Latest / The Bechdel Cast / Updates, Improvements, and a Discussion with Kenice Mobley!

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Updates, Improvements, and a Discussion with Kenice Mobley! · The Bechdel Cast

0:00
Speaker 1: On the Bedel Cast, the questions asked if movies have
0:04
Speaker 1: women in UM, are all their discussions just boyfriends and
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Speaker 1: husbands or do they have individualism the patriarchy zef invest
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Speaker 1: start changing it with the Bedel Cast. Hi, everybody, Hello,
0:18
Speaker 1: and welcome to the Bechdel Cast. My name is Caitlin Toronte,
0:21
Speaker 1: my name is Jamie Loftus. UM. We hope that this
0:25
Speaker 1: podcast finds you well. It has been a very difficult
0:29
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, UM, and if you're listening, thank you
0:32
Speaker 1: for listening. Yes, indeed, so we are. We're going to
0:36
Speaker 1: be getting back to uh, your regularly scheduled UM programming
0:41
Speaker 1: movie episode next week. But we wanted to just have
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Speaker 1: a bit of a conversation, uh this week, a bit
0:48
Speaker 1: of a conversation. It was a conversation, a full conversation,
0:53
Speaker 1: a whole last conversation, UM, because I think, like many people,
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Speaker 1: we've been taking stock of not just our own ship,
1:03
Speaker 1: but of our shows shit, and so we just want
1:07
Speaker 1: to speak to that briefly before UM sharing a whole
1:10
Speaker 1: conversation we had with a friend of the cast and
1:14
Speaker 1: friend of us Mobli. Yes, yes, we'll get to that
1:18
Speaker 1: in a moment. But Jamie, Like you said, I've been
1:21
Speaker 1: doing a lot of reflecting. You've been doing a lot
1:23
Speaker 1: of reflecting on our episodes that we've done so far
1:27
Speaker 1: and the movies that we've chosen to cover and the
1:31
Speaker 1: dearth of black movies in our episode history. Yeah. Which
1:38
Speaker 1: it's like we were talking about it because originally we
1:42
Speaker 1: were considering re releasing an older episode this week, and
1:45
Speaker 1: as we were going through our own catalog, and at
1:48
Speaker 1: this point we have hundreds of episodes, the pickings for
1:52
Speaker 1: a black directed and written movie were it was like,
1:58
Speaker 1: I was mad at us, Like it, it's embarrassing. We
2:01
Speaker 1: should be embarrassing. Yeah, we and we are, and we
2:04
Speaker 1: we are to let all of our listeners know that
2:08
Speaker 1: it is. I mean, we like, there's no excuse for it.
2:13
Speaker 1: We we were just not We just weren't giving that
2:17
Speaker 1: the attention that it deserves. And um, going through our
2:21
Speaker 1: own catalog was, oh boy, it was a humbling experience because, UM,
2:26
Speaker 1: I think you know, very often, Um, the excuse that
2:29
Speaker 1: we have found to not cover black movies is that
2:33
Speaker 1: we are a mainstream movie podcast. And what I don't
2:38
Speaker 1: think that I you know, I knew it, but I
2:41
Speaker 1: didn't think or articulate it well enough to the point
2:45
Speaker 1: where it, you know, became the reality of the show
2:47
Speaker 1: is well, what qualifies the term mainstream and mainstream I
2:53
Speaker 1: think in a lot of ways indicates whiteness because of
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Speaker 1: money and because of in our specific world, where Hollywood
3:05
Speaker 1: allocates this money and where it allocates its opportunities. So
3:10
Speaker 1: I think that we've really often found an excuse to
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Speaker 1: cover more white movies than not because those were the
3:16
Speaker 1: directors and the writers that have been given those opportunities.
3:19
Speaker 1: But that's not an excuse. It's we're people that are
3:24
Speaker 1: more than capable of seeking out movies that are not
3:28
Speaker 1: written and directed by white people. I just I was
3:31
Speaker 1: just like Jamie Caitlin, what thinking? But yeah, that's that's
3:36
Speaker 1: some of the conversations that we've been having about about
3:39
Speaker 1: the show. We also, of course always want to be
3:42
Speaker 1: bringing you all sorts of voices, especially black voices. UM,
3:46
Speaker 1: and we will continue to do so, and we want
3:48
Speaker 1: to do it more than we currently do. UM. I
3:52
Speaker 1: think we said this last week, but if if there
3:54
Speaker 1: are specific guests that you're like, I'd love to hear
3:56
Speaker 1: them on the show. UM, let us know. Hopefully we
3:59
Speaker 1: can make it happened. But yeah, I think it's particularly
4:03
Speaker 1: with black movies, we have failed our audience in in
4:08
Speaker 1: just covering them, which will be rectified in the future
4:13
Speaker 1: and the immediate future too. So yes, yes, if there
4:18
Speaker 1: are movies that you would like to hear covered, also,
4:20
Speaker 1: let us know. But we've got we've got ship in
4:23
Speaker 1: the works indeed, And like I mean, the whole thesis
4:27
Speaker 1: statement of our show is the media that we consume
4:32
Speaker 1: and how it influences individuals as well as culture. I mean,
4:38
Speaker 1: we we know already because we've talked about it on
4:42
Speaker 1: the show at large, that the underrepresentation or misrepresentation of
4:49
Speaker 1: any particular group contributes to a misunderstanding of that group. Um.
