Madeline Looks Back

Rape-revenge movies have a reputation as voyeuristic at best, or at worst, distorted fantasies made by men, for men. Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” reimagines the genre by exploring what revenge and reparations would be sufficient to punish a rapist. We explore the societal and legal structures that fail rape survivors and how men respond when women don’t act the way they expect. Content warning: This episode deals with rape and trauma, so if that’s not something you want to listen to, check out one of our other episodes. Cited: Clover, Carol J. "Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film." Princeton University Press, 1997. Machado, Carmen Maria. "How 'Promising Young Woman' Refigures the Rape-Revenge Movie." The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/how-promising-young-woman-refigures-the-rape-revenge-movie Wilson, Lena. "Rape-Revenge Tales: Cathartic? Maybe. Incomplete? Definitely." The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/movies/rape-revenge-films-flaws.html The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We talk about the 2009 film ‘Jennifer’s Body,’ why it wasn’t appreciated when it came out, and what it has to say about the expectations we project onto young women’s bodies. We discuss Megan Fox’s theory about why the movie bombed and the treatment of actresses pre-MeToo, and we dive into how the movie plays with horror tropes. Cited: Blichert, Frederick. “'Jennifer’s Body' Would Kill if It Came Out Today.” Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/qv99y3/jennifers-body-would-kill-if-it-came-out-today?utm_source=vicetwitterus Clover, Carol J. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton University Press, 1997. Grady, Constance. “How Jennifer’s Body went from a flop in 2009 to a feminist cult classic today.’ Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/31/18037996/jennifers-body-flop-cult-classic-feminist-horror Scott, A.O. “Hell Is Other People, Especially the Popular Girl.” New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/movies/18jennifer.html The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We talk about ‘Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey’ (a.k.a. ‘Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn’) and discuss the figure of the anti-heroine, how Harley rejects the Lolita effect, and her quest to define herself. Cited: Balakian, Nona. “The Prophetic Vogue of the Anti-Heroine.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/43467384 Itzkoff, Dave. “Cathy Yan on the Rerelease of ‘Birds of Prey,’ the Harley Quinn Movie.” New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/movies/cathy-yan-harley-quinn-birds-of-prey.html Schmidt, Katlin, "Siren Song: A Rhetorical Analysis of Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in Gotham City Sirens." https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/2423 “Watch Margot Robbie Fight on Roller Skates in ‘Birds of Prey’ | Anatomy of a Scene.” New York Times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IzKamea9ww “'Birds Of Prey' Takes Flight.” Pop Culture Happy Hour. https://www.npr.org/2020/02/13/805620651/birds-of-prey-takes-flight The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We talk about media made for teenage girls, comparing ‘Bring It On’ (2000) and ‘Never Have I Ever’ (2020), and discuss why teenage movies were dismissed, the importance of women in the film industry, and the evolution in the way we talk about sexuality in media. Cited: Cohen, Anne. “Teenage Girls Loved These Movies, Critics Didn’t — Who Was Right?” Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/12/8952462/girl-movies-for-women-reviews-male-film-critics-problem Getz, Dana. “What Happened To Sleepover Movies?” Bustle. https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/90s-2000s-teen-movies Orenstein, Peggy. “The Movies Discover The Teen-Age Girl”. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/11/movies/the-movies-discover-the-teen-age-girl.html Scott, A.O. “Strong, Modest and Sincere Behind All the Giddy Cheer.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/25/movies/film-review-strong-modest-and-sincere-behind-all-the-giddy-cheer.html “Never Have I Ever I Co-Creators Mindy Kaling & Lang Fisher On Creating Teen Comedy “ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE_Oah0RxQE “Never Have I Ever | Mindy Kaling & Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Celebrate Ganesh Puja Episode” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzVYRST0h3Q The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We discuss the novel 'Girl, Woman, Other' by Bernadine Evaristo and explore rejecting binaries, celebrating the diversity of voices in feminist discourse, and practicing feminism as social justice. 'Girl, Woman, Other' character map: https://twitter.com/bernardineevari/status/1208313873473966081?lang=en More information on deadnaming: https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/deadnaming#media Cited: Anim-Addo, Joan. “activist-mothers maybe, sisters surely? Black British feminism, absence and transformation.” https://www-jstor-org.aurarialibrary.idm.oclc.org/stable/24571919 The Santa Cruz Feminist Of Color Collective. “Building on ‘the Edge of Each Other's Battles’: A Feminist of Color Multidimensional Lens.” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hypa.12062 Stryker, Susan. “(De)Subjugated Knowledges: An Introduction to Transgender Studies.” The Transgender Studies Reader. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Transgender_Studies_Reader.html?id=HBRR1isU-VAC The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We talk about vampire women, share a brief history of women in the film industry, and explore the ideas on humanity, criminality, and morality in the films “The Velvet Vampire” and “A Girl Walks Home Alone” at Night. Cited: Aylsworth, Laura. “Harmless Victims or Harmful Villians: The Representation of Criminalized Women in Public Discourse.” Carleton University https://curve.carleton.ca/c80b976e-acf0-4c46-9e13-a12be3a95d87 Schnidel, Dan. How the 1970s Marked a Turning Point for Women Directors in Hollywood.” Hyperallergic. https://hyperallergic.com/481079/liberating-hollywood-maya-montanez-smukler-ucla-film/ Williams, Linda. "When the woman looks." http://academic.uprm.edu/mleonard/theorydocs/readings/WilliamsWomanLook.pdf Wood, Robin. “Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan -- and Beyond.” https://books.google.com/books?id=CMCpsJBrtBQC&dq=the+velvet+vampire+feminism&source=gbs_navlinks_s Recommendations: Allende, Isabel. “Long Petal of the Sea.” https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622081/a-long-petal-of-the-sea-by-isabel-allende/ Applebaum, Anne. “History Will Judge the Complicit.” The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/ Carr, Erin Lee. “All That You Leave Behind.” https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/551517/all-that-you-leave-behind-by-erin-lee-carr/ The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Quarantine has us creeping up and down the walls, so we’re turning to some of our favorite women authors of the 19th and 20th centuries and relating to them in whole new ways. We talk about feeling trapped inside the home in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” appreciating life after close encounters with death in "Mrs. Dalloway," and finding a little hope in Emily Dickinson. Mild spoilers for "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." Cited in this episode: Dickinson, Emily. “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers.’