Aquamarine with Demma Strausbaugh & Imani Davis

On this episode mermaids Caitlin, Jamie, and special guests Imani Davis and Demma Strausbaugh (hosts of Players - A Film Industry Podcast) emerge from the ocean and become human to discuss Aquamarine! Here's the piece from Lez Hang Out podcast - https://www.lezhangoutpod.com/eps/sbg99aquamarine#:~:text=If%20you%20haven't%20seen,with%20her%20and%20save%20the 

Follow Imani on Instagram at @imanimdavis, Players - A Film Industry Podcast at @players_pod, and RM.19 Productions at @rm.19productions

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the Bechdel Cast, the questions asked if movies have
women and them all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands,
or do they have individualism the patriarchy zeph and Beast
start changing it with the Bechdel Cast.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Jamie is the prettiest girl in the whole wide world.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Kidly, it is the most beautiful person I've ever shared.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
A wing your life, Like, I, okay, can I be honest?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Those earrings are so creepy.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
I would rip my fucking ear off. I would be
like get like those things are killers, because you know,
the second you fall asleep they start saying bad shit.
Yeah that was I couldn't stop thinking about the second
the second they were like what's the It's like that
old god, why did my brain go here? But like
that old Lemon joke where she's like you should kill yourself,

(00:53):
it's like that's what the starfish earrings do the second
you start to drift off to sleep. And also, for
a reason, on the Wikipedia page for this movie, they're
all credited as the voices of their own starfish earings
and you're like, okay, say less, like I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Know, yeah, this is not information we needed.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
I reject that information. I yeah, the starfish earings, they've
gotta go, or at least like they needed a different voice.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Nothing is more obvious to me that my love language
is words of affirmation than in this moment. Because I
was into it, we.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Got into the ocean and scavenge these tiny little starfish earings.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
I was honestly a little scared to say something. I
was like, oh, they weren't into it.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
No, speak your truth.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yes, all opinions are welcome, but you're right and objectively
terrifying starfish hearings.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
In retrospect, it is a creepy voice.

Speaker 5 (01:58):
The fact that they like do themselves is very interesting
and adds a new flavor.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I mean, I guess it's self love and that's nice,
and it's still creepy.

Speaker 6 (02:12):
The mommy is amazing.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
I don't have enough faith in my own like my
version of self love sustains for like a minute at
a time. Like I would not go to sleep with
those things on, because it gets dark. It gets that's
when the dark thoughts come at night.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Anyway, Hello, and welcome to the Bechdel Cast. My name
is Caitlyn Tourante, and Caitlin is the prettiest girl in
the word.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
My name's Jamie Loftus and she sucks and she deserves
to die. And this is the Bechtel Cast, our podcast
where we take a look at your favorite movies using
an intersectional feminist lens, also using the Bechdel Test as
a jumping off point for discussion. But Caitlin, what the

(02:59):
hell is that?

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh gosh, it's a media metric created by queer cartoonist
Alison Bechdel, sometimes called the Bechdel Wallace Test. There are
many versions of it. Ours is do two characters of
a marginalized gender have names? Do they speak to each other?
And is the conversation about something other than a man?
And we also like it when it's a narratively substantial

(03:22):
conversation and not just throw away dialogue.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Absolutely, And today we are talking about a movie that
I believe has been a consistent request for the entirety
of this show, of this program, and we have finally
found the right guests to discuss this beautiful.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Incredible work. Yes, because they're both mermaids. Yes, it took
us this long, but we finally.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Have expert opinions. Look, if you keep your podcast on
long enough, you will have mermaids as guests. Alfred Molina
then mermaids. How that's how.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
It works, a natural trajectory.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, and we're covering the two thousand and six classic
Dare I Say Aqua Marine, based on the book by
Alice Hoffman.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Wow. And our guests joining us are the hosts of Players,
a film industry podcast. It's Dumma Strasbaugh and Immani Davis.

Speaker 6 (04:22):
Hello.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Oh, thank you guys so much.

Speaker 5 (04:26):
Yeah, thanks for having us, thanks for being here.

Speaker 6 (04:29):
Excited to dive in.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Wow, cooking already cooking already, Amani?

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Who told? Who told that we were murmaid?

Speaker 5 (04:38):
I know?

Speaker 6 (04:39):
I swear?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, sorry to docs you.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I love I'm so excited to talk about this movie
because the Mermaid rules to.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Me are so chaotic.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
I love them. They're just like whatever they're Also she
is she's a mermaid, but also she's a genie, but
she doesn't follow the genie rules. She's like, there's no rules,
it's whatever you want.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
It's only one wish, not three.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, and one wish with no rules?

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Right?

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Does she say you can't kill someone or does she not?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Even the only stipulation she gives is that it has
to follow it can't like violate the laws of nature, which, oh,
she said that it's very open to interpretation. I think
so that, Yeah, that's the only thing with the genie wish,
the one genie wish she grants. Her Mermaid rules are
basically like gremlins rules, because it's like she can't get

(05:32):
wet and during the daytime it's okay, but like, what
is it for gremlins after midnight? You can't feed them
or something.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
You certainly can't get them wet, and.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
You certainly can't get them on.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
So well, I Aquamarine actually does need to be wet.
It's a bit of a reverse gremlin because she has
to be wet at midnight because she's a.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Fish, right, But I guess the rules for her to
be a human or to be in human form are
the like you can't get her and it's only during
the day.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's a very complex text, very complex text. So Rich,
let's talk about our experiences with this, Amani, what's your
history with Aquamarine, the book, the movie, the idea.

Speaker 6 (06:16):
Yeah, I did't gets to read.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
The book when I was younger, but I remember the
movie coming out and being like super hyped and revisiting it.
It's like such a Y two K time capsule, and
I feel like I definitely found myself being like I
want to be a mermaid for Halloween, Like I want
blue hair streaks, I want some of these starfish earrings.

(06:38):
And so there's like there was this longing to like
be in this world of helping out my mermaid friend
get the guy.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Ho title is old as Time, a tale whil it's okay, okay, Dema,
what's your relationship with it?

Speaker 4 (06:59):
Slumber parties come to mind. It was a lot of
parallel giggling with the characters on screen. It's very much
for me a like Friendship Watch, where we were absolutely
gagged at the jokes and just falling for it and
very into it. And my child I obviously have very
different opinions about it now, which we'll get into, but

(07:22):
when I was younger was totally into.

Speaker 7 (07:25):
All of it.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
And also I was like, oh, this movie taught me
about true love, which I was very into when I
was young as well.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
So I do love the true love between friends is
so beautiful. My history with aquamarinas I more clearly remember
reading the book than seeing the movie. I think I
saw the movie at like a sleepover. But I very
clearly remember reading the book in sometime in elementary school

(07:57):
and really loving it. Obviously love a mermaid. For a
long time, it was the only thing I could draw,
so people thought I was really into mermaids, which is
probably why I was given that book, But it was
just the only thing I could draw was a mermaid
that looked kind of fucked up. But yeah, I remember
being really affected by the book because the friends, and

(08:22):
it was also because I had a good friend when
I was a kid who moved away. But the fact
that I kept like expecting and when I was watching
the movie, I like felt that little pang again of
like oh my god. And then they don't enough together
at the end. It makes me so sad. I just remember,
like more clearly than any of the weird mermaid rules.

(08:42):
I don't really remember the differences between the book and
the movie, but yeah, like this like amazing friendship between
these two girls and then at the end they're separated.
And I think it affected me at the time because
I was like, it's like me and Amanda, and I
was surprised they kept it that same ending for movie.
It feels like it's kind of a gutsy way to

(09:04):
end a movie, because I feel like it's so tempting
to Hollywood defy it and be like, actually, my mom
is going to work at you know, but they I
don't know. Yeah, I really enjoyed the book. I like
the movie. It is a wild time capsule. I'm like, oh,
there is a Weezer Island in the Sun plot point,
like that is I always associate that song with the

(09:27):
Mary kayn Ashley movie Island in the Sun, which is
literally named after that Weezer song, and I think would
have come out around the same time. Anyways, tweens loved
Weezer in the mid two thousands, and what an interesting
moment that must have been for Weezer. I liked this movie. Yeah,

(09:49):
I found myself pleasantly surprised by it, and like, we
just covered angus thongs and Perfect Snogging, which is a
movie from the same era that I don't think hold
up quite as well. And so even though there's a
lot of the same you know, it's the same playbook.
But I really appreciate this movie. And also just I mean,

(10:11):
Emma Roberts, Jojo and Sarah Paxton, come on, come on.
Two thousand and six we were there, Kitlyn, what's your
history with Aquamarine?