4:55
Speaker 1: For example, the miss and under representation of black people
5:01
Speaker 1: black characters in cinema contributes to systematic racism. Yeah. Absolutely,
5:07
Speaker 1: and and in many, many, many cases, UM, it is
5:12
Speaker 1: white writers and directors perpetuating those stereotypes across all media
5:16
Speaker 1: across you know, we cover movies, but it's also very
5:19
Speaker 1: prevalent in television. It's it's everywhere, and and we do
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Speaker 1: not want to be contributing to um erasing or misrepresenting
5:30
Speaker 1: or undercovering in particular black stories um or or or
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Speaker 1: any non white story. Really there are so many white stories,
5:39
Speaker 1: you know, possible to say the world is good, it's um.
5:46
Speaker 1: So we just kind of wanted to lead with that,
5:49
Speaker 1: and you know what, We're going to continue reflecting on it.
5:53
Speaker 1: But the main the main messages we recognize that we
5:56
Speaker 1: have not covered enough black cinema. We have not, as
5:59
Speaker 1: individ Jewels, seen enough black cinema because we have the
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Speaker 1: privilege of a lot of popular media being marketed to
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Speaker 1: us and being in many ways about us, and that
6:13
Speaker 1: is something that we need to push past, like and
6:16
Speaker 1: so we talk about it more with Kinnis Um particularly,
6:21
Speaker 1: I loved like just talking about movies that are about
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Speaker 1: black joy and like comedy and like there's just you know,
6:29
Speaker 1: so we just we just wanted to lead with that
6:31
Speaker 1: and also say that we're committed to not just covering
6:35
Speaker 1: movies but also UM directing you to voices to follow.
6:40
Speaker 1: Will continue to elevate the voices of all of our guests,
6:44
Speaker 1: but our our black guests in particular. We will be
6:46
Speaker 1: UM directing you to if there's a guest We said
6:49
Speaker 1: this last week as well, but if there's a guest
6:50
Speaker 1: on the Battle cast that you enjoyed and you don't
6:53
Speaker 1: follow their stuff? What are you doing? Like the click
6:59
Speaker 1: that fall button. It's not hard to make it right now, Um,
7:03
Speaker 1: and we are we apologize for our role in perpetuating
7:08
Speaker 1: the extreme whiteness of um Hollywood and at times, I
7:13
Speaker 1: think the extreme whiteness of feminism where we discussed this
7:18
Speaker 1: briefly as well. But um, there is a very traceable
7:22
Speaker 1: history of feminism being having a lot of asterisks being
7:27
Speaker 1: specifically for white women. Definitely, that is not what we're about.
7:31
Speaker 1: And um, we're you know, it's something that we're also
7:36
Speaker 1: reflecting on. So uh for sure, Yeah, thanks, thanks for
7:40
Speaker 1: for being here. You know, if you if you're a
7:42
Speaker 1: listener of the show, you already know Kennie and she
7:45
Speaker 1: was kind enough to talk to us about I mean,
7:48
Speaker 1: she's a she's a movie buff and we love her
7:51
Speaker 1: and we hope you enjoyed the conversation. Yeah, So, without
7:54
Speaker 1: much further ado, let's cut to the conversation that we
7:57
Speaker 1: had with our dear friend knee Smobile and we are
8:05
Speaker 1: joined now with one of our favorite guest favorite friends,
8:10
Speaker 1: just general wonderful hero. Uh it's our friend kend Hello.
8:19
Speaker 1: I've never been called a hero. I'm gonna you know
8:23
Speaker 1: what me people who save other people's lives. I was
8:27
Speaker 1: gonna list professions, but some of those, Like now I
8:30
Speaker 1: feel like I can't. I can't endorse an entire profession
8:33
Speaker 1: of any kind because there's so just the people who
8:37
Speaker 1: have saved people's lives. Those are the heroes. That's you're
8:41
Speaker 1: also our hero. Yeah, that's true. And if listeners out
8:47
Speaker 1: there you remember Kenese from our Back to the Future
8:50
Speaker 1: episode which is on our Matreon as well as our
8:53
Speaker 1: Casino Royal episode on our main feed. So friend of
8:57
Speaker 1: the Cast returning third timere among the three time I
9:03
Speaker 1: want to I want you guys to do what SNL
9:05
Speaker 1: does and like what if I get on five times
9:07
Speaker 1: I want to jacket? Oh we should do that. They do?
9:11
Speaker 1: You get like a like a smoking jacket, like a
9:13
Speaker 1: maroon velvet smoking jacket, and it has like five timeslove.
9:18
Speaker 1: I just watched a way too much SNL, so I
9:20
Speaker 1: know that, like really well, but yes, that is the
9:25
Speaker 1: heartwarming and so weird to me. It's like Alec Baldwin
9:30
Speaker 1: has a jacket. I don't want him to have a jacket,
9:32
Speaker 1: but he does. He does, has that five times jacket
9:37
Speaker 1: as we're recording this. Cops just got canceled for yes, wait,
9:42
Speaker 1: Cops the TV program. Yeah, oh my god, the profession
9:47
Speaker 1: person is over. We we did its, no for now,
9:54
Speaker 1: it's just the television program is over. But that but
9:56
Speaker 1: as far as media goes, that is a really good step.
10:01
Speaker 1: But there's I didn't even know it was still on.
