Best Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit Podcasts (2025)

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The Land Before Time: Deep Thoughts About Grief, Animation, and How Much Scientific Verisimilitude We Require From Talking Dinosaur Cartoons 53:49

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10h ago53:49

53:49

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely. This week, Tracie brings her deep thoughts about the 1988 Don Bluth animated film The Land Before Time. Although both Guy girls were a little too old to appreciate this staple of Millennial nostalgia when it originally came …

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Strictly Ballroom: Deep Thoughts About the Comedy Inherent in Ridiculous Competition and the Dignity of Taking Art Seriously 48:43

7d ago48:43

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. A life lived in fear is a life half lived. On this week's Deep Thoughts, Emily brings her analysis, nostalgia--and quite a bit of drool--to the 1992 Baz Luhrmann comedy Strictly Ballroom. Though this indie film, which was Luhrmann's directorial debut, may have gotten lost among the…

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Home for the Holidays: Deep Thoughts About Memory, Cringey Romance, and Why Tracie Can't Be Fooled Into Thinking BWI Looks Like O'Hare 54:06

14d ago54:06

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Well, that was absurd, let's eat dead bird! Just in time for Thanksgiving, Tracie brings her deep thoughts about the 1995 "romantic" comedy Home for the Holidays. Although the dysfunctional dynamics of the Larson family makes for realistic and funny storytelling, the romance betwee…

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Wall Street with Joe Saul-Sehy: Deep Thoughts About Mentorship, the Culture of Money, and Just How Many Yachts You Can Water Ski Behind 56:06

21d ago56:06

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. On today's episode, the Guy sisters welcome Emily's friend and co-author Joe Saul-Sehy, co-host of the wildly popular Stacking Benjamins podcast, to talk about the 1987 Oliver Stone film Wall Street…

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The Jerk: Deep Thoughts About Race, Comedy Genius, and the Unparalleled Thrill of Getting Your Name in the Phone Book 57:11

28d ago57:11

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. You mean I'm gonna STAY this color? On this week's episode, Tracie shares her deep thoughts about the 1979 Steve Martin film The Jerk, a comedy that never failed to delight the Guy sisters' father, no matter how many times he watched it. And for good reason. Martin's broad physical…

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Scream: Deep Thoughts About Badass Final Girls, Self-Aware Pop Culture, and Why We Expect Morals from Horror but Not Comedy 1:01:21

1M ago1:01:21

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. We're releasing this episode (109) four days early in honor of Halloween! There are certain RULES that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. In December 1996, teenaged Emily learned to love horror movies when she saw Wes Craven's Scream in the theater. …

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Weekend at Bernie's: Deep Thoughts About Exceptional Physical Comedy, Dubious Personal Morality, and Pop Culture Touchstones 50:16

1M ago50:16

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. What kind of a host invites you to his house for the weekend and dies on you? Despite its status as a benchmark of late 80s pop culture, the film Weekend at Bernie's sounds like it should never have been greenlit. Two lowly young insurance employees find their boss dead of an appar…

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A Fish Called Wanda: Deep Thoughts About Comedy, Cultural Commentary, and Cartoonish Con Artists 55:53

2M ago55:53

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. You're the vulgarian, you fuck! Tracie expected to enjoy revisiting the classic comedy A Fish Called Wanda, but she forgot just how much of this film's humor was derived from cringe comedy (John Cleese speaking Russian in his underwear when a large family stumbles upon him) and pun…

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Speed: Deep Thoughts About Dennis Hopper Chewing Scenery, Keanu Reeves Shooting Hostages, and Why Pop Culture Needs More Insurance Agents 53:57

2M ago53:57

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Pop quiz, hotshot! As Emily tells Tracie this week, the 1994 film Speed is, in a word, BONKERS. This pop culture icon of the early 1990s not only gave us the impossible bus jump that we've always wanted from the movies and catapulted Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves to mega-stardom,…

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The Log Driver's Waltz with Aaron Reynolds: Deep Thoughts About Canadian Masculinity, Quirky Comedy, and Keeping Animation Weird 55:28

