Speaker 1: On the Beck Dol Cast, the questions asked if movies
Speaker 1: have women in them? Are all their discussions just boyfriends
Speaker 1: and husbands? Do they have individualism? The patriarchy? Zef invest
Speaker 1: start changing it with the beck del Cast. Jamie, I'd
Speaker 1: like to read you a bedtime story. Okay, who is
Speaker 1: it about? Um? It's about this guy named the Babba
Speaker 1: Duck or rather just a figure. I don't want to
Speaker 1: gender the Babba Duck, the Babba Duke. What's the fashion situation,
Speaker 1: the fashion situation, fashion icon? I see the Babba Duke
Speaker 1: a top hat, some like pretty intense makeup. Okay, amazing,
Speaker 1: You've got like a black cloak, I would say, okay, hot, hot,
Speaker 1: both physically and like you know, like energy wise, like
Speaker 1: probably sweating under there. How much is the Babba Ducks
Speaker 1: sweating under all of that at I mean, it does
Speaker 1: seem like it's kind of maybe it seems like it's not,
Speaker 1: you know, warm the whole movie. It's pretty chilly environment
Speaker 1: seems like a second layer, honestly. I mean, look, welcome
Speaker 1: to the Beck Doll Cast. My name is Shamie Loftus,
Speaker 1: huge Babba Duck fan. My name is Caitlin Dronte, another
Speaker 1: huge Babba Duck fan. Hard to really not be a
Speaker 1: fan of the Babba Duck, as we will be discussing
Speaker 1: in this exclusive unlocked Matreon episode for you. Can you
Speaker 1: believe it? I can scarcely believe it, But here we are,
Speaker 1: my goodness, nonetheless, here we are. Um, So we are
Speaker 1: unlocking this episode this week. A little, a little peer
Speaker 1: behind the curtain. That is just simply unfortunate. We were
Speaker 1: hoping to spotlight I mean we at this point, it's
Speaker 1: like we sort of cover all sorts of movies throughout
Speaker 1: the year. Um, but we were hoping to get several
Speaker 1: queer movies featured in the month of June because I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've been to a bank recently, but
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty. It's pride one, um, so happy pride
Speaker 1: to everybody, and we um. We had big plans for
Speaker 1: this month and then unfortunately, I Jamie got the homophobic
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen virus, an extremely homophobic, queer phobic in general virus. Yes,
Speaker 1: just not a friendly So I got really sick and
Speaker 1: it kind of derailed our plans a little bit. Very
Speaker 1: very fortunate to be doing better now. Shout out to
Speaker 1: vaccines and pack Slovid. I don't know if anyone has
Speaker 1: been on the pack Slavid bus um, but in any case,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel I feel very lucky to have
Speaker 1: UM to be better, but it it did sort of
Speaker 1: derail our June a little bit, UM, and so we
Speaker 1: were thinking, um, what would be a fun episode to
Speaker 1: unlock for the month of June because me being success
Speaker 1: stuff back a little bit. So sorry, Okay, we're trying
Speaker 1: our best and we will also be like I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like we cover movies with queer themes all
Speaker 1: the time now, so it's like the boundary of June,
Speaker 1: we don't observe UM. But but in any case, we
Speaker 1: wanted to unlock an episode that had um queer themes.
Speaker 1: The Bobba Duck. You may say, now, hold on, what
Speaker 1: are you talking about? I do believe we cover it
Speaker 1: in text in this episode of why Duck is considered
Speaker 1: a queer icon. We spend a long time talking about
Speaker 1: it in fact, and I think and and I believe
Speaker 1: because we were This episode originally came out on our Matreon, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, if you enjoy the fun the loose
Speaker 1: energy of this episode, always a reminder to go to
Speaker 1: our Patreon ak, Matreon, Patreon dot com slash Bechtel Cast
Speaker 1: for two bonus episodes a month and an over episode backlog.
Speaker 1: We've only um ever unlocked a handful of them on
Speaker 1: the main feed, and we don't make a habit of
Speaker 1: it except for when one of us gets um wildly ill.
Speaker 1: So there you go. But I do believe because we
Speaker 1: discuss we won't spoil it here. We do discuss why
Speaker 1: the Babba Duck is considered a queer icon and has
Speaker 1: been embraced as a queer icon, even though that's not
Speaker 1: necessarily in the text, but we address why. But I
Speaker 1: believes because this is from this is an episode from
Speaker 1: almost four years ago October. It's rather far back in
Speaker 1: the Matrion's history and at the time I don't know
Speaker 1: if I mentioned it in the episode, but I had
Speaker 1: pitched an episode about queer icon the Bobba Duck on
Speaker 1: my first season at Robot Chicken. This is familiar, and
Speaker 1: because this is episode is four years old, that sketch
Speaker 1: did get into the show and was released on the
Speaker 1: show in so I will be linking to the sketch
Speaker 1: hopefully like it. I was very I was shocked and
Speaker 1: thrilled that it somehow got into the show. It is
Speaker 1: an episode. It's like, I don't know, put yourself into
Speaker 1: your brain if you count. It was very timely at
Speaker 1: the time, queer Icon The Bobba Duck goes on to
Speaker 1: new Netflix Queer Eye. Oh that's good. That's good, amazing.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you for your support of a TV
Speaker 1: show that came about three years ago. Look, I was
Speaker 1: proud of it, and the Babba Duck is a queer icon.
Speaker 1: And also the Babba Duck was like, even outside of
Speaker 1: this fascinating history of how the Babba Duck became a
Speaker 1: queer icon, it's also just a movie that is full
Speaker 1: of discussion that's relevant to our show. Yes, which you
Speaker 1: are about to hear I found And maybe this is
Speaker 1: just but I feel like in the years since we
Speaker 1: released that episode, the Babba Duck being a queer icon
Speaker 1: has kind of fallen out of the zeitgeist. And I'm
Speaker 1: hoping that us releasing this episode, like you know, like
Speaker 1: unlocking this episode will remind people, don't forget about the
Speaker 1: Babba Duck. It's being a queer icon. It's true. I
Speaker 1: don't think I've really I don't think it's like that
Speaker 1: the Babba Duck has been removed from Cannon, but it
Speaker 1: just's not as discussed as as it was. And I
Speaker 1: want to say, like eighteen nineteen, you know, in a
Speaker 1: world where there is a dearth of sheer joy, the
Speaker 1: Babba Duck as queer icon, I feel like, um, you
Speaker 1: know is worthy of your attention. Hopefully you enjoy if
Speaker 1: you if you're not aware of this, you'll enjoy learning
Speaker 1: the origins. Because this is a Matreon episode, I guess
Speaker 1: we should quickly tell people what the Bechtel test is,
Speaker 1: because we don't do that in Matrion episodes. Yes, and
Speaker 1: I will. We will do that by giving an example.
Speaker 1: And here's the example of something that passes the Bechtel test. Hey, Jamie, Hey, Caitlin,
Speaker 1: did you know that? I believe it was sometime in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. The director of The Babba Duck, Jennifer Kent,
Speaker 1: finally commented, I did not know this. Wait, so she
Speaker 1: was asked her thoughts on the Babba Duck being a
Speaker 1: queer icon, and of course for her conversations about the
Speaker 1: Babba Duck past the Bechtel test, because yes, the Babba
Speaker 1: Duck is a genderless slash gender fluid slash non binary
Speaker 1: icon and also the Backel test passes kind of like
Speaker 1: whatever is interesting to us in a lot of cases
Speaker 1: true to true. Um. But Jennifer Kent finally responded, I leave.
Speaker 1: In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, I think she was
Speaker 1: on the press tour for her film The Nightingale. She
Speaker 1: was asked what her thoughts were on the Baba Duck
Speaker 1: as a gay icon, and she said, quote, I'm still
Speaker 1: trying to work that one out. It's quite perplexing. I
Speaker 1: feel it's really quite beautiful, but I still have no
Speaker 1: idea why. I mean, I kind of do unquote Oh okay.