Speaker 2 (10:22):
I had no exposure to it whatsoever. Never read the book,
never watched the movie. I had like aged out of
it by the time the movie came out. And I
don't know when the book was published. I meant to
look that up, but it was two thousand and one.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
I would have been to old for it then as well,
so I was not interested. Yeah, so this was my
first time watching it, and watching this movie as a
full adult in the year twenty twenty four for the
first time. It's interesting. I agree that I was like
surprised by the takeaway from the end and the kind

(11:00):
of twist, like no hetero romances be damned. This is
a movie about female friendship. I was like, what it
took me by surprise. So I'm excited to talk about
it further. But I have no attachment to this movie whatsoever.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
So Kitlyn's the neutral party, It's true. I also just
another I know, there's so many, very two thousands things
about this. It took me so long to figure out
who the villain was, and it's because she was on
Gilmore Girls. Any Gilmore Girl's watchers in the chat except
for Jamie. She was for all my Gilmore Girls heads.

(11:39):
She was Dean's wife who and she also was like
had to play this kind of like shrill stock character
where she's like Dean, get to work, Dean, buy my food,
and like they just this poor actor has to play
all these crummy parts. But that was where I recognized
her from.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
I clocked her immediately because she was in Cinderella's Story
and I feel like she's like the two thousands, like
evil villain, lady.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Mean girl.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
It's like her and Megan Fox kind of who is
I believe the villain in Holiday and the Sun.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Whoa and Confessions of a Teenage Dunk.

Speaker 5 (12:15):
John Tucker Must Die?

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, yeah, so uh Cecilia is played by Ariel Kebble,
who I recognize from John Tucker Must Die. Right, she's
one of the people who are trying to kill John
Tucker question mark.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Oh yeah, I forgot she was in that.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
And she was in Fifty Shades of Gray too, in
the same Rolehh. Yeah, she was in like I think
it's actually the second one.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Oh she plays she's Gia Matteo.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Yes, and she's the person again the same cast words
like she's trying to steal Christian and like Christian is
just married, and there's like this standoff moment where Missus
Gray is like, you can refer to me as missus
Gray and then she kind of backs off.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
I'll ever do to anybody. They're just like this lady's mean.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Okay, well shout out to her. I guess we all
know her for something different, totally.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, So let's take a quick break and then we'll
come back for the recap of Aquamarine. All right, let's
dive in to the ocean and do the recap. Okay,

(13:36):
we meet best friends Claire and Hayley, played by Emma
Roberts and Jojo, respectively, not to be confused with Jojo Siwah,
which when she started to become popular, I was like,
don't you mean Jojo, and I had to learn that
they were different pop girlies.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
I was happy to see that Jojo, like our our Jojo,
is doing very well. She was on Broadway last year
playing Setine and Mulan Rouge the musical Like, yeah, like
she's she's thriving.

Speaker 6 (14:13):
Love this for her.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, I mostly know her from that song Get Up,
Run Out.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Oh my god. I feel like I can close my
eyes and watch that entire music video front to back,
just from memory.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
Yeah, frame for frame. She was also in a Sneaker's commercial.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, but I still.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
Remember because at the end she's like talking about all
the things she has to do and then they show
her sneakers and she's like and a math test and
then it's like or no Sketchers, Sketchers. She was in
Sketchers commercials. I was like, Sneakers commercial, Sketchers.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
That feels very Jojo coded, can't explain exactly how totally.
And that movie r V she was also in.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Wow, I bravely saw r V in theaters. I think
thank you.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
With my mom.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
And this was and this was also the era of
Emma Roberts where she was on Unfabulous Too, and I
loved that show so much.

Speaker 5 (15:14):
Much talk about a time capsule just watch okay truly.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
So the gals are in the movie playing Claire and Haley.
They're at the beach somewhere in Florida. Some we're called
bay Bridge. I think. I don't know if that's a
real town or not. I didn't look it up. It's
the last few days of summer vacation before they start.
I think eighth grade. Though, Hailey is about to move

(15:40):
to Australia because her marine biologist mom got a really
good job there, but Haley deeply resents having to move
and leave her best friend Claire behind. Claire's backstory is
that her mom and dad drowned at sea, and so
Claire lives with her her grandparents, who own I think

(16:03):
the local beach club. You hate something.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
To hear your parents drowned at sea?

Speaker 2 (16:10):
You hate?

Speaker 6 (16:11):
That is heavy?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
I know.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
I also it's like, this was a completely irrational thought.
But I was like, you could do that. In two
thousand and six, people were still drowning at sea, Like,
I what were they even up to?

Speaker 5 (16:27):
I don't know, it gives like eighteen hundreds Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah yeah, I was like, wait, what were they looking for? Anyways?
I don't know, they know Aquamarine. Maybe they taught her
the meaning of love or something.

Speaker 5 (16:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, Aquamarine sees her parents and that's what inspires her
to come ashore to find love.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Here's here's my horror pitch. Aquamarine whoopsie Daisies capsized the
boat he held her parents and.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
Was like, oh, not of jealousy.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yes, So she's like and then I'll strike when Emma
Robertson's vulnerable.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I love that. Yeah, okay. So also on the beach
is a lifeguard named Raymond who the friends have a
big crush on. Then a mean popular girl, Cecilia, who
we were just talking about and her gaggle of mean
girl friends show up and flirt with Raymond the lifeguard,

(17:26):
to Claire and Haley's dismay. That night, Haley like jokingly
casts a spell to try to make the ocean stop
her mom from moving to Australia.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
What a sentence.

Speaker 8 (17:41):
Yeah, she does it in jest, but like it like
is sad at the end when Jojo goes to Australia,
But you're also like good for her because they lived
in Tampa, Like.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yeah, you should absolutely go to Australia.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yeah, but she doesn't want to go there. She thinks
Tampa's amazing, and so she jokingly casts this spell and
there's like this storm and lightning strikes, and it seems
like the spell works, question mark, because the next morning,
Claire and Haley go outside to this swimming pool that's

(18:18):
right by the beach. Is that a thing? I don't know,
But Claire falls in the swimming pool, and she sees
something in the water, but before she can get a
good look, Raymond jumps in and saves her, and she
tells Haley she saw something. So that night they sneak
back to the pool and discover a mermaid and she's like, Hi,

(18:42):
it's me a mermaid, and we will eventually learn that
her name is Aqua Marine, although it takes forever for
her to introduce herself.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Is a full half hour I had to check out.
He's like, how is this the first time?

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah. They hang out for like a full day and
then she's like, by the way, I'm a marine. And she,
of course is played by Sarah Paxton. No relation to
Bill Paxton from what I can tell.

Speaker 5 (19:08):
No, Okay, I tried to look into that too, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
And I was like, this is important research that yielded
no results. But yeh, I don't think they're related anyway.
She seems nice and friendly, but then this guy, Leonard,
who works at the beach club and who Claire and
Haley are scared of, he starts to approach, so they
have to run off, but they tell Aquamarine that they'll
come back tomorrow. But when they do, they discover that

(19:34):
the pool has been drained, so they think she's like
gone forever or dead or something. But just kidding. Aquamarine
turned herself into a human with legs. Although this is
when we learn the Gremlins rules, where she can't get
wet or else her tail will come back, and her

(19:56):
tail will definitely come back no matter what when the
sun sets. But during the day she can be in
like human form.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Oh and if you help her, you get one genie wish.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
Yes, but that has not really any more rules.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, she also makes fun of them. She's like, you
guys think genies are real.

