Clitical Thought

Bill and Melinda Gates divorce!

Marriage Story (2019)

The Pattern

A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu (2020)

New Animal by Ella Baxter (2021)

The Wire (2002-2008)

Christos Tsiolkas - The Slap (2008), Barracuda (2013), Damascus (2019)

Fleabag (2016-2019)

Normal People (2018)

Fangirls the Musical by Yve Blake

Review: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/feb/04/fangirls-review-delightful-musical-homage-to-fandoms-screaming-very-much-encouraged

Red Scare

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2uux6PcmzX2FPxfGyeeFOc?si=H6nxqx6cTxamhUSN00kPqA

First Cow (2021)

‘The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship’ - William Blake

Minari (2021)

Poog Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aF9EB1e73SmmWIrvC4I61?si=AHVznQ67THaKJ3bNTfmTnA

The Age of Innocence (1993)

French Exit (2021)

French Dispatch (Wes Anderson!) (2021)

We are back (again!!!!)

Join us as we discuss the Oscars (the winners and the losers), make unqualified fashion critiques before diving into discussing our favourite topics; the Yoghurt Wars™, Conservative Influencing™ and Age Gap Romances™. We ask, is Stanley Tucci playing a gay man an act of violence, who is Olivia Colman’s designer and what 12 things do you need to be a lady?!

Things mentioned (Oscars):

Great year for women!

- https://theconversation.com/oscars-2021-5-experts-on-the-wins-the-words-the-wearable-art-and-a-big-year-for-women-159697

First women of colour to win best director - Chloé Zhao

- https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3131838/chinas-treatment-oscar-winner-chloe-zhao-shows-how-lose-friends

- https://www.sbs.com.au/news/trailblazing-director-chloe-zhao-is-the-first-woman-of-colour-to-win-the-best-director-oscar

Best supporting actress: Youn Yuh-Jung 

- https://my.asiatatler.com/life/facts-about-youn-yuh-jung-minari-oscars-baftas-sag-awards

First African-American winners in the category of makeup and hairstyling - Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

- https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/25/mia-neal-and-jamika-wilson-become-first-black-women-to-win-hair-and-makeup-oscar

Talent is arbitrary: Fran Lebowitz documentary - Pretend Its a City (2021 Netflix)

- https://www.vulture.com/2021/01/pretend-its-a-city-best-bits-in-netflix-fran-lebowitz-doc.html

Why have there been no great women artists? Linda Nochlin (1971)

- https://www.writing.upenn.edu/library/Nochlin-Linda_Why-Have-There-Been-No-Great-Women-Artists.pdf

Foreign Film - Another Round (2020)

- https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56647795

Minari (2020) 

- https://www.theringer.com/movies/2021/4/12/22379106/steven-yeun-minari-deserves-best-actor-oscar

Discussion on straight actors being cast in gay roles/Politicising film:

- Supernova (2021)

- https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/22/supernova-review-colin-firth-stanley-tucci-toronto

- Stanley Tucci ‘Italy’ series:

- https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-timeless-fantasy-of-stanley-tucci-eating-italian-food

- Zadi Smith:

- https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/10/24/zadie-smith-in-defense-of-fiction/

- Disclosure (2020):

- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=585113292147850

- Ammonite (2020)

-  https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/ammonite/

- Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

- The World to Come (2020) - Vanessa Kirby

- It’s a Sin (2021)

- Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Red carpet:

- Rip Olivia Colman’s stylist!

https://www.google.com/search?q=olivia+colman+oscars+2021&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiVsJyjyq3wAhVHAnIKHe1pAmoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=olivia+colman+oscars+2021&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzoCCAA6BAgAEB46BAgAEBhQ_g1YjxVgwhZoAHAAeACAAYUBiAH-BJIBAzAuNZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=ivWPYJXDGMeEyAPt04nQBg&bih=923&biw=1680#imgrc=RJ5tnzxuy7_f0M

Yoghurt Wars/Demi Lovato—

https://www.gossipcop.com/demi-lovato-frozen-yogurt-shop-feud/186622/

Conservative Influencer -

Classically Abby

- https://www.youtube.com/c/ClassicallyAbby/videos

Clits of the week!