Speaker 1: That's truly an iconic response because it is very funny,
Speaker 1: Like I feel like, first of all, it is a
Speaker 1: gift for a character you invented to be taken out
Speaker 1: of context by accident, become a queer icon, and then
Speaker 1: be asked what you think about it, You're like, um,
Speaker 1: I guess that's awesome, because it is. But also I
Speaker 1: think her response makes quite a quite a lot of
Speaker 1: sense for you're like, yeah, great, Um, well, shout out
Speaker 1: Jennifer Kent, shout out Babba Duck, shout out this movie,
Speaker 1: and that did, in fact pass the Betel test top
Speaker 1: to bottom test, which is a media metric created by
Speaker 1: queer cartoonist Alice and Becktel, sometimes called the Bechtel Wallace Test.
Speaker 1: There are many versions of the test. Here is the
Speaker 1: one that we use. A piece of media passes the
Speaker 1: Becktel test if there are two characters of a marginalized
Speaker 1: gender who have names, they speak to each other, and
Speaker 1: their conversation has to be about something other than a man.
Speaker 1: And then we add the caveat you know, at least
Speaker 1: a two line exchange, and hopefully that conversation is narratively meaningful.
Speaker 1: And I am thrilled. I mean, I think it's just
Speaker 1: very fun that we unlike this episode. Hopefully you agree. Um,
Speaker 1: we have a really fun lineup planned for the summer.
Speaker 1: We willbviously, we will always be covering queer movies on
Speaker 1: this show. Apologies for our June getting a bit derailed
Speaker 1: this year, but we're back on track. I am still
Speaker 1: testing positive, however, I feel okay. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: first of all, I'm very lucky that I can work
Speaker 1: from home. Second, of all, the walls of this apartment, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I mean, they couldn't be more familiar to me. We
Speaker 1: were locked in our houses for quite a long time. True.
Speaker 1: So UM, with that in mind, UM, thank you for
Speaker 1: listening to the show, Happy Pride, Thank you for your
Speaker 1: patients with this slight disruption, and we are going to
Speaker 1: have a a fun summer ahead. It's not indeed we
Speaker 1: are Hot Girl Summer. Hot Girl Summer was, I believe,
Speaker 1: and twenty Hot Dog Summer was summer one. I don't
Speaker 1: really know what hot. I mean, what's going to be
Speaker 1: hot this summer? Hot planet summer seems depressing, but high
Speaker 1: gas price summer. God, we really I can't think of
Speaker 1: something non dystopian. We'll circle back on on that. It's
Speaker 1: going to be a hot summer, that's for sure. Yes,
Speaker 1: but thank you so much for listening. Join the Matreon
Speaker 1: if you are enjoying the vibe of this episode we have.
Speaker 1: You know it's no longer um. But Caitlin and I
Speaker 1: do like to get a little chaotic and fun on
Speaker 1: the Matreon stream. For example, this month our theme was
Speaker 1: I Know what you did last Midsummer And we're not
Speaker 1: going to tell you what movies we covered because it's
Speaker 1: in the title. Yes, you'll be able to figure it out.
Speaker 1: You're smart. I'm going to rattle off a bunch of
Speaker 1: just kind of not random, but you know, thoughts that
Speaker 1: pertain two things. One um thoughts that have pertained to
Speaker 1: things things Ever heard of them? First, Jamie, I'm glad
Speaker 1: you're recovering from COVID and feeling better too. I think
Speaker 1: that the Babba Duok the movie is one of its
Speaker 1: kind of thesis statements, is something that we also have
Speaker 1: as a as a thesis statement on the Bechtel cast,
Speaker 1: which is, um, don't read books. We don't, we don't
Speaker 1: read books. The book and the Babba Duck. That is true,
Speaker 1: it's bad. So I feel really close to the movie
Speaker 1: The Babba Duck for that reason. Good messaging. Do not read,
Speaker 1: don't don't read books. They're they're dangerous, I think is
Speaker 1: the main takeaway. Trying to hurt you ye from the movie.
Speaker 1: Let's see. I would like to plug an upcoming tour
Speaker 1: I have so maybe you know it's it's not howt
Speaker 1: girl summer. It's hot Caitlyn on tour summer because I'm
Speaker 1: going to Europe. Ever heard of it? And I'm doing
Speaker 1: shows in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, hopefully London, hopefully Edinburgh,
Speaker 1: I've got to figure some of those out. But check
Speaker 1: out my website and take a gander at the shows
Speaker 1: I'm doing, and if you live in any of those places,
Speaker 1: come say hello. I love it. I will plug Ghost
Speaker 1: Church UM, which is finishing its run this coming week.
Speaker 1: This is my podcast that if you've been listening to
Speaker 1: the Battle Cast, you probably heard me plug the hell
Speaker 1: out of it. But it's my most recent UM solo
Speaker 1: podcast that is about the history of American spiritualism and
Speaker 1: my time that I spent in a spiritualist camp in
Speaker 1: central Florida where I am going back to UH in
Speaker 1: a week and a half. Oh that's right, because you're
Speaker 1: going you are going to Florida. I am going to
Speaker 1: Florida for some in two is just Florida is a
Speaker 1: magnet and I am a piece of metal. UM so
Speaker 1: I have I I am doing shows in l all summer.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna need doing a few shows in
Speaker 1: Boston in July, but outside of that, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be hanging out with my my mediums in in Florida.
Speaker 1: So listen to Ghost Church UM. A lot of love
Speaker 1: went into it. Produced by backdel Cast producer, So if
Speaker 1: you lic Treman, featuring the voice talents of Caitlin Darante,
Speaker 1: of Paula Tompkins, of Robert Evans, of many many talented people.
Speaker 1: And um, I think that that's all I have to
Speaker 1: say without further ado, shall we uh Boba Duck, let's
Speaker 1: shall enjoy the episode. Hello, my matrons, us its u?
Speaker 1: How are you? Jamie having a day? Honestly? I mean,
Speaker 1: and we're also recording this uh that I'm literally like,
Speaker 1: he ad a picture of a gravestone on my computer
Speaker 1: because I just designed that his wife shirt, which will
Speaker 1: be out soon. Um. All that to say, you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're keeping it loose, and we're recording this a
Speaker 1: week after the Kavanaugh hearings, but before the whole FBI
Speaker 1: think has been settled. And I don't know, yeah, personally,
Speaker 1: I took the morning off and I'm still fucking exhausted.
Speaker 1: How are you I'm I'm you know, I just want
Speaker 1: to like puke. I just I stay off of social
Speaker 1: media for the most part. I have not been keeping
Speaker 1: up with the news enough because it's far too depressing. Um.
Speaker 1: But hey, speaking of depression and mental illness, let's talk
Speaker 1: about the Baba Duck. I love the thing is I
Speaker 1: love the Baba Duke so much? Okay, here's a question.
Speaker 1: Is Bubba Duck When I said like that, is that
Speaker 1: an Australian accent? Oh, I don't know. I say Duke.
Speaker 1: I hit the I say, well, in the movie they
Speaker 1: say it Bobba Duck. But I think it's because Australia. Right, Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean you sorry for ye you want. I can
Speaker 1: say it however I want. Anyone can say it however
Speaker 1: they want. Choosing how to identify as an important imbedded
Speaker 1: not even choosing. It's it's acceptance. It's a message of
Speaker 1: a failure to accept. Yeah, I think that. I mean, well,
Speaker 1: there are two ways to view the Babba Duck Duke.
Speaker 1: There is the textual reading, which is pretty generally understood
Speaker 1: and even copped too by the writer director Jennifer Kent
Speaker 1: was cops to do a pretty one to one metaphor
Speaker 1: or for postpartum depression, the Baba Duke being a monster
Speaker 1: that represents postpartum depression. Then there's a meta textual reading
Speaker 1: that I think it's way cooler, which is I believe
Speaker 1: it was twenty I believe the year was twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: when Netflix miscategorized the Baba Duke as an LGBT film,
Speaker 1: and the LGBT community lgbt Q I plus, etcetera community,
Speaker 1: as they have historically done, welcome to the Baba Duke
Speaker 1: into the community rather than rejecting them. And it became
Speaker 1: really one of my favorite memes of all time is
Speaker 1: that instead of saying, hey, this doesn't belong here, let's
Speaker 1: let's make sure that the Baba Duke gets out of
Speaker 1: the lgbt Q category, they instead said, oh, the Baba
Speaker 1: Duke was queer, and it introduces, well, do you have
Speaker 1: the tabs of let's because because the specific jokes are
Speaker 1: so rich, I think this is the more interesting conversation.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a BuzzFeed listical which just features many
Speaker 1: of the tweets and good question. I know that Babba
Speaker 1: Duke was being joked as being like the special guest
Speaker 1: at Pride in Yeah, but I don't know what amount
Speaker 1: of time before that people were beginning to make the
Speaker 1: jokes and the queer icon Babba Duke was making the
Speaker 1: rounds on the Internet. Yeah, there's all kinds of really
Speaker 1: funny tumbler conversations, memes and tweets where the queer community
Speaker 1: is embracing queer icon Babba Duke as one of their own.
