The Bechdel Cast

I’m enjoying the show a lot! I’ve even gone backwards and listened to some episodes that I actually LOVED and have been woken up why they’re bad movies but still enjoy from time to time when I turn off my awareness. Thank you!

I got into the podcast though Jamie’s other more journalistic podcasts that I loved and always found compelling and informative. So I started listening to this podcast regularly and I think I’ve listened to around 100 episodes and found a lot of great films I now love through this show. However I do think there is plenty of room for constructive criticism while admiring the mission of the podcast. I just want to start by asking: Why don't they just focus on women-centered media? There is nothing stopping them from just selecting films already directed by women or that focus on women characters. I’m sure there’s plenty of international films and smaller indie films that they could select to highlight for their listeners and dissect where they could get past the hump of the film needing to be told from a woman’s perspective whether in-story or BTS so they could actually have a more dynamic discussion about the specific merits of the film. I respect the mission of the podcast to highlight and critically examine women’s representation in films and more broadly examine films from an intersectional feminist lens. However it does feel pointless if so many episodes are only going to be concluded with some variation that “it would be so much better if this story was told with a women’s perspective” when as a director or in the writer’s room. It just often seems like they’re just going down a checklist and not actually critically engaging with the work on its own merits. I know they don’t pretend to be film scholars, especially since they are doing it more from a comedian’s perspective not as film scholars, but I do think there’s much more opportunities for critical engagement with intersectional issues that they’re just letting go to waste. I also strongly wish they would more confidently engage with disagreements over how to evaluate certain films and how different feminists can have different criteria for what they look for in art/entertainment and how they grade it. I know feminists aren’t a monolith so I wish they could feel more comfortable navigating those discrepancies in opinion. Because even among specific guests who have been on the podcast or been spoken of positively, there is still a good variety of opinion surrounding how to thoughtfully engage with film & pop culture. My favorite episode where I started to notice this was for The Apartment, I honestly love that Caitlin was caught off guard by Jamie actually having a dissenting opinion for once at the end and just lost her confidence and just gave up on having an opinion at all on the film. I wish they were more self-assured to confront those disagreements more regularly. An example that comes to mind immediately is Jamie has mentioned being a big fan of Broey Deschanel, and I know she was on the podcast for Forrest Gump. Broey had a very confident positive opinion of May-December from her video essay on it that neither Jamie nor Caitlin engaged with at all in their episode on that film. They seem uncomfortable going outside a moralistic comfort zone when examining provocative films like that and don’t seem to want to engage with why so many other people who they have mutual respect with and consider peers may have strongly differing opinions, and they often treat dissenting opinions as a monolith. I’m also surprised they haven’t had Yhara Zayd on the podcast yet, I’d think she would make a fantastic guest and Jamie has mentioned being a big fan of hers before. I know she’s a bigger fan of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” than Jamie & Caitlin were. I also know past guest Emily Vanderwerf is a bigger fan of The Royal Tennabaums than Jamie has mentioned being. I know the point of the podcast isn’t to highlight disagreement but I do think staying too far in their comfort zones can keep the discussions stagnant and make it seem as if they aren’t really learning much from each other about how to be more thoughtful consumers of media. I’m also annoyed by the occasional inconsistencies in the views or standards given by the hosts: Jamie mentioned being uncomfortable questioning age gaps among high school couples in The Perks of Being a Wallflower episode, Caitlin freely criticized those relationships as creepy in the Dazed and Confused episode and neither one said anything either time. I don’t care what their actual opinions are on those topics, I just want them to be consistent with each other about their standards and be transparent if they changed their mind or if they have a disagreement with each other. I do like it when they bring guests to the podcast with more expertise and can illuminate more historical or social context to the films and subject matter discussed. Anyway I have enjoyed the podcast for the most part as much as my experience with individual episodes can vary wildly. I think the podcast has been valuable for me to examine my own attitudes toward film and pop culture and I want from media in terms of the perspectives being told and who is given the opportunity to tell their story and the social impact those stories can have when a more creatively dynamic and socially robust group of people are given those opportunities. There have been many times I disagreed with the hosts, but I still respect them and reflecting on why I disagree with them has been intellectually nourishing for me.

I want to love this show so bad. I really do. I just feel like Caitlin has a hard time seeing views that contradict hers and immediately jumps to invalidating the perception other women might have against a movie that she doesn’t find feminist enough by her standards. I find myself frustrated hearing her blow off guest interpretations. Jamie is much better at trying to understand or at least be respectful about views that contradict hers. Sorry guys.

I’ve enjoyed the show for years, but their recurring bits were getting tired and flat quite a while back. The recent episode with Alison Bechdel as a guest feels like a natural finale, since they were excited for a change. The best eps were when they genuinely liked a movie. If you know a film isn’t going to go over well, avoid the episode, because they struggle trying to be funny and sometimes veer into smugness. Virtually no research, so you also may find yourself yelling back at your device about simple plot points they missed or misunderstood. They also devalue women’s accomplishments in older films that aren’t able to meet modern feminist ideals.