2M ago55:28

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. I'm not sure that it's business of yours, but I do like to waltz with a log driver. Tracie and Emily welcome six-time Webby Award winner Aaron Reynolds (of Effin Birds fame) to the podcast this week to share his deep thoughts about the animated short The Log Driver's Waltz. Created…

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Romancing the Stone: Deep Thoughts About White Feminism, Fiction Writers, and Forgivable Plot Holes You Can Drive a Bus Through 52:32

2M ago52:32

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Okay, Joan Wilder, write us out of this one. On this week's episode, Tracie revisits the 1984 film Romancing the Stone. Both Guy girls loved this film in their childhood, enjoying both the romance and comedy of seeing Kathleen Turner's Joan Wilder go from hapless writer to confiden…

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The Truman Show: Deep Thoughts About Narcissism, Product Placement, and Parasocial Pop Culture 52:19

3M ago52:19

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. And if I don't see you: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night! Peter Weir's 1998 film The Truman Show, based on a screenplay by Andrew Niccol and starring Jim Carrey, was praised for its pop culture prescience because it came out just before the explosion of reality televisi…

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Rain Man: Deep Thoughts About Buicks, Toothpicks, and Introducing Autism to Pop Culture 50:35

3M ago50:35

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. When I was a little kid and I got scared, the Rain Man would come and sing to me. Join us this week as Tracie shares her deep thoughts about the 1988 film Rain Man, for which Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for his nuanced portrayal of autistic savant Raymond Babbitt. This comedy/dram…

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The Golden Girls: Deep Thoughts About Pop Culture's Favorite Foursome of Fearless Women Over Fifty 49:53

3M ago49:53

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. "It's like we say in St. Olaf—Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund's Day without the headless boy." On this week's episode, Tracie and Emily prove that you can go home again to beloved pop culture from the 1980s, as long as you're talking about The Golden Girls. The epis…

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V for Vendetta: Deep Thoughts About Fascism, Feminism, and Pop Culture Revolution 59:04

3M ago59:04

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. You cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it. Ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... The (relatively) recent news that Stephen Colbert's show was cancelled put Emily in mind of the fate of Stephen Fry's character Gordon Dietrich in the 2005 film V fo…

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The Sword in the Stone: Deep Thoughts About Animation, Squirrely Romance, and Merlin's Terrible Pedagogy 53:32

4M ago53:32

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Hockety pockety wockety wack! Odds and ends and bric-a-brac! In revisiting this classic Disney animation from 1963, Tracie found that the charm she remembered from her childhood wasn't nearly as charming this time around. While the comedy of Merlin, Archimedes the Owl, and Arthur (…

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Hook with Jenn Book Haselswerdt: Deep Thoughts About Peter Pan's Perpetual Prepubescence in Pop Culture 56:45

4M ago56:45

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. "To die would be a grand adventure!" Emily is delighted to welcome her dear childhood friend--and lifelong Peter Pan enthusiast--Jenn Book Haselswerdt to the podcast this week to discuss Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook. Although this fantasy film suffers from a lack of editing as…

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The Shawshank Redemption: Deep Thoughts About Friendship, Slow Storytelling, and the Role of Prisons in American Pop Culture 1:00:22

4M ago1:00:22

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Though it's now consistently named #1 on IMDB's top 250 list of classic movies, Frank Darabont's 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption started out as a commercial flop with no pop culture cache. It's understandable why Shawshank struggled to find its audience: there's no romance or wo…

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The Beastmaster: Deep Thoughts About Storytelling Conventions, Covert Blood Libel, and Marc Singer's Glistening...Line Delivery 54:41

4M ago54:41

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. I have my eyes... I have my cunning... and I have my strength. This obscure sword-and-sorcery fantasy film from the early 1980s was a staple of the Guy sisters' formative pop culture years because it was on regular rotation on HBO (which people jokingly claimed stood for "Hey! Beas…

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Titanic: Deep Thoughts About Pop Culture Feminism, Jack as a Trans Man, and the Relative Buoyancy of Wardrobe Doors 54:16

4M ago54:16

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Draw me like one of your French girls... This week, Emily finally introduces Tracie to the pop culture juggernaut Titanic, which the elder Guy sister somehow completely missed. Even in 1997, Emily appreciated how the spectacle, costumes, special effects, and even the storytelling s…