- New Animal (2021) by Ella Baxter

- The Father (2021)

- Before Sunrise (1995)

- Let Me Tell You What I mean (2021) by Joan Didian

Really not much else to say….

But we are back, baby! We have missed you and missed the mic, so please sit back and open your ears - to Clitical Thought Season 2! 

Things we mentioned!

Dolly Alderton Pod (Sentimental Garbage, The High Low, Love Stories)

The Real Real - https://www.therealreal.com/

Moma PS5 www.instagram.com/Moma.ps5

Guardian - Falling sperm count: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/26/falling-sperm-counts-human-survival

Sexual Discrimination Act - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/08/australias-sex-discrimination-law-will-be-amended-to-include-mps-judges-and-public-servants

Media Watch: Christian Port vs ABC - https://youtu.be/Euog4waaHMs

The Saturday Paper - Why our media and politics fail trauma survivors: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2021/03/10/why-our-media-and-politics-fail-trauma-survivors/161535780011237

Alan Kim!!!!! (cutest video ever) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJDSpfjCaz/

Texts mentioned:

(Does anyone have any audible recommendations - Hit Anna up!)

Emotional Female by Yumiko Kadota

New Animal by Ella Baxter

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Narrated by Rosamund Pike)

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

On Self Respect by Joan Didion

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler

Sex, Lies and Question Time by Kate Ellis

Films mentioned:

The Courier (2020/2021)

Lady Bird (2017)

French Exit (2020)

Parasite (2019)

Minari (2021)

Promising Young Woman (2021)

Nomadland (2021)

Music mentioned:

Lana Del Ray Album - Chemtrails over the Country Club

Taylor Swift - Fearless vault

Devil Wears Prada

High Fidelity

I May Destroy You

Moonlight

Marie Antoinette

Get ready to put on your red caps and make Clitical Thought Great Again™! That's right - it is our US Election edition! Joined by a friend of the pod and our US political correspondent (crossing to us live from Brunswick) Cassius Hynam! So grab some root beer and sit back as we ask why does no one care about the VP? What does the US postal system have to do with Facism, and is Biden in danger of being overshadowed by Kamala Harris? (As god forbid we let a rich white man be overshadowed by a successful and qualified African/Indian woman - I mean what is the world coming to?)

Guest: Cassius Hynam

Cassius is an international relations & economics graduate and academic tutor at a subsidiary of the University of Melbourne, soon to commence an Honours thesis analysing Australia's foreign policy on a rising China. A man of many talents: Cass is a beer pourer, tik tok trailblazer, twitter tyrant and soon to be host of his own political podcast, so watch this space!

Twitter-https://twitter.com/cassiusjoseph

Is Kamala Harris the best VP pick?

•Kamala Harris' story: https://time.com/5881343/kamala-harris-global-history/

Is Harris' politics too influenced by powers within the criminal justice system and now the Democratic party? I.e. Do these shifts of values represent a morally uncertain individual or someone adaptive to a time and place?

•Great instagram post - Summary of Harris: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDzsjoUAj4o/

Do we give Harris a break on some of her views as they were from a different cultural time?

Disclaimer: We do not support her prosecution record that targeted marginalised communities. Regardless of cultural time period.

•Kamala Harris' history on trans and sexwork issues:

•https://www.them.us/story/kamala-harriss-record-on-trans-and-sex-work-issues

Is Harris more important to Biden than he himself was to Obama? Could this be to his detriment?

•https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/08/inside-trumpworlds-anti-kamala-harris-attack-plan:

•"This is not Mike Pence to Donald Trump or Joe Biden to Obama. Kamala is going to be the candidate. She'll be constantly overshadowing him. In three to four weeks, Biden is going to realize he made a dumb move."

•

Democratic National Convention

•Biden's Speech

•https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/biden-dnc-speech-transcript/index.html

•

Does the disparity of education amongst voters lend the country to right-wing populism? Furthermore, does Trump's attack on the US postal system indicate a potential shift toward facism?

•Thomas Frank: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/22/the-people-no-review-thomas-frank-anti-populism-trump-fdr

•Trump's political history with the US postal system:

•https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-p...