10:04
Speaker 1: I've seen so many tweets say that they're like, they're
10:07
Speaker 1: still make Cops. Yes, they're still having the Boys in
10:10
Speaker 1: Blue run after people who were confused. When how long
10:15
Speaker 1: has that show been on. It's been on since about
10:16
Speaker 1: the eighties, nineties, eighties. I think it's thirty two seasons
10:20
Speaker 1: is what I saw. My word. Oh boy, well, defund
10:28
Speaker 1: Cops the show, and they did. They did. It's a start,
10:33
Speaker 1: it started, it's a start. Well, yeah, I guess we
10:38
Speaker 1: want to just take an opportunity to reflect on our
10:42
Speaker 1: show's history, what we can do moving forward as the
10:48
Speaker 1: host of this show to make sure we are being
10:51
Speaker 1: as inclusive and as intersectional as possible. Uh yeah. So
10:57
Speaker 1: there are some podcasts that talk about film, and the
11:01
Speaker 1: only time they talk about black film is when it's
11:04
Speaker 1: like this is a big, important black film and it
11:07
Speaker 1: is being nominated for Academy Awards, and because they do that,
11:12
Speaker 1: it is often black films that center on pain. So hey,
11:16
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan, but also my pushes to please
11:19
Speaker 1: include movies that incorporate black joy, silly black movies, movies
11:23
Speaker 1: that aren't necessarily like critical darlings, but fan darlings, because
11:27
Speaker 1: it's not just I swear to God if I have
11:29
Speaker 1: to listen to another podcast where it's like, Okay, let's
11:33
Speaker 1: dissect twelve years of Slave and let's talk about whipping
11:36
Speaker 1: scenes for along that, and I'm like, who is this
11:39
Speaker 1: fun for? Like, so, yeah, that's nice. What are some
11:44
Speaker 1: of your favorites? Favorite movies that celebrate black joy? Uh? So,
11:49
Speaker 1: every Thanksgiving I watched a double feature of Coming to
11:52
Speaker 1: America and Trading Places. Love those movies. I don't know
11:57
Speaker 1: what it is about Thanksgiving and Eddie Murphy, but mentally
12:00
Speaker 1: those two things are paired forever. So Everythanksgiving I watch
12:03
Speaker 1: those really fun comedies. Also, Dope, have you guys seen this.
12:08
Speaker 1: It's one of the best teen movies of the last decade,
12:11
Speaker 1: and I think it doesn't get a lot of props.
12:14
Speaker 1: I think it's I just think it's so funny. Why
12:16
Speaker 1: haven't we covered dope? Oh? Please please do? And it
12:19
Speaker 1: has Oh there's a lady in it who's like in
12:21
Speaker 1: a bunch of other things that I really like. And
12:23
Speaker 1: she's like a teen and sometimes she is very much
12:26
Speaker 1: so dressed like a teenage boy, and sometimes she's like
12:28
Speaker 1: super glamorous, but she's fantastic. Sorry to bother you, how
12:32
Speaker 1: Stella got her groove back? I just saw this, Like,
12:34
Speaker 1: I know I should have seen it years ago, but
12:36
Speaker 1: I just saw it earlier this year. The way they
12:39
Speaker 1: shoot Tay Digs is a thing of beauty, and I
12:43
Speaker 1: just I think it's important that we recognize that Bad
12:46
Speaker 1: Boys is hilarious. Bad Boys too. I haven't seen Bad
12:50
Speaker 1: Boys three because it came out when theaters were completely
12:52
Speaker 1: shutting down. I don't think a lot of people think
12:55
Speaker 1: of this as a black film. But it's directed by
12:57
Speaker 1: Spike Lee Inside Man, with Denzel Washington and Clive Owen.
13:03
Speaker 1: It's a really fun bank heist movie. Has to hotel
13:06
Speaker 1: at four and oh, it has a ton of people.
13:09
Speaker 1: William Dafoes in it, it's Jodie Foster. Check it out
13:14
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's really it's great. It's high energy. Yeah,
13:17
Speaker 1: I just am a big fan. UM good hair Chris
13:19
Speaker 1: Rocks documentary about the hair care industry in the black community.
13:23
Speaker 1: Girls Trip is hilarious. Uh. This is available on Amazon Prime,
13:27
Speaker 1: and I know Amazon is bad, but this movie is good. Uh.
13:30
Speaker 1: The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Uh. Music and
13:34
Speaker 1: the way that that was shot Great Creed was so
13:38
Speaker 1: good it made me join a gym. Like I left
13:42
Speaker 1: the Summerville Theater in Davis Square, Centerville, Massachusetts, and I
13:46
Speaker 1: walked to a Boston sports club directly and I joined
13:49
Speaker 1: it because I was like, Kennis, you need to change
13:52
Speaker 1: your life. This is media being influential. Yes, I mean
13:56
Speaker 1: I would say it changed my life, but I did
13:58
Speaker 1: not continue to go. I went for a few months
14:02
Speaker 1: and then I stopped. Widows It's not lighten upbeat, but
14:06
Speaker 1: it is again. I love a heist film. Oh no, Widows,
14:10
Speaker 1: h I love getting a crew together, plan and a
14:13
Speaker 1: crime committing a crime. It's great. And Steve McQueen is
14:16
Speaker 1: one of my favorite directors. I think the way that
14:18
Speaker 1: he shoots things is so interesting. Uh. And he got
14:20
Speaker 1: Colin Farrell to be at once likable and hateable, which
14:23
Speaker 1: is I think a fantastic lane for Colin Farrell. Um
14:27
Speaker 1: us get out, of course, I Am not your Negro.
14:30
Speaker 1: Also on Amazon Prime Sorry, City of God, Oh the Brazilian.
14:39
Speaker 1: I think it's important to show like black people across
14:42
Speaker 1: the planet because we are I'm sure, um, but that
14:45
Speaker 1: was one of my I made my mom watch that
14:47
Speaker 1: when I was in high school. I just found it
14:49
Speaker 1: so moving. Uh and love and Basketball. That's going to
14:52
Speaker 1: be my list, uh, my current list of very very good,
14:57
Speaker 1: not homework feeling black movies. Nice. Yeah, those that's a
15:01
Speaker 1: great list. Yeah, and we need to cover a lot
15:04
Speaker 1: of those. Yeah, that's on I mean, and and for
15:07
Speaker 1: listeners too, if there are movies from black directors um
15:12
Speaker 1: or black writers that you would love to see covered
15:14
Speaker 1: in the show, We're looking out for ones we haven't
15:17
Speaker 1: seen or heard of, um as well. So you know
15:20
Speaker 1: at us baby, We're we're ready for sure. Yeah. And
15:24
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, most of the films that you listed,
15:28
Speaker 1: just like Kinis, have black either writers or directors. Not
15:33
Speaker 1: all of them, but I think most of those did.
