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SMNTY Classics: Cinderella · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny.
0:06
Speaker 2: And Samantha opme stuff.
0:08
Speaker 1: I never told your producture.
0:08
Speaker 3: I heard you, And welcome to another classic where we
0:20
Speaker 3: are bringing back one of Samantha's faves, Near and dear to.
0:26
Speaker 2: You, Near and dear to my heart. I will always
0:28
Speaker 2: sing its praises, always and forever. And I'm having a
0:32
Speaker 2: feeling I'm gonna have like a lot of videos talking
0:35
Speaker 2: about this now that we're talking about it again. But yeah,
0:38
Speaker 2: we're throwing it back to our feminist movie Friday of Cinderella,
0:42
Speaker 2: the Brandy and Whitney Houston version, which is very something
0:46
Speaker 2: I love. We mentioned it in our past book Club
0:49
Speaker 2: episode when we were talking about meeting people and asking
0:53
Speaker 2: where they're from or where they are quote unquote. Go
0:56
Speaker 2: back to the episode and you'll know what I mean.
0:57
Speaker 2: But having this conversation about like it feels like cammaderie
1:00
Speaker 2: when we're talking to when another person of color is
1:03
Speaker 2: asking another person of color this type of question, because
1:06
Speaker 2: it's not so much othering as much as trying to
1:10
Speaker 2: fill some kind of relation to them, like being able
1:14
Speaker 2: to have a common ground. And how that Brandy really
1:17
Speaker 2: opened up for me seeing a person of color taking
1:21
Speaker 2: on a leading princess role and also having a partner
1:26
Speaker 2: that was Asian and like not having a problem with that,
1:29
Speaker 2: not making this like a joke or a butt of
1:31
Speaker 2: a joke or anything, and that that really opened my
1:34
Speaker 2: eyes to being like, people of color can be a
1:38
Speaker 2: lead and are not just the side characters, and they
1:41
Speaker 2: can be loved. And that's just something I remember all
1:45
Speaker 2: every time I think about any type of like opening
1:48
Speaker 2: when it comes to diversity in film, diversity in any
1:52
Speaker 2: kind of leadership, Brandy comes into my mind. She was
1:56
Speaker 2: iconic for me, and of course that means this movie
1:58
Speaker 2: was one of the best movies of my childhood.
2:02
Speaker 3: Absolutely well, please enjoy this classic episode.
2:12
Speaker 4: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steff.
2:15
Speaker 4: I never told your production of iHeartRadio.
2:26
Speaker 2: So any I have a few questions for you just
2:28
Speaker 2: too actually, and I'm feeling already know.
2:32
Speaker 1: Yes, we do very well surprises in there.
2:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will say that. Yeah, that's true. But have
2:38
Speaker 2: you ever been in a musical? I?
2:42
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh, I have.
2:43
Speaker 3: Oh really and it was a Cinderella brased musical.
2:48
Speaker 2: Okay, what was this? What part did you play?
2:51
Speaker 1: I was in high school.
2:53
Speaker 4: And it's funny because I actually auditioned for this role
2:57
Speaker 4: because I didn't want to go to band practice. That's
3:00
Speaker 4: the only reason I went. So I was very unprepared
3:03
Speaker 4: and it's one of the worst auditions I did in
3:06
Speaker 4: my entire life, and I shudder to think of it.
3:08
Speaker 4: But I auditioned for the role of Bruna Hilda, who
3:10
Speaker 4: is one of the stepsisters. I did not get it,
3:14
Speaker 4: but I got like random ball goer that was like
3:17
Speaker 4: all judgmental.
3:19
Speaker 3: Yes, the background, yeah, but it was a musical.
3:24
Speaker 1: I don't remember any of the songs.
3:28
Speaker 5: Well, it's a second question, and I do know this.
3:31
Speaker 5: Do you have a favorite musical that you go back
3:34
Speaker 5: to and love? As you know, musicals make me a
3:38
Speaker 5: little nervous.
3:39
Speaker 4: People spontaneously singing makes me nervous, which is why I
3:41
Speaker 4: think one of the reasons I love Hamilton because it's
3:43
Speaker 4: singing all throughout and there's not like really talking, so
3:48
Speaker 4: it's just music.
3:49
Speaker 1: It's the switch from talking to singing that gets.
3:52
Speaker 2: Really okay that I didn't know about. You don't. I
3:55
Speaker 2: don't quite understand that, but okay, okay, okay. It doesn't
3:58
Speaker 2: feel like it's automatically too cheesy.
4:00
Speaker 4: You know, it's really funny. Because Eves female first and
4:03
Speaker 4: our friend of ours. She was talking about her love
4:07
Speaker 4: of musicals and you love that you two share, and
4:10
Speaker 4: she said something like she doesn't like superhero movies because
4:12
Speaker 4: she can't suspend her disbelief. I feel like I can't
4:15
Speaker 4: suspend my disbelief when people just start seeing that's fair.
4:19
Speaker 2: I think it's definitely you're not the only one. And
4:21
Speaker 2: I think she had a back and forth about not
4:23
Speaker 2: sure if she loved musicals or not she because we
4:26
Speaker 2: also talked about what we are talking about today, which
4:29
Speaker 2: is Cinderella and the Brandy editions of the nineteen ninety
4:33
Speaker 2: seven Cinderella made for TV movie during the Wonderful World
4:36
Speaker 2: of Disney presentations that happened on Sunday nights, and I
4:40
Speaker 2: was very excited the minute it was advertised that it
4:44
Speaker 2: would be coming out and streaming through Disney Plus. I
4:47
Speaker 2: automatically it was like, holy crap, Yes, here we go.
4:52
Speaker 2: So just so you know, it is a throwback. Obviously
4:55
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven, it's been twenty four years, and they
4:59
Speaker 2: had this whole like get together reunion for the cast
5:03
Speaker 2: when it was the twenty year anniversaryate. Of course, it
5:04
Speaker 2: did not have Whitney Houston. But it was such a
5:07
Speaker 2: fantastic read when I was going back to research this
5:10
Speaker 2: movie just a little bit. So yes, it is a
5:11
Speaker 2: very much of a throwback. And I have been a
5:14
Speaker 2: lifelong fan of Brandy. I believe I made you listen
5:18
Speaker 2: to Brandy because you didn't know any of our songs,
5:20
Speaker 2: and I was very upset, and I made you listen
5:24
Speaker 2: to it at the Beach House. And of course I'm
5:26
Speaker 2: saying all throughout the Beach House, by the way, Moesha,
5:29
Speaker 2: which is where her career kind of started. Was her show,
5:32
Speaker 2: her sitcom, and it was coming around the same time
5:35
Speaker 2: as Family Matters was coming through, so it was kind
5:38
Speaker 2: of having this uprise of seeing black families as a
5:42
Speaker 2: part of the community, especially in the sitcom community. And
5:45
Speaker 2: her show one of my favorites, and I watched it
5:48
Speaker 2: all the time, definitely had her cassette tape, the Brandy
5:51
Speaker 2: cassette tape, and listen to it all the freaking time.