Speaker 1: That's not to say that everyone in the queer community
Speaker 1: is on board. I mean I've spoken to a few
Speaker 1: people who were like, whatever, it's like. I think, like
Speaker 1: any meme, it could be perhaps viewed as cheesy, overdone
Speaker 1: TACKI definitely understand that view completely. Yeah, personally, I love it.
Speaker 1: I do too. And so we'll tell me your your
Speaker 1: history with the film The Babba Duke. Oh gosh, I
Speaker 1: think I saw and I'm pretty sure most people who
Speaker 1: have seen this movie did not see it in theaters.
Speaker 1: They saw it on Netflix. It's a movie that very
Speaker 1: much found its legs and streaming. So I saw, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I saw it in in streaming. I'm pretty sure I
Speaker 1: saw the stark image of the Bomba Duke. It was like,
Speaker 1: it seems like my kind of fit, you know. I
Speaker 1: like the fit. I liked the the illiterative nature of
Speaker 1: the name, and I watched it as like it was
Speaker 1: like the kind of thing. On first viewing, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this plot is all over the place enough that it
Speaker 1: needs to be a metaphor for something I'm missing. And
Speaker 1: then did a light goog and realize that indeed it
Speaker 1: was a you know, kind of like and not even
Speaker 1: to be overly critical of Jennifer Kent. I think she's
Speaker 1: made a lovely, thoughtful, interesting, scary movie, but it does.
Speaker 1: We were talking about this during the viewing, where it
Speaker 1: gets so in the weeds on its own metaphor that
Speaker 1: if there was no metaphor, if you're just looking at
Speaker 1: the plot, there's a lot of moments that you're like, um, sure,
Speaker 1: you know, almost like and not. I mean, it's like
Speaker 1: that issue to Mother, Aroonowski's movie from last year, but
Speaker 1: I think it's like, oh, far lesser offense of the
Speaker 1: same crime of just like a movie that's so caught
Speaker 1: up in its own metaphor that it loses any sort
Speaker 1: of plot. Babba Doke is not to the I mean,
Speaker 1: Mother is just like Mother barely has a plot. It
Speaker 1: makes its story is at the expense of the extended
Speaker 1: metaphors unintelligible. But the Babba do I mean, there's it's
Speaker 1: more like there are a few scenes and plot points
Speaker 1: that you're like, I'm not totally with this, especially like that,
Speaker 1: and well, I guess don't I do the recap? Yeah, Um,
Speaker 1: it's if weird. We're having so many there's so there's
Speaker 1: so much to quote one yearser baba discourse to have
Speaker 1: so my brief history with it before I do that,
Speaker 1: how dare I'm sorry, goodness, gracious, unbelievable, Jamie. I saw
Speaker 1: streaming as well. I remember there being like a lot
Speaker 1: of buzz about it when it first came to Netflix,
Speaker 1: and people were like, oh, I heard it, so freaking scary.
Speaker 1: It's the best horror movie. You know. While people were
Speaker 1: going crazy about it. It came out in two thousand fourteen.
Speaker 1: I think I probably didn't watch it until sometime in
Speaker 1: oh fifteen, but I was like, okay, yeah, I I
Speaker 1: appreciated it's production design. I think a lot of care
Speaker 1: went into stylizing the movie. I think that the performances
Speaker 1: are really good. You know me, I generally I'm not
Speaker 1: the hugest fan of a lot of child acting. It's
Speaker 1: not that I hate the actors themselves, it's just that
Speaker 1: I don't think that. But the child, the kid who
Speaker 1: plays I mean, you do feel it reminds me of
Speaker 1: this horrible health class I had in seventh grade. You
Speaker 1: do feel her pain of like, yeah, this kid is
Speaker 1: socreaming and she doesn't have the support she needs to
Speaker 1: get this kid to not be screaming. It's not even
Speaker 1: like the reasons the kids are screaming are wrong, But
Speaker 1: how do You're just one person reminds me of this.
Speaker 1: I had this horrible, horrible chain smoking health teacher named
Speaker 1: Mr Starziac in seventh grade and his famous lesson was
Speaker 1: on shaking baby syndrome. It was like notorious. It was
Speaker 1: like in seventh grade because my older cousins had gotten
Speaker 1: in a few years before me, and she's like, my
Speaker 1: cousin Tammy was like, oh, you're gonna get Mr Starza
Speaker 1: shaking baby lesson and so fucked up. But she wouldn't
Speaker 1: tell me no spoilers. And what he did was he
Speaker 1: would go into the beginning of class would be like, so,
Speaker 1: none of you guys would shake a baby to death, right,
Speaker 1: and we'd all be like, no, of course not. He
Speaker 1: was like, good, just checking, and then he would put
Speaker 1: on a cassette tape of a baby screaming and would
Speaker 1: turn it all the way up and would leave a
Speaker 1: baby doll sitting on top of the tapercorder so it
Speaker 1: seemed like the baby was crying, and then he would
Speaker 1: leave the room god, and he would leave it there
Speaker 1: the whole period. His point being babies are annoying and
Speaker 1: eventually you're gonna want to kill them them today, But
Speaker 1: no seventh grader would ever like it was annoying and
Speaker 1: it was gratinggg but it was more everyone was just like,
Speaker 1: why is he doing this? Does he want one of
Speaker 1: us to try to shake this baby? No one did,
Speaker 1: and according to my cousins experiences, no one did in
Speaker 1: their class either. They just sort of sat there and
Speaker 1: they were just like, this is annoying, but like more
Speaker 1: like why is our teacher doing this? And so eventually,
Speaker 1: in every case, when a student inevitably does not shake
Speaker 1: the baby to break the tension, Mr Starsiac comes back
Speaker 1: into the room and shake the baby himself, and he
Speaker 1: would be like, see is this annoying? And we'd be
Speaker 1: like yes, and he's like, yeah, don't you want to
Speaker 1: shake this baby? And he'd shake the doll and my
Speaker 1: year was particularly iconic because the head of the doll
Speaker 1: popped off and then he'd stop the tape recording and
Speaker 1: be like, I don't know you'd be and that's shaking
Speaker 1: baby syndrome. Wow. So that was what Samuel's performance was
Speaker 1: invoking for me, what a horrible thing to do to kids.
Speaker 1: There's no prevention techniques to just explaining it was basically
Speaker 1: he was just like confirming the baby's crying is annoying,
Speaker 1: and you might come to the temptation to shake them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just like, yeah, it happens. But you can pretty
Speaker 1: much get why you like, Yeah, okay, well you're not
Speaker 1: the best educator we've ever known. So yeah, I saw
Speaker 1: the movie once and I liked it, but I didn't
Speaker 1: quite get all of the hype. I wasn't like, you know,
Speaker 1: it was because it is a little nonsensical, especially as
Speaker 1: the movie progresses, and certainly in like the third act,
Speaker 1: where the resolution is a little confusing, and when you
Speaker 1: do look at it from the perspective of the Babba
Speaker 1: Duck is a manifestation of her postpartum depression. Then the
Speaker 1: implications of what happens are I mean, we'll talk about them,
Speaker 1: but it's you know, it's a strange choice. Um, yes,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we could talk about that. So the story
Speaker 1: of the Babba Duck, Yes, do tell us Babba, the
Speaker 1: Book of the Babba Book, the Book, the Babba Discourse,
Speaker 1: The Babba Duck is about a mother named Amelia who
Speaker 1: lost her husband on the day that her son was born.
