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O Captain! My Captain!

Join us as Tracie brings her deep thoughts to the 1989 film Dead Poets Society on today’s episode. Though this beloved film was supposed to be a defense of the humanities (and remember, both Guy Girls were English majors at private liberal arts colleges), this rewatch made it clear the film thinks poetry is simply cute and that Robin Williams’s John Keating agitated for independent thought–as long as it aligned with his own. While the movie does not inspire like it once did, bringing a queer lens to the analysis offers some important lessons on becoming one’s full self.

Is this a podcast I see before me? Earbuds toward my hand? Come, let me listen to thee!

CW: Suicide and mentions of sexual harassment/stalking.

Mentioned in this episode:

Dead Poets Society Is a Terrible Defense of the Humanities by Kevin Dettmar (Atlantic)

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

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Hold on to your butts!

On this week’s episode of Deep Thoughts, Emily shares her analysis of the 1993 film Jurassic Park. She describes the thrill of being the target audience for a summer blockbuster (she was 14 when it came out) and her discomfort with how the book portrayed the only two female characters as an annoying child and a cardboard cutout with breasts. She and Tracie talk about how the film that teaches us that life finds a way makes for an unexpected (and unintended) allegory for the importance of reproductive autonomy. And Emily explains why Muldoon’s final words of “Clever girl” are her favorite movie moment.

Throw on some headphones and listen to the adventure 65 million 31 years in the making!

Note: We had some technical difficulties during recording and lost a couple minutes of recording but Tracie mentioned some of the missing information in her synthesis. Specifically, in the missing section, Emily talked about Dr. Sattler saying “Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth” and about Spielberg’s desire to cast Joseph Mazzello as Tim, which affected the ages of the children in the film compared to the book.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

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Magic! Do as you will!

Tracie brings her deep thoughts about the 1982 animated film The Last Unicorn, a lesser-known but beloved part of the traumatizing 80s movie canon. With gorgeous animation–the studio went on to become Studio Ghibli–this film tells an odd story about how mortality allows us to feel regret and reminds us there are no happy endings because there are no endings. Tracie and Emily’s conversation ranges from sublime (the gendered nature of power) to the ridiculous (I’m engaged to a Douglas fir!) and enjoys many pit stops through unicorn lore along the way.

Don’t be a Schmendrick! Put on your headphones and listen to this episode.

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/geek-therapy-professionals/202203/what-the-last-unicorn-means-us-today

https://www.fantasy-animation.org/current-posts/mortality-over-legacy-an-analysis-of-the-last-unicorn

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

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In the words of David Cassidy, in fact, while he was still with The Partridge Family, I think I love you…

Join us this week as Tracie and Emily revisit the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral that they first saw in the theater together. Not only did this film launch Guy girls’ long-standing fixation on Hugh Grant, the floppy-haired embodiment of the word diffident, but it also tells a nuanced and progressive (for the early 90s) story of gay romance, subverts the expectations of female sexuality, and offers some lovely disability representation. While not everything holds up to 30-year hindsight–the characters are all posh white folks with lots o’ money and Andie MacDowell’s character is a bit of a sexy lamp–this brilliantly funny movie is well worth the rewatch.

You are cordially invited to don your headphones and listen to this episode…

Mentioned in this episode
Four things to say about Four Weddings now it’s 25
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-84804/Four-Weddings-star-dies.html
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x752gdf

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

Send us a Text Message.

Was it beauty that killed the beast? Or was it capitalism…aided by airplanes?

On this week’s episode of Deep Thoughts, Tracie and Emily welcome Oberlin Professor Pat Day to talk about the ape, the myth, the movie legend: King Kong. Prof. Day walks us through how the original filmmakers in 1933 used new technology (A musical score! Claymation! The newly-built Empire State building!) to critique how technology destroys nature. The conversation covers all three versions of Kong: 1933 starring Fay Wray, 1976 starring Jessica Lange, and 2005 starring Naomi Watts, and we discuss the sexualized and racialized nature of Kong’s threat to the beautiful blond woman and what it means that Watts, unlike her predecessors, truly sympathizes with the doomed ape.

Grab your headphones and join us on our voyage to Skull Island!

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/king-kong-2005 (Note from Emily: I could have sworn it was Ebert who said that if Kong fighting one T-Rex is cool, then him fighting three is even BETTER, but that does not appear in his review here. If anyone can remember who said that back in 2005, please let us know!)

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

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We’re not bad…we’re just drawn that way!

In this episode, Emily brings her deep thoughts about a marvel of innovation and animation: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

This 1988 film, a self-conscious mashup of three different animation studios’ styles and the film-noir of the Chinatown films, is a unique vehicle for a conversation about the ways in which art begets art. It also leads to some musings on options for reviving old stories (or genres) in ways that don’t perpetuate old hurts and oppression. In the end, much like with our Deep Thoughts About Clue, we are left with a deep appreciation for the filmmakers who took their task seriously, but never themselves.

P-p-please! Put in your earbuds and join us in Toontown!

Mentioned in this episode:

Manners and Monsters series by Tilly Wallace

Dominic Noble: Who Framed Roger Rabbit Lost in Adaptation

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

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Now I had the time of my life…revisiting this classic!

In today’s special patrons-only bonus episode, Tracie dives deep into the unexpected hit film Dirty Dancing. Join the sisters as they unpack Eleanor Bergstein’s very intentional and subversive storytelling that made abortion integral to the plot (which surprised the heck out of college-aged Emily when she realized the abortion subplot had sailed over her head as a kid). Though we still don’t know why it’s bad to put Baby in the corner, it’s delightful to learn that you can go home again…if you’re going home to Kellerman’s with the Houseman family.

Plug in your headphones and shake those maracas as you listen to this episode.

Content warning: Discussion of sexual coercion

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dirty-dancing-1987

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes like this one, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.

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Hell is only a word…

This week on Deep Thoughts, the sisters welcome best-selling horror novelist (and Emily’s fellow Kenyon alum) Scott Kenemore to discuss the 1997 cult classic Event Horizon starring Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne. The wide-ranging discussion moves from the meaning of cosmic horror to the importance of intent when creating new technology to the satisfying dichotomy of advanced spacecraft bringing humans to their ancient fears. Much like the movie, this episode is a ride that will take you places you don't expect to go. (But with more laughter, thankfully).

Where we’re going, we don’t need eyes to see…just some headphones to hear this episode!

Content warning: Mention of suicide, self-harm, and sexual harrassment

Want to learn more about Scott? Find him at

scottkenemore.com
x.com/ScottKenemore

Pre-order his book space horror novel Edge of the Wire through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org (which helps support your local independent bookstore).

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.