Greetings all! We hope this episode finds you well and socially d i s t a n c e d! Join us as Anna forces Bella to consume 75 minutes of heterosexual commercial television.... Aka. The Bachelor! Using this case study and springboard, we dive into a critical discussion of instinctual attraction (what shapes our desires and are we able to interfere with society's conditioning), what our entrance would be if we were contestants and how we both have stereotyped ideas of what we find attractive in potential romantic partners. Before hitting the big scandal of the night, Zoe-Clare's white supremacist rant - we ask - is it ok to joke about her racist and unhinged breakdown? This leads us to discuss the concept of 'punching up' and 'punching down' - is it fair to laugh at a woman's expense? Is it ok to laugh at a man's expense? Is it ok to laugh at Jordan Peterson's expense? We ask the big questions... Why isn't 'sitting in the same bathwater' not a more used expression, it's a perfect analogy for a lack of political engagement with opposing viewpoints, am i rite?

The Age Covid Tracker:

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-coronavirus-map-view-active-covid-19-case-numbers-in-your-postcode-and-see-if-there-are-any-large-outbreaks-in-your-area-20200813-p55leo.html

The Bachelor

•Abbie Chatfield Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/its-a-lot-with-abbie-chatfield/id1500849438

•Watch on Ten Play: https://10play.com.au/the-bachelor/episodes/season-8/episode-1/tpv200811gbudf

•Bella's Bachelor entrance dress inspiration (just FYI):

•https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a30631992/ariana-grande-grammys-red-carpet-dress-pictures/?fbclid=IwAR2xD93rmEsRmeO3PbYW_0N1K9UVln8xOX8m6u0WuqgWTVbikseCdvBwtFI

•Instagram - Racism and the Bachelor:

•https://www.instagram.com/soalihaofficial/

•White tears, Brown Scars (2019) - Ruby Hamad

Punching up vs. Punching down

History of: http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-joy-issue/life/stand-up-punch-down

•Can we laugh at white men's inadequacy? (Punching up?)

•Can we laugh about Zoe-Clare's bachelor meltdown? (Is this punching down or up?)

•Can you laugh at your own socio-economic-racial group? (Punching along the same line)

•Jordan Peterson: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/08/why-the-left-is-so-afraid-of-jordan-peterson/567110/?fbclid=IwAR0vohqQEbd-QrpCL7R3dr2faQ78-EXbeSWJjCUAdhSISYsHT9Lg89tOeqc

•Slavov Zizek vs. Jordan Peterson debate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsHJ3LvUWTs

•Ben Shapiro:

•

Welcome back Clitical Thinkers - we hope this episode finds you well (especially Victorians - hang in there)! Join us as we dive into an analysis of how music/film/tv/books both defy and comply with gender - we first pay respects to Amy Winehouse (on the 9 year anniversary of her death), we look at the correlation between female pop music and individualisation in contrast to neoliberalism *take a drink*, before finally, discussing Taylor Swift and how covid19 has had us all adapting to a somewhat cottage core aesthetic that serves as a direct counter to the neoliberal dream *take a drink*. We end with the question - is sourdough/banana bread/home life perhaps our only hope in the war against neoliberalism? *take a drink*

Things mentioned:

Amy Winehouse (14 September 1983- 23 July 2011)

•Film/documentary: Amy (2015)

Emmy nominations

•https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/emmy-nominations-2020.html

•https://www.instagram.com/p/CDMxSr7nUXD/

Taylor Swift:

•Folklore (2020)

•Miss Americana (2020)

•Scandal:https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a29811842/taylor-swift-scooter-braun-drama-timeline/

•Look What You Made Me Do - Killing Eve:

•https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/what-taylor-swift-killing-eve-cover-means-for-scooter-braun-feud/12286020

•Cottagecore:

•https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/8/3/21349640/cottagecore-taylor-swift-folklore-lesbian-clothes-animal-crossing

•

Disclosure (2020) - Netflix

Conversations with Friends (2017) - Sally Rooney

Clits of the Week:

•Exciting Times (2020) - Naoise Dolan

•Girl, Woman, Other (2019) - Bernardine Evaristo

•Such a Fun Age (2020) - Kiley Reid

•A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing (2020) - Jessie Tu

•Sopranos (1999 - 2007) - Binge

•I May Destroy You (2020) - HBO/BBC

•Dark (2017-2020) - Netflix

Literary Friction (podcast) episodes mentioned:

•https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/literary-friction-conversations-with-sally-rooney/id1000387053?i=1000386531579

