Seasons: A Year of Movies

Grace and Emma join together for this workplace comedy that is not quite what it seems and find a very funny movie with a lot going on. We discuss shifting violence to mythological, colonized others, the role and limits of comedies about working and living in capitalism, as well as some truly wild facts about this film. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine. Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales. Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod. Podcast art by Cecil Smith. Follow him on Instagram at @ cecil_smith_ Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Our next movie is Man of Iron

Grace and Emma watched a movie two months ago, recorded an episode about it one month ago, and are finally presenting you with the gift of this short episode. Emma likes handsome men, Grace does not like the Stephen King short story “Battleground,” and we really just love Salt of the Earth. Watch this movie or don’t; it’s rough out there. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Podcast art by Cecil Smith. Follow him on Instagram at @ cecil_smith_ Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Our next movie is Nine to Five

Emma and Grace watched Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble the dehumanizing and humanizing process of filmmaking, the act of depicting labor on screen, and questions of what it means to watch a film that critiques non-capitalist societies. Emma makes a killer point about how abstract art is deployed in this film and Grace goes on a long tangent about Walter Benjamin. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Podcast art by Cecil Smith. Follow him on Instagram at @ cecil_smith_ Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Next movie is Norma Rae

Grace and Emma discuss the film the US Government didn't want you to see, Salt of the Earth!!! They loved this antithesis to How Green Was My Valley and talk about the material conditions of the movie, its honesty and intensity around gender dynamics, and the joy found in community organizing. You can watch this piece of union propaganda on YouTube, so you should just go ahead and do it. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Podcast art by Cecil Smith. Follow him on Instagram at @ cecil_smith_ Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Next movie is Man of Marble

Grace and Emma talk about the 1941, John Ford directed classic that reeks of gender. We discuss the movie’s surprisingly absent labor politics, its compassion for working people, and its cruelty towards the disabled. In other news, Emma gets excited about birds and Grace thinks a lot about set design. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Podcast art by Cecil Smith. Follow him on Instagram at @ cecil_smith_ Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Next movie is Salt of the Earth

To start off our season about work and labor, we watched the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film, Modern Times. By leaning into artifice and exaggeration, the movie is able to highlight the very real issues of its day (and ours). Grace notices the oppressive authority of sound, Emma notices a certain lack of shoes, and we both display an incomplete knowledge of how cocaine works. Get comfy and settle in for a piece of “communist propaganda” that yearns for the middle-class dream and that we both absolutely adored. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Podcast art by Cecil Smith. Follow him on Instagram at @ cecil_smith_ Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Next movie is How Green Was My Valley

It’s a Ghibli finale! In the final episode of this season, Grace and Emma talk the limits of capitalist art, the beauty of horrible things, gender, clothes, and the joy of dreams. It’s Miyasaki’s most sober and self-reflective movie, so prepare for a lot of sad talk about movie production itself. They also rank every Miyazaki movie and introduce the theme for the next season! Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com Next Theme is Labor Next movie is Modern Times

Ponyo is not just a fish movie for babies; it’s also a representation of non-revolutionary utopia, a display of the sudden onset of climate change, and a hella trans fairy tale. Emma talks a lot about a Polish horror musical, and Grace unpacks the movie’s family dynamics. Please, always wear a seatbelt, follow traffic signs, and keep your eyes on the road when you drive. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

In this episode, Grace and Emma return to their podcasting origins to talk about the latest and perhaps the worst Star Wars movie. Instead of watching The Rise of Skywalker, we recommend you: 1) listen to this episode, 2) watch the score-only version of The Last Jedi, and 3) write your Rose Tico fanfic. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

In this episode, Grace and Emma give their shortest summary yet! We spend a lot of time talking about gender, domesticity, labor, and the intersections thereof. What else would you expect?! Emma wants to be a witch, and Grace is a big ol’ romantic. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

Emma and Grace expose their dirty Marxist roots while they talk about this movie filled with images of childhood and class. They also discuss kids’ movies as a genre, whether the main character’s trust in others is naïve or important or both, and even dip in discourse about setting boundaries. The next movie is Howl’s Moving Castle Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