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Mrs. Doubtfire: Deep Thoughts About Cringe Comedy, Feminist Backlash, and Hairy Leg Appreciation 53:48

5M ago53:48

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. It was a run-by fruiting! Revisiting the beloved 1993 Robin Williams film Mrs. Doubtfire this week was a reminder to Tracie that you can never go home again. Though she was expecting some early nineties transphobia (and was mostly pleased at its absence), she was horrified to reali…

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Mannequin: Deep Thoughts About Hiding Seriously Subversive Messages in Deeply Unserious Movies 54:37

5M ago54:37

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Two things I love to do: fight and kiss boys! This week, Emily revisits another of the silly Pygmalion movies from the Guy girls' childhood: Michael Gottlieb's 1987 film Mannequin, starring Kim Cattrall, Meshach Taylor, and Andrew McCarthy. While the story of an underemployed Phila…

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Weird Science: Deep Thoughts on Pygmalion, Women's Agency, and Why 1980s Movies Thought Computers Were Magic 55:33

5M ago55:33

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. So, what would you little maniacs like to do first? This week, Tracie takes a deep dive into Weird Science: yet another of the John Hughes movies that helped to define Gen X pop culture. This 1985 teen comedy is a modern retelling of Pygmalion, the Greek myth that finds a sculptor …

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Independence Day: Deep Thoughts About American Exceptionalism, Sci Fi Disaster Movies, and Jeff Goldblum in a Flight Suit 51:52

5M ago51:52

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Welcome to Earth. The 1996 Roland Emmerich-helmed film Independence Day was one of the touchstone movies for Emily's generation, so her flabber was absolutely gasted to learn Tracie had never seen it until a few years ago. Just in time for the 4th of July, Emily walks Tracie throug…

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Encyclopedia Brown with Adam Gwon: Deep Thoughts About Potatoes, Problem Plays, and Pop Culture Expectations for Detective Stories 53:03

6M ago53:03

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. 25 cents per day, plus expenses. No case too small! Adam Gwon, Emily's childhood friend and award-winning musical theater writer, joins the Guy sisters today to share how Donald Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown had an outsize influence on his understanding of storytelling. The delightful…

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Rosemary's Baby with Ryan Cunningham: Deep Thoughts About Gaslighting, Monstrous Men, and Satanism in Pop Culture 1:20:29

6M ago1:20:29

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. This is no dream! This is really happening! On this week's episode, Tracie and Emily are delighted to welcome award-winning writer/director and producer Ryan Cunningham to talk about Rosemary's Baby, the film that most influenced her own filmmaking and storytelling--but also made h…

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Poltergeist: Deep Thoughts About the Feminine Archetype in Pop Culture, Dubious Parenting Decisions, and Respect for the Dead 53:33

6M ago53:33

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. They're heeeeere! In a moment that would echo through the 42 years that followed, Tracie and Emily's father let the girls watch the 1982 film Poltergeist on TV sometime in 1983, when the sisters were only 7 and 4 years old. This classic of pop culture horror drew the Guy girls in b…

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Firefly and Serenity: Deep Thoughts About Storytelling, Strawberries, and Sci Fi Cowboys 55:09

6M ago55:09

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one. When Tracie first encountered the fan-favorite Western-in-space television show Firefly 20 years ago, she was delighted by Joss Whedon's subversion of tropes, his mastery of the written word, and his commitmen…

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The Dark Crystal: Deep Thoughts About False Binaries, World Building, and What Emily Isn't Willing to Accept From Her Puppets 51:03

7M ago51:03

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. What was sundered and undone shall be whole–the two made one. On today's episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t, Emily returns to a beloved film from the Guy girls' childhood: Jim Henson's 1982 epic fantasy The Dark Crystal. Though the film's main character Jen the Gelfling fol…

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Splash: Deep Thoughts About Mermaids, Male Masturbatory Fantasies, and How Pop Culture Created the Name Madison 53:46

7M ago53:46

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. All my life I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's... she's a fish. When Tracie and Emily saw the 1984 Ron Howard film Splash as little girls, they fell in love with the badass mermaid played by Daryl Hannah. She was smart, determined, and romantic--and she had a …

