Feminist Frequency Radio

On the cusp of the 2020 US presidential election, we’re taking a look at a film set in 1820s Oregon Territory, telling the story of two men trying to make their way in the harsh frontier of the burgeoning American West. Join us on this week’s podcast, as we sink our critical teeth into this sweet cake of a “Caro film”: Director Kelly Reichardt’s 2019 film First Cow, exploring friendship, masculini...

Today’s episode of the podcast finishes up our spooky season series on occult-themed nostalgia watches with 1987’s The Witches of Eastwick , starring Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Cher, adapted from the John Updike novel. Join us as we try to figure out how we feel about this movie including big 80s perms (great), Cher (even better), and Jack Nicholson’s diabolic sex appeal (not good). Ma...

Welcome to the second episode in our spooky season series, revisiting classic, cult or nostalgic witch and vampire movies as chosen by our patrons. Today we’re traveling back to 1998, when Wesley Snipes starred as the titular vampire hunter, Blade. 9 years after Tim Burton’s Batman , and 20 years before the MCU’s Black Panther , Blade was the first Marvel Superhero theatrical release, the grandfat...

In celebration of the spooky season, we’re looking at media depictions of witches and vampires, starting with Hocus Pocus. Starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker, this 1993 Disney classic sparks a feeling of campy nostalgia for many, but how did it hold up for us and what does an almost 30 year old children’s Halloween movie have to say to a modern audience? Time Stamps: 6:38...

The Netflix film Enola Holmes introduces us to the much younger (and perhaps more brilliant) sister of the infamous Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes.  The film is based on a series of YA detective novels by author Nancy Springer, and our heroine (played in the film by Stranger Things ’ Millie Bobby Brown) is a quick-thinking and fearless young woman who frustrates and amazes everyone around her in equa...

This week, by popular demand, we're talking about The Matrix, a film once co-opted by the online right that has in recent years seen a kind of reclamation as an explicitly queer, trans text. Carolyn kicks things off by telling us about a 20th anniversary screening of the landmark film that she attended last year which illuminated some aspects of the film that contribute to its reading as a queer w...

We begin this week’s episode by acknowledging the passing of Chadwick Boseman, talking a bit about his impact, his legacy, and the grief so many of us have felt in response to the loss. Our main topic this week is the incendiary series I May Destroy You , written by and starring the staggeringly talented Michaela Cole. Our conversation covers the revelatory way in which the show frankly and honest...

On this week’s FFR we discuss the first two episodes of HBO's Lovecraft Country , a show that blends horror elements into a tale about racism in 1950s America, but first we talk about how the horrors of anti-Black racism remain so inescapable in America today, where police have once again exacted brutal violence on a Black man. Our discussion of the show touches on the ways in which it draws from...

This week, we explore the seamy underbelly of 1932 Los Angeles with HBO’s exciting revisionist take on the character of Perry Mason. In HBO’s series, crucial supporting characters have been reimagined--Della Street is now a queer woman, Paul Drake is a Black man--in ways that inform the series’ systemic perspective and help it avoid some of the ideological pitfalls that much hard-boiled crime fict...

This week, we dive back into all the wild ups and downs of entertainment news to bring you our reactions to some of the biggest and most politically resonant stories of recent weeks! We discuss Disney’s decision to release Mulan on Disney+ for beaucoup bucks and the larger matter of what it means that some films are going to VOD while others are holding out for theatrical release. We talk about th...

This week, we revisit the classic 1980 comedy about sexism in the workplace, 9 to 5 . We discuss all the ways in which the film still rings true, the insight with which it depicts women trying to navigate multiple manipulative sexist behaviors of men in positions of power, and how it doesn't lay the blame at the feet of one bad boss but acknowledges that these are systemic issues that necessitate...

This week we're off to Palm Springs via the new time-loop rom-com on Hulu starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milotti. We discuss how Palm Springs tweaks the familiar structure of films like Groundhog Day in some significant ways to serve up something fresh, while also acknowledging that it can't entirely avoid some of the troubling matters of consent that often seem to come with the time-loop terri...

After a brief detour into recent events in Portland, we get into Netflix's hugely successful new action flick, The Old Guard , featuring Charlize Theron as the de facto leader of a group of immortal mercenaries as they welcome a new member and face a new adversary. Our conversation touches on the strength of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s direction, as well as the makeup of the crew, with its internation...