In this episode, that is nearly as long as the movie it discusses, Grace and Emma attempt to break down this fantastical samurai epic. As this is masterful film with many questions and few answers, most of this episode’s runtime is existential and ambiguous. At first we try to contextualize its depiction of indigenous peoples and the Muromashi period in our shaky understanding of Japanese history Is there a way to reconcile civilization and nature? Is this movie environmental centrism? Is the ending hopeful, bleak, or even cheap? What last 19th, early 20th century classical composer does the soundtrack borrow from the most? All of the questions are discussed and much more! The resources we used to talk about Japanese history and indigenous peoples are: a summary of the history of both the Emishi and the Ainu, an account of the Ainu’s contemporary struggles, and a website about the Emishi’s cultural history. The critic Grace references at around an 1:06:20 of the podcast is Mark Shilling. The piece by Cole Henry that Grace discusses at 1:20:44 can be found here, and the twitter thread about indigenous survival discussed shortly thereafter can be found here. The music used at 1:38:36 mark is a 1967 Recording of Richard Strauss’s Salome, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Sir Georg Solti. The music at the 1:39 is the track San and Ashitaka in the Forest of the Deer God from the film’s soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi. The next movie is Spirited Away Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

In this extra-long and rowdy episode, Grace and Emma talk over the politics of labor and creativity, their relationship to both the themes and production of this movie, and the anxieties of growing up. Grace is anxious about a missing lunch. Emma is agape over the animation’s small details. It all builds to a final conversation about… what else? Crushes! The next movie is Princess Mononoke Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhaless Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

In this episode, Emma and Grace discuss whether Porco Rosso complicates the idealized Europe often found in Ghibli films, the strong ladies who are definitely not moms, and the film’s interest in an inevitable turn of history that will consume all the characters. Come for our disdain for libertarianism, stay for the seaplane full of schoolgirls and pirates. Side note: The theorist that Grace talks about is Theodor Adorno, of the Frankfurt school. Max Weber is an earlier sociologist, who the Frankfort school studied and analyzed. The next movie is Whisper of the Heart. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

In this episode, we talk about girlhood, queerness, and critiquing media as queer people. Grace has a truly cursed realization about Tombo. Emma gushes about an incredible dog. We also talk about the movie’s depiction of an idealized, almost utopian, Europe and its portrayal of magic as both wondrous and mundane. The next movie is Porco Rosso. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

This episode gets very personal as Grace and Emma talk over the innumerable childhood feelings this movie gave us. We talk about taking the emotions of children seriously, have our shortest summary yet, and get on a surprising number of tangents, including the unforgivably bad Totoro death God theory. The next movie is Kiki’s Delivery Service Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

Brimming with mystery, Laputa beckons to us! Grace and Emma rediscover the magic of this film and discuss its ecological worldview, condemnation of patriarchal power, and warm kindness. We also get off on several tangents including feminist discourse about mainstream video games and film, insecurity about liking movies that are cute and fun, what makes a movie for kids vs. for adults, and much more. We even manage a summary that is under 10 minutes! Next movie is My Neighbor Totoro. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

Apologies for the technical difficulties in this episode. After the whirlwind heist of Cagliostro, Grace and Emma settle in for the ecological science fiction of Nausicaä. They talk over the movie’s approach to political violence and protest, of mankind’s relationship to the natural world, and its complex gender politics. Next movie is Castle in the Sky. Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine Follow Emma on Twitter @uofwhales Follow the show @seasonsmoviepod Email us questions at seasonspod@gmail.com

Emma and Grace talk over the rip-roaring heist adventure that is Miyasaki’s debut. They delve into the movie’s abstract menace, expressive charm, immaculate cinematography, and messy deception of monarchy and class. They also read a reader letter and talk about their plans for the next season.

This adaptation of part of the Ramayama was directed and animated entirely by Nina Paley. We discuss its layered approach to storytelling, the perils of working through stories from other cultures, and how even incredibly old religious stories are personal. Sita Sings the Blues is under creative commons and can be watched for free on YouTube or on sitasingstheblues.com. P.S. by the time we uploaded Emma got a Letterboxd (uofwhales).