5:55
Speaker 2: She really was one of my favorites. But yeah, today
5:57
Speaker 2: we're talking about the nineties classic remake of Rogers and
6:00
Speaker 2: Hammerstein Cinderella, starring Brandy as the titular row of Cinderella.
6:06
Speaker 2: And also starring Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother as
6:10
Speaker 2: well as this is actually her one of her productions.
6:13
Speaker 2: And yes, I was like, hey, Annie, you know how
6:16
Speaker 2: we said that we're going to do this one movie. Nope,
6:18
Speaker 2: we're changing it completely and we're going to do this
6:21
Speaker 2: movie for actually in this movie Friday. And yeah, there's
6:25
Speaker 2: a lot to be said in conversation. Of course, I
6:27
Speaker 2: feel like everybody knows the plot. We are going to
6:30
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about it, but yeah, I think
6:33
Speaker 2: it's pretty well renowned.
6:35
Speaker 1: I think so we've talked about it.
6:37
Speaker 4: I mean our have one of our book, cup Picks,
6:39
Speaker 4: was a different take on Cinderella.
6:41
Speaker 1: So yeah, in the show, I've talked about it more
6:43
Speaker 1: than once.
6:44
Speaker 2: There's definitely a lot of renditions and we were going
6:46
Speaker 2: to talk about that as well. But I think I
6:49
Speaker 2: I just loved everything about this musical and I am
6:52
Speaker 2: a die hard fan of musicals. I grew up loving
6:56
Speaker 2: and appushing it because I was in chorus and I
6:58
Speaker 2: did sing a lot as a kid. That was one
7:00
Speaker 2: of my favorite things to do. My family's very musical,
7:02
Speaker 2: and though we don't go out breaking out in song
7:05
Speaker 2: to talk about our emotions, I wish we did. I've
7:08
Speaker 2: actually made that comment to most of my cynical friends
7:10
Speaker 2: and they're like, smitha must dumb stop it that I
7:13
Speaker 2: wish I could just break out in song when I'm
7:14
Speaker 2: sad or happy whatever, and I do.
7:17
Speaker 1: I've seen you do this.
7:18
Speaker 2: I do as people I think I've already heard on
7:21
Speaker 2: our show, I do come up with some singing unless
7:23
Speaker 2: our producers edited out because they're like Smith, this is ridiculous.
7:26
Speaker 2: But yeah, I do love the whole thing. My favorite
7:30
Speaker 2: actual musical is lay Miss has always been one of
7:32
Speaker 2: my favorites, and I think I loved it because the
7:34
Speaker 2: first rendition of Lima's that I saw the character of Eponine,
7:38
Speaker 2: who actually was a woman of Asian descent playing this
7:41
Speaker 2: character and I've never seen I don't think I've edver
7:45
Speaker 2: seen that, and up until like my high school, middle
7:47
Speaker 2: school years, i've seen this rendition. I think it was
7:49
Speaker 2: a PBS rendition of this musical and it was so fantastic.
7:53
Speaker 2: It got me in the gut and.
7:54
Speaker 1: I loved it.
7:55
Speaker 2: So lay Miss has always been one of my faves.
7:58
Speaker 2: Actually read that in middle school book two. But like
8:02
Speaker 2: everything about musicals, it just gets me.
8:04
Speaker 1: I love it.
8:04
Speaker 2: I love music that makes me want to dance. I
8:06
Speaker 2: love music that makes me want to move. I love
8:08
Speaker 2: music that makes me feel things like I appreciate Taylor Swift.
8:11
Speaker 2: She gets me in the gut. Uh really wish I
8:14
Speaker 2: was a teenager listening to this once again, but I
8:17
Speaker 2: do love There was a skit. I don't know if
8:19
Speaker 2: you watched the SNL skit with Driver's License, which is
8:24
Speaker 2: that would be a Rodrigo and Her song and they're
8:27
Speaker 2: like it just gets me her words, or like, I
8:29
Speaker 2: loved it because I feel like it's so honest. I
8:31
Speaker 2: don't know if men do that, but I'm like I
8:33
Speaker 2: have those moments as an adult being like, oh, she's
8:36
Speaker 2: got all the feels. This is about a sixteen year old.
8:38
Speaker 2: I am definitely old enough to be her mother, Like
8:40
Speaker 2: it is right, but this what's what I love about musicals.
8:45
Speaker 2: And I love seeing choreography, I love seeing dance. I
8:48
Speaker 2: was really excited about what this representative as well. But yes,
8:52
Speaker 2: as you can tell, I am a huge fan of
8:55
Speaker 2: this movie and we're getting started right now.
8:59
Speaker 4: Yes, And also just a note podcast on our network,
9:03
Speaker 4: the Beckdeil Cast covered this.
9:05
Speaker 2: I was so because like we had talked about doing it,
9:07
Speaker 2: and then they came out with it. I was like,
9:09
Speaker 2: son of a Okay, so we spread it. Bit us
9:15
Speaker 2: to the punch.
9:17
Speaker 1: Well, we'll probably have a slightly different take.
9:19
Speaker 2: You know, we will have a very different take, I guarantee.
9:22
Speaker 1: Okay, Well there you go.
9:24
Speaker 4: So, yes, let's discuss this film more in Death, which
9:29
Speaker 4: I just watched last night for the first time.
9:32
Speaker 1: Yes, so it's fresh on my mind.
9:34
Speaker 4: We are talking about the Broadway musical version of Rogers
9:37
Speaker 4: and Hammersteen Cinderella created for Network TV, starring Yes the
9:41
Speaker 4: amazing Whitney Houston as the fairy Godmother and Brandy as
9:44
Speaker 4: the role of Cinderella. It's funny because looking back, my
9:51
Speaker 4: family only had the one TV and I remember the
9:54
Speaker 4: commercials for this and I was vetoed, but I remember
9:58
Speaker 4: being like, oh, I want to watch it.
10:01
Speaker 2: I was, man, this should have not been something that
10:04
Speaker 2: I enjoyed as much as I did, because I was
10:06
Speaker 2: seventeen when this came out, But I loved it. Hey
10:10
Speaker 2: can't help it.
10:11
Speaker 1: I am who I am, You are who you are.
10:14
Speaker 4: So the original TV version was portrayed by Julie Andrews,
10:18
Speaker 4: which aired in nineteen fifty seven and again by Leslie
10:20
Speaker 4: Ann Warren, which was successful and ran annually from nineteen
10:25
Speaker 4: sixty five to nineteen seventy two on CBS.
10:27
Speaker 2: It was so successful they had over seventy million viewers,
10:30
Speaker 2: and so they kept replaying the Wow Uh huh, and
10:34
Speaker 2: it was a huge success. The actual movie, the one
10:36
Speaker 2: we're talking about today, the nineteen ninety seven classic, was
10:40
Speaker 2: aired in November nineteen ninety seven, but actually it was
10:43
Speaker 2: in talks to be created and filmed as early as
10:46
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety two, with the original idea that Whitney Houston
10:50
Speaker 2: would play the main character of Cinderella, but due to
10:52
Speaker 2: a different setbacks, it never came to fruition, and when
10:55
Speaker 2: it finally did come together, things, in part to the
10:58
Speaker 2: Walt Disney Company's desire to read, launched the Wonderful World
11:01
Speaker 2: of Disney Anthology, which included live action movies like Peter
11:04
Speaker 2: Pan as well as the old School Cinderella, which would
11:07
Speaker 2: be aired over CBS or one of the main networks.