Speaker 1: So they were driving to the hospital. They get in
Speaker 1: a car accident, her husband dies. Can I say kind
Speaker 1: of lazy writing a little death on the way to
Speaker 1: the hospital, like all right, but it does keep with
Speaker 1: the one to one nature of this movie, right, So
Speaker 1: we learned about this accident just through a series of
Speaker 1: like kind of quick cuts and visuals. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: we are with her and her son, Samuel, who is
Speaker 1: six or seven years old something like that. I think
Speaker 1: he says to be in first or second grade. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So they're in a quiet Australian community. Um. Her son
Speaker 1: has a lot of behavioral problems. He has different weapons
Speaker 1: that he's assembled. It seems that he brings to school,
Speaker 1: he gets in trouble about that. He acts out quite
Speaker 1: a bit at home. He doesn't tend to get along
Speaker 1: with other children. And then he also is inclined to
Speaker 1: flights of fancy where he he loves magic. He loves
Speaker 1: um which a magician. As we all know, a young
Speaker 1: man interested in magic is a red flag. A young
Speaker 1: man who thinks you don't be awesome if I could
Speaker 1: control everything around me is dangerous anyway. See, I really appreciate,
Speaker 1: you know, close up magic. So I I think, no,
Speaker 1: that's when a man's like, get closer, it'll get more interesting.
Speaker 1: I promise. I control everything. Musicians triggering. Okay, So he
Speaker 1: loves he loves magic. He lets his imagination run away
Speaker 1: with him, and he's always seeing monsters. So his mom's like,
Speaker 1: there aren't any monsters. So one day it's bedtime and
Speaker 1: he's like, read me a story, and he pulls a
Speaker 1: book off the shelf called Mr. Baba Duke, which we'll
Speaker 1: get into the needless gendering of the Baba Duke later.
Speaker 1: Sure I think the movie is not called Mr. Baba
Speaker 1: Duke for a reason. Sure because non binary icon, not
Speaker 1: a feminist icon, necessarily does try to kill Amelia a
Speaker 1: bunch and and stocks their neighbor Mrs Roach. He's like, sorry,
Speaker 1: they they are are hanging out. They have certainly some
Speaker 1: crimes to answer for, but being a non binary icon
Speaker 1: is not one of them. So she reads Mr Bubba
Speaker 1: Duck the book the Imagery, and it is scary and
Speaker 1: it's about this monster who will come and get you.
Speaker 1: And then the less you believe in the Bubba Duck,
Speaker 1: the more, they will interfere with your life. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so Amelia reads this to Samuel. She writes it off
Speaker 1: is just a story, but Samuel insist that the Bubba
Speaker 1: Duck is real and is around and is tormenting him,
Speaker 1: and this causes even more problems at school where he
Speaker 1: basically gets kicked out of school even though he's a young,
Speaker 1: very young child. And he is at his cousin's birthday
Speaker 1: party and he pushes her ruby Ruby not an icon
Speaker 1: of any sort of anything, but does she just because
Speaker 1: you're not an icon doesn't mean you should be pushed
Speaker 1: out of a tree. Certainly not important to remember. So
Speaker 1: he his like, misbehavior is like dialing up to an
Speaker 1: eleven and pushing kids out of trees. It's a problem, right.
Speaker 1: So she's saying, you know, stop with this Babba Duk thing.
Speaker 1: The Babba Duck is not real. But then she starts
Speaker 1: to see glimpses of the freaking duck. Yeah, so she's like, hey,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, this isn't real. I'm seeing things and
Speaker 1: she's in denial and she throws the book away, but
Speaker 1: then the book, you know, she rips it up and
Speaker 1: put the Abba book. What is the Aba Babba Duck
Speaker 1: crossover event we've all been waiting for. I would be
Speaker 1: baba shook if that happened. Can I plug my Baba
Speaker 1: Duck thing soon? Yeah? Next season of Robot Chicken early nineteen.
Speaker 1: Keep your eyes peeled for. Honestly, what I think is
Speaker 1: my greatest accomplishment to date, which is a sketch called
Speaker 1: Queer Eye for the Babba Duck. Yeah. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see it. I'm really excited. I think it's a
Speaker 1: tale of becoming. Anyways, So yeah, we've got um Boba
Speaker 1: Duck Mamma Mia, that's going to happen. Bye Bye Man.
Speaker 1: The Bye Bye Man is also so funny. Did you
Speaker 1: see that whatever that movie it was, It loves called
Speaker 1: Bye Man. It's like a Slenderman knockoff, was my understanding.
Speaker 1: And then it's like you can miss it. But the
Speaker 1: double the double entendre of the Bye Bye Man is fun. Also,
Speaker 1: Roger says bye bye when he gets off the phone. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's just a flourish ab Okay. So she's she's chucking
Speaker 1: the Babba Duck book in the bin if you're working
Speaker 1: and chucking, but the Bubba Duck Book comes back on
Speaker 1: her doorstep, and she's like, what the hell, So then
Speaker 1: she burns it. She goes to the police and says,
Speaker 1: I'm being stalked and they're like, wait, don't believe you. Sure,
Speaker 1: And then the Babba Duck gets worse. Uh. It starts
Speaker 1: to really torment her. She's having different delusions, she is,
Speaker 1: she can't sleep, and when the Bubba Duck book comes back,
Speaker 1: more of the story has filled in, and it's like,
Speaker 1: you're going to kill your dog and your son by
Speaker 1: the way. She's like, no, I'm not. But then she
Speaker 1: does kill her dog because she's being more and more
Speaker 1: possessed I suppose by the duck. And then the duck
Speaker 1: she kind of snaps too. She she does nearly kill
Speaker 1: her son because she's holding a large knife. And there's
Speaker 1: an interesting switch that happens where in the beginning of
Speaker 1: the movie, Samuel is intolerable as a character because of
Speaker 1: his behavioral problems, and you feel really sorry for the
Speaker 1: mom having to deal with a child like that, and
Speaker 1: then there's a switch that happens where Samuel becomes a
Speaker 1: super sympathetic character because his mom is trying to kill
Speaker 1: him and or neglecting him and or verbally abusing him,
Speaker 1: and then the mom meanwhile is doing all these horrible things.
Speaker 1: So like the character you're identifying and sympathizing with most
Speaker 1: there's like a stark switch that happens. So she throws
Speaker 1: up some black, very Jennifer's body kind of bile, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you know she seems like she's about to
Speaker 1: lose it, and you know her son has tied her
Speaker 1: up in the basement. But then she kind of comes
Speaker 1: to and she has this face to face contation with
Speaker 1: the Babba Duck and she's like, this is my house.
Speaker 1: You're trespassing in my house. Get out of here. And
Speaker 1: then it like it seems like the Babba Duck has
Speaker 1: been defeated and or kept at bay, because then we
Speaker 1: cut to her and her son there and they're nice,
Speaker 1: clean clothes. Again, they're not covered in black vomit. She
Speaker 1: goes down to the basement, the Babba Duck is there,
Speaker 1: presumably kind of like tied up or something, and she's like, here,
Speaker 1: eat some worms. It's weird, and then that's the end
Speaker 1: of the movie. So metaturreally, if if we are remembering
Speaker 1: that the Babba Duck is a manifestation of her mental illness,
Speaker 1: I guess all you have to do to cope with
Speaker 1: mental illness is just acknowledged that it's there and then
Speaker 1: kind of lock it away and your subconscious there's I
Speaker 1: think that there's a little more to it than I mean,
Speaker 1: it's again it's like kind of a sloppy metaphor, but
Speaker 1: ultimately I think it's like supposed to mean. And then
Speaker 1: I think the reason it doesn't work is because it
Speaker 1: like skips ahead with so many like it depicts the
Speaker 1: I guess, like the battle between a woman in postpartum depression, right,
Speaker 1: but then it just skips ahead to like and now
Speaker 1: it's treatment and everything's great and it's not none of
Speaker 1: the abuse towards her sons, slash animal cruelty as ever
Speaker 1: ad dressed and it's just all this. We're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we really like flipped ahead on this this one. I
Speaker 1: don't know that she's saying. I mean, I think that
Speaker 1: it's more like not locking mental illness away, but like
Speaker 1: finding a way to restrain dark thoughts. Because I think
Speaker 1: the actual movie, not the queer masterpiece version of it,
Speaker 1: the Baba Duke represents all the like not even I
Speaker 1: don't even know like it could possibly even recommend like
Speaker 1: just be depicting the ugliest parts of this illness of
Speaker 1: like dark thoughts that are attacking you and possessing you
Speaker 1: and making you, you know, do things you wouldn't normally do,
Speaker 1: and locking those away and keeping them at bay with
Speaker 1: you know, little zolaf worms and what have you. I'm tired.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, the movie is creepy and
Speaker 1: there's scary imagery, but when you really think about it,
Speaker 1: like like we do on our podcast, yeah it is
Speaker 1: technically our job, it doesn't necessarily make a whole lot
Speaker 1: of sense. I think a movie that has a clear
Speaker 1: metaphor that also has a story that makes sense and
Speaker 1: it's also you know, very creepy and hunting is it
Speaker 1: follows which I would love to do an episode on sometimes. Well,
Speaker 1: I it's certainly not without its problems, But I think
Speaker 1: I just enjoyed that movie more interesting. Yeah, I like see.
