Culture Popped Open

Welcome to Schitt’s Creek, or at least our discussion of the hit Canadian comedy about the Rose family who lost everything and then found what they were missing in this dinky town. Both of us love this show for its humor and its heart, as well as its queer representation. As season 6, the final one, continues to air, enjoy our hour-long discussion of this show, with tangents about soap opera plots and what it LGBTQ+ representation stands for and what it means to empathetically consume it.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot...but remember your pop culture favorites of 2019. Okay, so those aren’t the real words but we did take some time to look back and reflect on our favorite TV shows, books, movies, music, theatre and comedy that we loved together and individually over the past year. So come on this journey with us and realize that we love some of your favorite things, too, or maybe you’ll discover something new. Cheers!

We mentioned all our previous episodes in this episode, so be sure to check out our episodes on Ben Platt’s album Sing to me Instead, the musical The Prom, season 1 of Pose, Fleabag, and our holiday episode featuring Noelle.

Be sure to check out our Patreon, which will be updated soon with new content, to support the show. Follow our podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Meanwhile, you can also follow Tay on Twitter and Instagram and Olivia on Twitter and Instagram. 

Tay and Olivia’s Favs Streaming Guide: Here’s where you can watch our favorite TV shows and movies (in the U.S., at least).

• Netflix: The Good Place, Schitt’s Creek, Pose, Derry Girls, Bojack Horseman, Big Mouth, Ugly Delicious, The Taco Chronicles, Street Food, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, One Day at a Time, Mindhunter, Stranger Things, Into the Spiderverse, Short Term 12, John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch, Daniel Sloss: Live Shows (Dark and Jigsaw), Bo Burnham: Make Happy
• Hulu: The Good Place, Brooklyn 99, Booksmart
• Amazon Prime: Fleabag, Ladybird, Eighth Grade, The Skeleton Twins (streaming starting Jan. 17), Spongebob Musical Live! (Available to rent/buy)
• Disney+: Noelle
• HBO: Barry, The Leftovers, Chernobyl, Watchmen, His Dark Materials, Julio Torres: My Favorite Shapes, Los Espookys, Daniel Sloss: X, Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh, The Favourite

Also, Olivia really wants you to watch Part 1 and Part 2 of the Laser Cats compilation from Saturday Night Live. Meow. 

Here's a full list of the books we mentioned (we’re not sorry for what we’re about to do to your TBR):

• Dig by A.S. King
• The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake
• The Year We Fell From Space by Amy Sarig King
• How it Feels to Float by Helena Fox
• Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson 
• Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley 
• Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian 
• I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
• Guts by Raina Telegemeier 
• Redwood and Ponytail by K.A. Holt 
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Lovely War by Julie Berry
• Reverie by Ryan la Sala
• I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi 
• Well Met by Jen de Luca 
• Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart 
• You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn 
• Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby
• Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• Giovanni's Room and If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
• The Fire Next Time and No Name in the Street by James Baldwin 
• On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
• Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
• Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
  
• Mort by Terry Pratchett
• The Midnights by Sarah Nicole Smetana 
• We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
• Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
• Spinning by Tillie Walden
• Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

Instead of our usual theme music, we played this license and royalty free version of Auld Lang Syne, performed by the US Marine Band. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/United_States_Marine_Band/Holiday_Music_Selections/auld_lang_syne_1993

Happy 2020 from Olivia and Tay! Remember there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism and we look forward to you all referencing The Great Gatsby out of context over the next decade.

It's that time of year. Disney+ now exists, which means we can watch our most anticipated Christmas movie of the year, Noelle, starring our faves Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader, and Billy Eichner. It's even WILDER than we expected, with puns galore, sassy elves, yoga, blatant product placement and digs at Amazon despite the fact its made by, y'know, Disney. But it has heart. Then we discuss our favorite Christmas movies from our childhood and today and answer the ultimate question: Is Rent a Christmas movie?