11:10
Speaker 2: Brandy was brought on to play the iconic role thanks
11:14
Speaker 2: to Whitney used to herself, who actually gave her a
11:16
Speaker 2: call personal call Wow to ask her to be Cinderella,
11:21
Speaker 2: and of course she agreed, Brandy agreed, very excited. Her
11:25
Speaker 2: little interview about begetting that call was really precious. Also,
11:28
Speaker 2: at that point in time, it was discussed that Whitney
11:31
Speaker 2: would play the Fairy Godmother since she had aged out
11:33
Speaker 2: of the role of Cinderella. Also, the movie included the
11:38
Speaker 2: wonderful Whippie Goldberg and her comedic timing is so fun.
11:41
Speaker 1: I just love it.
11:42
Speaker 2: I think this is where she I'm trying to remember
11:43
Speaker 2: if she got her Primetime Emmy, which is how she
11:46
Speaker 2: got her egot. Oh, yes, yes, yes. She portrayed Queen Constantina.
11:52
Speaker 2: Victor Garber, who was a big Broadway player as well
11:55
Speaker 2: as I see him on different things now, played King
11:58
Speaker 2: Maximilian Bernadette, another big Broadway star, plays the evil Stepmother,
12:04
Speaker 2: and then Paulo Montauban as Prince Christopher and of course
12:09
Speaker 2: Jason Alexander of Seinfeld as the valet Lionel.
12:12
Speaker 4: Yeah.
12:12
Speaker 3: That was a big surprision for me because I think
12:14
Speaker 3: you told me about everybody else.
12:16
Speaker 2: I told you that it was him.
12:18
Speaker 3: Oh well, if you did, it did not register because
12:20
Speaker 3: I laughed so hard and I.
12:23
Speaker 2: Was just like, what, like, he apparently jumped at the
12:26
Speaker 2: chance he was one of the first ones to sign
12:28
Speaker 2: on because he was so excited to do a musical
12:30
Speaker 2: because that's kind of one of his backgrounds. But he
12:32
Speaker 2: had been a part of the Seinfeld world, which he
12:34
Speaker 2: was great, you know, garnering so much fame. But also
12:37
Speaker 2: it made me excited to see him in this role
12:40
Speaker 2: because I had seen him previously in Pretty Woman and
12:42
Speaker 2: he's such an awful character. Yeah that this kind of
12:46
Speaker 2: redeemed him from me. Yeah.
12:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well it's I don't know the name of the actress,
12:53
Speaker 4: but the redheaded step sister. She was in Seinfeld and
12:57
Speaker 4: her episode is kind of infamous to me because like
13:01
Speaker 4: the backstory behind it is really tragic, and it was
13:06
Speaker 4: just something like writers were talking about, Oh, women are
13:09
Speaker 4: thinking on different levels.
13:10
Speaker 1: How interesting.
13:11
Speaker 2: I think it was Vianne Cox who was Calliope.
13:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's in an episode of Seinfeld, and I was
13:17
Speaker 4: just like, oh, yeah, I mean this was this was
13:19
Speaker 4: the year Seinfeld was ending, so I guess they were,
13:21
Speaker 4: you know, trying to find new things.
13:24
Speaker 2: She apparently was a ballet dancer too. He was he
13:27
Speaker 2: had he had the moves. No no, no, not him,
13:30
Speaker 2: Van Cox ballet dancer.
13:32
Speaker 4: But she also had the moves everybody had good moves.
13:36
Speaker 2: That was impressed, you know what, Like he definitely, Jason
13:39
Speaker 2: Alexander is definitely a man of many talents.
13:43
Speaker 1: Yes, how you should introduce himself.
13:46
Speaker 4: Yeah. So, Houston was also a co producer alongside with
13:49
Speaker 4: producers of Gypsy, which had been a successful television adaption
13:52
Speaker 4: that aired in nineteen ninety three Craig Sadon and Neil Marin.
13:56
Speaker 4: And though at first there were some mixed reviews, one
13:59
Speaker 4: because of the cast singer Brandy and Whitney Houston, but
14:01
Speaker 4: two also because the more modern, slightly feminist edge of
14:04
Speaker 4: the movie. It clearly since then, as I feel like
14:07
Speaker 4: so many movies we talked about on here, has gained
14:10
Speaker 4: a lot.
14:10
Speaker 2: Of love, right, But yeah, it was successful nonetheless, like
14:14
Speaker 2: you said, with one of the highest viewerships in decades.
14:16
Speaker 2: It had the highest Sunday night ratings and was one
14:19
Speaker 2: of the most watched musicals at that time. And apparently
14:22
Speaker 2: the cost of production was ten million dollars, which is
14:25
Speaker 2: really really high at that time. They were talking about
14:27
Speaker 2: how amazing the scenes were and how great the castle was,
14:29
Speaker 2: and they're like, oh, okay, we're shelling out the big books.
14:32
Speaker 2: Just with how they said it, and it also did
14:34
Speaker 2: earn many nominations and awards, including seven Primetime Emmys, Writers
14:38
Speaker 2: Guild of America, three NAACP Image Awards, and a few others.
14:42
Speaker 2: So yeah, they were able to stand on their own.
14:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
14:45
Speaker 4: Absolutely, But now let's talk about the plot. Wait first,
14:51
Speaker 4: let's positor a quick break for word from our spots there.
15:05
Speaker 2: And we're back.
15:06
Speaker 1: Thank you, spon, sir.
15:08
Speaker 4: So, as we said, a lot of you are probably
15:09
Speaker 4: pretty familiar with the story of Cinderella, but for this
15:12
Speaker 4: specific version, we begin with the beautiful scene of the
15:16
Speaker 4: city market and all the townspeople are scaring about. We
15:20
Speaker 4: see Cinderella, who is following after her stepmother and stepsisters,
15:24
Speaker 4: who are pretty much immediately annoying.
15:26
Speaker 1: As as they are in most tales.
15:28
Speaker 4: And here we are introduced to the charming prince, who
15:31
Speaker 4: is dressed as a peasant so he can wander the
15:34
Speaker 4: market freely without being accosted or bothered. And this is
15:37
Speaker 4: where the lovely couple have their meat cute. Yeah I'm
15:42
Speaker 4: already calling them a couple. We know what's gonna happen.
15:46
Speaker 3: This is where the meat cute between Cinderella and Prince
15:49
Speaker 3: Christopher takes place.
15:50
Speaker 1: Of course, and songs. They're kind of singing separately, but.
15:53
Speaker 4: The same thing.
15:54
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, of course they're supposed to be together.