Speaker 1: I think that that comes It might come down to
Speaker 1: like a preference thing too, because I prefer call me simple.
Speaker 1: But I like a villain with a face. I know,
Speaker 1: it's scarier when they don't have a face and you're like,
Speaker 1: where's he, Where's he? But I like a villain I
Speaker 1: mean I'm literally dressing up as a Babba duke for Halloween.
Speaker 1: I'm like, give me a villain with a with a
Speaker 1: fit and an aesthetic and an objective. Um, it's less scary,
Speaker 1: but it looks not necessarily Yeah, I think it is
Speaker 1: a matter of preference. Yeah, but let's take a quick
Speaker 1: break and then we will come back for more discussion.
Speaker 1: So as far as the female characters, um, we have
Speaker 1: a few. There aren't that many characters in this movie
Speaker 1: at all. We've got Amelia, We've got Samuel. There is
Speaker 1: Amelia's sister Claire. There's Claire's daughter Lucy, who we see
Speaker 1: the both of them in a couple of scenes, but
Speaker 1: they are certainly more secondary characters who don't get a
Speaker 1: ton of screen time. There is a colleague of Amelia's
Speaker 1: who I think is that Robbie. Oh she works, Yeah,
Speaker 1: she works, and some sort of um like a nursing
Speaker 1: home or a hospital of some sort. And yeah, so
Speaker 1: there's the Benga mistress, etcetera. Yeah, please start calling me
Speaker 1: the Bam Yeah, I already do behind your back so much. Um.
Speaker 1: And then there's Mrs Roach, their neighbor, and then we
Speaker 1: see glimpses of Amelia's dead husband, and that's really about it.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of like child protect to service people
Speaker 1: who visit the house a couple of times, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really just those two main characters of Amelia and
Speaker 1: Samuel and of course Papa Duck. So that means there's
Speaker 1: not a whole lot of interaction between women. You know,
Speaker 1: Amelia does talk to her sister Claire a few times.
Speaker 1: She does talk to Mrs Roach a few times. Claire
Speaker 1: as a character is like, I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are a few elements of this that are like
Speaker 1: turned up to an eleven, to the point of, like,
Speaker 1: do we like anyone in this movie where you're definitely
Speaker 1: sympathetic towards Amelia at most points in the movie. Towards
Speaker 1: the end, you're like, oh, geez, she killed a dog.
Speaker 1: Making her kill a dog was such a move because
Speaker 1: that will like lose you nine of any rational audience.
Speaker 1: But that said, Claire, Amelia's sister, seems to truly not
Speaker 1: sympathize with amelia situation at all, which is confusing to
Speaker 1: me because I don't know, there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: and to be careful about the way phrases there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people who are very aggressive to Amelia in
Speaker 1: this movie that don't necessarily make a ton of sense.
Speaker 1: Where like Claire obviously fully knows that Amelia lost her
Speaker 1: husband in an accident that she was in. She knows
Speaker 1: that her nephew Samuel is traumatized by this, She knows
Speaker 1: that Amelia has to work a lot to support her
Speaker 1: and Samuel, and and she knows that Amelia also has
Speaker 1: a lot of trauma. So why is she so completely
Speaker 1: and utterly unset Like literally most of their interactions are
Speaker 1: screaming Yeah, it's very strange. I don't know. I mean
Speaker 1: I think perhaps that Claire was maybe more supportive in
Speaker 1: the more immediate aftermath of the accident, and she's just
Speaker 1: sort of gotten sick of Yeah, I mean that does
Speaker 1: make but that I mean, that's not being as supportive
Speaker 1: as a sister as she could be. But I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily think that Claire is completely unjustified in her behavior,
Speaker 1: especially when in her being frustrated, Yeah, her frustration and
Speaker 1: then also um because she does make an effort to
Speaker 1: include Amelia and Samuel in her and her daughter's life
Speaker 1: for sure, and the moment where she really decides to
Speaker 1: kind of give up on them. Is when her daughter
Speaker 1: get pushes Lucy out of a treehouse. So I know,
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess, And it has been seven years,
Speaker 1: and that is like a hard thing to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: how what am I supposed to do? But it's true
Speaker 1: that you know she could even if she is frustrated
Speaker 1: by the situation, it feels like she could do more
Speaker 1: to either find help for Amelia. Um whether it's you know,
Speaker 1: is this a critique of the Australian Australian public health system?
Speaker 1: Had to know that was really bad? Yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: entirely sure what active commentaries, if any, are being made
Speaker 1: in the movie. It is maybe worth noting that whenever
Speaker 1: she whenever Amelia goes to the police and says like,
Speaker 1: someone's leaving this creepy book outside of my house, the
Speaker 1: cops are like, well, you don't have that book that
Speaker 1: you said that they gave you, so we're even gonna
Speaker 1: try to investigate this that. What I do think is
Speaker 1: interesting about this movie is that the struggles of being
Speaker 1: a mother are the focus of the story, particularly a
Speaker 1: single mother. Yes, most movies don't bother to explore or
Speaker 1: address that at all. Um. This movie reminded me a
Speaker 1: lot of Tully Um, which came out earlier this year,
Speaker 1: which I saw. I didn't especially like it just because
Speaker 1: it wasn't my type of movie. It's a well made movie,
Speaker 1: and it's well written and everything like that, it's just
Speaker 1: not my genre. The tone isn't for me, but it's
Speaker 1: another And she's not a single mother in that movie,
Speaker 1: but she does have a husband who is hands off
Speaker 1: in some ways. It's a very generous, right. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: can only think of a few movies like this where
Speaker 1: the struggle of of being a parent and of being
Speaker 1: a mother is deeply explored. I certainly don't know anything
Speaker 1: about what it's like to be a mother, and I
Speaker 1: have expressed many times that I don't want to have kids,
Speaker 1: so I will never know. But I am very sympathetic
Speaker 1: to and also admiring of people who do choose to
Speaker 1: have kids because I could never do it. I simply
Speaker 1: don't have the patience or energy or any of the
Speaker 1: things that you have to have to be a parent. Um.
Speaker 1: A trap this movie you could have easily fallen into,
Speaker 1: is being like single motherhood is absolute hell, which it
Speaker 1: isn't for every single moment's certainly challenging, but like there,
Speaker 1: if that were the only message of the movie, that
Speaker 1: would be like probably insulting to some mothers who are
Speaker 1: making it work just fine, and you know the implication
Speaker 1: of a lack of father or even secondary parents figures
Speaker 1: and how a failure. But this movie totally justifies the
Speaker 1: hell world it creates by afflicting its single parent with
Speaker 1: significant trauma that would make anyone's life conceivable in terms
Speaker 1: of like if we're heightening it to a horror world,
Speaker 1: it's not a far cry because of the trauma associated with,
Speaker 1: you know, watching your spouse die and feeling like it's
Speaker 1: your fault, and also adding the mental illness factor, which
Speaker 1: a lot of movies do irresponsibly. But I think that
Speaker 1: this movie like depicts and again it's like I'm obviously
Speaker 1: not a mother either, but from what I can tell,
Speaker 1: just based on the reception, and I did read a
Speaker 1: few kind of one off blog posts from mothers to
Speaker 1: would experienced postpartum depression that this movie really hit with
Speaker 1: seems to be almost like a realistic metaphor for this
Speaker 1: particular mental illness, almost to a fault, you know, like
Speaker 1: to like what we're saying to the point where there's
Speaker 1: like kind of plot holes because it is more concerned
Speaker 1: or the the agenda of this movie is more concerned
Speaker 1: with depicting postpartum in a metaphor than it is with
Speaker 1: having the story that makes a whole ton of sense.
