Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Podcast

Send us a textLight the lamp, not the rat!Just in time for Christmas, the Guy Girls welcome Emily’s dear friend Erika Plank Hagan to the show to discuss The Muppet Christmas Carol. There’s a reason this musical (and surprisingly faithful) adaptation of the Dickens morality tale is so beloved: not only does Michael Caine act his face off with his Muppet co-stars, but the framing of Gonzo playing Charles Dickens allowed Brian Henson to go all-in on the frightening aspects of the story without losing the littlest viewers. Erika shares how this film is often included in Episcopal sermons (Dickens was a Church of England guy), how the Disney executive’s decision to remove a song in the middle of the film is a storytelling travesty, and why bringing a raw turkey to someone’s house on Christmas day is just plain rude.Whether you’re here for the story or for the food, throw on your earbuds and take a listen!Mentioned in this episode:Antisemitic trope of Jews as spidersOur theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textThat's U.S., not you ass!The Guy girls remember the 1982 Richard Pryor film The Toy with a great deal of fondness, in part because it was on heavy rotation in the Guy household through their childhood. But a film about a billionaire’s young son “purchasing” a black man to be his toy for the week has some pretty chilling implications that the movie itself doesn’t do enough to acknowledge. In this week’s episode, Tracie shares how rewatching this movie in 2024 is both better and worse than she expected. It’s better because Richard Pryor is a delightful and talented center for the movie. And it’s worse because the film lets the villainous U.S. Bates, played by Jackie Gleason, get away with truly reprehensible behavior without real consequence and gives him a happy ending that he doesn’t earn. While the film is an indictment of capitalism, it also reinforces the idea that being nice to oppressors is how to secure human rights.Take a listen–just beware the piranhas!Mentioned in this episode:The commentator who led to Tracie’s “fractal” insight Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textThe Goonies never say die!One of the most quintessential Gen X films, The Goonies, makes for some significant mind furniture: good, bad, and kid-shaped. Richard Donner’s beloved 1985 film gave Gen X kids on-screen peers who talked like we did. They cursed and talked over one another and were cruel and sweet and they went on fabulous adventures. It also gave us unhealthy fatphobia, contradictory messages about greed, and a legendary pirate named after a penis. A lot about this film will garner cringes from contemporary viewers, but Emily notes that under the dated humor, fatphobia, sexism, racial stereotypes, and just plain silliness, there is a sweetness and hear that continues to shine through, especially in the person of Sloth and his relationship with Chunk and the other Goonies, his chosen family.Throw on your headphones and have a listen, no truffle shuffle required. Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textIt’s not that I’m lazy. I just don’t care.In this special, patron-exclusive bonus episode, Tracie brings her deep thoughts about Mike Judge’s 1999 film, Office Space. There’s a reason this film about bullshit work has remained so beloved for a quarter century. Judge accurately reflects–and lampoons–a lot about what it feels like to work to live. There’s also quite a bit about 1990s culture that this film reflects without lampooning it at all, including casual sexism, casual racism, and, once Tracie and Emily recognized Milton as neurodivergent, casual ableism. Still, with a great soundtrack and that iconic and satisfying destruction-of-the-copy-machine scene, Office Space remains deeply entertaining–if we can hold it as documenting 90s culture, rather than a sort of role model. Hello Listener, what's happening? Ummm, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and come in to Patreon. So, if you could just do that, that would be great, mmmk... Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Send us a textThose aren’t two pillows…Just in time for Thanksgiving, Emily finally watches one of the most beloved buddy comedies of the 1980s: Planes, Trains & Automobiles this week. After intentionally skipping this film when it was first released (because it appeared to feature gross-out and cringe humor), Emily is surprised and delighted to find the John Candy and Steve Martin comedy offers a nuanced look at how to see past our class-based differences. While John Hughes’ script provides a lot of the movie’s warm heart, it’s Candy’s performance that makes this film more than just a series of silly hijinks. Candy brings an impressive level of emotion and pathos to his larger-than-life character of Del Griffith. And though the film trades in some period typical fatphobia as part of its visual storytelling, viewers are ultimately given a clear sense of Del’s dignity and grief along with the belly laughs.It’s two days to Thanksgiving, making it the perfect time to throw your headphones and listen–even if your flight gets rerouted to Wichita!CW: FatphobiaMentioned in this episodeRoger Ebert’s 2000 retrospective reviewOur theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textWe picked the wrong week to give up horse tranquilizers…The Guy Girls have fond memories of the 1980 comedy Airplane!