Shows
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastThe Beastmaster: Deep Thoughts About Storytelling Conventions, Covert Blood Libel, and Marc Singer's Glistening...Line DeliverySend us a textI 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! Beastmaster's on!"). This week, Tracie delves back into the bizarre five act storytelling choices that animate the journey of Marc Singer's Dar, a prince stolen from his mother's womb by an evil priest--played by Rip Torn in a prosthetic nose--who is telepathically connected...2025-08-0553 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastTitanic: Deep Thoughts About Pop Culture Feminism, Jack as a Trans Man, and the Relative Buoyancy of Wardrobe DoorsSend us a textDraw 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 serve writer and director James Cameron's purpose, because the rich girl/poor boy romance allows us to see the entire ship. But Cameron's purpose doesn't seem to amount to anything more than "this is a thing that happened." Like Cameron's occasional pop culture examination of social class, f...2025-07-2953 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastMannequin: Deep Thoughts About Hiding Seriously Subversive Messages in Deeply Unserious MoviesSend us a textTwo 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 Philadelphia artist who falls in love with a department store mannequin is as insubstantial as dandelion fluff, the film slipped some delightfully subversive and progressive gay representation into the movie with the character of Hollywood Montrose, played to flamboyant-but-fleshed-out perfection by Meshach Taylor. Not only is this one...2025-07-1553 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastWeird Science: Deep Thoughts on Pygmalion, Women's Agency, and Why 1980s Movies Thought Computers Were MagicSend us a textSo, 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 falling in love with his artwork that comes to life. Except in this version, Anthony Michael Hall's Gary and Ilan Mitchell-Smith's Wyatt create Lisa (played by Kelly LeBrock) via Memotech MTX 512 microcomputer, because 1980s movies taught us computers are magic.2025-07-0854 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastIndependence Day: Deep Thoughts About American Exceptionalism, Sci Fi Disaster Movies, and Jeff Goldblum in a Flight SuitSend us a textWelcome 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 through what made this movie such a monumental hit in the U.S. and abroad, despite its jingoistic American exceptionalism and skin-deep application of science fiction storytelling tropes. Both in 1996 and again in 2025, Emily appreciated feeling seen as an American Jew via t...2025-07-0150 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastEncyclopedia Brown with Adam Gwon: Deep Thoughts About Potatoes, Problem Plays, and Pop Culture Expectations for Detective StoriesSend us a text25 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 format of each short Encyclopedia Brown mystery--which gave the reader all the same information the boy detective had and invited you to test your wits against that of the sleuth before checking the answer in the back of the book--taught Adam how to curate information when telling a story...2025-06-2452 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastRosemary's Baby with Ryan Cunningham: Deep Thoughts About Gaslighting, Monstrous Men, and Satanism in Pop CultureSend us a textThis 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 her wonder if she was a bad feminist considering the terrible deeds Roman Polanski later went to commit. The conversation covers the absurdity of two Jewish men shaping the idea of Satanism in pop culture, the mundane evil of how pregnant women are routinely gaslighted by the "guys"...2025-06-171h 19
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastPoltergeist: Deep Thoughts About the Feminine Archetype in Pop Culture, Dubious Parenting Decisions, and Respect for the DeadSend us a textThey'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 because of 5-year-old Heather O'Rourke, the adorable blonde-and-blue-eyed actress who played Carol Ann, who is sucked into the TV by the poltergeists. By the time the truly terrifying stuff appeared--including a tree that tried to eat Carol Ann's brother and a clown doll that...2025-06-1052 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastFirefly and Serenity: Deep Thoughts About Storytelling, Strawberries, and Sci Fi CowboysSend us a textMay 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 commitment to excellent storytelling. At the time, Whedon was heralded as a modern feminist and Firefly (and its follow up film Serenity) were presented as proof of his feminism bona fides. This franchise gave us kick-ass women like Zoe, Inara, Kaylee, and River and a future society where...2025-06-0354 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastThe Dark Crystal: Deep Thoughts About False Binaries, World Building, and What Emily Isn't Willing to Accept From Her PuppetsSend us a textWhat 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 follows the familiar beats of the hero's journey, baby Emily didn't understand the allegory of divine beings that are incomplete as Mystics and Skeksis without each other–and for good reason. Jim Henson drew inspiration from the book Seth Speaks by psychic medium Jane...2025-05-2750 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastSplash: Deep Thoughts About Mermaids, Male Masturbatory Fantasies, and How Pop Culture Created the Name MadisonSend us a textAll 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 gorgeous tail she could unfurl in Tom Hanks' bathtub. But on revisiting the movie this week, Tracie found some rather ugly and sexist assumptions bundled together with the romantic notions. Madison the mermaid learns how to be a human woman...2025-05-2052 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastStand By Me: Deep Thoughts About Nostalgia, Mental Health, and Cherry-Flavored PezSend us a textMickey'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 incredible performances from its child actors–a rarity in movies about childhood–and offers a sometimes-idyllic portrayal of the freedom enjoyed by kids in the 1950s.But as Emily discovered this week, Stand By Me is not nostalgic for the toxic masculinity, mental health strugg...2025-05-131h 00