15:58
Speaker 4: Clearly they're singing the same Cinderella, who is lost in
16:03
Speaker 4: her own imagination, is almost run down by this royal
16:07
Speaker 4: carriage and she drops all of her stuff, and the
16:09
Speaker 4: prince comes to assist, saying, just like the royals, not
16:12
Speaker 4: caring if they're in anybody's way. And though they're kind
16:15
Speaker 4: of immediately all struck with each other, like just click,
16:19
Speaker 4: the chemistry is there. Cinderella is quickly taken away by
16:23
Speaker 4: her stepmother and told off for speaking to a stranger.
16:27
Speaker 2: Right. And also here's where we see a little bit
16:30
Speaker 2: of variation in which she doesn't want to be a princess.
16:32
Speaker 2: She just wants to be treated like an equal, like
16:34
Speaker 2: a human. Right. She talks to him about that, and he,
16:36
Speaker 2: of course is the popular lie that we hear from everywhere.
16:39
Speaker 2: You're not like other girls, are you? Yes?
16:42
Speaker 4: Well, I love, I love. She was like, I just
16:44
Speaker 4: want to be treated with respect, like a human, and
16:47
Speaker 4: he's like, oh, that's not like other girls.
16:50
Speaker 1: Most of them don't want that.
16:52
Speaker 2: Well, most of them wants to be a princess.
16:54
Speaker 1: I think most of them won't say it.
16:57
Speaker 3: Yes.
16:58
Speaker 2: Well, from there we see the struggles of the different
17:01
Speaker 2: lives of Bo Cinderella who was dreamed of dventure and
17:04
Speaker 2: having a loving relationship away from her truly awful step family,
17:08
Speaker 2: and the Prince who wants a normal life where he
17:11
Speaker 2: can fall in love and not be forced to be married.
17:14
Speaker 2: It's pretty funny. And here we meet the King and
17:17
Speaker 2: Queen and Lionel, Prince Christopher's valet, yes again played by
17:21
Speaker 2: Jason Alexander, who, by the way, again was in the
17:23
Speaker 2: middle of his Seinfeldt gig. And yes, we also get
17:26
Speaker 2: to see his fantastic dance sequence comedy dance musical sequence
17:31
Speaker 2: during this time.
17:32
Speaker 1: Yes, it is wonderful accent.
17:34
Speaker 2: Oh his accent, which they did attribute to a specific movie.
17:39
Speaker 2: I can't remember what it was, but I feel like
17:41
Speaker 2: it's one of those mini accents like we hear from
17:43
Speaker 2: Wanda from you know mcu character was like, what is
17:47
Speaker 2: happening and Princess Leah's first accident, You're like, what is happening?
17:52
Speaker 2: To create their own but he does the same thing.
17:56
Speaker 2: And yes, we find out that the Queen Whoopee is
17:59
Speaker 2: planning a ball for Prince Christopher so he can find
18:02
Speaker 2: a bride and then sends Lionel out to not only
18:05
Speaker 2: get all of the things for this giant ball, which
18:08
Speaker 2: one of my favorite things is him with the fake cake.
18:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was pretty good.
18:12
Speaker 2: I was like, what he goes out to invite all
18:14
Speaker 2: the women of the village for possible candidates to be
18:17
Speaker 2: his bride. Not Lionels, but Prince Christopher's.
18:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was pretty impressed when people when the stepmother
18:24
Speaker 3: was hitting on.
18:25
Speaker 2: Him, he was like no, he was like sorry, yeah,
18:29
Speaker 2: as he should be.
18:31
Speaker 4: So then we see Cinderella who has these dreams of
18:34
Speaker 4: adventure and leaving her corner in my own little corner
18:39
Speaker 4: is the zone, and she requests to go to the ball,
18:42
Speaker 4: which is met with scoffing out right now from her stepmother.
18:47
Speaker 1: So from there we.
18:48
Speaker 4: See the stepsisters and stepmother leaving. But who her eyes
18:52
Speaker 4: but the beautiful fairy godmother Whitney Houston and like this
18:57
Speaker 4: swirly gold like I had those things in the nineties, right,
19:01
Speaker 4: like for a hair.
19:02
Speaker 2: Like that was a popular shade. I think I still
19:04
Speaker 2: have some somewhere. I think I found too. I was like,
19:07
Speaker 2: what is this and it always falls off? The little
19:10
Speaker 2: stars all fall yes, and lay the trail like glitter.
19:14
Speaker 4: Yes, so she arrives in that kind of swirl to
19:18
Speaker 4: grant Cinderella's wish of going to the ball. And this
19:20
Speaker 4: is where we see the classic part of the fairy
19:23
Speaker 4: Tale of mice turning into coachman, a pumpkin turned into.
19:25
Speaker 1: A carriage, and a duet that will be forever iconic.
19:29
Speaker 4: According to Samantha, Yes, the song impossible by Whitney Houston
19:35
Speaker 4: and Brandy and also yeah, that literally floating presence of
19:39
Speaker 4: Whitney Houston as she should be remembered, and the dress
19:43
Speaker 4: of course choose the.
19:45
Speaker 2: Song is impossible, slash It's possible obviously where it comes from.
19:49
Speaker 2: Oh wow, look at me? Which yeah, the reason I
19:51
Speaker 2: say is iconic. The minute I thought about this movie,
19:55
Speaker 2: That's the first song that popped into my head and
19:57
Speaker 2: I was like, what impossible? Like that's just like, yes,
20:00
Speaker 2: there it is. It's so cheesy. I love it. I
20:03
Speaker 2: love cheesy movies, y'all. So at the ball, with the
20:05
Speaker 2: beautiful blues and purples and wonderful dance sequence, we get
20:08
Speaker 2: to see the parents being passed around as the women
20:10
Speaker 2: tried to buy for his attention to become his bride,
20:13
Speaker 2: but Cinderella then makes her entrance and the entire crowd
20:17
Speaker 2: stops as Prince Christopher makes his way to her. Everyone
20:20
Speaker 2: is enamored, but a last midnight comes around and Cinderella
20:24
Speaker 2: runs away after a wonderful duet of do I love
20:26
Speaker 2: you because You're beautiful? Yeah? You know, but of course
20:29
Speaker 2: losing one of her slippers as she leaves.
20:32
Speaker 4: I feel like this was one of the parts of
20:35
Speaker 4: the movie, and it's in every version of this fairy
20:37
Speaker 4: tale pretty much. I was like, this is a terrible
20:38
Speaker 4: way to meet someone. This sounds is exhausting. You're just
20:41
Speaker 4: dancing with somebody for like ten seconds.
20:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Though that sequence lasted a
20:47
Speaker 2: lot longer than I remembered.
20:48
Speaker 3: I was.
20:49
Speaker 2: I played this as I was writing this up, and
20:51
Speaker 2: I waited for this scene, and I was like, listening
20:54
Speaker 2: is lasting a whole lot longer than I remembered, because
20:57
Speaker 2: it's not a really long movie in itself, so I
21:00
Speaker 2: was like, wow, this is okay, okay. And of course
21:02
Speaker 2: we also see that the Queen and Keen dance with
21:05
Speaker 2: her and talk to her about her family and her
21:07
Speaker 2: She's all kind of like, oh my gosh, and then't
21:08
Speaker 2: we see the step family going she looks familiar? Who
21:11
Speaker 2: is that? Oh my goodness, you know, whispering in the
21:14
Speaker 2: background trying to figure out who she is, which is
21:16
Speaker 2: of course part of every single one of the movies.
