Community Vertigo

On this week’s girlpodcast, we’re just girls talking about our girldinners, girlblogging, girlmath, the girlification of food and, well, everything. We discuss how the act of ‘girlblogging’ has conquered a niche sector of the internet, the uncanny cuteness of ‘girldinners,’ the predicament of ‘girlmath,’ and how we endorse ‘balletcore’ as the future of 2024. Tie a bow onto your headphones for this one!

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

TikTok Collection

Letterboxd List

AJ Willingham, “‘Girl math’ was a fun social media joke. Then it got complicated” (CNN)

Biz Sherbert, “Intimacy and the Machine: Slouching Towards Girlblogging,” (Various Artists)

Hannah Jackson, “What Ballerinas Really Think of Balletcore” (Vogue)

Madeline, “'Girl Math' Explained” (BuzzFeed)

Merlyn Miller, “Please Don't Gender My Dinner” (Food & Wine)

Find us:

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Coquette 00:08

Girlbloggers— Empowering or Toxic? 03:57

Girl Dinner 15:37

Sacrificing Femininity to Display Strength 23:47

Ribbon Tying on Food 27:45

Girl Math 32:10

Gendered Trends 35:51

Balletcore 37:27

Outro 49:50

We’re celebrating the New Year (and our last episode of 2023!) by dissecting none other than the Indie Sleaze revival. We discuss the various fashion trends that encapsulate the era, the music that soundtracked it, modern-day depictions of wannabe hedonism, and Alexa Chung finally gets her flowers.

Links:

⁠Spotify Playlist⁠

Pinterest Board

⁠TikTok Collection⁠

Alexa Chung, “⁠Alexa Chung on the unpolished appeal of Indie Sleaze⁠” (Financial Times)

Alexa Chung, “⁠It⁠” (Google)

Arielle Richards, “⁠The Indie Sleaze ‘Revival’ Isn’t Real - It’s Just An Echo Chamber⁠” (Vice)

El Hunt, “⁠How ’00s indie sleaze made a massive comeback⁠” (NME)

Luke Morgan Britton, “⁠The Strokes on The Killers rivalry⁠” (NME)

Find us:

⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠

⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠

Watch ⁠⁠this episode⁠⁠ on YouTube 

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Indie Sleaze Revival 01:27

The Trashy Party Girl 14:37

2014 Tumblr Era vs. Indie Sleaze 17:23

The Apolitical Nature of Indie Sleaze 23:32

Music of the Indie Sleaze Era 25:25

American Apparel 32:38

Indie Sleaze Media 36:08

The Strokes vs. The Killers 43:48

Is there an indie sleaze revival? 45:40

Bev Review 48:42

Outro 50:15

In this episode, the girlies reunite in Boston to see the band milk., record an episode together in-person, ruin the audio, and then re-record because they're just *that* passionate about Irish bands and Spotify Wrapped. They hope you enjoy this trip to the ICU— Irish (Music) Cinematic Universe.

Links:

Spotify Playlist

milk. (Instagram)

ADDIE (Instagram)

Jacob Ray (Instagram)

Milk Interviews:

Austin Underground, “Milk Interview | SXSW 2023” (YouTube)

Jonas Meyer, “A Lack of Fear” (MYP Magazine)

MCD, “milk.” (MCD)

Find us:

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

⁠Spotify⁠

⁠Tumblr⁠

⁠Twitter⁠ 

Watch ⁠this episode⁠ on YouTube 

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

milk. 00:58

Jacob Ray 02:25

ADDIE 02:58

How Did We Hear About milk.? 04:04

Favorite milk. Songs 05:23

Setlist 05:48

milk.’s Sound 06:26

The Next Big Band 08:22

The Venue 09:43

Concert Etiquette & the TikTokification of Live Music 10:10

milk.’s Stage Presence & Performance 15:42

Drinking at Concerts 17:10

ICU— Irish (Music) Cinematic Universe 18:04

Tierney’s Spotify Wrapped 18:50

Emily’s Spotify Wrapped 20:40

Paulina’s Spotify Wrapped 22:32

Additional Thoughts on Spotify Wrapped 24:00

Seeing Inhaler in LA 25:30

Outro 28:22

This week, we dive into parody media, discussing the likes of the Wayans brothers, Mel Brooks, and Austin Powers. We differentiate ‘parody’ and ‘satire’, discuss the cult-like fanbases (and haters) of parody films, and how YouTube and meme culture may have oversaturated the genre. 