Things we reference and recommend:

• Special jolly music from "Uncle Dave"
• The creepy dead Victorian children photographs that the Ghost of Christmas Past from the Muppet's A Christmas Carol looks a lot like
• The Rudolph capitalism meme
• The Rudolph elf practice meme
• The classic "Put One Foot In Front of the Other" from Santa Claus is Coming to Town
• That other classic Heat Miser/Snow Miser song from The Year Without a Santa Claus
• There probably will never be a sapphic Hallmark movie soon because of this recent controversy.
• If you enjoyed Tay's wild descriptions of very real Hallmark movies, we strongly recommend this recent SNL sketch.
• "Christmas Bells" from Rent

Be sure to check out our Patreon, which will be updated soon with new content, to support the show. Follow our podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Meanwhile, you can also follow Tay on Twitter and Instagram and Olivia on Twitter and Instagram. 

Like everyone else, we were captivated this year by Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag, a short show (on Amazon Prime in the U.S., BBC Three in the UK) with fourth-wall breaking wit, silly and perverse situations, and a surprising amount of heart as the protagonist's psyche and trauma unravels. Also, there's a Hot Priest. We discuss how the show approaches humor, the evolving role of the audience/camera as Fleabag learns to love herself, gender, cinematography, and the complicated relationship between sex, trauma, and guilt. Plus, in a special aftershow, we gush about the well-deserved Emmy wins and how the show differs from the original one-woman play, which Tay saw a broadcast of, including the fate of the guinea pig.

Note: because of the adult subject matter of this show, listener discretion is advised.

Sources we consulted and/or want to share:

• See if there's a National Theatre Live broadcast of the play near you! Olivia is going to see it the weekend we're posting this!
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge considering bringing Fleabag back at 50
• Article from Variety about Fleabag and creating perverse characters that Tay cites a lot
• Great early article from Vulture about how Fleabag FEELS different than other TV
• The Journey of Buying the Fleabag Jumpsuit
• Great analysis of the role of breaking the fourth wall in Season 2.
• THE SHOWER SCENE WAS BASED ON HER AND HER HUSBAND
• On Writing Olivia Colman into the Show
  
• Here's an essay about Fleabag and hair
• Video essay about the use of the fourth wall and intimacy
• The guinea pig "gasp" in the play
• Casting the foxes
• The BBC didn't let her kill the guinea pig
• Hannah Gadsby's Nanette on American Netflix
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge's other written-and-starring show, Crashing, on American Netflix. We've since watched it and quite enjoyed it.
• Fleabag wins Emmys for Best Comedy Series
• Emmy acceptance speech from Henry Bradbeer, adorable old British man who directed Episode 1 of Season 2
• Playlist of Phoebe's SNL episode
  

Be sure to check out our Patreon, which will be updated soon with new content, to support the show. Follow our podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Meanwhile, you can also follow Tay on Twitter and Instagram and Olivia on Twitter and Instagram. 

And the category is...Pose, Season 1! Come listen to us discuss this hit drama about the queer community and drag balls during the late 1980s, centering on the lives of 5 trans women, played by actual trans actresses of color. Starring MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar, Angelica Ross and Billy Porter, the show looks at the fantasies, dreams and lives of trans women and people of color as they navigate the difficult paths of performativity, sex work, love and found family. We discuss the characters, plot, themes, filming and representation in Ryan Murphy’s last show for FX and how the show uplifts and gives back to the queer community. We are both huge fans of this show and can’t wait for you to become huge fans, too.

You can watch Pose, Season 1 on Netflix if you haven’t already. For the latest updates, information and looks behind the scenes from Pose, check out their website, Twitter and Instagram. 

Other sources we mentioned and/or consulted for this episode include: 

• Check out the terrible episode recaps from Vulture
• The great interview with Billy Porter that Tay cites often
• The quotes Olivia read came fromthe Entertainment Weekly Pride Issue 2018 (June 15, 2018, #1518)
• Information on where Pose was filmed in NYC
• Steven Canals on filming Angel's sex scene
• Watch Paris is Burning on Netflix
• Read How to Survive a Plague
• Watch How to Survive a Plague

 Read up on the sources in Tay’s Academic BS:

• José Munoz, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity
• Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner, “Sex in Public” (which you can read for free from JSTOR)
• Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1
• Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
• Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter

Be sure to check out our Patreon, which will be updated soon with new content, to support the show. Follow our podcast on Twitter (where we livetweeted some of Season 2!) and Instagram. Follow Tay on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Olivia on Twitter and Instagram. 