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Stand By Me: Deep Thoughts About Nostalgia, Mental Health, and Cherry-Flavored Pez 1:01:34

7M ago1:01:34

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy? Emily and Tracie always assumed their father loved the 1986 Rob Reiner film Stand By Me because the music and pop culture references were a delightful reminder of his childhood. Reiner’s period masterpiece features inc…

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Avalon: Deep Thoughts About Family, Money Psychology, and Waiting to Cut the Turkey 52:08

7M ago52:08

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. "Where are the people who know where the people are?" On today's episode, Tracie introduces Emily to the 1990 Barry Levinson film Avalon, the director's love letter to Baltimore and his own Jewish immigrant family. The movie follows the Krichinskys from 1914 through to the 1960s as…

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Pretty Woman: Deep Thoughts About Bodily Autonomy, Realism, and Who Gets to be Human 55:58

7M ago55:58

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. “We say who; we say when; we say how much.” This week, Emily takes a deep dive into Pretty Woman, the 1990 blockbuster romantic comedy that catapulted Julia Roberts to stardom. The film was originally written as a tragic story about awful characters, and many people (including thos…

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Galaxy Quest: Deep Thoughts About Fandom, Tropes, and Science Fiction Storytelling 54:37

8M ago54:37

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. By Grabthar’s hammer, you shall be avenged! The 1999 film Galaxy Quest was almost tailor made for the Guy sisters and their dad–all lifelong Trekkers. The sci-fi satire pokes gentle fun at Star Trek, lightly skewering everything from the story tropes to the actors to the fans, all …

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Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Deep Thoughts About Destiny, Work, and How to Engage with History 50:39

8M ago50:39

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. In 1989, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure introduced Emily to a baby-faced Keanu Reeves–and to the idea that two easy-going dopes could change the world by encouraging us all to be excellent to each other. In this episode, Emily shares how …

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Lilo & Stitch: Deep Thoughts About Animation, Found Family in Film, and...American Imperialism 54:17

8M ago54:17

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten. In addition to dazzling her with its old-school hand-drawn animation and delighting her with its sweet and funny story, the 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch introduced Tracie to indigenous Hawaiʻian culture. The …

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In & Out: Deep Thoughts About Toxic Masculinity, Barbra Streisand, and Coming Out in the 1990s 53:32

8M ago53:32

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Does anybody here know how many times I had to watch Funny Lady? The 1997 film In & Out, directed by Frank Oz (yes, the one who voices Miss Piggy) and starring Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack, and Tom Selleck, has mostly been forgotten–but this feel-good comedy had a lasting impact on Emi…

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Ladyhawke: Deep Thoughts About Romance, Gender, and Looking for Realism in a Film About a Cursed Bird 1:00:29

9M ago1:00:29

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. I talk to God all the time, and no offense, but He never mentioned you. On this week’s episode, Tracie traces some of her earliest ideas about romance to the 1985 Richard Donner film Ladyhawke. Although both contemporary and retrospective reviews are scornful of the anachronistic, …

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The Mummy: Deep Thoughts About Colonialism, Historical Fiction, and Bisexual Awakenings 57:27

9M ago57:27

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. What is a place like me doing in a girl like this? The 1999 Brendan Fraser film The Mummy has an extraordinarily beautiful cast, a delightfully bonkers plot, and a whole heap of unexamined colonialism, racism, and othering. Emily shares with Tracie the historical background of the …

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SpongeBob Squarepants: Deep Thoughts About Absurdist Comedy, Capitalism in Pop Culture, and IMAGINATION 53:43

9M ago53:43

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? When SpongeBob SquarePants debuted in 1999, 23-year-old Tracie was not the intended audience for everyone’s favorite absorbent and yellow and porous hero–but she was charmed and entertained by the show that became a Millennial and Gen Z touch…

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Silence of the Lambs: Deep Thoughts About Misogyny, Transphobia, and the Psychology of Fava Beans 1:05:08