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314 Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “Infection in the Sentence: The Woman Writer and the Anxiety of Authorship.” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, edited by David H. Richter, Shorter Third Edition, Bedford/St. Martins, 2016, pp. 902-915. Kindley, Evan. “Why Anxious Readers Under Quarantine Turn to ‘Mrs. Daloway.’” The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/why-anxious-readers-under-quarantine-turn-to-virginia-woolfs-mrs-dalloway The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We discuss the series ‘Sex Education’ and the ways it challenges assumptions about sexuality, promotes open and healthy communication about sex and relationships, and creates an idyllic world in which acceptance is the norm. Contains spoilers for seasons 1 and 2! Cited in the episode: Glover, Cameron. “The Final Frontier With ‘Sex Education,’ Netflix Expands the Pleasure Discourse.” Bitch Media. https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/netflix-sex-education-season-two-review Liepe-Levinson, Katherine. Strip Show: Performances of Gender and Desire https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=I-iFAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=nonbinary+sexual+representation+american+television&ots=9G-lxjB8JQ&sig=CDGhmbyLVHXHXdf6HfjYq1GIvu4#v=onepage&q&f=false Nursing@USC Staff. “America’s Sex Education: How We Are Failing Our Students.” https://nursing.usc.edu/blog/americas-sex-education/ The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We talk about the series Killing Eve, the way women murderers are portrayed as monsters, how Villanelle uses femininity as a mask, and what representations of violence reveal about society’s preconceptions. Season 1 and 2 spoilers abound! Cited in this episode: Cox, Lara. “Misogyny, Maids, and Murderesses: Toward a Feminist Reappraisal of Jean Genet's ‘Les Bonnes’.” Theatre Journal. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24580307 Gilbert, Paula Ruth. “Violence and the Female Imagination: Quebec's Women Writers Re-Frame Gender in North American Cultures.” French, Canadian, and Women's Studies at George Mason University/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt80g9h Nussbaum, Emily. “Chick Magnets on ‘Gentleman Jack’ and ‘Killing Eve.” The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/chick-magnets-on-gentleman-jack-and-killing-eve Additional reading/listening: Adler, Natalie. “Season 2 Of ‘Killing Eve’ Killed The Queer Subtext, And All The Fun Along With It.” BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/natalieadler/killing-eve-season-2-sandra-oh-jodie-comer-queer-subtext Crouse, Lindsay. "My Ex-Boyfriend’s New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga." The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opinion/sunday/lady-gaga-boyfriend.html Gutowitz, Jill. “Killing Eve's Queer Storyline Is Looking More and More Like a Marketing Ploy.” Vice. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3nw9x/fans-accuse-killing-eve-sandra-oh-of-queerbaiting-after-season-2-finale Pop Culture Happy Hour. "'Birds of Prey' Takes Flight." https://www.npr.org/2020/02/13/805620651/birds-of-prey-takes-flight The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We talk about the series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the state of feminism in 1960, the constraints for women comedians at the time, and Midge Maisel’s own brand of feminism and femininity. Cited in this episode: Maud Anne Bracke, Penelope Morris and Emily Ryder. "Introduction. Translating Feminism: Transfer, Transgression, Transformation (1950s–1980s).” Gender & History, 2018. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0424.12358 Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. Norton, 1963. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Feminine-Mystique Constance Grady. “The waves of feminism, and why people keep fighting over them, explained.” Vox, 2018. https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth Richard Severo and Peter Keepnews. “Phyllis Diller, Sassy Comedian, Dies at 95.” The New York Times, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/arts/television/phyllis-diller-sassy-comedian-dies-at-95.html Krystie Lee Yandoli “The Accidental Revolutionaries In ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’.” BuzzFeed, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krystieyandoli/marvelous-mrs-maisel-season-3-three Phyllis Diller stand-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwzOflhCJCo Joan Rivers stand-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppj6Syvwn_o “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” excerpt from season 3, episode 6. Amazon Prime Video, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07WRDTFNT/ref=atv_hm_hom_1_c_iEgOEZ_2_1 The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We discuss the sci-fi novel “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin and talk about why temporal physics is a good metaphor for social movements, how gender dynamics look under different societal structures, and the cyclical nature of anarchy. Cited in this episode: Jonas Gerald. “Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fiction-is-dead-at-88.html Klarer, Mario. “Gender and the ‘Simultaneity Principle’: Ursula Le Guin's ‘The Dispossessed’.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/24780621 Tavormina, M. Teresa. “Physics as Metaphor: The General Temporal Theory in The Dispossessed.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/24780261 Williams, Donna Glee. “The Moons of Le Guin and Heilen.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/4240331 The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