21:19
Speaker 2: No one can recognize this woman who Philip is fairly recognizable. Yeah,
21:24
Speaker 2: she just had dirt on her face, and which is
21:26
Speaker 2: the of course, the meaning of her name cinder Ella. Right,
21:30
Speaker 2: but yeah, I was like, I feel like those of
21:33
Speaker 2: all the things, I don't believe that's the.
21:34
Speaker 4: Fun Yeah, it's a Superman syndrome, right, I did. I
21:39
Speaker 4: did appreciate. I was just watching this like this is
21:41
Speaker 4: a dair way to meet somebody. And then I love
21:45
Speaker 4: that when Brandy just runs away from Whoopi Goldberg and
21:49
Speaker 4: she's like, all I like her.
21:52
Speaker 1: I'd have questions, but you know, she's.
21:55
Speaker 2: Just really excited that maybe the Prince is about the
21:58
Speaker 2: burry house in Babies.
21:59
Speaker 3: It's true, that's what she wanted, after all all she wanted, Yes,
22:03
Speaker 3: but problem.
22:04
Speaker 4: The Prince is, you know, trying to find is his
22:07
Speaker 4: last love and taking this heer around and testing it
22:11
Speaker 4: in all the women of the land. This is another
22:13
Speaker 4: part that was funny, like it is a fairy tale,
22:15
Speaker 4: so like and even as we discussed with rom coms,
22:18
Speaker 4: there's just the fantastical element to it.
22:20
Speaker 3: But I'm like, I feel like there are certain people
22:22
Speaker 3: you could just say it wasn't her.
22:25
Speaker 4: Sure fairness all right, So we find the stepsisters and
22:29
Speaker 4: even the stepmother trying to trick the prince by trying
22:32
Speaker 4: to fit their feet into this glass slipper. But as
22:36
Speaker 4: Cinderella is trying to leave, not knowing the prince is there,
22:38
Speaker 4: he discovers her and yes, the shoe fits, and they
22:43
Speaker 4: get married and live happily ever after.
22:45
Speaker 1: So we're led to believe, Yeah, so I do love.
22:48
Speaker 2: There's a couple of commentary and does this one she's
22:50
Speaker 2: leaving and he makes that same statement because she almost
22:53
Speaker 2: gets ran over by another carriage and he's like, it's
22:55
Speaker 2: like those royals, they don't care. He realizes he knows her,
22:59
Speaker 2: and then also, I also love the fact that people
23:01
Speaker 2: are like, I feel like there's probably more than one
23:04
Speaker 2: person with her shoe size.
23:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, so.
23:08
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the best way to gauge
23:12
Speaker 2: if this is the same person just saying so I
23:16
Speaker 2: do love. That's also the conversation. And then me my
23:19
Speaker 2: covid mind. I was like, there's so many germs. I
23:22
Speaker 2: don't want to wear someone else's good gross shoes, especially
23:25
Speaker 2: glass slippers. Can you imagine how sweaty your feet would
23:27
Speaker 2: be in them?
23:28
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, that is true.
23:30
Speaker 2: I have pretty sweaty feet, tam. I.
23:33
Speaker 1: I feel like anybody would in glass slippers.
23:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, even if you're wearing hoes. Let's see what wars.
23:39
Speaker 2: I think.
23:40
Speaker 4: All I can think is I can't imagine. I mean,
23:43
Speaker 4: the shoe's gotta be pretty sturdy. And I say it
23:45
Speaker 4: all the time. I am very clumsy. Yeah I'm clumsy.
23:48
Speaker 4: That shoe's gonna break. There's gonna be glass in my foot.
23:51
Speaker 2: I mean, to be fair, she fell a lot in
23:52
Speaker 2: that movie. At least twice she did.
23:54
Speaker 1: She did. I mean, their magic shoes they can probably
23:58
Speaker 1: withstand more than I'm giving them credit for.
24:02
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's fair. And also Whitney Houston created them.
24:04
Speaker 2: And then I feel like she knows the power of
24:07
Speaker 2: a good shoe.
24:08
Speaker 4: Oh absolutely, And I bet she had a little role
24:11
Speaker 4: and like it didn't fit anybody, but maybe maybe maybe like.
24:15
Speaker 2: It has like a lock change. Yeah, yeah, I think
24:20
Speaker 2: so we've created a rationale behind it.
24:24
Speaker 1: I like, yes, we have made this make sense.
24:28
Speaker 4: We did want to talk about some themes now that
24:30
Speaker 4: we covered the plot, but first we're gonna pause for
24:33
Speaker 4: one more quick for word to more sponsor.
24:48
Speaker 1: Eric Ah, thank you spouts there, right.
24:50
Speaker 2: So there's several themes in any fairy tale, but what
24:53
Speaker 2: we did want to focus on were these few, which
24:55
Speaker 2: includes diversity, which is one of the first things that
24:58
Speaker 2: we had talked about. I think you and when we
25:00
Speaker 2: were talking about how amazing this movie was and how
25:03
Speaker 2: diverse it was and why it was so important to
25:05
Speaker 2: me as a person of color growing up in an
25:07
Speaker 2: all white community to see this representation. And this was
25:11
Speaker 2: the first rendition of the specific telling of the fairy tale,
25:14
Speaker 2: and with Brandy and Whitney taking the lead roles, they
25:17
Speaker 2: became the first African American actresses to play these iconic characters,
25:21
Speaker 2: including the fact that Brandy was the first black actress
25:24
Speaker 2: and first person of color to portray this lead character.
25:27
Speaker 2: As in fact, it was something that was important for
25:29
Speaker 2: Whitney and she had stated that she wanted something for
25:31
Speaker 2: her daughter, who apparently came on the set a lot,
25:34
Speaker 2: as well as a lot of the other kids like actors'
25:37
Speaker 2: kids would come onto the sets. She wanted her daughter
25:40
Speaker 2: to see that this character was represented by someone that
25:42
Speaker 2: looked like her, and the importance of seeing someone like
25:45
Speaker 2: her as the main character, as the actual princess.
25:49
Speaker 4: Right, And it wasn't just that having an Asian male
25:52
Speaker 4: actor playing the main male lead was very new and
25:57
Speaker 4: unheard of. Though other actors were considered, like Tay Digs
26:00
Speaker 4: the Beautiful Day Digs, Paolo Mantalbon won.
26:04
Speaker 1: Out in the end, right.
26:05
Speaker 2: He was in several other musicals at that time as well,
26:08
Speaker 2: apparently including being the understudy for The King and I Oh,
26:13
Speaker 2: which is a really sad musical. Yes, okay, keep going.
26:19
Speaker 3: Yes.