Credit for our bop-tastic interlude music:

Disco Metropolis by Vyra | https://soundcloud.com/vyramusic

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

It’s an original Broadway musical about two teen girls (in Indiana!) who just want to go to prom together! Right up our alley. Well...mostly. This show made some interesting creative choices we’ve got to discuss. And what’s up with this movie adaptation? Featuring: interruptions by a drill (Tay's been having renovations done at her house all summer).

For the latest updates, information and looks behind the scenes from The Prom, check out their website, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Other sources we mentioned and/or consulted for this episode include: 

• Tay’s blog post about her emotional connection to The Prom
• Information about the novelization of the musical by Saundra Mitchell, our September 10, 2019 
• Article announcing Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation for Netflix 
• Article with information about the casting for the film adaptation (ignore the Ariana Grande part)
• Article with information about the national tour of The Prom, beginning in Rhode Island in February 2021
• Performances:
• • Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (ft. THE KISS)
  • Tonys Performance
  • “You Happened” performance on The View
  • “Unruly Heart” on The Late Show
• There have been several fantastic articles about and interviews with leading actress Caitlin Kinnunen, who plays Emma:
• • In-depth profile of Caitlin and her role in the Prom from Elle 
  • Interview with Caitlin and Isabelle McCalla, who plays Alyssa 
  • Article about Emma’s role in the musical and the impact on queer audiences 
  • Interview with Caitlin from New York Magazine 
  • Profile on Caitlin from Backstage 
  • Interview with Caitlin focusing on the queer aspects of the show 
  • Video Interview with Caitlin and Brooks Ashmaskas, who plays Barry

Thanks to our Patrons. Support us on Patreon to access some cool perks!

Comments? Questions? Check out our show Twitter at @CPO_Podcast, Instagram @culturepoppedopen, email us at [email protected], and/or follow us individually on Twitter at @tayberryjelly and @booksnbigideas!

Disclaimer: We are incorporating clips of some songs from The Prom, but since we analyze the music and they provide context to the episode for our listeners, we believe this is acceptable under the Fair Use Guidelines.

Ben Platt has gone from Tony-winning Broadway darling to pop/singer-songwriter artist with his debut album Sing to Me Instead, which incorporates the vocals and storytelling we love from musical theatre with catchy tunes and amazing backup singers found in radio-ready music. Plus, it contains very relatable stories about queer relationships and anxiety.

Disclaimer: We are incorporating clips of each song, but since we analyze the music and lyrics in detail, we believe this is acceptable under the Fair Use Guidelines.

The album is available on all major music retailers and streaming services. Tay talks about attending one of his concerts which you can find more about on his website. We discuss the music videos for "Bad Habit," "Ease My Mind," "Temporary Love," "Grow as We Go," and "Older," which are all linked in this sentence from YouTube.

Some other sources consulted and/or mentioned:

• Article about the behind-the-scenes of some of the songs.
• Interview with his high school friend who directed the music videos.
• Interview with Platt where he does The Dance.
• Performance of "Older" with very welcome cheers at The Gay Line. (Seems to have been removed from the Late Late Show's official channel?)
• Profile from the Dear Evan Hansen days that discusses his anxiety and the singing and emotional demands of the titular role
• We made a few references to Daniel Sloss's standup special Jigsaw, which you can watch on Netflix. We'll be doing an episode about it in the future.

Thanks to our Patrons. Support us on Patreon to access some cool perks!

Comments? Questions? Check out our show Twitter at @CPO_Podcast, email us at [email protected], and/or follow us individually on Twitter at @tayberryjelly and @booksnbigideas.