Queer Pressure

We all know Ellen Degeneres as the dancing lesbian from day-time talk show TV and the friendly, but forgetful, blue tang from Finding Nemo, but what is Ellen really like? The groundbreaking comedienne is under fire, lately, for claims of mistreatment by former and current staff members. Is Ellen cancelled? Or is it time to have a conversation about the corrupting influence power and money can have on even the most well-intentioned? Find out what we think in this week’s episode on the rise and fall of Ellen Degeneres.

This week, we take on the first all-black movie and first movie with an LGBT protagonist to win an Oscar, Moonlight. Moonlight is a three-act story about Chiron, a young, black, gay man, as he navigates his identity, his sexuality, and his masculinity in a world that demands he be hard.

Come closer. Closer. Closer... Will you come penguin sledding with us?! This week, Catherine and Maddie live their lifelong dreams of writing an audio essay about the queer representation in Avatar: the Last Airbender and its sequel, the Legend of Korra. Join us for some hot takes, a lesson on the importance of LGBT+ representation in children’s media, and the answer to the question you never knew still lingered in your mind: did Zuko and Jet ever hook up? You’ll lose your cabbages.

This week, we pay tribute to the late Naya Rivera and her contribution to Glee’s LGBT storylines through her portrayal of Santana Lopez. Santana and Brittany’s relationship serves as the most authentic romance in the show, even though (and perhaps because) it was an afterthought cooked up by the Gleek fan-base.

This week, in solidarity with BLM, Catherine and Maddie take on Paris is Burning, the groundbreaking 1990 documentary about the drag ball scene, and its unofficial sequel, Kiki, about the contemporary drag scene and the activism inherent in it.

This week, in solidarity with BLM, Cady and Madison take on Naz & Maalik, a 2015 drama about two black, Muslim teenagers in NYC that find themselves in the crosshairs of an FBI investigation. Although this movie shows up on all of the ‘Best Black, Queer Movies’ lists, it fell flat for us — find out why, on this week’s episode!

This week, in solidarity with BLM, Catherine and Maddie tackle the The Color Purple, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction by Alice Walker and the movie adaptation by Steven Spielberg. This story takes on the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality as Celie writes letters to God throughout her adulthood in the early 20th century. We talk about generational trauma, why you probably shouldn’t go on mission trips to Africa, and the journey to self-worth shared by so many queer people.

This week, in solidarity with BLM, Catherine and Maddie take on The Watermelon Woman, Cheryl Dunye’s narrative documentary about writing your own history. Dunye lays out the life of a fictional, black, lesbian actress from the 1930s known to the world as, “The Watermelon Woman,” seeking your honor her memory through filmmaking. We talk about Quaker Oats’ decision to erase Aunt Jemima, the history of minstrel shows, and how powerful it can be to re-appropriate popular story telling techniques as someone othered by a normalised population.

In solidarity with BLM, Maddie and Catherine tackle Pariah, Dee Rees’ award-winning submission to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It’s a story about Alike (Adepero Aduye) navigating the world as a young, black lesbian who hides in the closet from her traditional-values family by code-switching her identity between butch and femme. In the process of being forcibly outed, Alike discovers her true identity, learns about heartbreak, and unlocks her creativity to jump-start her into a new, more authentic life.

Ep 10: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Local Lesbians’ Cafe: This week, Catherine and Maddie take an in-depth look at the 1991 film, Fried Green Tomatoes and 1987 book by Fannie Flagg that inspired it, touching on the themes of queer-coding, white feminism, and what it means to be a “secret” queer.