Links:

TikTok Collection

Letterboxd List

Reddit Thread

Amber Rawlings, “Has meme culture killed the parody film?” (Little White Lies)

Hiff, “Comedy Horror Movies: The Embodiments of ‘Camp’ Are Here to Stay”(Hiff)

Jade Swann, “Satire, Parody & Spoof” (Study.com)

JM Maher, “Why Were Parody Movies So Popular in the 2000s?” (Movieweb)

Karen Pike, “Bitextual Pleasures: Camp, Parody, and the Fantastic Film” (LFQ)

Luke Edley, “Satire vs Parody” (Thanet Writers)

Find us:

⁠⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube 

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Parody, Satire, & Spoof 01:59

Parody Films 04:11

YouTube Parodies and Spoofs 15:26

Seriousness is a Target for Parody 17:49

TikTok Parodies 21:31

SNL Parodies 23:43

We Need to Use “Parody” Again 24:45

Parody and Camp 26:10

Parodies We Want to See 30:10

Outro 30:55

If you grew up watching 'Grown Ups' or SNL, or listening to the Foo Fighters and Creed on the way to school, then you'll understand just how formative 'Dadcore' really is. Inspired by Adam Sandler's enviable wardrobe, we dissect how Dadcore came to be, how it's an antithesis to the 'clean girl' aesthetic and the world of microtrends, & finding comfort in dad rock.

Links:

⁠Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

Jerry Portwood, ⁠“Saturday Night Live And The Dacore Revolution”⁠ (Fatherly)

Lauren Sharkey, ⁠"How dadcore won over fashion"⁠ (The Book of Man)

Tayler Adigun, ⁠“Why Adam Sandler is Tiktok’s unlikely fashion muse”⁠ (Yahoo)

Find us:

⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Defining Dadcore 00:17

Grown Ups 03:24

Phil Dunphy 05:45

Dadcore v. Blokette and Clean Girl 06:22

Ready to Rock ‘n’ Roll? 07:41

Normcore to Dadcore 08:04

Fashion Through the Decades 09:54

The Irritations of Microtrends 11:33

The Empowerment of Baggy Clothing 16:38

Dad Rock 17:55

DILF Fan Accounts on TikTok 22:03

Momcore? 24:24

The Objectification of Men Online 26:12

Confining Ourselves to Aesthetics 28:36

Outro 30:19

As three girlies from the Northeast, we perceived Los Angeles as a fantasy world of glamor & excess. We soon came to realize that the city is, in reality, an oversaturated, consumer-driven land of fleeting fame. In this episode, we discuss Lana Del Rey's idealized image of Los Angeles & how influencers robbed the city of its charm.

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

EJ Dickson, "David Dobrik Was The King Of YouTube. Then He Went Too Far" (Rolling Stone)

Meryl Llamas, ⁠"Influencer Culture Takes Over L.A."

Our favorite Lana Del Rey visuals:

“Lana Del Rey- West Coast” (YouTube)

“Lana Del Rey- High By The Beach” (YouTube)

“Lana Del Rey- Love” (YouTube)

“Lana Del Rey- Lust For Life (Official Video) ft. The Weeknd” (YouTube)

NFR Music Video Playlist: “LANA DEL REY - NORMAN F***NG ROCKWELL!" (YouTube)

Find us:

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Lana Del Rey & Los Angeles 01:14

Coquette Aesthetic 06:49

Americana Aesthetic 08:08

Ethel Cain 11:22

Media Set in LA 12:41

Vlog Squad 14:56

Influencer Relatability & Collaboration 18:18

Jake Paul & Team 10 21:01

Mr. Beast 21:43

Impacts on LA Residents 22:09

Emma Chamberlain 22:55

Enya Umanzor & Drew Phillips 23:23

Downfall of the Vlog Squad 24:59

Why the Vlog Squad? 29:52

Alex Ernst 32:17

The Land of Influencers 33:55

Why late 2010s LA? 35:47

Lana Del Rey Night in LA 37:39

Outro 39:00

There's truly nothing that has unified the internet quite like the Irish Renaissance has. We're letting it linger this week by discussing the roots of the culture's obsession with the Irish, from fixations on Irish actors and musicians; to aspirations of a cottagecore lifestyle that the Irish seem to perfect. If you're Irish, tap in!