Speaker 1: But I mean that's but I mean that is a
Speaker 1: positive of of Like, Usually mental illness in the horror
Speaker 1: genre is used as kind of like a god in
Speaker 1: the machine kind of thing to explain away, Oh, why
Speaker 1: is he evil? Um, he's bipolar, Like he's schizophrenic, or
Speaker 1: he's dissociative, or like son was taken away and she's mad,
Speaker 1: and you know, kind of these reductive ways of referring
Speaker 1: to mental illness just to keep the story going. But
Speaker 1: this movie kind of does the opposite, where understanding and
Speaker 1: exploring the mental illness is the reason the movie exists
Speaker 1: in the first place, and so that aspect of it
Speaker 1: isn't just cast aside, which is cool. Um. And I
Speaker 1: think we talked a little bit about this on the
Speaker 1: Halloween episode that I believe will coincide pretty closely with
Speaker 1: the release of this Boba Duck episode. So it's either
Speaker 1: about to come out or it just has but we
Speaker 1: explore how a lot of horror movies helped perpetuate the
Speaker 1: stigma of mental illness by having killers who are something. Right.
Speaker 1: We mentioned in Halloween where there is a psychiatrist character
Speaker 1: who has been working with the killer Michael Myers since
Speaker 1: his child old hood, and his official medical diagnosis for
Speaker 1: Michael Myers is that he is evil just like al Right,
Speaker 1: I wonder if the filmmakers think that having mental illness
Speaker 1: is bless you goodness grations. I am expelling many demons
Speaker 1: this time the Boba I just sneezed out the Papa Duke.
Speaker 1: That was the Baba duke Duke Duke. Yeah, anyway, leave
Speaker 1: that in. But yeah, so many films of this genre,
Speaker 1: especially really mishandled a portrayal of mental illness equated with
Speaker 1: being if you experienced any sort of mental illness, sorry,
Speaker 1: you're probably evil. Right and then and again it's as
Speaker 1: I think we were also discussing in the Halloween episode.
Speaker 1: Offenses like this are especially apparent in genres that are
Speaker 1: as campy as horror movies, where like mental illness stigma
Speaker 1: can be found littered throughout media everywhere from Time you
Speaker 1: Know immemorial. But in the less subtle genres. It's easier
Speaker 1: to be like, yes he has he I have a
Speaker 1: prescription for evil and it is shooting you to death.
Speaker 1: That's literally the script that that psychiatrist delivers is the
Speaker 1: only cure for evil's murder, which is I would love
Speaker 1: to see that written on a prescription path. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that is I mean to this movie's credit, because I
Speaker 1: I still really like this movie. I think that it's
Speaker 1: it's one of those movies that it's like, it's not
Speaker 1: a horror movie that is scary after the first time
Speaker 1: you watch it. But I remember the first time watching this,
Speaker 1: I was pretty scared. Like when you before you fully
Speaker 1: understand what the Bobba Dick is and what it represents,
Speaker 1: and you're just like, what does the Duke's deal? Sure
Speaker 1: give me the duke. Maybe it's weird because when you
Speaker 1: look at a movie like this that is so steeped
Speaker 1: in a very feminine metaphor, you're like, oh, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have so much to talk about. But the movie really
Speaker 1: does uh do what it says out to do, and
Speaker 1: you either like it or you don't work for you
Speaker 1: or it doesn't. But in terms of I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that this would be an example of a movie
Speaker 1: that absolutely benefits from a woman who understands what she's
Speaker 1: writing about, writing and directing it, because can you imagine
Speaker 1: if a man wrote and directed this, it would just
Speaker 1: be all kinds of like to refer to our carry
Speaker 1: episode is definitely out just like weird, like this is
Speaker 1: what a woman would say, right, kind of kind of
Speaker 1: what happens to her body I think and also her
Speaker 1: mind question gush, what when the first period they ever get? Uh,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But like you know, in in that way,
Speaker 1: it's good because that isn't something that really hit for
Speaker 1: me at all. I mean in terms of, like there's
Speaker 1: times where all characters seem to be behaving and reacting
Speaker 1: over the top, but in terms of totally missing how
Speaker 1: this female character has written. You almost always up until
Speaker 1: the very end, you know, when she's possessed by the
Speaker 1: Babba Duke, you're kind of just like this is a
Speaker 1: good killing dogs. But for the most part, the movie
Speaker 1: does a good job of like building a world where
Speaker 1: you understand why she is so frustrated and feels so
Speaker 1: depressed and like the world is closing in on her.
Speaker 1: And definitely yeah, so I mean, hats off to Jennifer
Speaker 1: Kent in that regard, I mean for writing a woman's story,
Speaker 1: and also I mean, it's not a last girly kind
Speaker 1: of movie. Is really one woman. Yeah, she's the final
Speaker 1: girl from the start, which brings me to gendering the
Speaker 1: Baba Duke. Why must be gender? The Baba Duke? Why
Speaker 1: must why? Mr Baba Duke? Why did the bob Did
Speaker 1: anyone talk to the Baba Duke about this? The movie
Speaker 1: is called The Baba Duke. I think, with with good
Speaker 1: reason is that the Baba Duke never specifies their gender,
Speaker 1: and so it is a rude assumption to assume mail.
Speaker 1: I think that this contributes to a lot of the
Speaker 1: Baba Duke's rage, you know, I just I also wonder
Speaker 1: I couldn't find a response from Jennifer Kent about this,
Speaker 1: which I think is kind of a missed opportunity for her,
Speaker 1: Like that's like a whole opportunity to get people to
Speaker 1: watch her movie a second time. The publication that I
Speaker 1: was reading at the time it was published, she hadn't
Speaker 1: commented oh yes here in the Guardian article about it. Um.
Speaker 1: Though director Jennifer Kent is aware of the meme, she
Speaker 1: has not commented on it. I'll have to say, I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess like if you're putting yourself in Jennifer Kent's uh,
Speaker 1: that is kind of annoying. Okay, you're fun time, Caitlin.
Speaker 1: Imagine you use both of your college degrees and you
Speaker 1: spend years writing your first movie. You're also going to direct,
Speaker 1: and you know you're really gonna put your heart into it,
Speaker 1: and you make it. It's good, and you get good
Speaker 1: performances and you're like, oh my gosh, this is great.
Speaker 1: Movie does okay in theaters, and then Netflix is like, hey, Caitlin,
Speaker 1: we think you really have something to say here. Your
Speaker 1: movie is so well reviewed, we'd love to be on streaming.
Speaker 1: And you're like, oh my god, so many people are
Speaker 1: going to see my movie and they're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to take away the message and I'm so thrilled that
Speaker 1: this is happening. And then, by accident, just to switch
Speaker 1: to the narrative a little bit, your movie which is
Speaker 1: about what's your movie about? It's about the struggle of
Speaker 1: being a woman in comedy. Okay, it's a movie about
Speaker 1: the struggle of being a woman in comedy, and Netflix,
Speaker 1: by mistake, puts it under car documentaries, and all these
Speaker 1: car aficionados are like, what why is this here? And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, the movie you put years into,
Speaker 1: they're like, oh my god, car related icon we love.
