Rehash Rehash

Has the sun set on the Me Too era? If you were following along with the Depp v. Heard defamation trial last April, it seems like it did. When Johnny Depp took Amber Heard to court for three vague quotes suggesting she had been abused by him, the world was in a frenzy. Has this hot, blonde, bisexual woman really been abused… or was it the easier answer? That she was an evil psychopath who pulled a Gone Girl on everyone’s favourite fictional pirate. In this episode, Hannah and Maia are finally ready to talk about this blight on cultural history. Discussions include: the popcorn consumption of televised celebrity court cases, TikTok’s true crime cottage industry, Johnny Depp’s hideous hats, and the societal Basic Instinct-ification of hot women. Will Amber Heard be redeemed as a maligned women when the fog clears in a few years, or did Depp v. Heard reverse Me Too for good? 



SOURCES

Amber Heard, “I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” (18/12/18), The Washington Post

Simmone Shah, “What to Know About Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s Defamation Trial” (05/05/22), Time,

Rajeev Syal, “Why did the Depp-Heard libel outcomes differ in the US and UK?” (02/06/22), The Guardian

Anya Zoledziowski “Did Social MEdia Sway the Johnny Depp Jury?” (03/06/22), Vice,

Nathan Buck, “The use of juries in defamation proceedings in America and Australia” (27/10/22), Kennedys Law

Constance Grady, “Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, and their $50 million defamation suit, explained” (03/11/22) Vox  

Anya Zolediowski, “Why Does It Seem Like the Entire Internet is Team Johnny Depp?” (25/04/22)

Antoinette Bueno “Amber Heard Alleges Johnny Depp Abused Her Throughout Relationship: ‘I Live in Fear That Johnny Will Return”, ET Online (27/05/16)

Gene Maddaus, “Why Was Depp-Heard Trial Televised? Critics Call It ‘Single Worst Decision’ for Sexual Violence Victims”, (2022), Variety.  

“Jury Sequestration”, US Legal.  

Lillian Gissen “ Amber Heard is accused of COPYING Johnny Depp's courtroom outfits in a sartorial 'mind game' as spectators spot multiple similarities between their ensembles - and even their hairstyles - amid $100M defamation trial”, (2022), The Daily Mail  

Alex Peters, “Milani Cosmetics faces backlash after wading into Depp V Heard trial”, (2022), Dazed,

Alice McCool, Manasa Narayanan “The Daily Wire Spent Thousands of Dollars Promoting Anti-Amber Heard Propaganda” (2022), Vice

David Mack, “A Juror Said They Didn't Believe Amber Heard's "Crocodile Tears" And That She Made Them Uncomfortable” (2022), Buzzfeed News.

Daniela Avila, “Judge Strikes Down Marilyn Manson's Defamation Claims in Evan Rachel Wood Case” (2023), People Magazine

Jennifer Peltz, “Kesha and producer Dr. Luke settle legal battle over rape, defamation claims” (2023), Global News.

Remember when everyone freaked the f*** out about that French movie on Netflix? No? Well everybody, let us introduce you to: Cuties. In this episode, Hannah and Maia discuss Maïmouna Doucouré’s quaint 2020 coming-of-age film and the all out moral panic that it spawned on the internet - which culminated in a real life obscenity lawsuit against Netflix. Discussions include: the thin line between depiction and endorsement, America’s many moral triggers and paradoxical attitude towards sex, the weaponizing of children as a political tool, the cultural consequences of Jeffrey Epstein, and Netflix… actually... defending… art? 



Sources:

Caira Conner, “Watching the Outrage Over Cuties as a Survivor of P*dophilia” The Atlantic (2020).



Maria Cramer, “Netflix Is Charged in Texas With Promoting Lewdness in ‘Cuties’” The New York Times (2020).



Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Moral Panics: Culture, Politics, and Social Construction” Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 20 (1994).



Zack Sharf, “‘Cuties’ Director Speaks Out Amid Backlash Film Sexualizes Children, Netflix Stands by It” Indie Wire (2020).



Alissa Wilkinson and Aja Romano, How Cuties, a French movie on Netflix, became part of America’s culture war” Vox (2020).

Remember when Kim Kardashian invented butts? Paper Magazine sure would like us to. When they released their scintillating cover issue of Kim K in a sequinned dress, balancing a champagne glass on her formidable silicone buttocks, Paper Mag declared: “Break the Internet Kim Kardashian” And break it she did. In this episode, Hannah and Maia trace Kim Kardashian’s transformation from trashy reality star to fashionista de jour. Since the Paper cover, and with the help of Kanye West, Kim’s body has become the subject of a twisted performance art. But it’s also generated controversy - creating unhealthy trends, grifting from the natural features of Black women, and now disappearing into what we everyone has deemed a “skinny renaissance”. Digression includes: Maia getting riled up about Timothée and Kylie’s fabled romantic union. 