15:34
Speaker 1: I think most of them do. I think some of
15:36
Speaker 1: the ones, especially the ones that are older, like Bad
15:39
Speaker 1: Boys Coming to America, I don't think those have black directors. Um, right, Um,
15:47
Speaker 1: but there are a fair number of black narratives and
15:52
Speaker 1: film that don't have black filmmakers behind the camera. And
15:57
Speaker 1: I think we talked about this on like the Hidden
15:59
Speaker 1: Figures episode and things like that, Um, Spider Man into
16:05
Speaker 1: the Spider Verse on the Matrian episode. We did about
16:08
Speaker 1: that movie. There's a whole there's I can't think of
16:11
Speaker 1: any others off the top of my head right now,
16:12
Speaker 1: but I know they're out there because historically movies about
16:17
Speaker 1: all types of people have still mostly been made by
16:22
Speaker 1: white men. Specifically speaks to the fact that black creatives
16:27
Speaker 1: have not been given opportunities, their work has not been
16:31
Speaker 1: prioritized all those issues that lead to just there being
16:38
Speaker 1: exactly the help Green Book nightmares such as those, and
16:43
Speaker 1: I mean the help I think as of this recording
16:46
Speaker 1: is still in the top ten on Netflix. So mad.
16:50
Speaker 1: It makes me so mad. Who is I don't know
16:54
Speaker 1: these people and I don't want to meet them, But
16:55
Speaker 1: who are these people that are like, you're right, I
16:57
Speaker 1: will help with racial just this by watching a story
17:02
Speaker 1: about a black domestic worker who is deprived of her rights. Yes,
17:05
Speaker 1: that's what I will do. That's that's that seems like
17:09
Speaker 1: a good idea. To me, okay, and I this may
17:12
Speaker 1: be too much, and I recognize that, but to me,
17:15
Speaker 1: the help trending on Netflix is akin to the fact
17:20
Speaker 1: that like ebony pornography, ebony and air quotes pornography is
17:23
Speaker 1: like rising up the porn hub charts because people are like,
17:27
Speaker 1: I am doing a good deed, I am helping racial
17:30
Speaker 1: justice right now. It's it's a complete missing the mark thing,
17:34
Speaker 1: but we keeps happening and it's making me mad. Yeah,
17:38
Speaker 1: it's so cringe e. And and there's there's a tweet
17:43
Speaker 1: from former guests on the show The Best de She's
17:48
Speaker 1: so cool. She really is. She when she lived in
17:52
Speaker 1: New York, and I was just like, that's a cool lady,
17:56
Speaker 1: fellow Massachusetts rest from there. I was getting the Massachusetts vibes.
18:04
Speaker 1: We're all so cool. But she she she had some
18:08
Speaker 1: because we we circulated a list of black movies and
18:12
Speaker 1: where you could watch them right now, a list that
18:15
Speaker 1: was circulating that was like Netflix, Hulu, you know, just
18:18
Speaker 1: to start. But I also tweeted something I wanted to
18:22
Speaker 1: share where she said, all the anti racist watch lists
18:25
Speaker 1: that don't include Daughters of the Dust or Losing Ground
18:28
Speaker 1: or Hollywood Shuffle or Ganja and Hess or The Watermelon
18:31
Speaker 1: Woman or Love and Basketball, remember Loving Get Out? You
18:34
Speaker 1: like black movies, Surprise l W doesn't have to be homework?
18:39
Speaker 1: Which I which which is? I mean that hit for
18:42
Speaker 1: me as well as just like we should just be
18:46
Speaker 1: watching more black movies and you know, as a show,
18:51
Speaker 1: if the powers that be are not bringing it to
18:54
Speaker 1: us and not pushing it, then it's on us. We're
18:57
Speaker 1: a movie podcast. We need to seek it out. It's
19:00
Speaker 1: not like we're watching movies. It's fun. It's fun. Hollywood
19:07
Speaker 1: Shuffle is a really fun movie. I haven't seen it.
19:11
Speaker 1: It's great. I am going to admit right now that
19:14
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think I saw it in college,
19:17
Speaker 1: but I haven't seen it since then, so I remember
19:19
Speaker 1: none of the details because I don't remember my youth
19:21
Speaker 1: so the same. Yeah, I saw it in college and
19:25
Speaker 1: not sense, but I remember being really funny and like
19:30
Speaker 1: providing some you know, compelling commentary. Yeah. I think celebrating
19:35
Speaker 1: black movies that aren't just about black pain will also
19:38
Speaker 1: help with that because I think the perception is if
19:40
Speaker 1: you're watching a weighty black movie or like an important
19:43
Speaker 1: black movie, it's gonna be a about race and civil
19:49
Speaker 1: rights or slavery and be depressing as hell and something
19:53
Speaker 1: that you have to sit through like homework, and I
19:55
Speaker 1: know that is not the case. So just doing more
19:59
Speaker 1: of a iety of black movies I think is important
20:02
Speaker 1: for sure, absolutely because it's yeah, it's movies like that. Yeah, well, Jamie,
20:09
Speaker 1: to touch on something you mentioned about, like if the
20:12
Speaker 1: powers that be don't like basically the point that I'll
20:18
Speaker 1: arrive at, so I'll just get there. We all we
20:22
Speaker 1: all went to film school, right, We studied film school.
