Dirty Dancing x Nostalgia with Andrea Warner

Explicit content warning

05/14/24 • 63 min

1 Listener

In this episode, Marcelle and Hannah are joined by Andrea Warner (she/her), the author of The Time of My Life, an exploration of Dirty Dancing as a deeply feminist film. We begin with a conversation about sexy films that made our younger selves all hot and bothered before heading into the segment "Why This? Why Now?" Hannah guides us through the difficulty that writer and producer Eleanor Bergstein faced in getting this movie made and distributed. We talk Reagan, Roe v. Wade, and nostalgia for the 1960s. Hannah then introduces us to American literary critic Fredric Jameson, cultural historian Bill Osgerby, and Russian-American cultural critic Svetlana Boym. Together, Hannah, Marcelle and Andrea parse through their respective work about postmodernism, nostalgia, late capitalism and the construction of history to get a better understanding of why Dirty Dancing is such a compelling film. We end the episode with a discussion of the appropriation of Black music in the movie, the power dynamics within Baby and Johnny's romance and the unique representations of mutual aid.

If you love Dirty Dancing, join the club (with Hannah and Andrea)! If you haven't seen it, you get to be in a club with Marcelle. FOR NOW (we will get her to watch it!).

You can learn more about Material Girls at ohwitchplease.ca and on our instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Want more from us? Check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a bonus episode, but until then, we mean it — go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease!

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Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.

*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.

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If you love Dirty Dancing, join the club (with Hannah and Andrea)! If you haven't seen it, you get to be in a club with Marcelle. FOR NOW (we will get her to watch it!).

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Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Gender Playground Preview: Plans, Trans, and Autonomy

Witch Please Productions is on Spring Break, so we're taking the opportunity to re-introduce you to Gender Playground, a podcast co-hosted by Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx about the joys of gender-affirming care for kids. This show launched to our Patreon last year and through patron support, we were able to launch it to the public in February of this year! We're dropping Episode 5 into your feed: Plans, Trans, and Autonomy.

In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi discuss “transition.” We begin with an anecdote from Marcelle about the discomfort she feels labelling her daughter Billie as trans, given Billie started using she/her pronouns soon after becoming verbal. Together, Marcelle and Raimi think through the shortcomings and utility of labels, gender as a social construct, and the importance of affirming the gender and gender expression of people of all ages.

Raimi then explains “transition” as an umbrella term that includes a range of actions pertaining to internal, social, legal and physical changes and choices folks may make. Marcelle asks some questions and there’s a fair amount of giggling!

As always, we end with a couple recommendations and a promise to continue our discussion of transition in coming episodes.

We’re continuing to find our audience for this podcast and we need your help! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends — and leave an Apple Review!

If you’d like to directly support production of this show, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. For just $250 USD, you can become a Gender Playground sponsor, run an ad on our show and get a shoutout.

We'll be back in two weeks with a new episode of Material Girls. :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Material Concerns: Summer Slowdown Pt. I

We're starting a summer slowdown! That means we're still releasing episodes every two weeks, but every other episode will be a Material Concerns episode; an unscripted, more casual conversation between Marcelle and Hannah. They'll talk about how they're doing, what they're up to, research they didn't get to in "regular" episodes, content they're consuming and more! In this Material Concerns episode they give personal updates and chat about the other shows we have going on at Witch, Please Productions. If you enjoy the episode, head over to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease for Part II! The rest of the conversation is available at all our tiers. For just $5 USD/month you'll get to hear Marcelle and Hannah discuss The Tortured Poets Department. If you want to read Marcelle's hot take about Taylor's newest album, head to ohwitchplease.substack.com!

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Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.