Cartoon voices have been recast, episodes of 30 Rock have been pulled, and Gone with the Wind has been recontextualized. In this week’s episode of FFR, we discuss the many ways that Hollywood has scrambled in recent weeks to respond to the current conversation about racial justice, and whether any of the actions being taken are actually meaningful, or are just meant to convey the appearance of mea...

In this week’s episode, Anita and Carolyn embark on a grim and arduous journey through the discourse over The Last of Us Part II . We share our personal reactions to the game’s cast of characters, talk about its view of humanity and its use of violence, discuss the game’s narrative structure and themes, and ultimately answer the question of whether or not we found the grueling quest it takes us on...

Ebony hosts this episode of Feminist Frequency Radio to discuss the James Baldwin documentary, I Am Not Your Negro , with very special guest, the prolific and award-winning writer, scholar and activist, Dr. Taiyon J. Coleman. Together, they examine the 2016 film, directed by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, and the legacy of Baldwin’s work against the backdrop of ongoing global protests of police vio...

This week’s podcast was recorded on May 31, 2020. We won’t be discussing a new piece of media; we’re discussing a nation at war. Over the past week, we have watched as righteous protests rise in the wake of the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd—and the deaths of many other black people including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade. In response, the white supremacist American sta...

Anita, Ebony and Carolyn are back with another Entertainment News roundup. What’s up for discussion today? The Snyder Cut of Justice League is coming (yikes)! E3 is cancelled, but do we even need it anymore? And Joe Biden is taking the black vote for granted. Commiserate with us as we wade through the mostly bad (and somewhat absurd) of recent news, with at least one bit of good news for fans of a...

** Mark your calendar for Feminist Frequency’s 11th birthday party! This Thursday, May 21st from 5:00 - midnight Pacific time join at Twitch.tv/femfreq for guests, games, and giveaways.   This week on the podcast we are delighted to think critically about the Apple TV+ series Little America . The anthology, from makers of The Big Sick and Master of None , puts the immigrant experience at the cente...

On this episode of Feminist Frequency Radio we take a look at The Half of It , the second film from Saving Face director Alice Wu. Available for streaming on Netflix, the film is a take on the classic-literature-as-teen-movie genre, reimagining Cyrano de Bergerac as wry, bookish teenager Ellie Chu, who reluctantly agrees to help charming but dim-witted Paul woo the girl that Ellie herself has a cr...

Caitlin Durante—writer, comedian, co-host of The Bechdel Cast , Josie and the Pussycats enthusiast, and very special guest of Feminist Frequency Radio—returns to discuss the 2001 cult classic film with Anita and Carolyn. Can she convince us of its “borderline flawless” status, or, upon closer inspection, does this movie only manage to reinforce the out-of-control corporate commercialism it aims to...

Because you asked (and because we need to focus on something other than coronavirus updates) Entertainment News is back! In this episode Carolyn and Anita are joined by returning special guest Laura Hudson, to discuss some of the most interesting recent entertainment news stories and media happenings. From video game and television series announcements we're nervous about, to contemplating the cos...

This week on the Feminist Frequency Radio podcast we grapple with Hulu’s limited series Mrs. America , focusing on the battle for and against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. Join as we struggle with the powerful questions and feelings the series raises as this telling of feminism’s past illuminates the many issues the movement continues to face today. Time Stamps: 1:39 - Week #2645 of the...

Originally slotted to debut at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, but currently made available on Netflix, the documentary L. A. Originals chronicles the partnership between director Estevan Oriol and master graffiti artist and high profile tattooist, Mark Machado, aka Mister Cartoon. Join us as we share some of our thoughts and reactions regarding storytelling, cultural appropriation vs appreciation, a...

Like so much of life right now, the format for this episode of Feminist Frequency Radio will be a bit different. Check in with us while we shelter-in-place, and Anita, Carolyn and Ebony share the films, shows, books, games and new hobbies that are seeing us through self isolation. Time Stamps: 1:34 - Vibe check 15:40 - Media for Quarantimes: Carolyn: Films by Kelly Reichardt - First Cow , Wendy an...