20:29
Speaker 1: The two of us have master's degrees from Boston. Don't
20:33
Speaker 1: like to bring up film We would never bring it up,
20:36
Speaker 1: but continue just reflecting back on the movies that get
20:43
Speaker 1: mentioned in like film textbooks, the movies that get screened
20:48
Speaker 1: in classes unless you specifically take like a class on
20:53
Speaker 1: black cinema, just general film classes. And maybe this has
20:56
Speaker 1: changed in the years that I have gone to school,
20:59
Speaker 1: or maybe this is the for certain schools. But the
21:01
Speaker 1: two different brag the two different schools I went to
21:04
Speaker 1: for film school, they were like, um, yeah, so there
21:08
Speaker 1: were some important black films like Do the Right Thing
21:12
Speaker 1: and Boys in the Hood and probably some other ones.
21:15
Speaker 1: Also there was a whole black exploitation movement and um
21:18
Speaker 1: the end, that's all you need to know. And they
21:21
Speaker 1: really just completely gloss over and did not make a
21:24
Speaker 1: priority of teaching film students about black cinema. And should
21:30
Speaker 1: the onus have been on me to seek more out
21:33
Speaker 1: for myself? Yes, did I do that? Not to the
21:37
Speaker 1: extent that I should have. So yes, that is yet
21:40
Speaker 1: another area that you know I will work on. We
21:43
Speaker 1: also we went to the same place. I remember I
21:46
Speaker 1: had to fight with my professors a little bit to
21:49
Speaker 1: take a race and gender course because that wasn't part
21:53
Speaker 1: of the master's degree program. It was an undergraduate class.
21:57
Speaker 1: And I was like, I really think I should be
21:59
Speaker 1: getting of this information. And it was there where I
22:03
Speaker 1: saw she's got to have it. It was there where
22:05
Speaker 1: I saw Paris is burning. It was there that I
22:08
Speaker 1: saw like any representation of people who looked like me.
22:11
Speaker 1: Because in screenwriting class, in film history class, we did
22:15
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. I mean I saw every single
22:18
Speaker 1: Coen Brothers film, and like dozens of films by like
22:22
Speaker 1: French all tour directors. But I still don't think like
22:26
Speaker 1: I can confidently say that in school I didn't see
22:28
Speaker 1: a single African film, like no films that were made
22:31
Speaker 1: in Africa. Um, and I still haven't really seen those
22:35
Speaker 1: like it. Just I think the only director that even
22:38
Speaker 1: came up was Spike Lee, but that was it. M M.
22:44
Speaker 1: It's it's frustrated because it's I I feel the same
22:47
Speaker 1: way like it was on me to seek out more
22:50
Speaker 1: and I didn't do as much as I should have.
22:54
Speaker 1: But I think especially when we're talking about media and
22:57
Speaker 1: media education, which is what we have allegedly done from
23:01
Speaker 1: time to time between like talking about our various educational
23:07
Speaker 1: degrees now for Billina, but like there there there is all.
23:12
Speaker 1: There's just in like film education and in media studies,
23:16
Speaker 1: it's so white, like it's and and again. It's like
23:21
Speaker 1: kind of embarrassing too, like be aware of it at
23:24
Speaker 1: the time, but not say enough about it. Where I
23:28
Speaker 1: think I brought this up on the show before I
23:29
Speaker 1: took a class called like Wilder, Alan and Kaufman, like
23:33
Speaker 1: just three like it's and and again. It was like, yeah,
23:38
Speaker 1: the black films that we studied were very like it
23:41
Speaker 1: was just the same three movies that you hear about
23:45
Speaker 1: in every course, and it's like we can't just that
23:48
Speaker 1: means that first of all, there should be black film
23:52
Speaker 1: professors employed in universities and also just no matter who's
23:57
Speaker 1: teaching there. You know, I Kenneth, you shouldn't have had
24:01
Speaker 1: to watch every Cohen Brothers movie that so I saw
24:06
Speaker 1: all of them except Lady Killers because they weren't going
24:09
Speaker 1: to do that. They weren't going to make us watch
24:10
Speaker 1: the Lady Killers. Yeah, that's not signed that decision. I
24:18
Speaker 1: think they would want to get rid of that as
24:19
Speaker 1: part of their candidate. And I'm wondering what Tom Hanks
24:21
Speaker 1: thinks about it. I just it is. I mean, that's
24:26
Speaker 1: like something that I don't know. I feel naive for
24:30
Speaker 1: not interrogating that more fully while I was in school,
24:35
Speaker 1: But I hope and I think now just based on
24:38
Speaker 1: um I did a little research into like today's students,
24:42
Speaker 1: uh smarter than me? Yes, And there is there has
24:47
Speaker 1: been more pushback ULM schools to not just teach. It
24:52
Speaker 1: feels like the same fifty movies no matter what school
24:56
Speaker 1: you're going to. Basically they all got this same syllables
25:00
Speaker 1: from online and they were like, yep, check, we are
25:03
Speaker 1: doing the cannon and that's it. And if you want
25:06
Speaker 1: to see anything that's outside of that cannon, if you
25:08
Speaker 1: want to see people of color that are directors. If
25:11
Speaker 1: you want to see female directors, you have to go
25:13
Speaker 1: and seek those out. And it's frustrating that, I mean,
25:17
Speaker 1: as as valuable as those classes are and as happy
25:20
Speaker 1: as I am that they exist, that the stories are
25:23
Speaker 1: still other two. A separate class like that just indicates
25:27
Speaker 1: that the school doesn't feel that black film is film.
25:31
Speaker 1: They're like, no, this is a separate it's a separate thing.