•https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/literary-friction-rest-relaxation-with-ottessa-moshfegh/id1000387053?i=1000419148781

•https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/literary-friction-social-media-with-kiley-reid/id1000387053?i=1000468653402

•https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/literary-friction-in-therapy-with-ben-lerner/id1000387053?i=1000460056397

Put your party hats on and join us in singing happy birthday to Bella! That's right, we were fortunate enough to record this episode on Bella's day of birth, but also unfortunate enough that we had to record this episode through Squadcast (our nemesis). But do not fear clits, whilst the hard border between Vic and NSW may be keeping us apart, our h8 of all things neoliberal keeps us closer than ever. Join us as we have some fun birthday musings, discuss representation over structural change, and cheer as we realise Kanye's political party is called The Birthday Party™ and works perfectly for this episode's title. Feeling #blessed!

Things mentioned:

•My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) by Ottessa Moshfegh

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (2018):

•Why Diversity Training Isn't Enough -

•(Article from New Republic): https://newrepublic.com/article/156032/diversity-training-isnt-enough-pamela-newkirk-robin-diangelo-books-reviews

•Chapo Trap House Episode (podcast):

•https://open.spotify.com/episode/4bf70zr9FoUanNkfvwoqFs?si=_lwpX6xuRPulZVDw5C2KsQ

•Sister Works Cloth Masks:

•https://sisterworks.org.au/product-category/reusable-face-masks/

•Amber Lee Frost: I'm Not Wearing a Mask - (Article from Damage Mag): https://damagemag.com/2020/05/14/im-not-wearing-a-mask/

•Jeff Bezos Wants Amazon Employees to "Reflect" on Junteenth. Warehouse Workers are Organizing Instead. (Article from the Jacobin):

•https://jacobinmag.com/2020/06/juneteenth-amazon-warehouse-jeff-bezos

•Flemington/North Melbourne Housing Estates

•AMSAA Donation information: https://www.facebook.com/AMSSAnorthmelbourne/photos/a.1015757248601142/1635832299926964/?type=3&theater

Book Club!

•Such A Fun Age by Kiley ReidMelbourne Peeps, support Australian independent/small bookshops, perhaps:

•Hill of Content

•Brunswick Bound

•Happy Valley

Clits/Books of the week:

•Rodham by Curtis Sittenfield

•The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary

•The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore

•Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (if you can be bothered lol)

•The Great (2020) - Stan

Clitical Thought would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people who are the Traditional Custodians of this Land. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past, present and emerging of the Kulin Nation and extend that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are listening. Clitical Thought would also like to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia and across the globe. We stand in solidarity with every individual/community that has been oppressed by systematic racism and subject to any form of racial discrimination. Your voices are so important: we are listening.

Hello Clits! Welcome to a very important and special episode. Today we are joined by our dear friend of the pod - Ethan Savage! We are honoured to be able to sit down and have this conversation.

Ethan is an Kaantju, Girrumay, and Badu Islander who has completed Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Anthropology and Politics. You can find Ethan on instagram at @ethansavage_ ! (#promo)

Questions:

Performative allyship:

•In her book, 'White Fragility,' Robin Diangelo writes that 'one of the greatest fears of a white person is being told that we have said or done something racially problematic.' Do you think that some white 'allies' in the Black Lives Matter movement prioritise protecting themselves against this fear and absolving themselves of white guilt instead of productive and material allyship? What issues with white allyship have come up during the past few weeks?

Focus on the US racial movement over our national issue:

•Australia, like the US, has a brutal and genocidal history of white colonisation that continues to manifest today in police brutality and mass incarceration. Why do you think Australians are inclined to prioritise US systemic racism over what happens in our own backyard?

•In a similar vein, what do you make of Scott Morrison's comments that Australians shouldn't 'import' the BLM movement into Australia?

Police Brutality:

•As a white woman, I was socialised throughout my childhood to understand the police as a force that would protect me instead of the force of brutality and violence that it actually is. What is your understanding of the police and what factors and experiences have shaped this understanding?

Crime and colonisation:

•Angela Davis: "Imprisonment has become the first, not last, resort for many social problems that blight the lives of those in poverty; problems that become 'conveniently grouped together under the category "crime" and by the automatic attribution of criminal behaviour to people of colour'.