Speaker 1: And then your character is appearing at all these car
Speaker 1: conventions and you're like, Okay, I'm getting pressed, but I
Speaker 1: feel like my original message has been lost in the
Speaker 1: shuffle a bit. I can understand why she's but I
Speaker 1: still think I'm like, of all communities to be welcome into,
Speaker 1: you know, the queer. You can't do better, definitely, but
Speaker 1: you know, Jeffer Kent, enough time has passed, embrace queer
Speaker 1: Baba Duke and and honestly, you know, get the funding
Speaker 1: for a sequel, right, Babba Bubba and extremely Babba Duke
Speaker 1: Dukey movie. That's a Green Day documentary? Wait what is
Speaker 1: I did it all for the for the NUCKI nick
Speaker 1: But there's that Green Day album called Dukie Anyways, Uh
Speaker 1: that was a miss. Well. I think this episode is
Speaker 1: perfect best I wanted to I don't even know if
Speaker 1: this is worth really talking about what I wanted to
Speaker 1: let mention the masturbation scene. Oh I do think that's
Speaker 1: worth mentioning. Yeah, because it is rare in film to
Speaker 1: see female pleasure, to see self administered female pleasure. They
Speaker 1: never It's always under the coveries. And like, honestly, when
Speaker 1: I was a kid, it literally took me until I
Speaker 1: was in my late teens to even figure out how
Speaker 1: women masturbated at all, because there was no there's no
Speaker 1: book for that. There's no babok, there's no miss there's
Speaker 1: no miss Babba duke. What if there's an everybody poops
Speaker 1: with the story the babade everybody do masterbase everybody dudes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well fan art, everyone's got a couple of days to
Speaker 1: kill and wants to make everybody do let us know.
Speaker 1: We'd love to promote it to her. Um. Yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: so the dooking scene, Um, when she's giving herm baba
Speaker 1: a little duke. Yeah, Yeah, she's using a vibrator and
Speaker 1: she seems like she nearly reaches orgasm except Samuel comes
Speaker 1: in and interrupted. Right, I think that, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: weird because that seems to be I think in factly
Speaker 1: she uses a sex toy is kind of different. But injury,
Speaker 1: I feel like we do see female masturbation fairly frequently
Speaker 1: in like thriller, slasher kind of things, and it is
Speaker 1: always followed by something negative. I mean it seems that
Speaker 1: what movie do we recently watched that Carry, there's like
Speaker 1: a moment where carries feeling herself and Carry, and there's
Speaker 1: a negative connotation where she scares herself because she doesn't
Speaker 1: understand what her body. Happens in teeth, same thing happens
Speaker 1: in teeth. I was thinking to see in Black Swan,
Speaker 1: like we see a lot of depictions of women scaring
Speaker 1: themselves by masturbating. Right, there's like feelings of shame almost
Speaker 1: always associated right shame and almost like unfamiliarity of like, oh,
Speaker 1: I've never done this before? What the fuck is this?
Speaker 1: Which is fair, but also like you know, for future generations,
Speaker 1: like also show them how to freaking follow through or
Speaker 1: they'll be literally in college like oh how does one
Speaker 1: do that? And they'll think their boyfriend invented kind of
Speaker 1: guess so dumb. Anyways, seeing a sex way and seeing
Speaker 1: someone who knew what they were doing was like hell yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I feel like the ultimate point of that
Speaker 1: scene was like to make it clearer or that she
Speaker 1: can't get a moment's peace right, that her responsibility as
Speaker 1: a mother to her son is always going to take
Speaker 1: precedent over her being able to do anything for herself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And because I don't really know anything about postpartum depression firsthand,
Speaker 1: I don't know if a thing like that would exacerbate
Speaker 1: the mental illness. I don't know if because it seems
Speaker 1: like she doesn't have any real opportunity to practice self care,
Speaker 1: so I imagine that that's probably so that's probably making
Speaker 1: her depression worse, or it's certainly not helping with it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's like different factors that are playing into
Speaker 1: it seems exacerbating the depression that she's experiencing, right, and
Speaker 1: then that means we get to see more Bob a
Speaker 1: Duke on screen. The more depressed she is, the more
Speaker 1: Duck we see. So really the sequel good math problem.
Speaker 1: But so I think that is really all I had
Speaker 1: as far as things to talk about. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a good I mean, if you want to
Speaker 1: revisit it this holiday season, highly recommend. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a scary movie. If you've never seen it before, give
Speaker 1: it a look. Yeah, give it a baba look, give
Speaker 1: it a yeah. Um, does this movie pass the Bechdel test?
Speaker 1: I'm going to be perfectly honest and say that I
Speaker 1: forgot to pay attention to that part of the movie.
Speaker 1: It does, but it's not an astounding past unless we
Speaker 1: count the Babba Da talking to Amelia and their baba discourse.
Speaker 1: The baba discourse scenes all pass I think Amelia, I
Speaker 1: don't know what gender the dog was, so that would change.
Speaker 1: But if Bucksby it was female identifying, I guess the
Speaker 1: screaming from Amelia and the screaming back from the dog,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine a world in which that conversation would
Speaker 1: have referenced demand. It really seemed like the safety of
Speaker 1: a female dog was the subject for discussion. So but
Speaker 1: there was one scene, uh, at least with Amelia and
Speaker 1: Claire where the majority. It's tricky because Amelia's number one
Speaker 1: concern is Samuel, so most of what she talks about
Speaker 1: is about him, But there were there was at least
Speaker 1: a three line exchange at one point where Claire is
Speaker 1: kind of asking Amelia does she need more help? She's
Speaker 1: taking care of herself. There was a senior referencing earlier,
Speaker 1: and Amelia does not answer in verboth ways, but she's
Speaker 1: basically just like, I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm fine.
Speaker 1: So it does. It does pass at least once between
Speaker 1: the sisters, but there's certainly opportunities for it to pass more. Also,
Speaker 1: let the Babba Duke speak. Why does the Babba duke.
Speaker 1: The only line the Babba Duke gets when he's inhabiting
Speaker 1: the dead husband vessel is you can bring me the boy. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: that doesn't pass. That certainly doesn't pass. And then the
Speaker 1: Babba duck saying the Bubba duck's name Babba duck duck
Speaker 1: duck yeah, is iconic the psychotic right because and then
Speaker 1: Amelia also speaks with Mrs Roach, her neighbor. I think
Speaker 1: almost all of those conversations are directly about Samuel. And
Speaker 1: then also um Claire when she's Amelia and Claire are talking.
Speaker 1: If they're not talking about Samuel, it's also about her
Speaker 1: dead husband and how Amelia needs to get over it.
Speaker 1: So but yeah, I think there are at least a
Speaker 1: few very short exchanges within larger conversations that do pass
Speaker 1: the Bechdel test. So, uh, what would you rate the
Speaker 1: movie on her Nipple scale of its treatment of women?
Speaker 1: I suppose I'm hitting the duke. Um hitting the duke
Speaker 1: with a three, And the reason I'm hitting the Duke
Speaker 1: with a three is that it represents a uniquely female
Speaker 1: struggle in a way that gives it the seriousness and
Speaker 1: attention it deserves. It does not belittle I mean, Alia
Speaker 1: at any point. The story doesn't make you. Even when
Speaker 1: the people in the world are saying Amelia is crazy,
Speaker 1: we understand where she's coming from. We understand why she
Speaker 1: feels like the walls are closing in. And so for
Speaker 1: people who haven't experienced mental illness, particularly this mental illness,
Speaker 1: it gives you kind of some insight that seems fairly
Speaker 1: grounded into what that feels like. And I think that
Speaker 1: that's very unique and something that genre films tend to
Speaker 1: do very well because you're just able to amplify elements
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have to be a nuanced representation of
Speaker 1: mental illness. And that's like kind of the point. So
Speaker 1: I think the Amilia character, while it kind of goes
Speaker 1: off the rails at the and I agree in terms
Speaker 1: of characterization of her and of Samuel, who suddenly you
Speaker 1: feel bad for even though he's screaming must the movie, uh, well,
Speaker 1: that tracks for me. The main thing that I don't
Speaker 1: that I have a little trouble with is the very
Speaker 1: sudden resolution, because if she is supposed to be age,
Speaker 1: you know, struggling with this mental illness, it seems to
Speaker 1: resolve almost instantaneously. And I wish that the ending wasn't
Speaker 1: even there, like the post ending wasn't even there, because
Speaker 1: it seems to be a story of someone struggling with
Speaker 1: mental illness. It's not a story of hitting bottom and
Speaker 1: then having to reacclimate into the world. That's a totally
Speaker 1: different story and phase of dealing with mental illness. The
Speaker 1: objective of the movie is the show a woman approaching
Speaker 1: her lowest point and getting there to the point where
Speaker 1: she has no choice. You can either die, kill her son,
Speaker 1: or compartmentalize the Bobba Duke like lit like physically. So
Speaker 1: flashing forward felt a little I get it, And it
Speaker 1: seems kind of like studio notes, e of like there,
Speaker 1: and but it does. I mean, that's just skips such
Speaker 1: a large portion of the metaphor that I almost wish
Speaker 1: they just kept it at like someone reaching their lowest
Speaker 1: point with mental illness and then having to be like enough.
