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No-one said anything to me about the full monty!

For this week's episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit, Tracie returns to the 1997 British comedy The Full Monty. The film is a meditation on masculinity from multiple angles, including economic, sexual, psychological, physical, parental, and societal, as well as a treatise on the political aftermath of Thatcherism that left an entire generation of British men without jobs. But instead of a snooze-fest of dry cultural commentary on these issues, writer Simon Beaufoy and director Peter Cattaneo wisely wrapped these important social issues in comedy storytelling with hilarious results. Through comedy, the audience gets to see how the mental health of these men was affected by Thatcher's policies and how they get through the tough times by leaning on each other--and putting together a truly ridiculous strip show. It's the spoonful of sugar that lets the political messaging go down.

You don't have to take your kit off. Just put your headphones on and listen in!

Content warning: Brief discussion of suicide ideation/attempt.

tags: deep thoughts about stupid sh*t, comedy, film, storytelling, mental health, cultural commentary, 80s and 90s movies, movies, psychology, movie reviews, women, classic movies, romance, analyzing film tropes, millennial nostalgia, nostalgia, film analysis, simon beaufoy, the full monty, british film

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus content, live zooms with Tracie & Emily, discounts on merch, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

We are the sister podcasters Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love 80s and 90s movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, analyzing film tropes with a side of feminism, and examining the pop culture of our Gen X childhood for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, religious allegory, and whatever else we find.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com. For our work together, visit guygirlsmedia.com

We are on socials! Find us on Facebook at fb.com/dtasspodcast and on Insta at instagram.com/guygirlsmedia. You can also email us at guygirlsmedia at gmail dot com. We would love to hear from you!

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response.

By the Power of Grayskull!

On Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit this week, Emily returns to her first pop culture crush: He-Man, aka, Adam, prince of Eternia. As a very small child, she loved the cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and she was somewhat disheartened to learn that this beloved staple of her Gen X childhood was created specifically to sell He-Man toys. The animation, storytelling, and even the cultural commentary (via little public service announcements at the end of each episode) were all in service of Mattel convincing children to bug their parents to buy action figures.

But something funny happened on the way to the cash grab. Mattel created a pop culture phenomenon, in part because they created a cult classic cartoon by catering to the exact interests of their target audience of five-to-ten year old boys. The toy company's market research determined that demographic was most interested in soldiers, space technology, and fantasy barbarians--so Mattel shrugged and gave it to them, thereby creating an enduring pop culture franchise that remains beloved 40-some years later. (Mattel also created a queer icon with some serious homoerotic subtext, but that flew right over baby Emily's head at the time).

You have the POWER! To listen to this episode…

Mentioned in this episode:

How He-Man Changed the World & How It All Fell Apart: The Story of The Masters of the Universe

Tags

deep thoughts about stupid sh*t, pop culture, animation, storytelling, cultural commentary, cult classic, sci fi, gen x childhood, nostalgia, gen x nostalgia, he-man, skeletor, mattel, social, television, masters of the universe, nicholas galitzine

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus content, live zooms with Tracie & Emily, discounts on merch, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

We are the sister podcasters Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love 80s and 90s movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, analyzing film tropes with a side of feminism, and examining the pop culture of our Gen X childhood for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, religious allegory, and whatever else we find.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com. For our work together, visit guygirlsmedia.com

We are on socials! Find us on Facebook at fb.com/dtasspodcast and on Insta at instagram.com/guygirlsmedia. You can also email us at guygirlsmedia at gmail dot com. We would love to hear from you!

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response.

"E.T. phone home!"

On this week's episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit, Tracie revisits one of the classic movies of her Gen X childhood: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Director Steven Spielberg is at the top of his storytelling game with this sci fi film that introduces E.T., a gentle alien botanist who is accidentally stranded on Earth and taken in by 10-year-old Elliott, the middle child of divorced parents. Not only does Spielberg use every visual tool available to show his storytelling rather than drown the audience in exposition, but he also makes it clear that he truly understands the psychology of children.

The film doesn't condescend to children in its audience and it recognizes how kids see the world. And because Spielberg relies on visual storytelling rather than exposition, he ensured that baby Emily and Tracie, aged 3 and 6 when the film debuted, understood what was happening on screen. This movie deserves every bit of your nostalgia.

Beeee goooood, and listen to this episode!

Tags
deep thoughts about stupid sh*t, storytelling, classic movies, gen x childhood, film, movies, psychology, 80s and 90s movies, pop culture, movie reviews, women, sci fi, gen x nostalgia, nostalgia, film analysis, steven spielberg

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus content, live zooms with Tracie & Emily, discounts on merch, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

We are the sister podcasters Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love 80s and 90s movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, analyzing film tropes with a side of feminism, and examining the pop culture of our Gen X childhood for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, religious allegory, and whatever else we find.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com. For our work together, visit guygirlsmedia.com

We are on socials! Find us on Facebook at fb.com/dtasspodcast and on Insta at instagram.com/guygirlsmedia. You can also email us at guygirlsmedia at gmail dot com. We would love to hear from you!