SOURCES


Joe Zee, “In Defense of Kim Kardashian and the Editors of Paper Magazine and Why This Cover Makes Sense” (12/11/14), Yahoo “https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/i-sit-down-with-mickey-boardman-the-editorial-102481711218.html” 


Jake Hall, “exploring the complicated relationship between jean-paul goude and grace jones”, (21/04/16) i-D https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/d3v9k7/exploring-the-complicated-relationship-between-jean-paul-goude-and-grace-jones 


David Hershkovits, “How Kim KArdashian broke the Internet with her butt” (17/12/14), The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/17/kim-kardashian-butt-break-the-internet-paper-magazine 


Blue Telusma “Kim Kardashian doesn’t realize she’s the butt of an old racial joke” (12/11/14), the grio https://thegrio.com/2014/11/12/kim-kardashian-butt/ 


Justin Parkinson, “The Significance of Sarah Baartman” (07/01/16), BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35240987 


Janell Hobson, “Remnants of Venus: Signifying Black Beauty and Sexuality” (2018), Women’s studies Quarterly, The Feminist Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/26421165?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents 


Nolan Feeney, “Anna Wintour Implies Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are not ‘Deeply Tasteful’”. (19/11/14) https://time.com/3595368/anna-wintour-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-vogue-cover/ 


Cleo Gould, “From silicone implants and fat transfers to bubble butts and a high mortality rate, we investigate whether the BBL is the most dangerous cosmetic surgery of all” (2019), Dazed https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/46497/1/brazilian-butt-lift-plastic-surgery-kim-kardashian-west-cardi-b-jennifer-lopez#:~:text=Buttock%20augmentation%20actually%20dates%20back,of%20innovations%20in%20its%20field. 


Rachel Tashjian, “How Jennifer Lopez’s Versace Dress Created Google Images” (2019), GQ.  https://www.gq.com/story/jennifer-lopez-versace-google-images 


John Ortved, “Paper Magazine, The Oral History: ‘They Were Wide Open’ (2023), The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/style/paper-magazine-history.html 


Eric Wilson, “Kim Kardashian Inc.” (17/11/2010), The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/fashion/18KIM.html?searchResultPosition=4 


Natasha Singer, “The democratization of plastic surgery” (2007), The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/business/worldbusiness/17iht-surgery.4.7159164.html?searchResultPosition=11. 


Harper Franklin “1810-1819” (18/08/2020) Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of Technology. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1810-1819/ 


Grace O’Neill, “How Kimye Changed Fashion Forever”, Grazia Magazine. https://graziamagazine.com/articles/how-kimye-changed-fashion-forever/ 


Rebecca Jennings, “The $5,000 quest for the perfect butt”, 2021, Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22598377/bbl-brazilian-butt-lift-miami-cost-tiktok 


Cady Lang, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians Is Ending. But Their Exploitation of Black Women’s Aesthetics Continues”, (10/06/21), Ti

Men used to go to war. Today they are keyboard militias, defending the sanctity of video games and the Gamer™ identity from hysterical women and their evil feminine wiles. ... If you didn't know about Gamergate before today, we're jealous. In this episode, Hannah and Maia provide an excruciatingly detailed breakdown of the 2014 mass harassment campaign which led to the abuse, threatening, and doxxing of countless figures in the game development, journalism, and academic industries. Was there really a feminist conspiracy against video games? Was it just a bunch of men feeling threatened by the fact that, surprise, games are fun for everyone? Or was it just faceless trolls throwing stink bombs all over social media? Listen for an illuminating interview with special guest Fūnk-é Joseph, who offers some much needed insights into just what the hell happened with Gamergate, and what the hell it did to ~the culture~. 



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Intro and outro song by our talent friend Ian Mills:

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Sources:

Shira Chess and Adrienne Shaw, “A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (2015).

Caitlin Dewey, “The only guide to Gamergate you will ever need to read” The Washington Post (2014).

Zackary Jason, “Game of Fear” Boston Magazine (2015).

Torill Elvira Mortensen, “Anger, Fear, and Games: The Long Event of #GamerGate” Games and Culture, vol. 13 (8) (2016).

Stephen Totilo, “A brief note about the continued discussion about Kotaku's approach to reporting.” (August 26, 2014).

Exciting, but not surprising. Caroline Calloway, self-proclaimed “scammer” and queen of name-searching, reached out to promote her book on the pod. In this special interview, Hannah and Maia discuss the long-awaited memoir, Scammer, with the author herself (who characteristically conducted the interview from her luxurious Floridian bed). Discussions include: the ethics of writing about other people’s traumas, undervaluing art made on social media, and the Dimes Square Image Rehabilitation Centre™. Digressions include: Tile Tequila and the nightmare that was being bi in the 2000s, coining the term “trad book”, and Caroline’s official inauguration as “schemer, not scammer.” 

Do androids dream of writing Succession? In the second part of this two-part special, Hannah and Maia discuss the 2023 Writers Strike - a hotly debated labour dispute between the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Robots may not want to turn you into a paperclip (yet), but they do want to turn you into a gig worker. Creative industries were the last place we thought this would happen... until generative AI came about. Although, is generative AI really to blame, or is it the greedy f*ckers in too-big suits dictating the future of art? Listen for a comprehensive breakdown of the strike, a chat about the precedent it will set for our job market, and lastly a theatrical reading of an AI-generated screenplay about three people who are bored. We must ask - does it compute?