Links:

Spotify Playlist

TikTok Collection

Find us:

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

The Irish Boyfriend 01:05

Niall Horan 09:04

Americans and European Ancestry 15:21

Hozier 17:47

The Cranberries 19:07

Inhaler 20:21

Fontaines D.C. 27:42

Cillian Murphy 29:32

Paul Mescal 35:09

Saoirse Ronan 37:16

Why Ireland? 38:01

Outro 40:48

This week, we reminisce on mall culture and what once was: eating Cinnabon, going to Claire's, Justice, & Hollister, romanticizing the act of loitering, and more. We talk about the history of American malls, their subsequent demise, and how TikTok shop is responsible. Third-wave mall culture is just glorified amusement parks, and we're mad about it!

Links: 

Pinterest Board⁠

Avery Hartmans, ⁠"The rise and fall of the American shopping mall"⁠ (Insider)

Candace Davison, ⁠⁠"If Malls Are Dying, Why Are We Still So Obsessed with Them?"⁠⁠ (PureWow)

Eva Rothenberg, ⁠"The US mall is not dying"⁠ (CNN)

Find us:

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

A Brief History of the American Mall 00:42

Is the Mall Dying? 04:28

The Mall in Culture 05:02

Online Shopping Killed the Mall 07:45

Clothing Stores 13:28

The Mall's Representation in Media 18:28

Stealing 21:35

Rainforest Cafe 22:01

Symbol of Teenage Independence 25:18

Third-wave Mall Culture 27:06

Hobby Stores and Mall Kiosks 29:03

Mall Concerts 29:53

Paulina's Celebrity Encounter 31:41

Al and Online Shopping 33:01

Mall Food 34:37

Claire's vs. Justice 35:21

Outro 38:20

Happy Halloween! This week, we’re talking horror films: the genre’s queer roots, female villains reclaiming their bodies, and how American Horror Story altered our brain chemistries, for better or for worse. 

Links:

⁠Spotify Playlist⁠

⁠Horror Recs⁠ (Letterboxd)

Julia Kristeva, ⁠"Approaching Abjection"⁠ (JSTOR)

Julia Métraux, ⁠"The Very Human Appeal of ‘American Horror Story"⁠ (JSTOR)

Find us: 

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Our Favorite Horror Films 00:17

Horror and Queerness 04:20

Scream Queens 07:00

American Horror Story 9:25

Autonomy and Horror 19:03

Low Budget and Indie 22:11

The Working Man’s Genre 25:15

What are we afraid of? 28:30

Horror Tropes 33:03

Outro 34:58

To introduce you to Community Vertigo, we discuss a topic that has plagued our minds for over a decade: the YA dystopia trend of the 2010s. Led by The Big Three—Divergent, The Hunger Games, and The Maze Runner—we dive into the aesthetics that this era afforded us, how the series’ heroines taught us not to be like other girls, and how we were basically consuming horror-lite throughout our formative years.

Links:

⁠Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board⁠

Collage Graphics

⁠Harper Bullard, "How Netflix Changed the World of Book Adaptation"⁠

Find us:

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠TikTok⁠

YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Divergent 06:11

The Dystopian "It Girl" 11:51

The Hunger Games 13:03

The Influence on Fashion 20:30

BuzzFeed Personality Quizzes 22:10

Depressed Baddie Core 23:11

The Maze Runner 24:46

Tumblr, Shipping, and Fan Fiction 32:21

Screencaps and Vine Edits 35:54

Torture Media 36:38

Current YA Media 42:50

The Future of Book Adaptations 44:44

Dystopia and the Saw Franchise 46:04

What Would We Like to See? 50:51

Outro 54:01