Racial Duality:

•Black voice vs. White voice?

•Where did the last name Savage come from?

Resources/Things mentioned:

•The End of Policing (2019) - Alex Vitale

•In My Blood it Runs (2019): https://inmyblooditruns.com

•https://pathtoequality.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR1p6jRXPBUo536NTnDmM39F70Wj3To8dU4-mtBPEeQ3YauhRUUJrml96a8

•https://linktr.ee/BlakBusiness?fbclid=IwAR3oab7tXKAl8VEGZ-R-N3N0abLg8Y6ktnJh71trZw0i5tB6f1yFUE68tAU

Welcome to part 2 of our Q and A extravaganza! Join us as we continue on our pilgrimage to moral enlightenment, taking only a few slight detours along the way, we ask - is sex ever truly casual? is social media a net positive or a net negative? and can Anna please talk to someone about her issues?- tik tok is not the answer.

Question 1: Do you think it can ever actually make u happy? or are people kidding themselves when they convince themselves that their are #owning their bodies and liberated etc - basically can sex ever be truly casual?

Question 2: Social media - net positive or net negative?

Question 3: I have a question for you both: what is your go to book recommendation? And for Bella specifically: You obviously work in a bookshop and though I'm assuming you haven't been able to work at the moment, what's a book you've seen recently (could be pre-quar) that's been the most popular at the store? I'm talking flying off the shelf and your thoughts on it!

•Pachinko (2017) - Min Jin Lee

•Three Women (2019) - Lisa Taddeo

•The Man Who Saw Everything (2019) - Deborah Levy

•Talking to Strangers (2019) - Malcolm Gladwell

•Fleishman is in Trouble (2019) - Taffy Brodesser-Akner

•My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) - Ottessa Moshfegh

Clits of the Week!

•The Adversary (2020) - Ronnie Scott

•Exciting Times (2020) - Naoise Dolan

•Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume I 1978-1987 (2020) - Helen Garner

•London Spy (2015) - Starring Ben Wishaw (I get there eventually).

Welcome clits to episode 10! We love creating this podcast and are obsessed with the community we have created! So to celebrate, we thought we'd turn to you guys for the questions and the content. Welcome to our Q&A special (watch out Hamish Macdonald)! We dive in to the easy breezy stuff, with questions about sex work and the furthering of female objectivity, how to escape a hug, language policing and the victimhood of incels! Buckle up.

Also just a disclaimer, we had minimal time between viewing these questions and recording our answers. Many of our thoughts are our initial reactions and opinions regarding the subject. It was our intention to handle each question with respect to all parties, and we hope we have done so.

Question 1: Can women who are strippers claim to be furthering women's empowerment when they're fuelling the industries that position women as objects?

•Trisha Paytas instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trishapaytas

•Luke Warm Sex (2016) (ABC iView):https://iview.abc.net.au/show/luke-warm-sex

Question 2: I'm not a hugger. I only like to hug my friends when necessary and I definitely don't like to receive a hug and a kiss on the cheek from acquaintances every time I see them. How do I make it clear to those people to get their greasy mitts off?

Question 3: What is your opinion on using politically incorrect phrases about homosexuality such as "dyke on a bike" "lezzo" & "that's so gay" coming from the mouth of gay people themselves and then also straight people who have close gay friends (who think these phrases are not offensive anymore because their friends use these as a joke).

•Slavoj Zizek article: https://qz.com/398723/slavoj-zizek-thinks-political-correctness-is-exactly-what-perpetuates-prejudice-and-racism/

•Slavoj Zizek video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IISMr5OMceg&fbclid=IwAR3z9iF6Ui9M5mOnDq6KP8mXeFmY3wmfvJUyDKqqHXpQwzxQ3o5z9ue95do

Question 4: Do you think incels can be considered victims of our current culture?

•Documentary: TFW No GF (2020)

•Variety film review of TFW No GF: https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/tfw-no-gf-review-incel-documentary-sxsw-1234599950/

•The New Man of 4chan: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/new-man-4chan-nagle?fbclid=IwAR15EOafLPZDT2i4uSWKTDK7VbXCfrIwzYV2PcD0eAjhK9_1ARvHhK_UFU4

•Ginger Gorman - Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout (2019)