9M ago1:05:08

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. I do wish we could chat longer, but... I'm having an old friend for dinner. On today’s episode of Deep Thoughts, Emily revisits what is arguably the most influential pop culture of our lifetime: The Silence of the Lambs. Although director Jonathan Demme and lead actor Jodie Foster …

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Dead Again: Deep Thoughts About Noir Storytelling, the Romance of Reincarnation, and Why Women Choose the Bear 55:29

10M ago55:29

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. It's the karmic credit plan: buy now, pay forever. Tracie shares her deep thoughts about the 1991 Kenneth Branagh film Dead Again on this week’s episode. Branagh brought intelligence, style, and some pretension to this noir homage that tells the tragic love story of Roman and Marga…

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Chasing Amy: Deep Thoughts About Bi-Erasure, Neurodivergence, and Well-Meaning White Men in Pop Culture 1:17:25

10M ago1:17:25

1:17:25

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Your mother’s a tracer! Emily was very confused by the 1997 film Chasing Amy when she was an undiagnosed neurodivergent 18-year-old–in part because she was (and still is) crap at reading subtext and in part because the film accidentally illuminates the reality of bi-erasure. This w…

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Big: Deep Thoughts About Giant Pianos, Women Mothering Their Boyfriends, and Why Emily Thought Adulthood Would Involve More Body-Swapping 1:08:45

10M ago1:08:45

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Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Okay…but I get to be on top! Tracie loved revisiting the 1988 Penny Marshall-helmed film Big this week. Tom Hanks’ performance of a 12-year-old boy wearing a grown man’s body is laugh-out-loud funny, and the film asks some profoundly important questions about how grownups can hold …

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Groundhog Day: Deep Thoughts About Mental Health, Making Your Own Meaning, and Meteorological Rodents 1:07:52

11M ago1:07:52

1:07:52

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Watch out for that first step, it’s a doozy! This week, the 1993 film Groundhog Day is the vehicle for Emily to talk about the three most taboo subjects: religion, politics, and money. Not only is Bill Murray’s Phil Connors a favorite of scholars and commentators who talk about rel…

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Mr. Mom: Deep Thoughts About Women, Woobies, and Incompetent Dads in Pop Culture 1:16:29

11M ago1:16:29

1:16:29

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads. One of the rare childhood films that the Guy Girls remember watching with both their mom and their dad, the 1983 John Hughes film Mr. Mom was in some ways an incredible progressive look at gendered work. There were only 6 (a…

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Alien: Deep Thoughts About Space Feminism, Ash as an Allegory for the Anti-Abortion Movement, and Cats 1:05:32

11M ago1:05:32

1:05:32

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. I admire its purity. A survivor…unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. After many references in previous episodes, on this week’s show, the Guy Girls finally tackle the iconic 1979 film Alien. Ridley Scott’s masterpiece gave Tracie and Emily a role model in Rip…

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Big Trouble in Little China: Deep Thoughts About Using Stereotypes to Subvert Storytelling Expectations 1:09:16

11M ago1:09:16

1:09:16

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. We’re reasonable Guy(girl)s, but we’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things! The 1986 film Big Trouble In Little China elicits some deep thoughts from Tracie in this week’s episode. The interwebs ask whether BTILC's storytelling is woke or problematic, and we suggest the …

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When Harry Met Sally: Deep Thoughts About RomCom Misogyny, Fake Orgasms, and the Myth of High Maintenance Women 1:10:04

11M ago1:10:04

1:10:04

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. “I’ll have what she’s having.” On this week’s episode of Deep Thoughts, the Guy sisters revisit the iconic 1989 romcom When Harry Met Sally. Even though Meg Ryan’s Sally Albright offers a badass portrayal of a happy spinster who makes no apologies for wanting what she wants, a youn…

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The Muppet Christmas Carol with Erika Plank Hagan: Deep Thoughts About Musical Storytelling, Muppet Adaptations, and the Rudeness of Raw Turkey 1:07:04

12M ago1:07:04

1:07:04

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Light the lamp, not the rat! Just in time for Christmas, the Guy Girls welcome Emily’s dear friend Erika Plank Hagan to the show to discuss The Muppet Christmas Carol. There’s a reason this musical (and surprisingly faithful) adaptation of the Dickens morality tale is so beloved: n…