Speaker 6 (20:17):
That's so true.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
There's a little mix of Cinderella in there too, like
Gremlin's rules and like a little Cinderella.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
And then she also has the aerial thing going on
because she only has three days to fall in love.

Speaker 5 (20:29):
Yes, it's just an amalgamation a lot of stuff.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
Three days to fall in love, because this is very important.
The reason she doesn't want to go back into the
ocean is because she doesn't want to be a child bride.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Right. Yeah, that her father has arranged. Yep, correct picture this.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Your dad says, unless you can prove to me that
love exists, I will make you a child bride in
seventy two hours.

Speaker 5 (20:54):
Really, I'm wondering, like what what fisher in the sea,
Like what of the murments? The men like that where
she's like this is awful, I can't.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
It felt like they didn't have the budget to show
us a second Mermaid.

Speaker 6 (21:12):
They had one nail.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
It seems like mermaid culture is a patriarchy for sure,
and they don't believe in love. That's part of their culture,
a loveless patriarchy, just like ours.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Her is her dad, Poseidon.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
It feels I thought like that is implied, but it
felt like she was avoiding saying his name.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
But like the mermaid names, took a long time.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
They couldn't afford the rights, the rights to say pay
big Poseidon barely a form.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
So they they bring her to Claire's house, where Aquamarine's dad,
who may or may not be Poseidon, calls her on
a shell phone hilarious basically on just like a conch shell,
and reprimands her for leaving because she ran away to
escape being a child bride, and as Sweeve said, she

(22:14):
has three days to find true love and to prove
to her dad that love is real. So then Aqua
Marine sees Raymond and decides he's the guy that she
wants to fall in love with, and she tells Claire
and Hailey that if they help make that happen, she'll
grant them a Genie wish.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
There is a nice I did appreciate, I mean of all,
because I feel this movie is like, really, I don't know.
Maybe it's because we just watched the movie that I
felt like was not as good on friendship between girls.
I did appreciate that. It's like Haley and Claire both
had this huge crush on Raymond, but when Aqua Marine
is like, I have a crush on him too. I
feel like a lesser movie would have been like, well,

(22:54):
you can't have a crush on him. But it's like
they're all very support and like, I don't know, they
never turn on each other for some goofy reason like boys.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
There was some initial pushback to the Raymond crush, but
they got over it very quickly.

Speaker 6 (23:15):
Totally. It was like everyone wants him, right, even guys.

Speaker 5 (23:21):
I loved that And guys.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, so like all the girls want him and even
some boys, and we're like, yay. Queer representation, queer representation.
Prettei's implied. I was like, wait, I love that they
do push back, but they changed their mind and agree
to help Aquamarine as soon as they learn about this wish,
because they realize they can use the wish to keep

(23:47):
Haley from moving away. So they prioritize their friendship with
each other over a boy. And so they're like, yeah,
we will help Raymond fall in love with you in
he calendar days. And so, in an effort to get
Raymond to notice Aquamarine, they ride their bikes past his house,

(24:10):
so you know, they're doing some light stocking, and Aquamarine
goes flying off the handlebars and scrapes her knee. So
Raymond comes out and like tends to her wound.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Okay, really quick, really quick. I'm sorry. They're first of
all incredible, like two thousands era Hot Girl Pratfall by
Sarah Paxton. But there I I for some reason, you
have like Raymond's just doing sit ups at his house,
you know, like hot guys do or something. I do

(24:42):
feel like that really embodied like what a young person's
idea of what a hot guy's doing at home. He's like,
he's probably at home doing crunches and talking to himself.
But he is talking to himself, and what he says
as he's talking to himself, he's doing, Okay, sit up,
ooh that hers it's second set up, but this will
make it all worth it. What the fuck are you talking?

(25:08):
It's really quiet, but I rewound it like three times
just to make sure that that weird and it's cleary
that the kid isn't saying it, but so they added
it in.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
It's just like eighty R Why did say that?

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Oh that hurts, but this will make it all worth it?

Speaker 4 (25:26):
Like what is this?

Speaker 6 (25:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (25:30):
When when you say this, I just loved.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
That someone made a choice to put that in.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Yeah, I'm just like, if I'm the director of this,
they're like, something's not something's not working with this scene.
We should make him give positive. He's basically being his
own starfish hearings and that, oh that hurts, but this
will make it all worth it.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
You're the most mascular boy.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
You know, you're us Raymond.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Everybody loves rating his own little voice telling him you're
also anyway. So he runs out to help aqua marine,
but she doesn't really understand human social cues, so she's
like awkward and over zealous, and then the mean popular

(26:21):
girl Cecilia shows up to get a driving lesson from Raymond,
and then you realize, okay, she must be sixteen at least.
Raymond also seems to be like sixteen seventeen, so he's
like a few years older than Haley and Claire. I
think that it's also implied that Aqua Marine is a
bit older. She's also, yeah, sixteen kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
I always got very like cool older sister vibes from her, right.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
But then it makes you wonder why Cecilia and her
friends spend so much time making fun of like girls
way younger than that. Is that a thing that happens?

Speaker 4 (26:57):
It's all about making yourself feel bigger.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
I think she doesn't have her own starfish earrings, so
she has to get validation by putting other people down.
It's true.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
She's even mean to her other friends, and that's why
they did her later.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, true, she had that coming. Her dad was a
little out of pocket towards Ci. But we'll get you.
I was like, oh my god, surely this is partially
your fault.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
You did not bet this, Okay. So Celia shows up
to get a driving lesson, so Claire, Haley, and Aquamarine
head back home so that the friends can teach Aquamarine
more about how to get a boy to like you
via a bunch of teen magazines. And there's a whole

(27:47):
montage to this effect. What a throwback.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
It's literally I think they cut they do like a
close hit on, like keep smiling.

Speaker 5 (27:55):
Definitely a time capsule. I was like, I had those magazines.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
It was like Cosmo Girl, ye seventeen th I did.
I loved those magazines because they were, for some reason,
a little bit smaller than my mom's magazines, Like I
do you remember, like teen Vogue.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Was just it was little, it was littler.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
Yeah, yeah, I liked it.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Anyways, I didn't have I'm missing out on this. I
wasn't allowed to have those, but I had, like the
Care of Keeping You.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Book classic, A classic.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
Didn't teach me how to how to flirt with boys, though,
that's probably why I was so bad at it.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
I like, any I kind of I feel like the
American Girl books were pretty wholesome. I have it's it's
in here somewhere. They did make an American girl book
about how to flirt?

Speaker 6 (28:45):
Really, Oh yeah, I need that now. I still need that.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, I remember, and my mom was a freak, so
she got it for me. She's like, best of luck,
good luck out there.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Hilarious. Uh okay. So then the three of them head
to a street fair where Raymond is and he an
Aquamarine connect and they go on a paddle boat together
and he's like, wow, you're not like the other girls,
and she's like, tii really. But then she realizes the
sun is setting, which means her tail will come back

(29:22):
very soon, so she has to hurry away, and Claire
and Haley take her to a water tower for Aquamarine
to spend the night in pretty brilliant.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
How she did not get a drop of water on
her during the paddle sequence.

Speaker 6 (29:38):
I know.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
I was like, you're worried about the sun setting? What
about the water?

Speaker 6 (29:42):
About the water?

Speaker 2 (29:44):
She forgot the other rule?

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Well, there are a lot of rules.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Also, currieus just about the water tower choice, because there's
also the scene, the iconic scene with the bathtob Chili
in the bathtub with the tail. I'm like, well, why
didn't she just chill?

Speaker 2 (30:03):
There were so many other sources of water, water tower.
I don't know why they go to the lengths of
taking her up a water tower. We don't know. It's
so that she can get quote unquote trapped there by
Cecilia later. But it's it's it feels very contrived. Wow.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Meanwhile, I wrote water tower smart idea.

