This week our high school season has reached the cultural zenith (no shade: it’s a culturally important film!) of MEAN GIRLS (2004). After some reviews, we talk about meta-commentaries on teenage slang, the refreshing absence of strong male characters, and why this might be a film about leaving the limitations of high school days behind.
Our next film in the high school genre is the 2007 version of ST. TRINIAN’S.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019): Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (2017–) Bryan Fuller, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones
UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT (2015–19): Tristram Shapeero, Ellie Kemper, Jane Krakowski
SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009): Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law
MACHETE (2010): Ethan Maniquis, Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo
500 DAYS OF SUMMER (2009): Mark Webb, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Rob mentions a test for female representation, which is described here: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Sexy_Lamp_Test. But that then sent me down a rabbit-hole of online descriptions of other tests, like this: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Bechdel_Test and this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mako_Mori_test. After that, it was a short step to reading other stories about gendered and racial representation on film, and scanning articles about the GamerGate and FakeFanGirls controversies, and then I realised that it was ten to 11 and I’ve got work tomorrow. Ho-hum. On the subject of teenage slang, any list like this https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g4589/slang-word-meanings is automatically going to sound like Amy Poehler as a mum in about 6 months, which has what has happened with this one, so it would be really unfair to laugh at it…wouldn’t it…oh well: life’s not fair. Finally, for anyone with a passing interest in steampunk, or Sherlock Holmes, or graphic novels, or Alan Moore, Sam’s lecture on all of this is available here: https://prezi.com/n2nbdgzs1gof/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share.
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