26:21
Speaker 4: The diversity within the entire cast was something pretty new,
26:25
Speaker 4: and though it was noticeable, it wasn't a feature or
26:27
Speaker 4: even something that overtook the film, and in that way,
26:30
Speaker 4: it delighted the audience. Unlike many films today, there wasn't
26:33
Speaker 4: a question of how it's possible that Whoopee and Victor
26:36
Speaker 4: would be able to have Paolo as their son, or
26:38
Speaker 4: Bernadette had a young black woman and a young white
26:41
Speaker 4: redhead for her children.
26:43
Speaker 1: That's just how it was.
26:44
Speaker 4: It just was.
26:45
Speaker 2: It was really interesting too, because I was reading a
26:48
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven article from the La Times about it,
26:51
Speaker 2: and of course they address it, but they just kind
26:53
Speaker 2: of again smooth over it and just like it's a
26:55
Speaker 2: fun musical. We'll see hopefully this gamble, as they put it,
26:59
Speaker 2: will pan out. So definitely was that conversation of whether
27:02
Speaker 2: or not is it a risk or is it something
27:06
Speaker 2: that should be happening more often, as in fact will
27:08
Speaker 2: be stated in Jet magazine at that time when she
27:11
Speaker 2: was explaining why the diverse casting made perfect sence, she said,
27:14
Speaker 2: quote before it was either all black or all white,
27:17
Speaker 2: but never a normal mix of people. This integrated cast
27:20
Speaker 2: is how the real world is. This is more normal
27:23
Speaker 2: than being a part of a cast that doesn't have
27:25
Speaker 2: any color in it. So I think it's really important
27:27
Speaker 2: that that's what it was made for. The idea of
27:30
Speaker 2: what a fairy tale is to me, like you see
27:33
Speaker 2: a growth of a community and in this inexplicable way
27:40
Speaker 2: of being in life, like no one seens, no one
27:42
Speaker 2: dances in the mid street. I'm really sad about this.
27:46
Speaker 2: There's no balls really, you know, all of these things
27:48
Speaker 2: and the community doesn't come together, you know, to throw
27:51
Speaker 2: a ball to get married.
27:52
Speaker 1: Off that I've seen.
27:53
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm just missing out on some things, but yeah,
27:55
Speaker 2: it's the fantasy, and this fantasy includes this diverse cast
27:58
Speaker 2: that makes other children and I think it was so important,
28:01
Speaker 2: and I think that's a guess. I wasn't a child.
28:03
Speaker 2: I was seventeen, but it was so new for me
28:07
Speaker 2: growing up in a culture that didn't see me as
28:10
Speaker 2: a leading character or even a part of the bigger story. Again,
28:12
Speaker 2: there's no Asian female actors in this, so but just
28:16
Speaker 2: having the representation of having a woman of color was interesting.
28:21
Speaker 2: To have an Asian man being seen as a prince
28:24
Speaker 2: as something wanted as a whole new conversation. So yeah,
28:28
Speaker 2: definitely had a bigger conversation and that that's what it represented,
28:32
Speaker 2: is the full fantasy of being included.
28:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we did want to talk about feminism here,
28:40
Speaker 4: and I know that's I think we've done other episodes
28:43
Speaker 4: specifically on feminism of princesses, and that is the topic
28:48
Speaker 4: and fairy tales that comes up a lot in conversations
28:51
Speaker 4: with anxiety around that and like what messages are we
28:54
Speaker 4: sending to children with these things. So there is absolutely
28:59
Speaker 4: the romance fairy tale element of this with the prince
29:03
Speaker 4: coming to sweep Cinderella off her feet, and that just
29:06
Speaker 4: all pressing concern of being married off and having children.
29:10
Speaker 4: That's very present throughout this rendition, though, was a little
29:13
Speaker 4: more feisty than the others. They tried to do less
29:16
Speaker 4: of a damsel and distress thing and more of an
29:18
Speaker 4: independent character who stayed in a real, toxic, harmful familial
29:24
Speaker 4: relationship for the sake of her deceased father rather than
29:27
Speaker 4: just wanting to be rescued. In fact, a couple of
29:30
Speaker 4: differences were that she didn't need to be saved because
29:33
Speaker 4: she was about to leave on her own accord at
29:35
Speaker 4: the end, and she wasn't asking to be a princess,
29:37
Speaker 4: but a woman, as we said, who has her own
29:39
Speaker 4: mind and has cared for like a person, a.
29:42
Speaker 1: Human right too much.
29:45
Speaker 2: It wasn't a massive change or overhaul, but it still
29:48
Speaker 2: got noticed. My Islima, Yeah, I.
29:51
Speaker 4: Mean it's been a long time since I've seen the
29:53
Speaker 4: original Disney version, but I just noticed, like with the
29:56
Speaker 4: scene when she's in her corner and she's talking about
29:58
Speaker 4: all the avengers she wants to have, that felt very
30:00
Speaker 4: very different, like I knew, and a lot of the
30:03
Speaker 4: takes on this she wants to get away, but it's yeah,
30:07
Speaker 4: seemed Moore is like she's just trapped there and can't
30:10
Speaker 4: get away, right.
30:11
Speaker 2: So, and I think that's the other part is that
30:13
Speaker 2: she stayed out of loyalty and a promise she makes
30:17
Speaker 2: her a father. So and which I believe is a
30:20
Speaker 2: part of the original fairy tale. I think, I think,
30:23
Speaker 2: which you know, we don't see that in Disney. We
30:25
Speaker 2: see the Disney version which they which this is one
30:28
Speaker 2: Disney version, but the Disney cartoon movie version which she
30:31
Speaker 2: sings about someday her prince will come, which is a
30:34
Speaker 2: whole different conversation. She's not looking necessarily for a prince
30:37
Speaker 2: to come. She wants her own adventures, and when the
30:39
Speaker 2: ball comes about, she imagines meeting the prince. But that's
30:42
Speaker 2: a whole different conversation. But yeah, it's still got some
30:45
Speaker 2: people not happy about this rendition, which was still again
30:48
Speaker 2: I was like, it wasn't that big, No, but people
30:53
Speaker 2: still won't be angry. And yes, of course the movie
30:55
Speaker 2: does seek to have happy ending with marriage and royalty,
30:58
Speaker 2: but that wasn't her goal. Yes, the hopes are very
31:01
Speaker 2: much still there. It is a bit of a different take,
31:04
Speaker 2: which again we talked about the fact that some did
31:06
Speaker 2: not like it, and when it came to the theme
31:07
Speaker 2: of being rescued versus being happy and loved, you know,
31:10
Speaker 2: that was a little bit of a change, which I appreciated.
31:12
Speaker 2: I think I like that because you don't necessarily want
31:14
Speaker 2: to be rescued. Yo, we can rescue ourselves. How about that?
31:18
Speaker 4: About that? Okay, just treat us like humans with respect.
31:26
Speaker 2: You're you're a different type of girl. Huh, You're not
31:29
Speaker 2: like other girls.
31:30
Speaker 4: That was so funny, and we couldn't talk about a
31:33
Speaker 4: romantic musical without the themes of love. That is the
31:36
Speaker 4: whole goal for the prince to either find love or
31:39
Speaker 4: be happy single and not be pushing into anything just
31:41
Speaker 4: for the sake of duty.
31:42
Speaker 1: In fact, that was like his.