25:33
Speaker 1: This is a class that's raised in gender where film
25:35
Speaker 1: as an opponent, but we're not really counting it. And
25:38
Speaker 1: what I think it does is it produces uh and
25:40
Speaker 1: has produced generations of film scholars and film critics who
25:44
Speaker 1: simply don't believe that works by black artists exist. Like
25:48
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, it's not like it's kind of referring
25:51
Speaker 1: back to like the Oscar so White campaign. It's not
25:55
Speaker 1: that we are doing something bad. It's just that the
25:58
Speaker 1: system hasn't turned out any filmmakers versus I haven't done
26:01
Speaker 1: the research to know to go out and seek these
26:04
Speaker 1: films out. And again it you know, correct me if
26:08
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. I think that in terms of the diversity
26:11
Speaker 1: of how many black film critics are being put on
26:15
Speaker 1: and given the appropriate reach is also like an issue
26:20
Speaker 1: that comes up with us all the time, where there's
26:22
Speaker 1: so many movies that we've covered that are like, well,
26:25
Speaker 1: keep in mind, this movie got mixed reviews, but probably
26:27
Speaker 1: because everyone who reviewed it was a white man and
26:31
Speaker 1: this movie was not for them, and so that's why
26:34
Speaker 1: they were just like I didn't get it. See like
26:38
Speaker 1: that is infuriating, and I agree, yeah, and and so
26:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna aim to But I mean, we've had a
26:45
Speaker 1: number of um black film critics on the show before,
26:48
Speaker 1: like Joel Monique is like one of the best in
26:50
Speaker 1: the game. She's amazing. Um Ashley Ray as a writer
26:53
Speaker 1: I really enjoy reading and she's t best just she
26:58
Speaker 1: is just on all the time. I love her so much.
27:01
Speaker 1: And um and Danielle Radford is another amazing black media critics. There.
27:06
Speaker 1: There are so many wonderful black film critics, and I
27:11
Speaker 1: think it is like changing slowly, but in terms of
27:14
Speaker 1: like are they getting the appropriate microphone and reach and
27:18
Speaker 1: are they being put on in the way that they
27:20
Speaker 1: deserve to be, I think that there's still ways to go,
27:24
Speaker 1: and we'll commit to showcasing those voices because sometimes you
27:28
Speaker 1: see like a random white guy review a movie that
27:32
Speaker 1: they just clearly they didn't even attempt to put it like,
27:37
Speaker 1: it's just most film critics assume that the movie they're
27:40
Speaker 1: watching is made for them specifically. Yes, it's wild. I've
27:44
Speaker 1: heard and I do listen to a few film podcasts,
27:48
Speaker 1: and there is one that I like, but it is
27:50
Speaker 1: led by two white men, and just the nuances that
27:54
Speaker 1: they miss out on entirely because they're not familiar with
27:57
Speaker 1: the culture makes them say, oh, this isn't very deep
28:00
Speaker 1: or these scenes aren't well active. But it's like they're
28:01
Speaker 1: operating on something that you just haven't taken the time
28:04
Speaker 1: to think critically about, versus not saying anything at all.
28:09
Speaker 1: And we have those blind spots too, and it's like, yeah,
28:12
Speaker 1: it's like just stuff that we need to commit to
28:15
Speaker 1: working and figuring out. And I'll repeat this podcast recommendation
28:20
Speaker 1: again just because I've been listening to even more of
28:23
Speaker 1: it than I usually do. But black men can't jump
28:24
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, go to it. It's so funny, and I
28:30
Speaker 1: hope that well we'll have them on the show as well.
28:34
Speaker 1: Yeah that and like there's I think a discussion to
28:37
Speaker 1: be had around I guess like the must see movies
28:42
Speaker 1: of the year, and how it's very seldom that they
28:46
Speaker 1: are black movies. I think that like get Out was
28:49
Speaker 1: a recent exception, but like it's it's very rare that
28:53
Speaker 1: there will be critical darlings or movies that like critics
28:58
Speaker 1: by and large love and say like, you got to
29:01
Speaker 1: see this, this is the musty movie of the year
29:03
Speaker 1: because it is like white critics mostly or historically leading
29:09
Speaker 1: the narrative of like what movies you have to see,
29:12
Speaker 1: and which results in us getting every Richard Linklater film
29:16
Speaker 1: being one that you absolutely have to see because is
29:20
Speaker 1: it is it boyhood universal? Everyone feels it strongly about
29:24
Speaker 1: it has been in their forties. Everyone feels that way.
29:28
Speaker 1: That killed me. I was like, it was fine. I
29:29
Speaker 1: don't know, everyone's okay, right, they really they really played
29:33
Speaker 1: us with that one. That was so I didn't see
29:37
Speaker 1: it until last year, and I was just like, what
29:42
Speaker 1: that was what I was have to see? They were
29:44
Speaker 1: really betting on that kid growing up to be a
29:47
Speaker 1: good actor. Yeah, yeah, no, but I mean that was
29:55
Speaker 1: a tangent. But yeah, I I totally agree. And I
29:59
Speaker 1: think again it's where we have a platform where we
30:02
Speaker 1: talk about film. I include us in in that as well,
30:06
Speaker 1: and that's like, that is something that we need to
30:08
Speaker 1: get better at. Is um even if the marketing department
30:13
Speaker 1: is not going to tell us this is a must
30:15
Speaker 1: see movie, it's like, you know, let's seek out the movie,
30:19
Speaker 1: let's watch it, let's talk about it. It's truly the
30:22
Speaker 1: easiest thing in the world to do, and uh, we'll
30:24
Speaker 1: be doing it much more. Yeah, when I was growing up,
30:28
Speaker 1: I lived kind of between one theater which was in
30:30
Speaker 1: a wider neighborhood, in one theater which was in a
30:33
Speaker 1: blacker neighborhood. And even then it was really clear to
30:35
Speaker 1: see which movies were advertised and pushed where so, like
30:39
Speaker 1: a black movie would be maybe on one screen playing
30:43
Speaker 1: twice a day at the big one in the white neighborhood,
30:46
Speaker 1: but then you go over to the black neighborhood and
30:47
Speaker 1: it would be on like four screens. It felt like
30:49
Speaker 1: they were like, come and see this maybe, but we
30:52
Speaker 1: don't anticipate that this audience could have any interest in
30:55
Speaker 1: this type of story, which is so limiting, Like for
31:00
Speaker 1: it it just and it just assumes whiteness is the dominance.
