Pop DNA

One of our favorite things about The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window is that its long, ridiculous title is a perfect encapsulation of the genre it parodies, right down to the use of the words "girl" and "woman." The genre of course is the domestic noir thriller made popular in the past decade which we discussed last episode. 

But why is this genre so gender-coded? Why all the girls? What relationship does the genre have with other female-dominated literary movements, such as the mid-century gothic romance? And how do male-authored entries in the thriller genre, such as the works of Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King, differ from this newest iteration?

Recommended reading:

Works Parodied by The Woman in the House...

Why do so many bestsellers have "girl" in the title?

The Domestic Noir and the Gothic Romance

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This week we get into the history of parody, satire, and pastiche and how The Woman in the House... uses all three to comedic effect. We also look at the early thriller films that may share some DNA with the works The Woman in the House... parodies, and that have perhaps become parodies themselves.

We found the Netflix limited series The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window (which we will hereafter abbreviate as The Woman in the House...) to be utterly delightful. So we are diving in to this series with an overview of some fun topics we plan to discuss, like the nature of parody as commentary, the evolution of the thriller and suspense genres, and of course Rhonda is going to bring in Jane Austen somehow...

It's going to be a fun time!

For our Podiversary/Spooky Season bonus episode, and as a coda on our discussion of Lovecraft Country as a work of Black horror, we decided to watch Jordan Peele's 2017 masterpiece Get Out and talk through it! Please enjoy this brilliant film with our (less) brilliant commentary. And Happy Halloween!

We wrap up our discussion of Lovecraft Country with a deep dive into the Lovecraftian monsters portrayed in the series and the journey the show creators took in portraying them. We also discuss the literary criticism theory of "death of the author," and how it applies--and doesn't--to readers' enjoyment and transformation of the works of Lovecraft and other problematic artists.

We also take a quiz to find out which Cthulhu Mythos deities we are.

I suppose if one wanted one could follow us on Instagram?

In part 3 of our Lovecraft Country series we look at the real-world realities at play within this narrative, from the historical setting of the 1950s to very recent discoveries in the psychology of fear and terror. 

Read this interview with Atticus actor Jonathan Majors about his thoughts on the series premiering in the midst of the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests. 

Read this article on very new developments in how we understand how our brains process fear and memory.

TW this week for discussions of racism and racialized trauma

Lovecraft Country sets out to give us a transformed or reclaimed vision of the horrors invented by the racist author H. P. Lovecraft, centering the very people that Lovecraft himself would have marginalized. How successful is the series at achieving this goal? 

We explore different perspectives on how horror as a genre has been used to comment on societal issues like class, economics, and especially race, and how Lovecraft Country and other works of Black horror fit into this discussion.

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Happy October and welcome to our Spooky Season discussion of the HBO series Lovecraft Country, based on the novel of the same name. In part 1, as usual, we give you an overview of the topics we plan to explore in-depth in the coming weeks. A few of those topics are:

We also want to bring a little levity so Erin will definitely be geeking out over the creature effects as Rhonda fangirls over the historical costuming. We hope this will be a great time!

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We wrap up our Gilmore Girls Revisited series this week with look at the pop culture sensibility of the show, from ASP's reference-laced writing style and her approach to character and story, to the show's impact on subsequent pop culture and references in other media.

Like, remember when Mindy watched Gilmore Girls with Danny's mom on The Mindy Project and described seemingly alt-universe storylines? Just one of the many ways the show has worked its way into the cultural zeitgeist.

We also reveal the results of our "Which Character Are You" quiz; Erin is a Paris sun, Lorelai moon, Kirk rising and Rhonda is a Rory sun, Sookie moon, Lane rising. We don't actually know how astrology works, but that sounds right.

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This week we dig in to Gilmore Girls' relationship with politics, identity, privilege, and morality. We explore the parallels in the American political climate between the original run of the show and the premiere of A Year in the Life, look at some of our favorite moments when the characters discuss politics, and wonder how Rory feels about Hilary Clinton now...

We also take a deeper look at the choices both Rory and Lorelai make that may cause viewers to stop rooting for them, as well as the show's shortcomings in failing to acknowledge their place of privilege, and the complexity in the idea of the "unlikable female character." (Also, Rhonda admits her most toxic trait is liking Rory throughout the whole series, even when she's horrible.)

Watch the YouTube video Why everybody hates Rory Gilmore by Kierra Loves TV.

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