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastAvalon: Deep Thoughts About Family, Money Psychology, and Waiting to Cut the TurkeySend us a text"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 the large, tight-knit, extended family moves, changes, assimilates, and fractures. As a lifelong Baltimorean and the great-great-granddaughter of a Jewish immigrant from Europe, Tracie feels seen by Levinson's story, and she recognizes the ways in which American culture, money, and changing technology have altered f...2025-05-0651 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastPretty Woman: Deep Thoughts About Bodily Autonomy, Realism, and Who Gets to be HumanSend us a text“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 those close to the Guy sisters) lamented the Hollywood happy ending as “unrealistic”–but Emily argues that by giving Vivian and Edward the fairy tale ending, the film offers a feminist blueprint for knowing one’s worth. While the movie does not offer a nuanced view of sex...2025-04-2955 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastGalaxy Quest: Deep Thoughts About Fandom, Tropes, and Science Fiction StorytellingSend us a textBy 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 while offering a lovely tribute to folks who get really enthusiastic about their favorite media. The film also does one of our favorite things: it takes the craft of sci-fi storytelling seriously without taking itself seriously. But as Tracie points out in her...2025-04-2253 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastBill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Deep Thoughts About Destiny, Work, and How to Engage with HistorySend us a textStrange 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 this surprisingly well-crafted comedy teaches us that destiny can’t be achieved without putting in the work and why it’s important to look at history from the perspective of average people, not just rulers. While the film is a product of its time...2025-04-1549 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastLilo & Stitch: Deep Thoughts About Animation, Found Family in Film, and...American ImperialismSend us a textOhana 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 writing and directing team of Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois traveled to Hawaiʻi for extensive artistic and cultural research and sought the input of native Hawaiʻians, including voice actor and friend of the show Tia Carrere, to write this story. The result is a touching tale of...2025-04-0853 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastIn & Out: Deep Thoughts About Toxic Masculinity, Barbra Streisand, and Coming Out in the 1990sSend us a textDoes 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 Emily. When she saw it in the theater as an undiagnosed neurodivergent 18-year-old, she was confused as all hell when Kline’s character comes out at his wedding (to a woman) about three-quarters of the way into the movie, despite his prot...2025-04-0252 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastLadyhawke: Deep Thoughts About Romance, Gender, and Looking for Realism in a Film About a Cursed BirdSend us a textI 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, Alan Parsons-produced, synthesizer-heavy soundtrack (so unrealistic in a film about a woman cursed to live as a hawk during the day!), Tracie and Emily are more interested in why the film takes away the leading lady’s agency when it otherwise gets a lot right abou...2025-03-2559 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastThe Mummy: Deep Thoughts About Colonialism, Historical Fiction, and Bisexual AwakeningsSend us a textWhat 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 West’s fascination with Egypt–which led to little Emily’s own interest and delight in all things Egyptological. But the Egypt we encounter in movies likeThe Mummy has little to do with the real history of ancient Egypt (check out all the white actors!) and he...2025-03-1856 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastSpongeBob Squarepants: Deep Thoughts About Absurdist Comedy, Capitalism in Pop Culture, and IMAGINATIONSend us a textWho 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 touchstone. This week, Tracie talks about how SpongeBob gave a generation a framework for understanding capitalism, motivation, community, and absurdist humor. She also explains how challenging the medium of animation may have encouraged the current batch of newly-minted adults to confidently break rules that don’t work...2025-03-1152 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastSilence of the Lambs: Deep Thoughts About Misogyny, Transphobia, and the Psychology of Fava BeansSend us a textI 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 illuminate the spectrum of misogyny women experience, from casual workplace putdowns to the violent treatment of women as objects, the film does this at the expense of our trans siblings. To its credit, the movie attempts to differentiate the murderous Buf...2025-03-041h 04
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastDead Again: Deep Thoughts About Noir Storytelling, the Romance of Reincarnation, and Why Women Choose the BearSend us a textIt'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 Margaret Strauss–who have apparently been reincarnated as Mike Church and the amnesiac Jane Doe he calls Grace. While the movie hits all the right mystery beats while you’re watching, Branagh’s story insists on false binaries that do the audience’s thinking for them. And...2025-02-2554 min
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastChasing Amy: Deep Thoughts About Bi-Erasure, Neurodivergence, and Well-Meaning White Men in Pop CultureSend us a textYour 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 week, Emily tells Tracie about what this well-meaning film about a cis-het white man learning to let go of his insecurities gets right about LGBTQ representation in pop culture, what it gets wrong, and how it reinforces the gendered division of emotional labor in textual and...2025-02-111h 16
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture PodcastBig: Deep Thoughts About Giant Pianos, Women Mothering Their Boyfriends, and Why Emily Thought Adulthood Would Involve More Body-SwappingSend us a textOkay…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 onto their childlike joy and wonder. But the love story between Hanks’ Josh Baskin and Elizabeth Perkins’ Susan–an actual adult woman–never sat well with either Guy girl. The sisters discuss how this film would not work if it were gender-swapped, why it seems to reinf...2025-02-041h 07