31:04
Speaker 1: It assumes whiteness it is the dominance, and that it
31:07
Speaker 1: fulfills the prophecy that that movie won't make as much
31:10
Speaker 1: money because they're not putting it in as many places,
31:13
Speaker 1: and so it has to like it had every theater
31:15
Speaker 1: has to sell out or it has to blow out
31:17
Speaker 1: sales records in order to be considered a success. Like
31:22
Speaker 1: why like Girls Trip made so much money, but it
31:25
Speaker 1: had to be very good in order to make that money,
31:27
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. And also framing, I remember Girls
31:32
Speaker 1: Trip being framed as like a surprise success and like,
31:37
Speaker 1: what is that supposed to be indicating? Fucking like Queen Latifa?
31:41
Speaker 1: Is it? How is it a surprise that Jada Pinkett
31:45
Speaker 1: Smith Tiffany had, Like, yeah, it had such a major
31:49
Speaker 1: movie stars. Yeah, it was. It is very good. I
31:52
Speaker 1: liked it a lot. I loved it. It's very funny.
31:54
Speaker 1: There's a very specific SNL skit, Tom Hanks. It's on
31:57
Speaker 1: Black Jeopardy. Did you guys see this? I know it
32:01
Speaker 1: doesn't sound super familiar. I think it's one of the
32:03
Speaker 1: best sketches that SNL put out for a while, But
32:07
Speaker 1: it's Tom Hanks. He's on Black Jeopardy, which is a
32:09
Speaker 1: bit that they do that's really recurring, and they ask
32:12
Speaker 1: a question about a media movie and he answers it
32:16
Speaker 1: right away and everyone is shocked. They're like, you know,
32:19
Speaker 1: all of media. He's like, it's a it's a heartwarming
32:22
Speaker 1: film where they talk about God. I've I feel like
32:25
Speaker 1: that hits with a lot of people, and it just
32:28
Speaker 1: everyone was shocked and like, yeah, I guess I guess
32:31
Speaker 1: it does. I think that if they approached it more
32:34
Speaker 1: like that, that these are themes that are fairly universal
32:37
Speaker 1: that a lot of people can relate to, that these
32:39
Speaker 1: films would have wider releases and bigger openings. Absolutely, That's
32:44
Speaker 1: the thing about storytelling is that, sure, there are some
32:48
Speaker 1: movies that are geared for a more specific niche audience,
32:53
Speaker 1: but like a lot of movies in general try to
32:56
Speaker 1: appeal to as large of an audience as possible by
32:58
Speaker 1: exploring very universally relatable themes. And many black films do this.
33:05
Speaker 1: And for film marketers to assume that a white audience
33:09
Speaker 1: couldn't connect with a story with a black protagonist or
33:14
Speaker 1: a story that explores a black experience like that is
33:18
Speaker 1: ludicrous and Hollywood needs to get a clue and like
33:26
Speaker 1: invest in black creatives too, because it's just it's such
33:30
Speaker 1: a like, you know, such a cyclical issue of like,
33:34
Speaker 1: you know, if black creators don't get the money to
33:38
Speaker 1: make their movie, then there's automatically less movies to market.
33:42
Speaker 1: If a movie is made by a black creative, it's
33:45
Speaker 1: automatically marketed less because there is this like prevalent assumption that,
33:50
Speaker 1: no matter how many times it's proven wrong, is always
33:53
Speaker 1: assumed over and over and over that black movies won't
33:57
Speaker 1: sell as well even though it's it's so frustrated, like
34:00
Speaker 1: constantly multiple times a year proven wrong. Um, but you know,
34:05
Speaker 1: it just becomes like this vicious circle. And since we
34:10
Speaker 1: cannot count upon the entertainment industry to improve, which it
34:17
Speaker 1: does so so so so so so slowly. Um, but
34:22
Speaker 1: it truly, I mean I feel like it does come
34:24
Speaker 1: down to like individuals being like I am going to
34:28
Speaker 1: look outside of what is literally put in front of
34:31
Speaker 1: me by because and also like so often what is
34:35
Speaker 1: put directly in front of us, as we discussed on
34:36
Speaker 1: the show constantly, it sucks. Um so yeah, And I
34:43
Speaker 1: mean part of that responsibility is ours to like go
34:48
Speaker 1: and research the films that aren't maybe in the mainstream
34:52
Speaker 1: because Hollywood refuses to try to let them be in
34:56
Speaker 1: the mainstream, and to watch those films and share them
35:01
Speaker 1: with our audience and our friends and everyone everyone around us. Um,
35:11
Speaker 1: what I think we want to do now is just
35:15
Speaker 1: encourage our listeners to do the same work that we
35:21
Speaker 1: are committing to in terms of discovering more black cinema
35:26
Speaker 1: consuming it, and will also be using like more of
35:31
Speaker 1: our platform, more of our social media to direct you
35:35
Speaker 1: where we can. And we're always like, we want to
35:37
Speaker 1: hear what you're watching, um, what you'd like to see
35:40
Speaker 1: covered on the show, which our listeners have never been
35:43
Speaker 1: shy about letting us know, so we trust, we trust
35:46
Speaker 1: that that will continue. But we uh, we're going to
35:49
Speaker 1: prioritize more finding voices to elevate and uh show to
35:53
Speaker 1: you with our with our humble baby platform. Um yeah,
35:58
Speaker 1: And I honestly like we're focusing on black cinema right now,
36:02
Speaker 1: but we could stand to cover more movies about other
36:06
Speaker 1: underrepresented groups. We could we there's movies about black, brown,
36:11
Speaker 1: Asian indigenous people. We could cover more queer movies, more
36:15
Speaker 1: international movies, like not just English language American movies, Like
36:19
Speaker 1: there's just a whole scope of things that we can Definitely,
36:25
Speaker 1: the thing is we can read and we should do
36:27
Speaker 1: it more. Indeed, another thing that we are going to
36:31
Speaker 1: do moving forward is an adjustment to our nipple scale.
