Rod, Karen and Justin discuss Karen’s trip to the dentist, Rod cooking, ordering food separately in the pandemic, Underground Railroad, THEM, movie theaters, listener feedback and Pre-Game news.
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PG 289: The Therapy Pass
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Hey Y’all,
I started watching Them. I don’t understand what these people were talking about because so far it isn’t any scarier than American Horror Story if you take away the black realistic fear. Now if you include that it is scary as fuck because so much has happened to us. I am on episode 5 (that cat in the bag scene was ALOT) I feel like I am learning and I feel irritated at how evil as well as insidious white people have been to us throughout all of our history. I am a huge fan of American Horror Story and this a black ass American Horror Story if I have ever seen one. Thanks for having this great and uncomfortable conversations.
@iamshardai
Hey Rod, Karen and J Vulture-TV-Critic
I hate to belabour the point about “Themâ€â€™s critical reception vs that of “The Underground Railroad†since you have talked extensively already here and on the main show. However the more you talked about it the angrier I got. Especially that breakdown of that particular critic’s opinion. I am even more convinced that an influential group “decides†what’s acceptable black storytelling and then disseminates that opinion. I was listening to a podcast with two black dudes. The podcast is a part of a popular white podcast network. Last year, they pretty much shit on Lovecraft Country then followed up with a glowing review of Lover’s Rock, two shows that I loved by the way. This year, their take that on Them was almost bad but the way spoke about it was as if they liked it but knew they were supposed to not like it so they came up with shit to undermine the quality. They talked in detail about how certain aspects were so great plus how great the performances were and how good the storytelling was but that the whole exercise was a pointless exercise in trauma porn. One reason they felt undermined it was the scene where we find out the real reason why the realtor was selling to the blacks. They thought the scene was too short and wedged in while I thought it was beautifully efficient storytelling. The kicker for me was when they said the whole story was pointless because they showed the main characters leave South Carolina because of an unspeakable trauma only to go to California to experience more trauma. In my less advanced non-film critic brain, the futility was the point of the story, but what do I know?
I wonder also if the glowing reception of Barry Jenkins’ trauma porn vs Little Marvin’s is because of the Brad Pitt production of Railroad vs the Lena Waithe’s production of Them.
Sorry for the long email and I promise not to write about this shit again. That is unless you niggas keep saying insightful thought provoking shit about this topic.
Amil