: You gotta watch it. Check it out. It's great to
Speaker 1: see women being funny and contributing to the comedy of
Speaker 1: the movie. A lot of times in a comedy, female
Speaker 1: characters are robbed of any opportunity to be funny. So
Speaker 1: that's great for this movie. Um, should we write the movie.
Speaker 1: Let's write it. Yeah, let's write it. Let's write the movie.
Speaker 1: On our nipple scale of zero to five nipples based
Speaker 1: on its portrayal of women, I'm gonna give it four
Speaker 1: because I think the main characters, especially Val and Mel,
Speaker 1: could have been more fleshed out. Especially Vale, like you said,
Speaker 1: being the only person of color, she feels a bit sidelined.
Speaker 1: Her character doesn't feel as developed as the others. And
Speaker 1: I don't know, you can still, you can have a
Speaker 1: dumb character and have that not be so annoying. And
Speaker 1: maybe this is just my personal thing. But Male's character
Speaker 1: to me is insufferable, and anytime she's on screen, I'm
Speaker 1: just like, she doesn't bother me. I like when I
Speaker 1: hate that, I like, I don't know, and especially like
Speaker 1: what a boon for terror read to literally play two
Speaker 1: type exactly and make a lot of money doing that's true.
Speaker 1: Yeah again, I guess in this episode, I say, you go, girl,
Speaker 1: I guess it all right, say so. Yeah, the characterization
Speaker 1: isn't as great as we would hope. They're also the
Speaker 1: parts when the women of the band are body shaming
Speaker 1: Alexandra and vice versa. That's a weird choice. So there's
Speaker 1: just some kind of weird choices. But overall, I like
Speaker 1: the message of like the all the anti corporate stuff.
Speaker 1: I like just the fact that it's a fun movie
Speaker 1: starring women. You get a woman villain who's a great character.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's a four nipples, three for each of the
Speaker 1: members of the band, and the fourth one goes to
Speaker 1: Parker Posey cool faye, what say you? I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: a full five nips on this. It is just like
Speaker 1: my all time favorite movie, and I know it is
Speaker 1: a portrayal of women, but I did watch a when
Speaker 1: I was like eleven and did you feel empowered? I
Speaker 1: think I don't. I didn't. I think it was so
Speaker 1: subtly a movie about girls that were friends that only
Speaker 1: looking back on it now, I'm realizing it's like the
Speaker 1: only movie I watched when I was like a kid
Speaker 1: that I was that was about girls that were friends
Speaker 1: and in a band. And I think it affected me
Speaker 1: a lot in a way that wasn't like it wasn't
Speaker 1: like hit over at ahead with it, which I think
Speaker 1: is it was a movie ahead of its time for
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons, I think, And yeah, I totally.
Speaker 1: I mean, I agree with everything we've been saying about
Speaker 1: body types, diversity, and like there's a lot of complexities
Speaker 1: to being a woman that aren't you know, showcase. But
Speaker 1: I think just for this being a two thousand and
Speaker 1: one a movie that's literally about a band of girls
Speaker 1: that are best friends is like special, pretty cool? Who
Speaker 1: are you getting your nippies too? Sorry for making eye
Speaker 1: contact when I said that, I mean I feel like you.
Speaker 1: I feel like you. Ever, I don't know Ross is
Speaker 1: in there. I'm gonna get five five straight nipples to Jamie.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I hope you use them wisely. I'm going
Speaker 1: to I'm as someone within a regular number of nipples already.
Speaker 1: Just please use those five and I need spirit tires.
Speaker 1: Keep my back pot, keep them in the trunk, keep
Speaker 1: your nips in the Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: it three and a half. Guys. I'm sorry. I love
Speaker 1: this movie so much. It's an unreasonable expectation to be
Speaker 1: like every movie has to be perfect in every single way.
Speaker 1: But I just especially because this is a movie that's
Speaker 1: marketed to young girls, there was there were a lot
Speaker 1: of missed opportunities that I would have liked to see
Speaker 1: capitalized on. But I mean, I don't have anything to
Speaker 1: add in terms of like you pretty much covered it,
Speaker 1: but I do love that there was a major film
Speaker 1: release directed at kids that was about how corporations suck.
Speaker 1: And it's also so funny. I would argue that any
Speaker 1: scene Alan comming isn't with anyone does pass the back
Speaker 1: delt test um. I think we should make good across
Speaker 1: the board because option for that, I've already made that
Speaker 1: exception for Alfred Willina. People are flooding my damn, Jamie.
Speaker 1: Will you pardon Alfred Molina for for not being able
Speaker 1: to pass the desk. Does that mean if Alan Coming
Speaker 1: and Alfred Millina speak to each other in a movie
Speaker 1: that passes the back of course it does, and they
Speaker 1: could be talking about their own penises and it would
Speaker 1: still pass the backdel test if Alan a scene were
Speaker 1: Alan Coming and Alfred Billina are like they both whip
Speaker 1: out their dicks and they're like, let's go straight up
Speaker 1: care they're measuring. They're measuring a full pass. It's like
Speaker 1: it's very like just like a nice, calm, peaceful They're like, well,
Speaker 1: how much is yours instead of like these like normal
Speaker 1: dick measuring contests where they're like there's there's seuna be
Speaker 1: gentle motivated by curiosity basically an an s m R video.
Speaker 1: I hope that happens for you, Jamie. I just want
Speaker 1: that out in the world for you. And AMR video
Speaker 1: of Alan Coming Gena measuring each other's peece we all
Speaker 1: we all want that, but I really want it for you.
Speaker 1: That is, I will have to make a cartoon of that.
Speaker 1: And uh, I have to go to this is my
Speaker 1: own personal smut stash for just me. Well, uh, we've
Speaker 1: had a blast, charny wait, I didn't give my nipples
Speaker 1: to anyway. Yeah, I guess who've given him to tidy Cats.
Speaker 1: I'm gallant. Oh I'll give to to Alan coming and
Speaker 1: one and a half two tidy Cats. Well, speaking of
Speaker 1: tidy Cats, Faye, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1: What what would you like to plug? Where find good
Speaker 1: at fayor love on everything? And then, um, I was
Speaker 1: going to plug. I thought of it while we were
Speaker 1: doing this that at Junior High. We're in a vent
Speaker 1: space for women and we're starting a new series of nights.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be once a month. My friend Derby's hosting.
Speaker 1: We came up with like a really clever name that
Speaker 1: I can't remember, but it's movies that are not only
Speaker 1: featuring women, but may by women. So we're gonna be screening.
Speaker 1: I think it's like a trailer and then a short
Speaker 1: and have whoever made the short? They're like female directors producers,
Speaker 1: and then um, watch a movie. I think we talked
Speaker 1: about doing Josie in fact, but because that it was
Speaker 1: made by a woman team. Yes, yes, yes, this movie
Speaker 1: was written and directed by Harry Elphont and Deborah Cappie
Speaker 1: and they're really cool. But yeah, so just look on
Speaker 1: Welcome to Junior high dot com. We have a whole
Speaker 1: calendar that's not up yet, but just keep your eyes
Speaker 1: out or on Instagram at Welcome to Junior High and um.
Speaker 1: If you have ideas for similar things, please reach out. Awesome.
Speaker 1: You can follow the Bechtel Cast on all the social
Speaker 1: media platforms at Bechtel Cast. You can write and review
Speaker 1: us on iTunes. That helps us out a lot. What
Speaker 1: also helps us out is going to our Patreon and subscribing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's great. Give us five dollars in oils. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Well. Speaking to tidy cats spy