36:36
Speaker 1: We've always treated it as how does this movie represent women? Um,
36:40
Speaker 1: But that is something that we of course realize isn't
36:45
Speaker 1: all inclusive. So what we're going to do instead, and
36:50
Speaker 1: this is what we've done with the podcast, with the
36:52
Speaker 1: discussions itself, but we're just changed in the official rules. Yeah,
36:57
Speaker 1: extending it to the nipple scale is rather than and
37:00
Speaker 1: how does the movie represent women, It's more how does
37:03
Speaker 1: the movie hold up when we're looking at it from
37:07
Speaker 1: an intersectional feminist lens um, And that way it's more inclusive,
37:12
Speaker 1: it's more intersectional. That is what we're going to do
37:16
Speaker 1: moving forward. Yeah, because we we also fully acknowledged I mean,
37:20
Speaker 1: we always say that the Bechtel test is a flawed metric, um.
37:24
Speaker 1: But one of the ways in which it is a
37:26
Speaker 1: flawed metric is that you know, by and large, we
37:30
Speaker 1: don't have the numbers on this, but we've seen movies.
37:33
Speaker 1: I think that oftentimes the Bechdel test is most often
37:37
Speaker 1: and passed between two white women. And so you know,
37:41
Speaker 1: it's on us to be taking and coming at the
37:45
Speaker 1: entire show through an intersectional lens, and that means, like
37:49
Speaker 1: we always do, we will be talking beyond the Bechdel Test.
37:52
Speaker 1: But even with our own metric and with how we're
37:55
Speaker 1: approaching the Bechtel Test, we're we're going to be kind
37:57
Speaker 1: of making that a little more focused in a little
38:00
Speaker 1: more clear moving forward. And I think that that I
38:03
Speaker 1: also want to give a hat tip to past guests
38:07
Speaker 1: Danny Fernandez UM for making that point on a recent
38:11
Speaker 1: Twitter thread that Um, she just mentioned the Bechtel Test
38:14
Speaker 1: often caters to white women, UM, which is absolutely true,
38:18
Speaker 1: and we will be more mindful in you know, pointing
38:22
Speaker 1: that out for sure, when a movie does pass, it's
38:25
Speaker 1: often between two sis white women. And while that's not nothing,
38:32
Speaker 1: it's definitely not everything. Not everything. What a great way
38:36
Speaker 1: to put it, um. And And also that I mean,
38:39
Speaker 1: speaking of the Bechtel Test, and you know, listeners, you
38:42
Speaker 1: know that we only use that as a really springboard
38:46
Speaker 1: to inspire a larger conversation. There's still a way that
38:50
Speaker 1: we could approach even how we treat the Bechtel Test
38:53
Speaker 1: is being more inclusive. Because we've always said, you know,
38:56
Speaker 1: female identifying characters who speak to each other. I've I've
39:00
Speaker 1: seen renditions of it where it's women, fems and non
39:04
Speaker 1: binary people if they speak to each other. So it's
39:08
Speaker 1: basically just broadening it up to more identities on the
39:12
Speaker 1: gender spectrum speaking to each other and still allowing that
39:16
Speaker 1: to pass. So UM, moving forward, I think that would
39:20
Speaker 1: be a good idea to implement. Um. And with that,
39:27
Speaker 1: thank you so much Kennie for being here. Of course,
39:30
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me. Of course, Um,
39:33
Speaker 1: where can people follow your stuff online? What would you
39:37
Speaker 1: like to plug? You can find me online at Kennese
39:41
Speaker 1: mobili on all the platforms. That's Twitter, that's Instagram, that's Venomo.
39:45
Speaker 1: If you're nasty, I don't know why I said that,
39:47
Speaker 1: but you get it right now. Yeah, but only if
39:52
Speaker 1: you're that's weird. Um, I take it back my bed okay. Uh.
39:57
Speaker 1: And also you could listen to my podcast which is
39:59
Speaker 1: called Love out Town, which Caitlin you have been a
40:02
Speaker 1: guest on and Jamie was a guest on one of
40:04
Speaker 1: the first incarnations of the pot Yeah he actually can
40:08
Speaker 1: you both that of on both People about Town, right
40:13
Speaker 1: and then Love About Town? Uh huh. Thanks for having me, Um, Yes,
40:20
Speaker 1: please follow Cannie and Venmo hur at least ten dollars,
40:24
Speaker 1: preferably more. And you know you can follow us in
40:29
Speaker 1: our all the normal places, um Instagram and Twitter as
40:34
Speaker 1: well you know the other stuff we don't need to
40:38
Speaker 1: hawk our merch right now. Um yeah. Well, and we'll
40:43
Speaker 1: be back next week spoiler alert or during Tangerine next week. Yes,
40:48
Speaker 1: so excited love that movie. Yeah. Thanks everyone for listening,
40:52
Speaker 1: and we'll be back next week. Bye bye