Speaker 1: But I I don't know. I I think it is
Speaker 1: very unique and tells the story it wants to tell responsibly,
Speaker 1: even if the storytelling a plot wise sometimes gets a
Speaker 1: little bit off. It seems good, but there's still women aren't.
Speaker 1: I don't know's tricky because Amelia is very intentionally cut
Speaker 1: off from the world around her, but the center of
Speaker 1: her universe still are I would argue two men, her
Speaker 1: son and her deceased husband. And so not only do
Speaker 1: we not see her interact with anyone a lot, but
Speaker 1: we don't see her giving the women she does interact with.
Speaker 1: We don't really fully know what she hopes their relationship
Speaker 1: turns into, like what they're It's just kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: I would have liked to see more with her and
Speaker 1: her sister and exploring that relationship a little bit where
Speaker 1: it seems like there was something there but just not
Speaker 1: fully delivered on anyways, The Bobby Duck is a queer icon,
Speaker 1: and I'll give it to three. I kind of want
Speaker 1: to give it a three and a half, but there's
Speaker 1: I mean, kind of the usual blind spots of besides
Speaker 1: the Bobby Duke, no queer people, uh no people of color.
Speaker 1: This is in southern Australia. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: demographics of it is, but it's worth I guess saying
Speaker 1: that they filmed it entirely on location. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Three fields right to make given all three to the
Speaker 1: Baba duke. Okay, good because the Baba Duck. Don't know
Speaker 1: if you know this or not, but the Baba duck
Speaker 1: has eight nipples. Amazing. This is Bubba duck facts. Melena
Speaker 1: plays a bobba. It's just like a weird thing. He
Speaker 1: does interesting performance, like, you know, I can do it. Um.
Speaker 1: I think I will also land on three nips because,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, her world revolves around two male figures
Speaker 1: in her life, and they and the only person she's
Speaker 1: willing to welcome into her life as another man, the crush, right,
Speaker 1: And that might be because like her sister Claire, as
Speaker 1: her daughter, Lucy says, we don't go to your house
Speaker 1: anymore because it's too depressing. So, which is a very
Speaker 1: funny line. Yeah, there's a great line read by that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it has some cool things going for it. But also,
Speaker 1: you know, as we pointed out, there's some weird choices
Speaker 1: made at the end. Also, this movie, it is scary,
Speaker 1: but the main thing that gives me anxiety about watching
Speaker 1: it is just the hat the is like watching Samuel
Speaker 1: at the beginning just be like such a misbehaved, rambunctious
Speaker 1: kid who's throwing tantrums and like not listening and like
Speaker 1: being very reckless and dangerous with his like sharp weapons
Speaker 1: and stuff. Well maybe that means that like Mr Starziac's
Speaker 1: message would have resonated with you, baby, I wish I had.
Speaker 1: Maybe it would have been maybe you would have been
Speaker 1: the one to shake the baby. I would hope not.
Speaker 1: I don't think you would have. No, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to shake even a baby doll. God, when the head
Speaker 1: popped off, my life change. Its literally like I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a mother then. Yeah, And I also I
Speaker 1: think it's it's funny, even if it isn't for everyone.
Speaker 1: The fact that the queer community has sort of co
Speaker 1: opted the Boba duke is one of their own. It's embraced,
Speaker 1: it's funny, it's loving, it's the loor behind it is
Speaker 1: very funny. Yeah, it's great. So three nipples too to
Speaker 1: Mrs Roach because she just wanted to help. She loved
Speaker 1: them and she and she was a sweet woman. And
Speaker 1: I'll give my third nipple. Two Okay, give it to
Speaker 1: the dude. The Duke gets my third nipple, give it
Speaker 1: to the doll, give it to give it to the
Speaker 1: four dogs. Another thing, I feel like I need to
Speaker 1: watch this movie like five more times before I get
Speaker 1: like all this before I just like fully appreciated, because
Speaker 1: I feel like there's things I'm missing or things I'm
Speaker 1: misunderstanding or misinterpreting. I'm also curious if there are viewers
Speaker 1: of this movie of of any gender who are not
Speaker 1: aware of the metaphor of postpartum depression and mental illness
Speaker 1: and who just kind of watched it at face value
Speaker 1: and weird it. Well? It like, is that not that
Speaker 1: much weirder than any other kind of you know, horror
Speaker 1: monster movie? The metaphor behind the Bye Bye Man? Yeah,
Speaker 1: was that the what's the Mr Police? Oh my god?
Speaker 1: The snows polies ain't tried to see her. That was
Speaker 1: the funniest marketing made of all time. That's like, I
Speaker 1: feel like advertisers really try to make movie mark getting
Speaker 1: meimable now, but Sophie succeed And I hope that was
Speaker 1: an accident. Mr Police. Oh, I gotta look up the
Speaker 1: list of Mr Police memes now love it anyway, So anyway,
Speaker 1: that is our bob a Duck episode. Uh, feel free
Speaker 1: to you know, hit us with your comments and thoughts
Speaker 1: and everything. Thank you so much for listening. We love
Speaker 1: all of you, folks. We appreciate your all of you
Speaker 1: Boba Ducks out there. I gave you all the clues.
Speaker 1: Tell your friends, tell your other Baba Ducks, and enjoy
Speaker 1: our upcoming Halloween Town episodes. Yeah, we're rerecording to get
Speaker 1: right now. Wow wow we okay, see you next time.
Speaker 1: I gave you all the clues. By well, there you
Speaker 1: have it, folks. That was our unlocked Matreon episode now
Speaker 1: on the main feed of the Babba Duck. And like
Speaker 1: we said, we here and there. I think we've maybe
Speaker 1: unlocked like six or so Matreon episodes, but there are
Speaker 1: ever but there are literally a hundred others that are
Speaker 1: only on the Matreon feed, So we really encourage you
Speaker 1: to head over there. It's only five dollars a month.
Speaker 1: It's uh two bonus episodes every single month, and then
Speaker 1: again access to those many many backlogged episodes and you
Speaker 1: can find that at patreon dot com slash Bechtel Cast.
Speaker 1: You're in for a treat, if we do say so ourselves,
Speaker 1: truly in our community. There is so much fun uh
Speaker 1: coming up in the next week. If you're listening to
Speaker 1: this episode the day it comes out, we are covering
Speaker 1: an episode we have getting We've gotten requests on basically
Speaker 1: weekly since it came out three years ago, which is Midsummer.
Speaker 1: We did an arid aster movie alright, and it was
Speaker 1: Caitlin's idea. So head over to the Matreon for a
Speaker 1: for a fun I was really happy with that episode.
Speaker 1: I'l like we had a great conversation around it. We've
Speaker 1: been having some fun convos over in the Matron. I
Speaker 1: really enjoyed our Top Gun episode from last month. I
Speaker 1: loved doing mid Summer this month and a little preview
Speaker 1: for next month, or doing Despicable Me. So because over
Speaker 1: there Midt, it's Minions March. Caitlin, I truly don't know
Speaker 1: if you're ready for how prepared I am for that episode.
Speaker 1: I literally have ordered three novels in Indonesian to prepare
Speaker 1: for that episode. I can't I just want to be
Speaker 1: able to unload it all at once. But I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: Oh right, I can't wait. So if you're also highly
Speaker 1: anticipating our episode on Despicable Me, head over Tom sit
Speaker 1: Treon and then well and then we're we're in talks
Speaker 1: on what the other episode is going to be for
Speaker 1: minions margin it's none of your business for now, could
Speaker 1: be anything, um so yes, check us out over on
Speaker 1: the Matreon and then you can also follow us on
Speaker 1: social media at Bechtel Cast on Twitter and Instagram. If
Speaker 1: you if you'd be a deer, why don't you give
Speaker 1: us a nice little rate and review on wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your podcast, Always a treat and look forward
Speaker 1: to an exciting summer. On the main feed, we have
Speaker 1: a lot of returning guests, we have a lot of
Speaker 1: new guests, we have a lot of popularly requested movies,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be a fun old summer. So
Speaker 1: we'll we'll talk to you next week. Bye bye ay