Speaker 8 (30:25):
Okay, got it, got it, got it again.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Every every this is a safe space. Every opinion is
valid here.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
I thought that was pretty inventive of them.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
I feel I feel like it's like the bathtub is
like a fish bowl, and then the water tower it's
like staying at a aquarium, and then there's the ocean.
There's different Yeah, there's different levels.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
They get sure the water tower is like an apartment.
You can just sing wheezer there by yourself, which she
does later, which she does.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
And she couldn't go back in the swimming pool because
it's established that they drained it. Yeah, so actually, maybe
it is brilliant. I was.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
It was really late and I watched this genius.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
So the next day is this big beach party called
the Last Splash, and it seems like Raymond was going
to ask Aqua Marine to go with him. So the
girls go on a shopping bontage for an outfit for
Aqua Marine.

Speaker 7 (31:28):
As you do in the two thousands, where establishes further
that she's not like other girls because they're like, these
are secondhand clothes, and she's like, guys, give them a chance.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Wow, sustainability, queen, I did. I mean, it's like it
is so contrived to have a like close trying on sequence,
but it's I love two thousands ones because they're always
trying on the most but ugly shit like in the
world where you're like, you guys look horrible, you look
so bad.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
And then she tried on a dress that it looks
I mean whatever, but the sleeves are especially ugly, so
she just rips them off. But I don't think buys
the dress then, because we don't see her wearing it again.
So she just like defaces the property of the store
and then leaves, which is iconic.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
But she's not like other girls.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's true. Yeah, past It's okay, right, So after the
shopping bontage, Aquamarine makes Hailey ride on a dolphin to
go out into the ocean and collect the starfish earrings
that give them compliments. But then Aquamarine finds out that
Raymond is going to the Last Splash party with Cecilia

(32:43):
because Cecilia had lied and told Raymond that Aquamarine has
a boyfriend. So Aquamarine is devastated and she runs off,
but Claire and Hailey managed to find her and Raymond
and help clear things up and arrange for them to
go on a date to the Last Splash, although Raymond

(33:05):
almost sees Aquamarine as a mermaid when she's taking a bath,
and so there's a close call there iconic where Jojo
has to like jump in the bathtub with her, pretending
to be her legs. But you really have to do
so unnecessary.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, when you're in the bath, you don't need to
prove your legs. I love that she committed.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yeah. Yeah. So then the date happens and Aquamarine and
Raymond have a nice time. They dance, but then they
dance to Wheezer's Island in the Sun. Of course, they.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
Bribe the musicians with a piece of cake. They walk
on stage and they're like please, they like hand it off,
and I'm like, is he gonna eat that now or what?
What do you mean a piece of cake?

Speaker 2 (34:02):
It's a weird bribe. So then the date is happening,
but sunset rolls around again and Aquamarine has to abruptly
leave once again, but she tells Raymond to meet her
on the pier the following morning at nine am, and
then she gives him a kiss on the lips and

(34:24):
he's like a woo god. And then Cecilia follows Aquamarine
to the water tower and discovers that she's a mermaid.
So Cecilia breaks the ladder so that no one will
be able to go up or down, and then she
goes back to the party and tells her friends that
Aquamarine is a mermaid, but they don't believe her. But

(34:48):
Leonard overhears this and he starts researching mermaids in a book.
And he has this piece of jewelry that he had
found in the drained swimming pool and it matches up
with mermaid jewelry. So he's like, wait a minute.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
I want to check because I was like, this character
feels added, So I checked the synopsis of the book,
and indeed, there is no not a Leonard in sight.

Speaker 6 (35:13):
There's no Leonard.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
No, he is very random. Because they're like because it
wasn't even like I mean, I guess that the girls
learned not to judge loan adult men in Florida, which
I don't even know if that's a good lesson to learn.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
Like you should be suspicious of this man.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
But yeah, Leonard, who knows you know, bless his heart,
seems like a nice guy.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
I think they're being classist and agist by being afraid
of him.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
I think I'm a thirteen year old girl. I'm not
talking to a huge stranger.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Fair, that was me. He's also like not trying to
like befriend them or anything.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
They're just like, that's true.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
I guess they do know him, right, Yeah, because he
works at the club that her grandparents own't.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Oh yeah, they're being class then, Okay, I kept forget.
I was thinking of him as like the neighbor from
home alone, and I understood why they were scared of him.

Speaker 4 (36:09):
That's yeah, he does get a wish as well, and
I need to understand did he force that woman to
fall in love with him?

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Or what great.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Question I think he did? I think Lon did. I
was like wink wink, I'm like, wait, like we need
more rules with the genie wish you could have just
asked her out. That couldn't have happened with Aladdin's Genie.
That was one of his rules because he says, I
can't make anybody fall in love with anybody else and
he won't kill anyone. We need better rules.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Yeah, I feel like her wish to get if you
help me with this man falling in love with me,
then you get a wish. But then Leonard would just
like happen to like help her down a tower. And
she was like, would you care for a wish? She's
just like passing him out now right.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
The amount of effort and labor you have to put
in varies, but you'll still get the same like caliber
of wish.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
You could still just like arguably ruin a woman's life
just for no reason at all.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
Great, Okay, right, I think I'm catching on.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
So the next morning, Haley is having second thoughts about
the wish that she and Claire are planning to have
because Hailey realizes that her mom has worked really hard
for the job that she got in Australia and she
doesn't want to ruin that for her mom. And this

(37:42):
makes Claire really upset the thought that Haley is going
to abandon their wish, and they get in a huge
fight and say some really mean things to each other. Meanwhile,
Cecilia tells her news report or father that she heard
cries coming from the water tower, so a rescue mission
is underway, but really Cecilia just wants to expose Aquamarine

(38:05):
as being a mermaid on TV. But this planned backfires
because they don't find her, and Cecilia is like, there
is a mermaid up there, I swear, and everyone's like
uh huh. And it turns out that Aquamarine wasn't in
the water tower because Leonard had climbed up and rescued
her because he has his own ladder, so he gets

(38:28):
a wish now and turns out he's actually nice and
not creepy. I guess ya, yay Leonard. Then Aquamarine goes
to meet up with Raymond on the pier because it's
I guess nine am the next morning, and she asks
if he loves her, because if he says he loves her,

(38:51):
that's the proof she needs to show her father that
love is real, and he's like, well, I like you,
but we've only had one date, so as far as
love goes, I would say.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
No, which is like sweet about it. Yeah, yeah, I
really appreciate it. I mean like it's you know, he's
a very stock character, but like Raymond's like a sweet person.

Speaker 5 (39:15):
Yeah nice, and it's like, yeah, totally very fair. I
remember being like, I think devastated, as how could he is.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Unbelievable, right, because every other movie would be like, yes,
I love you so much.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
But he's so nice about it. He's like, but I'm
not saying I won't ever, It's just we should go
on some more dates. You're like, oh, Raymond, sweety.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
He's like, we've known each other for two days, so
fair enough. So just then Cecilia shows up and pushes
Aquamarine into the ocean, which of course turns her back
into a mermaid. And then her merman father, who we
don't see on screen but he can' we.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Just see via a lot of bad CGI.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
But just for sure he's like trying to pull her
back home via like waves and whirlpools and stuff. So
Claire and Haley jump in to try to save Aquamarine.
And also there's this whole subplot where because Claire's parents
drowned at ce she's afraid of the water and she

(40:24):
refuses to go in the water. So it's like a
big deal that Claire jumps in and they're like, well,
Aquamarine will set you free with our wish, much like
how Aladdin uses his last wish to set the Genie free.
But Aquamarine is like, there's no use. Raymond doesn't love me,

(40:45):
so I can't even grant your wish. But then she
realizes that Haley and Claire jumped in to save her,
and they're willing to give up their wish for her
because they love Aquamarine. So love does exist. It doesn't
have to be romantic, hetero love. So her father like

(41:06):
releases her from this marital obligation aka from being a
child bride, and Claire and Haley want to wish that
Aqua Marine stay with them, but she's like, nah, I'm
a mermaid, so I gotta be getting back to the ocean. Now.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
I feel my family who wants me to marry someone
like there. I felt so bad for Claire at the
end of the movie, I'm like, damn, she got none
of what she wants.

Speaker 5 (41:36):
She got.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
She got a kiss on the cheek from Raymond.

Speaker 6 (41:42):
That's to for something she gets.

Speaker 9 (41:46):
They were very happy about that, as does Haley, and
then Raymond also gives Aqua Marine a little kiss on
the lips again and he's like, see you later, she's like,
bye bye, and the friends have made up. So Claire
and Hailey are best friends again, and they both accept
that Haley is moving away, but they are like, we

(42:09):
had the best summer ever and we'll cherish that forever.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
The end. So that's the movie. Let's take another quick
break and we'll come back to discuss.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
My favorite thing about Aquamarine, the character that I must
have gone wild over when I was a kid, was
her mood ring nails. I was like, that's the coolest,
like two thousands cool girl detail ever. I loved it,
And this is did anyone else think? She kept doing

(42:52):
this like joke where I guess mermaids don't cry or
whatever or something. I'm like, what is it like like there?
But she she keeps saying I'm leaking, and I was
thinking about Jim Carrey Grinch because that's what Jim Carrey
Grinch says, and I was like, Wow, she's literally taking
lions cribbing lines from Jim Carrey Grinch. And that's all

(43:15):
I have to say about the movie.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
No, No, the end of the episode. I liked when
she wouldn't swear, but she'd use like c puns instead.
She'd be like, oh, what a barnacle she says like
salt instead of shit or something. I don't know, but
it's really good writing.

Speaker 6 (43:31):
Bull shark.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
That.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
It's kind of funny. So before we get into the discussion,
I just wanted to shout out the production team, which
there's a lot of women in the production team. Granted,
like this entire production is a very white group of women,
but we have a first time director. Elizabeth Allen directed

(43:57):
the movie. There is a woman who co wrote the
movie who has a wild resume, Jessica Bendinger, who she
wrote Bring it On. She was a writer on Sex
and the City. She was a writer of First Daughter,
and she wrote stickt the same year as Aquamarines. So
oh wow, amazing what a goddamn resume. Right, also edited

(44:18):
and produced by women, So I really appreciate that, and
I feel like you can really feel it in the way.
And it's also obviously adapted from a book by Alice Hoffman,
whose most famous work is Practical Magic.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
But she has also a very long resume of having
written her so many books.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
Yeah, like she's a she's an all timer. But but yeah,
I don't know, I really like that team, Like that's
I feel like this movie is and this story in
general is like I think, generally better than a lot
of comparable stuff at the time. I like the emphasis
on friendship. I know that there's a lot of like

(45:04):
queer readings of this movie that I'm excited to talk about.
I just like, Yeah, it's a fun movie totally, and
I like that women made it.

Speaker 6 (45:13):
Yeah, And I.

Speaker 5 (45:13):
Feel like a lot of these because I already visit
them sometimes. A lot of these, like early two thousands,
just like young Girl coming of age stories, have been
directed by men. So it's just refreshing to see a
production full of women.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Truly, and you can usually tell when they're directed by
men versus when they're directed and written by women. Because yeah,
as we've said, this movie and not that, like hetero
romance can't exist in a story, but it's often so
much emphasis is placed on that. And like we talked

(45:50):
about recently on the Angus Songs and Perfect Snogging episode,
it's a group of friends who are characterized entirely by
the crushes on boys and don't seem to have anything
else going on outside of that, And you know, it's like,
what are their common interests? What brings them together? As friends.

(46:11):
What you know, it's the movie just ignores all of
that and focuses entirely on the hetero romances, Whereas this movie,
sure there is emphasis on these girls helping this mermaid
to find low hetero love with a boy, but the
way it culminates is way different than we're used to seeing,

(46:33):
in the sense that they do prove that love exists,
but it's platonic love among friends love girls unless unless
it is romantic love between girls.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Right, because there is gay parentheses implied in the performances.
I think, like by all three of them are really
good and really thoughtful, and you know, unlike I just
like I know we keep bringing angus, but we just
watched it and like Emma Roberts and Jojo have this
like really deep, complicated codependent friendship that we actually do

(47:12):
kind of learn a lot about. And they're like, we're
all each other like has and we both feel like,
you know, lonely and kind of disconnected and we don't
want to be separated.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
And we love each other.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
But like it was just I don't know, even though
it's like I think there's always more room for like
what are their interests, Like, what do they like what
do they want to do? I felt like, I mean,
their friendship is so intense and authentic, and I it
really worked for me. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:41):
I think that's my favorite part about this is the
capturing of young like junior high friendships, which I agree
there are other layers to what little teenage girls talk about,
but I do love that they they're very like giggly
and fun and they just show them having fun together.

(48:05):
And and I agree, I think that Emma Roberts and
Jojo have such a good little chemistry about them too.
I think that really worked back together. Yeah, and I
think that Aquamarine was just a fun It was like
Manic Pixie dream Girl before Manic Pixy dream Girl, but
also in like I mean, he does say you're not

(48:28):
like other girls, but I feel like from like a
female like it was like, I don't know, instead of
the man and girl like Manny and we see there
like it was like all three of them as a
unit that we're seeing and yes on the Code of
Bendzen scene which they rope in Aquamarine on, they're like.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Yes, okay, and now we are yeah yeah, and they
don't go and it's like you gotta let her go.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
They're never not together, like they're always following each other.
Even on the pier. They were like under the pier
and then they were like, let's just go up, and
I was surprised. Raymond was never like are you ever.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Not around them?

Speaker 4 (49:04):
Or do they need to like always be chaperoning or what.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
I guess Raymond is used to being followed around by them,
so maybe they're just part of this. Yeah, It's like
there's this part of the scenery to him because they're
also I think before they were following Marine around, they
were just following Raymond around. They're like spying on him at.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
Work the ub and quizzing doing quizzes about him.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
They're doing Raymond trivia.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
Right in front of him, right.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
I mean. Not only is there like a component of
manic pixie dream girl kind of thing, I was also
detecting hints of the like born sexy Yesterday trope because
Aquamarine does seem to fall in love with the first
man that she sees, and there are a lot of
like human customs and social cues that she doesn't stand.

(50:00):
But what differentiates it from other examples of this trope
is that it's not the man who teaches her about
social cues and teaches her about romance. It's the two girls,
it's Haley and Claire, and their advice comes from what
they read in magazines, which is often offering like very

(50:21):
like tropy, misguided advice.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
But I like that, Like Aquamarine pushes back on that too,
where like after they read that whole pile of magazines,
she's like, so we're supposed to be flirty but demure,
devoted but not desperate, available but elusive, and like does
meaningfully kind of like comment on it. And I don't
think that, I mean what I I Another thing I

(50:45):
like about Aquamarine is I don't think she really I mean,
she absolutely does fall in love with literally the first
man she sees, I think, but it's like him, it's him, yeah,
And they're like, no, that's the one that we don't
want you to and she's like, sorry, I that's this is
another Mermaid rules exactly. But I do I feel like Aquamarine,

(51:09):
you know, doesn't really get the guy by following the
rules of the magazine, which feels good, Like she gets
the guy by being herself.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Which he did. He interprets as you're not like the
other girls.

Speaker 6 (51:25):
Right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:26):
Does that just mean being not like other girls? Does
that just mean being like innocent and gullible.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
I don't know if it's that. I don't know if
it's that she's nice and not mean the way that
Celia and her friends are mean and judgy.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
But that's not how, that's not how the other two girls. Yeah,
I don't I don't get it either. It's just like something.
Oh he does say though, because.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
She yes, she first walks up unlike other girls, you
are hot?

Speaker 4 (51:58):
Yeah, do you love me? And he's like no, but
I think you're hot, Like.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
All right, all right, Raymond?

Speaker 4 (52:07):
And then I think he does like a finger gun.
I think he's like, you see you later.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
What would have worked better is that if we understood
anything that they connected about that Raymond and Aquamarine like
had in common. And sure, many teenage romances are hot,
aren't Yeah, they they're not connecting over anything very meaningful,
but like, truly, what do these people have in common

(52:34):
other than they both know how to swim?

Speaker 5 (52:37):
Like?

Speaker 2 (52:37):
I wish they had just established like one thing, like
one reason that Raymond likes her and wants to keep
hanging out with Aquamarine, one reason why Aquamarine chose him
out of anyone else she could have chosen. The movie
just skips over all that I could.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Have even been just aligned. Yeah, it could have just
been in exchange.

Speaker 5 (52:57):
They like the same music like something.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah. Yeah. She also loves Wheezer's Island in the Sun
and he loves oranges or something. But I do really
like how the romance culminates as far as she's on
the pier at the end, repeats the question do you
love me? And he's like, well, I feel like he
should have been like, I'm having deja vu? Haven't you

(53:22):
said this before two days ago? But he says, like,
we've been on one date. I like you, and I'd
like to see where this goes. But like, love is
a strong word, which is a very realistic and pragmatic
way to approach the end of a movie like this,
because again, so many other movies would have been like
and yes, they are in love, even though they've known

(53:43):
each other for two days and they don't really know
anything about each other. But they've fallen abruptly in love,
And isn't that so believable.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
I'm very curious your guys' thoughts on because I do
think that's very healthy, and his response was a healthy
do we think as a group, And I have my
own opinion on this, but I'll wait. It's healthy for
them then to be the two girls, like is it
healthy that they're like, we love you like as a friend?

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Great question? After you know, they have certainly spent more
time with Aquamarine, and they do seem to have bonded
over more things such as magazines and dress shopping.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Well, and also, to be fair, I mean like the
all three of them feel like misfits to some extent,
or like estranged from their family, or like Jojo does
like it clearly does not have a good relationship with
her mom. The one thing we see her mom and
she's pretty mean. She's like, what are you thinking? And

(54:48):
then Jojo says it and then she's like, shut up.
I'm see.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
I was on the mom's side there. I was like,
JoJo's being a brat, and I was on.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
JoJo's side, like Mama, stop. But they're all I get
why the girl's like hyper bond to Aquamarine. It's probably
not the healthiest thing, but it makes sense to me
where it's like Aquamarine is another like you know girl
that doesn't feel like she fits in where she's.

Speaker 5 (55:15):
From totally, and I I too, was on JoJo's side,
and then I felt like this pang of empathy when
the mom's friend kind of came in and was like, yeah,
oh my gosh, like this is so competitive. I was like,
oh my god, like they showing the mom and like
this pursuit of this ten year grand I was like, well, okay,

(55:38):
maybe shows us.

Speaker 4 (55:38):
What single jobs.

Speaker 5 (55:42):
Yeah, dreams.

Speaker 6 (55:45):
Yeah, she was like left by her ex husband. Yeah,
they just throw that in there.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
She's like rebuilding as a single parent.

Speaker 6 (55:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
I mean it's she was a little short with Jojo,
but it's also like, yeah, Jojo, unfortunately you do have
to go to Australia, Like your life will be.

Speaker 5 (56:02):
Better there, yes, outside of Tampa.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
Yeah, I mean I'm gonna be so honest. I was like,
oh for sure, I would I've been there. I would
be like I love you.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
Yeah when you're like.

Speaker 6 (56:14):
Thirteen, totally like, oh my gosh, best for forever.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
Best friend forever.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
They sell it, I like I felt it.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
No, I was definitely on their side totally with that.
I'm like, oh yeah, that's real. But like the love
for with Raymond would not be real. I'd be like,
don't trust him if he said it. But like with
the girls, I was always like, yeah, they love her
because I would too.

Speaker 5 (56:37):
Exactly because you know where we got another side of
the falling in love like two days and it goes back,
uh frozen.

Speaker 6 (56:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
I was thinking that too. Yeah, like this is like
almost a pre frozen thing where it's like just pushing
back on those tropes in a way that like, at
least at the time, I was like, Oh, that's fun
I never see that.

Speaker 4 (57:01):
That's so funny. Because I was thinking of ex Machina.
I was like, this woman just came, this one just
came out of the ocean and is meeting humanity for
the first.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Time, and she tricks Domald Gleeson like immediately where he's
just like, I will do anything for you. I will
escape Raymond.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
Raymond.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
That's wild that Raymond is smarter than Tom and he
was like a science genius just goes to show lifeguards
are smarter than scientists. Wow, yes, and you can quote me.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
I The movie I kept thinking of was Shape of Water.
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
I was thinking of the thirteenth Year, not only because
it is the suggestion that comes up. That's like a
Disney Channel original movie that was like I think I
was like too young for when it came out, but
I saw it on reruns and it was about a
younger man and that was well. I think we should
cover it someday because I just remember being horny, horny, horny,

(58:09):
and when I was ten watching that rerun being like
what what?

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Like Okay, So just some thoughts.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
I have something I wanted to share about, like the
queer readings of this movie. I thought it was really fun.
We have actually from friends of the pod, the Le's
Hangout Pod. Yes, oh, I believe we had them on
our DEBS episode years ago, but they released a full

(58:42):
like article on their site, Ellie and Lee about how
much they love Aquamarine and how queer coded they felt
it was when they first saw it. So I just
wanted to share. And it's also just a funny post.
So I wanted to share just a paragraph from that
they write somehow things get even gayer as the movie progresses.

(59:04):
Aqua's whole mission is to get someone to fall in
love with her and prove to her dad that love exists.
Who is known to fall in love that quickly? Lesbians
of course, the man she chooses is the first man
she laid eyes on, and he does not love her
yet it's been a day. But you know who does
already love her, the little baby lesbians. In the end,

(59:27):
the girls risk their lives to save Aqua and realize
they love her the same way that they love each other.
When they tell her, she realizes she loves them too,
and one of her happy tears falls into the ocean,
causing her dad to cease his rage storm. Her dad
now knows that love really does exist, but canonically, he
only knows gay love exists. He has zero proof. He

(59:48):
has zero proof that heterosexual love is a thing. Aquamarine
goes back to her pod to spread the gay agenda
like an aquatic lesbian Jesus, and we can only assume
that all of the previously loveless murd are now happily
pairing off into queer partnerships threpples and polycules. So very
good the queer read of Aquamarine. We can look to

(01:00:11):
that whole post. It's very funny.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
Please, yes, that's hilarious. Also wanted to point out that
chapel Rone cited this movie as inspiration for the music
video for her song casual Oh that to sense, she
described it as being aquamarine but like gay but.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
So there is a demand for aquamarine but gay but
gay clearly right overly gay.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Yes. So Hayley throughout the movie wears clothes that seem
to be kind of more you could read it as
gender neutral, maybe read it as like more masculine clothes,
and the Bully girls keep making fun of her for it,
and of course they are stylized as being very.

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
Like literally driving around in Margot Robbie Barbie's car, like
pink convertible.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Yeah, hyper feminine kind of thing, and they're always like
pointing out like ooh, like, why are you wearing those
hidious boyish clothes? And on one hand, sure there is
a precedent for hyper feminine women to judge women who
present more masculine or to you know, bully anyone who

(01:01:28):
like doesn't fit the mold of like a very binary
gender spectrum and gender presentation kind of thing. I found
it an interesting component of the movie because it never
really goes anywhere except to maybe subtly suggests that Haley
is for sure lesbian based on the way she dresses.
But yeah, I don't know exactly why else that's there

(01:01:50):
except to maybe just show that Cecilia and her friends
are mean, but to choose that to be like the
thing right that she bullies them for. I don't know.
I was just curious on other thoughts about that.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
Yeah, I feel like in this time period and things
have kind of like shifted, but there is that like
the tomboy like kind of uh trope that pops out
I came up and like marking Nashley movies too, It's
just like a common character type. And I feel like
we can look at that now and be like, oh, yeah,

(01:02:27):
like this is kind of like queer codd or it's
like this is a non biname person with the way
that that showed up of like it was a girl
wearing like guys clothes and it's just a little more nuanced.

Speaker 6 (01:02:37):
It's more nuanced now.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Yeah, right for sure?

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
Yeah, I mean, And I think on the flip side
of that is another example of I think that the
Cecilia character was kind of like my least favorite portion.
I don't even think she really needs to be there,
if I'm being honest, Like, this is not a movie
or a story that really needs a villain. I feel
like it's a story of like friendship and self discovery

(01:03:01):
and the fact that it's it's And also, Cecilia is
not a character in the book. She is a villain
added for the movie, which is further proof that, like,
this is a story that is about friendship. You know,
Raymond is definitely in the book, but I was like,
you know, Raymond, we could get rid of him too.
I just like it should be focused on these core

(01:03:24):
three you know, two girls in a mermaid and yeah,
just the Cecilia stuff stuck out like a sore thumb
because that felt like the tropiest part and an otherwise
like movie that seemed to be subverting a lot of
tropes were used to seeing. But the mean girl trope
and the like demonization of hyperfemininity, like all of that
two thousand stuff was still very you know present, and

(01:03:48):
in a way that was just like why why?

Speaker 4 (01:03:51):
And I think that they and we were talking about
how we wanted more of these characters and what they
want in their personalities, because it's interesting I found throughout
the entire movie, everyone was dealing with the consequences of
men's choices, like Aquamarine's dad forcing her to be a

(01:04:12):
child bride, and then JoJo's mom she has to you know,
she doesn't have support from like her husband and has
to like move around and not that she needs a
support she could you know, be a single mom AND's life.
But that seemed to be I don't know, they hinted
at that being like at least something like a core
element of JoJo's life. And then like they're at the

(01:04:34):
Mercy of Raymond it seems falling in love with Aquamarine,
when it really could have just been these three girls
like exploring them as characters and like growing their friendship.
And like even Raymond he couldn't have played as big
of a part because it could have just been like,
I don't know, maybe he just goes off with Cecilia
and they do their thing and then they kind of

(01:04:56):
had this Maybe they all three like have a fight
and then they come back together and they discover, you know,
they just love each other or something. I don't know.
I just thought that was something that I would have
liked to see a little more about them than their
yeah personalities.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
I agree. I agree.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
A couple other interesting departures from the book. I just
wanted to point out.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
This book it's a really good book.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
I've not read it, but I did read the Wikipedia
plot summary, So let's go. So in the book, Aquamarine
is still randomly drawn to Raymond. Yeah, but in the book,
she does not have the goal of proving to her
father that love exists. She just wants to like hang
around because she's attracted to Raymond. So the whole like

(01:05:43):
interesting you know storyline of like trying to escape a
marriage and prove that love exists to her father seems
to be added for the movie as far as what
I can tell, at least. Also in the book, aquam
never turns to human form. Claire and Haley like put

(01:06:04):
her in a long dress and a wheelchair to hide
her mermaid take and the fact that she cannot walk. Yeah,
so she stays a mermaid the whole time, and then
they just disguise it. And Aquamarine does go on the
date with Raymond and he doesn't notice and it's a
nice time. But then he does discover she's a mermaid

(01:06:26):
pretty soon after that because he sees her save a
boy who has fallen in a swimming pool and he's like, oh, wow,
you're a mermaid. That's okay. I still like you. And
then the book ends with Claire and Haley bringing Aquamarine
back to the ocean because like, being on land is
bad for her health, and so they're like, okay, return

(01:06:50):
to the sea, our new friend. So the component of like, well,
we're proving that love exists because of our female friendship
is also an add on for the movie, but the
book is also just like yeah, and they're friends and
isn't that nice? And then it's Claire who moves away
to Florida. So I don't know where the book takes place.

(01:07:12):
I guess they're not already in Florida anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
I don't know that's I did not remember that. She
never gets like I am I am okay with that,
I am okay with I'm okay with that change. I think, yeah,
what a that would have been a very complex that's
a lot of tail, that's a lot of tales.

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
That's really funny.

Speaker 3 (01:07:32):
I have a sorry I did. At the beginning. I
was on Sarah Paxson's Wikipedia page going this journey with me, oh,
and I was like, what are other things I've seen her?
And I've seen her in a lot of things. She's
been around forever, but I remember that she replaced the
girl who plays Marnie in Halloween Town in the third
Halloween Town movie. So I originally hated her because I

(01:07:54):
was like, you're not Kimberly J. Brown. What did you
do with her? And also it just sucks when I'm
just like, just write a new character that's clearly not
her anyways, So I was thinking about that and then
I was like, what's let me check Kimberoly J. Brown's
Wikipedia page, which led me to the realization, has anyone
here seen Halloween Town two Calibar's Revenge?

Speaker 6 (01:08:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
Okay, So, and how in that movie, Marnie kind of
like starts a thing with Calibar's son Cal. Oh, they
got married this year. They like didn't see each other
for like twenty years and then met up at like
a Halloween Town reunion event and fell in love and

(01:08:38):
they got married this year.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Isn't that really fell in love in two days? Isn't
it amazing?

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
I just that was. Yeah, that was I was like,
oh God, it's so embarrassing being so susceptible to nostalgic culture,
but that really hit. I was like, whoa, Marnie and
Cal got married. Those are my friends from Halloween Town.

Speaker 4 (01:09:01):
Wow, that is really cute.

Speaker 3 (01:09:02):
Anyways, that's my story about Sarah Paxton.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
No, that's great. Does anyone have anything else they'd like
to discuss about the movie Aquamarine.

Speaker 4 (01:09:13):
I just have to say that the when she's heartbroken
in the bathtub eating Ben and Jerry's the amount of
times that I quoted I have two new men now.
Their names are Ben and Jerry. And the amount of
Ben and Jerry's ice cream I bought after that movie
or I didn't buy it. I was young. I requested it.

(01:09:33):
They really I don't know if that was intentional, like
a product placement deal or whatever, but they really had
me in a choke hold and it really just hit
so hard. And I still love Ben and Jerry's Yes
me too.

Speaker 6 (01:09:45):
I was like, they must have paid for that because
she's like fish food.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Oh it's fish food. That's comedy, which is.

Speaker 5 (01:09:52):
My favorite Ben and Jerry's favorite is. It's just like
a lot of like possible product things like I was
like thinking back to her, I was like, did they
have the.

Speaker 6 (01:10:00):
Mood ring nail polish? Like was that a thing? Where
was there like starfish air?

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
I feel like mood ring nail Polish must have existed,
it sounds like it did. I want to get a
mood ring again.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
I definitely had mood ring rings, and do you remember
those little It was a watch but it was the
size of a ring and you wore it on your finger. Oh,
but it was like a watch with an alasta what. Yes,
I have to get one in mine. The watch ring
was also a mood ring, and it had a little
alien face on, like the face of the watch, and

(01:10:34):
it would change colors based on absolutely nothing and it
had nothing to do with my mood. There I said it.
But anyway, I loved my watch ring and I have
to get another one. Yes, now that their bag.

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
Also, I love the test they do to see if
he likes her.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
What is it he like?

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
Plays with his hair, stretches and then.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Flexes and flexes. Okay. I kept having such a hard
time with this because I it was not clear to
me when he was flexing. Yeah, but the movie telegraphs
to like because when he was flex he wasn't actually
flexing or I don't know, it just didn't seem obvious
that he was flexing.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
I wrote that it's bent and snap for teen boys. Wow,
in a way in a way.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
The movie does pass the Bechdel test a lot. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:11:24):
I figured, yeah, watching it, I was like, I think
this checks all the boxes.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
So, you know, it's mostly Claire and Haley when they're alone.
If they're with Aquamarine, the conversation usually turns to Raymond,
but if it's just Haley and Claire, they talk about
their friendship. They talk about Haley moving away, They talk
about the ocean and the water.

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):
They talk about a marine and how to hide her
in various locations.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
They talk about how ugly some of these consignment storage
dresses are, et cetera.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
Yeah, so it passes a lot, and I feel like
it does speak to like, you know, this movie had
women at the top of it, and so I would
imagine that it was like it's possible that there was
just way less pushback for actually centering the girls at
the center of the story, and even that still meant

(01:12:22):
that you had to add like a quote unquote bitchy character,
which feels very of the time, and I wonder, I'm
like that to me, I'm like, I'm going to assume
that was a male studio note of like where's the villain?

Speaker 4 (01:12:36):
Some shit like that, get Cecilia Banks on the phone.

Speaker 2 (01:12:40):
Right Worth reiterating that this is an incredibly white cast.
It has basically no diversity. I think Cecilia has one
friend who is a person of color, but aside from that,
but she doesn't speak. She has like one line of
dialogue and she's barely ever on screen. So yeah, if

(01:13:01):
you blink, you'd miss her because it's such a predominantly
white cast otherwise, So that brings us to our nipple
scale as far as rating the movie on a scale
of zero to five nipples, examining the movie through an
intersectional feminist lens. As per our discussion, I appreciate a

(01:13:21):
lot of what this movie does as far as defying
tropes about coming of age movies about girlhood and romance.
And the movie does place so much focus on the
friendship between Claire and Haley and Aquamarine, and the boy

(01:13:43):
is just sort of like a vehicle to get them
to realize how deeply they care about each other. And
that's interesting. The movie being so white is very glaring,
so I'll dock some nippleage off for that. And it's like,
you know, obviously there are queer reads of the movie,
but the like text. The intention I think of the

(01:14:08):
filmmakers is like, yeah, these are all straight people, duh.
So I think I'll go like three and a half
nipples With all of that in mind, I'll give one
nipple to each of the three friends, and my half
nipple will go to the movie Gremlins because they have

(01:14:30):
the same rules.

Speaker 3 (01:14:33):
I'm gonna do three and a half as well. Yeah,
I think it is. It is a very white movie
that is telegraphic straightness. But I don't know. I think
that the baby bisexual in me was was feeling the
vibe of this movie. I understand why it is a
formative text for many millennials in that sense, but also

(01:14:56):
speaks to how like, you know, when there wasn't any representation,
you just had to see it and discover it. In
any case, Yeah, I love that this movie is committed
for the most part to really centering on this friendship.
And I like that it's like a complex friendship too,

(01:15:18):
and that both of these kids don't appear to be
especially wealthy. I mean, I don't think I think that
they're like maybe lower middle class. It seems like which
is just you know, class wise. I don't think something
we see very often. I feel like it's usually upper
middle class with friend dynamics that are far less complicated

(01:15:38):
and thoughtful. And so yeah, I love Clara and Haley's friendship.
It really does break my heart every time when they
don't end up together. But yeah, I think it's a
lovely movie and it holds up pretty well. And I'll
give it three and a half nipples. I will give
one to Jojo shout out to her for being on Broadway.

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
I will give one nipple to Elizabeth Allen. This is
her first feature and it's like really a really good
first feature that and she's gone on to have a
really successful career, mostly in TV, but she's like directed
an episode of fucking Everything. I will give one to
the editor Jane Moran because I love seeing women in

(01:16:23):
the editing booth. And I'll give the last half to
Alice Hoffman for having a really cool Mermaid idea.

Speaker 2 (01:16:33):
She's like, I saw Disney's Little Mermaid and I have
never do it better.

Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
Yeah, what about y'all?

Speaker 5 (01:16:41):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with three and a half. I'm like, okay,
I'm also gonna be saying three and a half nipple
because of Yeah, this is the way it like, it
does go against the grain. I feel like of the
time too, when so many things were just like this
is how it is that nothing was passing the back

(01:17:02):
of the test.

Speaker 6 (01:17:03):
Really not a lot of stuff, and.

Speaker 5 (01:17:06):
I would appreciate, you know, even just like the trophy
black sidekick friend.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
I love to see nothing nothing.

Speaker 5 (01:17:17):
There. So I'm going to give one of those just
to split amongst the three, and then one to split
amongst the woman production team. Why do you want to
Leonard because I was also.

Speaker 6 (01:17:32):
Doubting him at the beginning. Yeah, and then the half
to the non existent black sidekick friend.

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
Maybe.

Speaker 3 (01:17:41):
Okay, here's that's your witch wish for Aquamarine.

Speaker 2 (01:17:45):
I was gonna think Aquamarine's best friend back in the
ocean is a black mermaid.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
What is that real?

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
No, I'm just saying.

Speaker 6 (01:17:55):
That the book can a book.

Speaker 2 (01:17:59):
Yeah, but no, the this is my hypothesis. And so
there is a black character. We just don't see her
on Scream because the budget. The budget is a budget thing.

Speaker 6 (01:18:09):
Yeah, I love it all right.

Speaker 4 (01:18:11):
Well, I I'm not gonna lie. I was leaning three
and a half, but since everyone did three and a half,
I'm gonna be controversial. I'm gonna go just for three
because there were some issues I had yet zero people
of color. I didn't love the child bride elements. You know,
there were parts where it felt very like male gayzy
when it did need to be. And then I have

(01:18:33):
to say it really bothers me when there is like
the caddye mean girl for no reason, like Cecilia Minks.
I'm rooting for you to get another.

Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
Role that is not the villain.

Speaker 4 (01:18:45):
So I will give it three nipples, and one of
them will go to the power of female for friendship
and to slumber parties and having fun like giggling with
your friends at that age. One is going to go
to the mom forgetting her flowers and her ten year
grant journey single mom works.

Speaker 6 (01:19:07):
I think it's one.

Speaker 4 (01:19:08):
Job, but we'll say it's too to fit the joke.
And then the last nipple I'm going to give to
I'm going to say to mermaids everywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:19:21):
We exist, to all our mermaid listeners, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:19:24):
Beautiful, to our fellow mermaids.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Yeah, oh my god. Wow. Well, thank you so much
for joining us for this lovely discussion.

Speaker 3 (01:19:31):
This is such a flash, so fun.

Speaker 4 (01:19:33):
Thank you guys so much.

Speaker 2 (01:19:35):
Tell us where people can listen to your podcast, follow
you on social media, plug anything you want to plug.

Speaker 5 (01:19:44):
Yeah, definitely follow Players a film industry podcast on Spotify.
You can get updates on there and such. We post
updates on social media to on my social media so
at Amani M. Davis on Instagram and then also through
the actually company that dem and I work with, Room
nineteen Productions, so you can get updates about the pot

(01:20:05):
on there on that Instagram page as well. But yeah,
we we have all kinds of topics about the film industry,
breaking in different industry trends, things that we want to
like gab about, so check that out.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
Amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
Yeah, and then for all my Chicago film girlies, non
binary folks and film and mermaids, we do Film Girls
Brunch here as well. I know Amani does it in
La too, so you can follow us.

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
I want to go to that.

Speaker 6 (01:20:36):
Yes, come to Film Girls Brunch in La.

Speaker 4 (01:20:39):
We have it in Chicago. You can if you follow
like Room nineteen you'll get updates on that as well.
But yeah, come to one of our Film Girls Brunch
meetups too. I'm a filmmaker in Chicago and love connecting
with other women in film wonderful.

Speaker 3 (01:20:55):
Thank you so much for joining us again. Come back anytime.
So I'm having more Mermaids. We love to see them.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
Yeah, well we still have to cover Mermaids with share
and one on a writer and the movie I've never
seen it.

Speaker 3 (01:21:09):
And there's Splash, and there's the thirteen Year, there's there's
so much.

Speaker 6 (01:21:15):
So much mermaid This is the thing now.

Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
Yeah, we're doing We'll come back for all of these.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
That's amazing. Uh. You can follow us on Instagram mostly
these days. At Bechdel Cast. You can subscribe to our
Patreon aka Matreon, where you get two bonus episodes every
single month, always centering on a fun little theme, plus
access to the entire back catalog of bonus episodes. And
that's all for five dollars a month at patreon dot

(01:21:44):
com slash Bechtel Cast.

Speaker 3 (01:21:46):
And you can also get our merch at teapublic dot
com slash b Bechtel Cast. And with that, let's go
up into the water tower and have a Weezer karaoke night.
Shall yes yep, Bye bye bye.

Speaker 2 (01:22:08):
The Bechdel Cast is a production of iHeartMedia, hosted by
Caitlin Derante and Jamie loftis produced by Sophie Lichterman, edited
by Mola Board. Our theme song was composed by Mike
Kaplan with vocals by Katherine Voskresenski. Our logo in Merch
is designed by Jamie Loftis and a special thanks to
Aristotle Acevedo. For more information about the podcast, please visit

(01:22:31):
Linktree Slash Bechdel Cast