On this “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Halloween special, we talk about how the iconic series deals with gender, power, sexuality, and sexual assault. We consider what makes Buffy a feminist text and why it’s worth analyzing and discussing today. Cited in this episode: Camron, Marc. “The Importance of Being the Zeppo: Xander, Gender Identity and Hybridity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies - www.whedonstudies.tv/uploads/2/6/2/…593/camron.pdf Kane, Vivian. “James Marsters Tells the Story Behind That Buffy Scene That Made You Hate Spike.” The Mary Sue - www.themarysue.com/james-marsters-…you-hate-spike/ Nussbaum, Emily. I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution - www.amazon.com/Like-Watch-Arguin…ion/dp/0525508961 The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal freemusicarchive.org/music/Portraya…l_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We discuss "Her Body and Other Parties," the collection of short stories by Carmen Maria Machado, and grapple with its ideas of embodiment, revising the horror genre, and society's treatment of women's bodies and desires. Cited in this episode: Butler, Judith. "Imitation and Gender Insubordination" - https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=COIvCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT381&dq=Imitation+and+Gender+Insubordination+judith+butler&ots=3aVfUD7q7I&sig=oZ9GVFSUiw_P1p6uamrz_ETSYNE#v=onepage&q=Imitation%20and%20Gender%20Insubordination%20judith%20butler&f=false Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “Infection in the Sentence: The Woman Writer and the Anxiety of Authorship. ” The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination - https://www.amazon.com/Madwoman-Attic-Nineteenth-Century-Literary-Imagination/dp/0300084587 Epstein, March J. "Consuming Performances: Eating Acts and Feminist Embodiment" - https://www.jstor.org/stable/1146588 Price, Janet and Margrit Shildrick "Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader" - https://books.google.com/books/about/Feminist_Theory_and_the_Body.html?id=aBRUjxPk_YUC Spelman, Elizabeth V. "Woman as Body: Ancient and Contemporary Views" - https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177582 The music used in this episode is "Lost Souls" by Portrayal https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Portrayal/20181230154516502/Portrayal_-_Lost_Souls used under an attribution license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This month, we talk about "Big Little Lies" (the series and the book), the way women are judged by their community, how marriage is depicted in literature, and women banding together to protect themselves from persecution. We also pay tribute to Toni Morrison and her contributions to literature. As usual, spoilers abound.

This month, we're talking about "Fleabag," and we discuss the many forms of feminism depicted in the series, the issues of gender and sexuality in the workplace, and giving people the chance to not be awful. Spoiler alert: We talk extensively about important plot points, so finish watching the series before you listen!

This month, we're talking about "Game of Thrones," female representation in the fantasy genre, women and power in Westeros, and how sexual assault is treated in the series. Spoiler alert: We talk extensively about how "Game of Thrones" ends, so if you haven't finished the series and have somehow eluded spoilers so far, come back after you finish watching.

In the inaugural episode of the podcast, we define what we mean by "female gaze" and discuss the 2015 film "The Invitation," directed by Karyn Kusama, and its portrayals of masculinity.