31:46
Speaker 4: Compromise with his mom was I will do this one
31:49
Speaker 4: more ball, but then I'm doing it my own way
31:51
Speaker 4: if I don't find somebody I like, right.
31:54
Speaker 2: Seems fair, Yeah, it seems super fair. And I do
31:58
Speaker 2: love again. The Queen will be queen. I'm gonna call
32:01
Speaker 2: it Queen whoopee because I love the projections, which is
32:05
Speaker 2: by the way, this was after Sister Act was already
32:08
Speaker 2: filmed d and she had gotten because I don't think
32:10
Speaker 2: anybody knew how talented she was when it came to
32:12
Speaker 2: like singing and dancing and all of that, so like
32:15
Speaker 2: she did it. Also, Sister Act is another one of
32:17
Speaker 2: my favorite movies, and we might have to do that too,
32:19
Speaker 2: both of them or both of them. So of course
32:25
Speaker 2: she's not a theme. But I have to talk a
32:27
Speaker 2: little bit about Whitney Houston because her presence she made
32:31
Speaker 2: this film. She made this film as in like she
32:35
Speaker 2: created it a b her presence, her songs, her voice.
32:39
Speaker 2: It was a whole different level when we know that
32:41
Speaker 2: when it comes to Whitney Houston and her abilities and
32:44
Speaker 2: her talent, it exceeds, it just goes beyond. And it
32:48
Speaker 2: was even doing this time. I think there was a
32:50
Speaker 2: lot of people watching her very closely. She was becoming famous,
32:53
Speaker 2: but she was slowly getting caught up in some of
32:55
Speaker 2: the controversies that we've known of her. But obviously her
32:58
Speaker 2: love for her daughter really comes through with what she
33:01
Speaker 2: wanted this film to be. And I think that's something
33:04
Speaker 2: that's so important that we have to acknowledge that this
33:08
Speaker 2: was not just about making something fun and making something
33:11
Speaker 2: to be successful. It was something that she wanted to
33:13
Speaker 2: leave back for her child and to have this type
33:17
Speaker 2: of legacy for young black girls everywhere. And she kind
33:24
Speaker 2: of like when we talk about you know, female first,
33:26
Speaker 2: she didn't see it, so she created it. That wasn't
33:28
Speaker 2: there for her, so she created it. And I think
33:30
Speaker 2: that's something glorious that it needs to be said. Of Course,
33:33
Speaker 2: not everyone has the talent of Whitney, Houston and Brandy,
33:37
Speaker 2: so it was a little harder to be like I
33:38
Speaker 2: can be that person, sure, but I think that's something
33:42
Speaker 2: that we need to definitely acknowledge that this movie is
33:45
Speaker 2: bigger than just being a fun little fairy tale. It
33:49
Speaker 2: does leave a legacy for many who have not seen
33:53
Speaker 2: themselves represented in any type of tale that has a
33:57
Speaker 2: happy ending. And that's what this was. Taking something that
34:01
Speaker 2: mean take for granted and making it new. So I'm
34:05
Speaker 2: just going to put that there.
34:07
Speaker 4: Yeah.
34:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a really refreshing take because we do
34:11
Speaker 3: know that story.
34:12
Speaker 4: And we're not going to get into this too much
34:15
Speaker 4: today because we've talked about them before, but there are
34:18
Speaker 4: the tropes like fairy tale tropes in there of the
34:21
Speaker 4: evil stepmother who seems money hungry or status hungry, the
34:26
Speaker 4: queen who is desperate to find a bride for her
34:29
Speaker 4: son so she can have a grandchildren and grandchildren.
34:34
Speaker 1: Who's also a bit over the top of nagging.
34:36
Speaker 4: And then the father, who seemed dismissive, tunes out his
34:39
Speaker 4: wife and also makes kind of a questionable comment about
34:42
Speaker 4: wanting to be with Brandy or I was like, that's
34:46
Speaker 4: I don't know if you should have said that, and
34:48
Speaker 4: we'll be definitely shut it down. But I'm still like, wow,
34:53
Speaker 4: there's that great, well.
34:55
Speaker 1: That's out there.
34:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's definitely. Part of the thing is
35:00
Speaker 2: like I think people are rebranding fairy tales, which is beautiful,
35:03
Speaker 2: but the original intents definitely have a lot of like
35:07
Speaker 2: yeah what so yeah, yeah, certifies were probably really annoying.
35:15
Speaker 1: Sorry, well you're welcome everyone. Yeah, so it was a
35:22
Speaker 1: fun one.
35:23
Speaker 2: I so, yeah, that was what Okay, I need to
35:26
Speaker 2: know since you did not know. Of course you knew
35:29
Speaker 2: what kind of it's to expect, but I think I'd
35:30
Speaker 2: been hyping it up a lot about how excited I was.
35:34
Speaker 2: What were your thoughts was your review for this movie?
35:39
Speaker 1: I thought it was really good.
35:40
Speaker 4: It was one of those things where I was like,
35:42
Speaker 4: you know, this isn't something I would normally watch, right,
35:46
Speaker 4: But I felt like everyone, for a project like that,
35:50
Speaker 4: it would have been really easy to kind of be
35:52
Speaker 4: making fun of it almost with your performance. But I
35:55
Speaker 4: feel like everyone was like really there with their whole
35:58
Speaker 4: heart and having fun. And so I thought all the
36:00
Speaker 4: performances were really good and it was funny, and I
36:05
Speaker 4: just remember kind of watching it again, this isn't like
36:07
Speaker 4: something I would normally watch, But for a moment, I
36:10
Speaker 4: was like, Oh, I can see why people love this
36:12
Speaker 4: because it feels really light like kind of it's just
36:14
Speaker 4: just like I'm in a nice light state of being
36:19
Speaker 4: kind of happy and feeling kind of goofy, right, Like.
36:23
Speaker 2: Even the villains are not serious villains.
36:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, and everyone looked like they were having fun, which
36:28
Speaker 4: I really Yeah, I appreciate it. There you go.
36:34
Speaker 2: I like the words I appreciated it.
36:37
Speaker 4: It's true though. It absolutely is a thing that I
36:40
Speaker 4: feel like some of my favorite movies. One of the
36:43
Speaker 4: things I love about them is the actors did embrace
36:46
Speaker 4: the role so much and leaned into it so much
36:48
Speaker 4: and had so much fun with it.
36:50
Speaker 2: Right, And I think they did talk about the fact
36:52
Speaker 2: that when Whoopee was signed on, they originally wanted her
36:55
Speaker 2: to play a different character, but because she was so busy,
36:58
Speaker 2: like she was like, come back to me, come back
37:00
Speaker 2: to me, come back to me. And so they finally
37:02
Speaker 2: were able to loop her in. Kind of the same
37:04
Speaker 2: thing with Whitney Houston, Like she plays godmother, but she's not.
