This week, we go on a swingin’ European adventure with Spider-Man: Far From Home. Anita’s friend Sara Fritzon joins us to serve as the token European for our conversation about Peter Parker’s latest escapades. Anita gushes over Tom Holland as Peter, Carolyn rants about the film’s politics, and longtime Spider-Fan Sara explains why she loves the MCU Spider-Man films, despite feeling that they don’t go far enough in exploring and humanizing their villains.

In entertainment news, we talk about Lashana Lynch taking over the 007 designation from Daniel Craig in the next Bond film, and share our reactions to the trailer for CATS.

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Your battle-hardened hosts gather in the Thunderdome to discuss Strong Female Characters in our media. What kinds of aesthetic and narrative features tend to mark someone as a “strong female character”? Which genres seem most invested in the presentation of a specific kind of sexualized female badass? How do we celebrate the presence of authentic strong female characters while keeping our critical goggles attuned to their more problematic incarnations?

Time Stamps:

6:10 - Strong Female Characters

38:15 - What’s Your FREQ Outs: Super Mario Maker 2; Courtney Milan's entire oeuvre; Gato Roboto

Links Mentioned:

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Everyone is talking about HBO’s Chernobyl. They say it’s good but it’s not enjoyable. We decide to find out for ourselves. Entertainment this news includes: Megan Rapinoe, Colin Kaepernick, Nike and re-boycotting Nike for life, Disney’s live action Little Mermaid.

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Who You Callin' Mary Sue? On this week’s episode, we tackle the topic of the Mary Sue! It’s a term that some have used as a cudgel in recent years with which to attack prominent female characters that they dislike for one reason or another, but what does the term really mean? Where did it come from? And does it still have any value in our modern-day conversations about female characters?

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RELEVANT LINKS:

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On this week’s episode, Carolyn and Ebony continue their conversation about Life Is Strange 2, a conversation that started back in episode 63. Today, we’re talking about Episode 3: Wastelands, and we’re joined for our conversation by the writer and critic Tevis Thompson. Our discussion explores the ever-increasing political relevance of the series, the game’s noteworthy sincerity, the unconventional way in which it casts you as the character without the gimmicky powers, the specific impact of Cassidy and other characters, and much more. Also, Carolyn and Tevis talk about their admiration of Fortnite, and Ebony and Carolyn talk about the particular challenges of the past few weeks.

SEGMENT TIMESTAMPS:

Tevis intro/Fortnite chat: 1:15

Life Is Strange 2, Chapter 3: 9:55

What’s Your FREQ-Out? 45:35

Tevis: Lyrica, a rhythm game available on Nintendo Switch

Ebony: The horror and anxiety of this moment

Carolyn: The Polygon profile, repercussions in social media, and the widespread denial of white supremacist patriarchy

RELEVANT LINKS:

Tevis Thompson’s website: http://tevisthompson.com/

Tevis’ current essay, It’s Not Coming Back: http://tevisthompson.com/its-not-coming-back/

More information about Lyrica: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/lyrica-switch/

Polygon’s new profile of Anita: https://www.polygon.com/features/2019/6/19/18679678/

FFR Episode 63 on Life Is Strange 2, episode 2: https://feministfrequency.com/video/ffr-63-life-is-strange-2-episode-2/

This week, Anita plays hooky so Carolyn and Ebony are responsible for keeping the student body on track. Classic nerds! Our topic this week is Booksmart, Olivia Wilde's feature debut about two young overachieving women on the cusp of graduation. Tune in for a discussion of the way the film empathizes and delights with its multiplicity of characters, centers the teen girl experience, and is delightfully, unapologetically queer. Plus, we ask the question: how do we talk about films about teens versus films for teens?

Time Stamps:

00:27 - Entertainment News: Gender breakdown in games at E3 2019; CD Projekt Red and transphobic game imagery; Find Me audiobook

Links Mentioned:

Gender Breakdown of Games Featured of E3 2019:https://feministfrequency.com/2019/06/14/gender-breakdown-of-games-featured-at-e3-2019/

People often use the term “guilty pleasures” to talk about media they enjoy even though they feel it has little redeeming value. But what does it mean to be a feminist media critic who sometimes finds herself enjoying media that she believes is outright harmful? On this week’s FFR, we have a frank conversation about what guilty pleasures mean to us, and our own relationship to media that we may appreciate or admire on some level, even while believing that it perpetuates harmful myths or values.

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1:25 Guilty Pleasures

Relevant Links:

Follow Mariame Kaba on Twitter at https://twitter.com/prisonculture

Learn more about Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman novels: https://www.tor.com/2008/10/30/not-only-science-fiction-but-more-science-fictional-than-anything-else-rosemary-kirsteins-steerswoman-books/

Tune in, subscribe, rate, and review!

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This week we dive into Always Be My Maybe, Netflix’s latest romcom staring Ali Wong, Randall Park (and of course) Keanu Reeves. Because we are rapidly turning into a Keanu Reeves podcast. Ebony and Anita had very different opinions on this movie. Anita tried to opt-out of this episode because she feels bad about her opinions. Carolyn still refuses to bring us any positive entertainment news but does talk about some news in games.

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Buy a t-shirt! dftba.com/femfreq

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It's finally here! We made it! We have arrived at our John Wick 3 episode. Carolyn and Ebony can finally calm the hell down (not bloody likely). Tune in for a discussion of the assassin economy, visual style vs narrative coherence, fairytale logic, and really digging movies that also maybekindasorta feed our most problematic desires.

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On this FFR, we’re talkin’ ‘bout the wonderful new animated series Tuca and Bertie! Created by Bojack Horseman producer and production designer Lisa Hanawalt, Tuca and Bertie stars Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong as best friends whose friendship must evolve when Bertie moves in with her boyfriend Speckle. Oh, and also they’re all birds. Our conversation covers the way in which the show explores numerous experiences and issues with honesty, compassion, and humor, as well as its avoidance of certain harmful stereotypes, and the (sadly) rare and refreshing way in which it treats female sexuality.

Also, our reactions to fan reactions to the end of Game of Thrones, and the latest from KeanuWatch 2019.

Segment Timestamps:

3:15 Entertainment News (GoT finale, Kea-news)

Tune in, subscribe, rate, and review!

Relevant Links:

Trailer for Always Be My Maybe: https://youtu.be/iHBcWHY9lN4

Keanu answers questions while playing with puppies: https://youtu.be/rOqUiXhECos

The impressive cast of Tuca and Bertie: https://www.indiewire.com/2019/05/tuca-and-bertie-voice-cast-netflix-season-1-1202131008/

How to make crunts and other Tuca and Bertie pastries: https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-tuca-bertie-netflix-crunts-chouquettis-pastries-20190507-story.html

Become a backer of this podcast by joining our brand new community on Patreon! Find us at patreon.com/femfreq

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos: http://bit.ly/2bDhQUX