–specifically, they remember their dad helplessly snort-laughing at this three-gags-a-minute parody of 1970s-era disaster films. The movie still delivers solid belly laughs, but not everything is as funny four decades later. Tracie examines how jokes about pedophilia, misogyny, racism, and homophobia in the movie punch down instead of skewering the powerful and absurd, and the sisters lament the fact that the Zucker brothers (and Jim Abrahams) question everything–except the idea that a woman is a prize. But credit where credit is due–Tracie is able to make Emily lose it with laughter just by describing some of the movie’s funniest moments.Surely you’re going to listen to this episode. I am going to listen–and don’t call me Shirley.Mentioned in this episode:The commentator with gag analysis: https://covell.ca/airplane/Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textYou know what the difference is between you and me? I make podcasting look gooooood.This week, Emily dives into the remarkably subversive 1997 film Men in Black. Despite looking like nothing more than an entertaining summer blockbuster that merged sci-fi and comedy, MiB actually asks the audience to rethink what they know about immigration, xenophobia, race, policing, government, and even the buddy-cop genre. Tracie and Emily truly enjoy revisiting this old favorite that seems especially prescient in the current political climate. Take a listen and we promise not to use the flashy-thing memory-messer-upper on you!Mentioned in this episode:https://collider.com/men-in-black-unconscious-bias/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/comments/hkolix/men_in_black_and_the_art_of_a_racial_subtext_in_a/ Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon. Not ready for long-term commitment but want to support us? Buy us a coffee on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textShouldn't you be holding the crucifix? It is the prop for martyrs!The 1996 film The Birdcage offered a revolutionary portrayal of gay love in a mainstream movie. Not only do we see a stable, loving, long-term relationship between Robin Williams’ Armand and Nathan Lane’s Albert, but the film is a funny and joyous celebration of being queer that doesn’t require a side of tragedy. But as Tracie shares with us this week, not everything in this laugh-out-loud farce has aged well: Armand and Albert’s son Val is a straight-up villain (see what I did there?) who pressures his parents hide their true selves, Hank Azaria’s portrayal of Agador, the Guatemalan house boy, makes his character the butt of the joke (not to mention the fact that Azaria is a straight, white, Ashkenazi Jewish man playing a queer Latino), and the shortcuts the filmmakers use to show the hypocrisy of Gene Hackman’s Senator Keeley reify racist stereotypes.The sisters still find a lot to love in this film that asks us to question assumptions about gender performance and family–even if they can never forgive Val.We are family! I’ve got the Guy sisters with me. Get up everybody and listen!CW: Discussions of homophobia and the AIDS epidemicMentioned in this episode:The commentator who named Val THE villain of the 1990s: https://crookedmarquee.com/why-the-birdcage-mattered-and-how-it-came-up-short/#google_vignetteOur theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textWhat's this? What's this? There's overthinking everywhere!This week’s episode of Deep Thoughts takes a closer look at Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (which was actually directed by Henry Selick) to see what unintentional lessons the 1993 Hallow-Christmas classic taught us. The film serves as a fascinating metaphor for toxic masculinity and it makes an excellent point about the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation. Also, Tracie raves about the agency and badassery of Sally, who uses her knowledge and skills to literally sew herself back together–but the sisters lament that this amazing character is relegated to the status of love interest. And of course, the music, artistry, and delightfully bizarre humor is still enjoyable and iconic more than 30 years later.Throw on some headphones to feel like your old bony self again!Mentioned in this episode:Nightmare Before Christmas as a parable of toxic masculinityhttps://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-nightmare-before-christmas-and-toxic-masculinityOur theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Send us a textWe’re gonna need a bigger podcast…Join the Guy Girls this week as Emily geeks out about the most tightly-written and well-crafted summer blockbuster ever made: Jaws. This film taught us the importance of keeping the monster hidden until the third act (which only happened because the mechanical shark broke down), features the most chilling four-minute monologue (telling the true story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis), and gave Emily a framework for understanding why officials might focus on profits over safety (which she needed during Covid). While there is no such thing as a perfect film–Jaws barely passes the Bechdel test and relies on the sexualized-young-woman-in-peril trope–this masterpiece comes pretty darn close.Put on your headphones…but don’t go in the water!CW: Discussion of violent/fatal shark attacks and child death.Analysis of the film:https://lithub.com/on-the-endless-symbolism-of-the-best-summer-movie-ever-made-jawshttps://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/the-real-meaning-of-jaws-bjkgf9ryOur theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://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 Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls