Feminist Frequency Radio

Watching the 1968 film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Wiz, we can't help but feel that director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Joel Schumacher deeply underserved their stars, craftspeople, and source material. It's impossible not to be captivated by the performances, especially as the movie is such a memorable intersection of the careers of Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, but the staging and writing continually let us down.

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We couldn't do a whole season about movie musicals without watching a Barbra vehicle. There are so many elements of 1968's Funny Girl that elevate the form, from William Wyler's direction taking a stage show to the screen, and Streisand's performance as her character Fanny Brice evolves from fame-hungry teenager to worldly star and wife. We found a lot of nuance in the film's exploration of labor and gender dynamics, and can't help...

Halfway through our season of Musical Mayhem, we decided to dive deep into the shallow waters of 2021's Dear Evan Hansen. After covering Glee last week, we felt like we had no other choice. This full-length episode is a special bonus for Patreon supporters at the "Fearless Feminist" level and above, but it's also available as a one-time purchase for non-subscribers.

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Never has the micro-generational divide between Kat and A.C. been sharper than in their relationships to Glee, arguably the most influential musical series ever on television. It's hard not to get glib in our discussion of the "issues" the show attempted to tackle over the course of its six seasons. Especially when the show's tone varied from mean-spirited to earnest representation politics throughout the course of the series.

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Is this the first "perfect" movie we've covered on this podcast? This was Kat's first time watching Bob Fosse's 1979 self-referential musical drama All That Jazz, one of A.C.'s absolute favorites. There's something compelling about the way Joe Gideon, Fosse's stand-in for himself, is far from being the hero in his own larger-than-life story of addiction, perfectionism, and womanizing. And though the ending is foreshadowed from the ...

For the first full episode of our new "Musical Mayhem" season, we watched the 1955 film Guys and Dolls. The gender expectations and relationship dynamics between the central two couples in this movie feel like they'd be right at home in today's modern "trad wife" resurgence as certain segments of society seek to backslide into authoritarianism. Even the series finale of the Sex and the City follow-up And Just Like That... portrays ...

Kat and A.C. are back from an extended hiatus in the Heavyside Layer to bring you an all-new season of Feminist Frequency Radio! This time, we're being critical about the media we love while tapping our toes: the screen musical. Join us for a preview episode where we discuss the season ahead and what you can expect from our movie and TV selections, new Letterboxd lists themed to each episode, and special full-length bonuses for Pat...

A.C. and Kat are joined by director Sav Rodgers to discuss his documentary feature debut, Chasing Chasing Amy, and the complicated legacy of its subject matter, Kevin Smith's 1997 film Chasing Amy. Sav shares about the arduous process of becoming the central story in his own doc, and examining his relationship to the movie that saved his life as a young queer person. We explore how we take our various fandoms seriously, and what it...

A.C. and Kat are back from their first semester at Shiz University for winter break, and we just had to talk about Jon M. Chu's blockbuster Broadway adaptation of Wicked: Part One. Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the story before the story we all know from The Wizard of Oz, this is a tale that was originally published as a novel by Gregory Maguire in 1995. On its face it's a movie about accepting yourself when you don't...

Kat's fighting a vicious cold, and only had enough raspy voice left to record a bonus mini episode with AC this week. We caught up on all of the random movies and TV Kat watched while traveling or coughing on the couch, from Hit Man and Trap to Love Again and Hot Frosty. AC shared what movies he rewatches annually on Thanksgiving, and yes—The Silence of the Lambs is first on his list. Plus, we talk about AC's new publication with C...

Luke Perry biographer Margaret Wappler joined us for a conversation about her hybrid memoir profiling the '90s heartthrob, and the impact Perry had on viewers from 90210 to Riverdale. We dug into Fran Rubel Kuzui's 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Perry alongside Kristy Swanson and Donald Sutherland. We particularly loved the comedic swings of supporting cast members Paul Reubens and David Arquette. Overall, we think th...

Writer and musician Tara Giancaspro joins Kat and A.C. for a rootin' tootin' rip-roarin' review of Colin Higgins' 1982 movie musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. We get lost in the fun and charm of the music, dancing, and wigs! We delight in the beauty of Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds! And we get caught up in a discussion of whether a movie like this could be made today, with its light-hearted treatment of sex workers bein...

Anita Sarkeesian returns to the podcast this week to discuss Coralie Fargeat's buzzy body horror film The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Anita gives the movie 5 out of 5 stars, but she, Kat, and A.C. all find something uniquely different to love about it. After an electrifying in-theater experience, we couldn't stop thinking about its storytelling on the panopticon of the patriarchal gaze. Not to mention its g...

Film critic and podcast host Alonso Duralde previously joined us for a discussion about 1950s Hollywood, and it was such a treat to have him return to the show. He recently published the film history compendium Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film, so what better film for us to watch together than William Wyler's 1961 opus of lesbian shame, The Children's Hour, starring Audrey Hepburn and...

We were so excited to welcome author and journalist Emma Specter to the show, that we asked them if we could talk about their favorite movie. Join us as we traverse journalism onscreen in James L. Brooks' 1987 film Broadcast News, starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks. We also ask Emma about the process of writing her reported memoir, More, Please, and what she might say about elements of the movie "as a private ci...

Kat and A.C. are starving for a blockbuster to make them feel something, as if the movies are actually, finally back. So, they saw Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters, and unfortunately—they’re still hungry. Listen in as they hypothesize about what Glenn Powell’s character was doing in the years before the events of this film took place (while Anthony Ramos’ was “working for the military” and Daisy Edgar-Jones’ was Being A City Girl). Could...

Kat and A.C. ~*witnessed*~ the fifth installment in George Miller’s apocalypse epic, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and… we found it completely unnecessary. We know that movies about women are not by default inherently feminist (Anita tweeted about this specifically related to Fury Road back in 2015), but it’s always a bummer when we’re more invested in the male characters in a movie centered around a female protagonist. Then, we played a...

Who’s in the mood for a little June Gloom? We finally watched John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film Seconds, starring Rock Hudson, in a feature segment we’re calling “Retro Featurism.” Kat and A.C. wonder what its Frankenstein-esque plotline in which viewers could find gay or trans messaging, says about the current moment where stories like Poor Things and Severance (and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming The Bride) are resonating with audience...

In this week’s episode, Kat holds court on the movie that seemed uniquely designed just for her (which she ultimately found fairly disappointing): The Fall Guy. Directed by longtime stunt performer David Leitch and starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, A.C. and Kat predominantly found the movie… “cute.” Which is fine! But Kat was really hoping for a lot more about the love of stunts, all things considered. Then, A.C. debuts a new,...