37:07
Speaker 2: Fully she didn't have to be there all the time
37:09
Speaker 2: because her schedule was, you know, jam packed, so it
37:12
Speaker 2: was kind of perfect for her scheduling. But yeah, I again,
37:16
Speaker 2: these are this is my childhood, what I remember, and
37:21
Speaker 2: this is something that allowed me to see beyond my
37:25
Speaker 2: white circle because as an adopted child in the mountains
37:28
Speaker 2: of Georgia, that's a whole different conversation. Again, I think
37:31
Speaker 2: I've talked about the fact that I've had many encounters
37:34
Speaker 2: with my own family with trying to figure out where
37:38
Speaker 2: I fit in a family who is disapproving of brown people.
37:43
Speaker 2: For the most part, not disapproving, but definitely very prejudice
37:47
Speaker 2: towards brown people. And it's an inn internalized prejudice that
37:51
Speaker 2: they would never say out loud, except for they accidentally
37:53
Speaker 2: say some things out loud. And I remember my love
37:57
Speaker 2: for Brandy by like just everything she did, including this movie.
38:02
Speaker 2: I think I was like fifteen fourteen fifteen, when she
38:05
Speaker 2: was coming about with her single with her all of
38:07
Speaker 2: her songs, and I got into a full blown argument
38:11
Speaker 2: with my younger brother, who is a little older than me,
38:13
Speaker 2: but he's the youngest of my two brothers now about her.
38:16
Speaker 2: That argument was my eye opening moment of oh, there's
38:20
Speaker 2: something wrong in my family here, I think. And I
38:24
Speaker 2: remember having a conversation with my mom about what would
38:30
Speaker 2: look like if I dated someone outside of white people,
38:33
Speaker 2: which is hilarious. I'm not white, but that knows over
38:36
Speaker 2: people's head a lot. That's what happens a lot when
38:39
Speaker 2: you're swept under the whole really a rasure and title
38:44
Speaker 2: of model minority comes in, as well as the fact
38:47
Speaker 2: that there's this whole layer of saber complex. So of
38:50
Speaker 2: course she would not straight from what we have brought
38:53
Speaker 2: her to. Essentially, that's the best way I can state that.
38:56
Speaker 2: But I think it's a whole big conversation where I
38:58
Speaker 2: had to find my own identity because I had no
39:01
Speaker 2: one there to understood, and so kind of like Brandy,
39:05
Speaker 2: kind of like Guella, finding my own corner of what
39:08
Speaker 2: that meant an understanding race and a whole different level
39:12
Speaker 2: and pivoting towards my own understanding of who I was
39:15
Speaker 2: versus who my family was, you know. And yeah, again
39:19
Speaker 2: I was seventeen. But it was during these times like
39:21
Speaker 2: Family Matters that was coming out, the Cosby Show that
39:24
Speaker 2: was happening, you know, All is Fresh, Prince of bel Air.
39:27
Speaker 2: It was these big comedies that made me be able
39:29
Speaker 2: to see outside of my small community. So it was
39:33
Speaker 2: a definitely interesting moment. And again I also lived in
39:36
Speaker 2: a fantasy world. I lived in a world that really
39:39
Speaker 2: I wanted something completely different, and musicals were that for me.
39:42
Speaker 2: I told you, like, I don't understand because I'm such
39:45
Speaker 2: a cynical individual. You would think that I'm so like
39:48
Speaker 2: over the top, abrasive and just really like we talk
39:52
Speaker 2: about dead inside. I was like, yeah, I've been known
39:54
Speaker 2: to being called soulists, Like, yeah, I have no soul
39:57
Speaker 2: type of conversation because I do. Seems so straightforward. But
40:01
Speaker 2: I loved musicals growing up. Of course, there were specific musicals,
40:05
Speaker 2: so I liked the more modern takes. I didn't love
40:07
Speaker 2: the Rogers and Hammerstein versions back then. So Carousel Oklahoma
40:11
Speaker 2: hated those, hated them with a passion. Of course, they're
40:13
Speaker 2: all really tragic, and some of it had a lot
40:16
Speaker 2: of like abuse backstory, so I was like, uh uh,
40:19
Speaker 2: But like I loved Singing in the Rain was one
40:22
Speaker 2: of my all time favorite movies. Anything with Ciccheries, who
40:25
Speaker 2: is a white woman who danced. I think she was
40:28
Speaker 2: in like a classical dance in ballet beautiful. I loved her.
40:32
Speaker 2: Fred Astaire watched his movies like nobody's business. So I
40:35
Speaker 2: definitely grew up in a like my parents would laugh
40:39
Speaker 2: about the fact that I should have been born in
40:40
Speaker 2: the forties fifties, which I'm like, I wouldn't have fit
40:43
Speaker 2: in and people were not fitting in at that point.
40:45
Speaker 2: But okay, but like there is this love of escapism
40:50
Speaker 2: that I really enjoyed, and this musical was able to
40:54
Speaker 2: be a musical that was more inclusive as where everything
40:57
Speaker 2: else was just white people being dancing and cute. You know.
41:00
Speaker 2: So yeah, I have a love. I have a love
41:03
Speaker 2: for musical.
41:03
Speaker 1: It's weird.
41:04
Speaker 2: Even I talked about it. I recommended one to her
41:06
Speaker 2: and I was like, please, please please understand it. It's
41:08
Speaker 2: really sexist and it's really bad, but it's such a
41:11
Speaker 2: great musical.
41:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's always a caveat an interesting caveat, especially on
41:20
Speaker 4: this podcast, because I feel like we have to mention it.
41:22
Speaker 1: But yeah, you can be like, oh I love this thing,
41:25
Speaker 1: but pretty sexist.
41:27
Speaker 4: Yeah it did not age well, just so you know, well,
41:31
Speaker 4: we've talked before about how hugely important that is to
41:34
Speaker 4: see yourself represented, especially at younger ages, but all the time,
41:39
Speaker 4: and so this will I.
41:40
Speaker 1: Think this will have a legacy.
41:42
Speaker 3: And I'm so happy we got to watch it and
41:45
Speaker 3: it made you were so excited.
41:48
Speaker 1: I was so excited. No, it's awesome. It's awesome. We've
41:52
Speaker 1: talked before.
41:52
Speaker 4: Just seeing people get like pumped about things can bring
41:55
Speaker 4: you joy.
41:55
Speaker 1: So I'm glad.
41:57
Speaker 2: Thank you.
42:00
Speaker 3: I look forward to many random bursting into song from
42:04
Speaker 3: you in the future.
42:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's gonna happen.
42:07
Speaker 3: I know it is.
42:10
Speaker 4: So thank you so much listeners for checking this one out.
42:14
Speaker 4: I as always tend recommendations for future movies or books
42:18
Speaker 4: or any other topics we should cover.
42:21
Speaker 1: You can email us.
42:22
Speaker 4: At Stuff Media, mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You
42:24
Speaker 4: can find us on Instagram at stuff I've Never Told
42:26
Speaker 4: You or on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks it's
42:28
Speaker 4: always to our super producer Christina.
42:30
Speaker 2: Our producer godmother over her welch right, and thanks to
42:34
Speaker 2: you for listening.
42:35
Speaker 4: Stuff I've Never Told You's production of iHeartRadio. For more
42:38
Speaker 4: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or
42:41
Speaker 4: wherever you listen to favorite shows.