Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
On the Bechdecast.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The questions asked if movies have women and them, are
all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, or do they
have individualism?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
It's the patriarchy.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Ef and Beast start changing with the Bechdel Cast.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hey Jamie, Hey Caitlin. Do you remember when we did
Pagentiary on the Patreon aka Matreon.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, it's one of our themes, one of our one
of our worst theme names of all time.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I would say, I don't think I ever said it correctly.
It's a mouthful.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, we made the word up, so I say it
like I say Owen McGregor like Pagentuary.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Sure, for sure. I think it was a good theme,
but poorly named. And it just got me thinking that
we've done several pageant movies on the show, including today's episode,
which we'll get to in a moment. It's true, but well,
I get a lot of pageant narratives.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I thought that was all leading up to some really
elaborate pun No. I've also okay, I've also noticed we've
covered a lot of pageant movies. We've done Dropped Dead Gorgeous,
We've done Miss Congeniality, We've done oh what was the one.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
What was the other one we did during Pagentuary.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Dumplin Dumplin and Little Miss Sunshine.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh my god. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
There's a lot of pageant movies, a lot of which
I love, including Ooh, Transition.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Wow. The movie we're talking about today. We're talking about
Miss June teenth today on the Bechdel Cast.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
But first, who are we? What is the Bechdel Cast? Well, Kaitlyn,
why don't you tell us?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, first of all, I'm Caitlin Dorante and.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'm Jamie Loftus.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
This is our show where we examine movies through an
intersectional feminist lens, using the Bechdel test simply as a
jumping off point. And that, of course, is a media
metric sometimes called the Bechdel Wallace Test. It first appeared
in Alison Bechdel's comic Dix to Watch Out For as.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
A as a bit.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
It was a joke, it was a goof, and it
now exists as a commonly cited media metric. There are
many versions of it. Ours is this, two characters of
a marginalized gender have to have names, they have to
speak to each other, and that conversation has to be
(02:23):
about something other than a man. And we especially like
it when it's a nice and meaty conversation, a.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Good beefy conva, a big.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Beefy burgher of a conversation.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
No waiters with a name tag saying would you like
fries with that yes doesn't count. We've grown past it. Also,
the show's about a lot more than that, as we're
about to get into. I still love all these years
later when people are lying to our faces about listening
to the show, which is fine, you don't have to
listen to a show, but they're like, oh, yeah, that's
the show where you go through every line of dialogue
(03:00):
in a movie and try to figure out if it
passes that.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I was like, no, who would listen to that?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Look, we named the show seven years ago and we
have to live with it, and here we are. Life
goes on, and today we have an incredible episode. I
feel like this really this brings our pageant movies we've
covered over the years.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I don't know if there's others. Are we missing any?
At this point? Have we done every pageant movie?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I think there are others that are maybe a bit
more like off the beaten path, but as far as
like quite mainstream ones because there's a there's one called
I think it's called Beautiful that Oh my gosh, what
is her name? She is in Goodwill hunting. She's British.
(03:46):
Any driver, yes, mini driver. All right, we have to
start the show. We can't get into mini driver discourse
at this time. But there's that movie about a pageant,
and then there's there's there's gotta be others. Anyway, let's
get our guests in here.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
She is a TV and film critic for New York
Magazine's site Vulture. She lives in Chicago with her boyfriend
and four cats, which means thirty two nipples because cats
have eight nipple. Well, I'm a genius.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And reaction to thirty two nipples.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And one of the best compliments she's ever received is
from a close friend who called her deliciously vulgar, incredible.
It's Angelica Jade Bastion.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Hello, I'm so happy to be here. You're a great movie.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's gonna be fine. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
We cite your work quite frequently on the show, so
it's an honor to actually have you here in the flesh.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Oh, an honor that is that's kind of lofty. I
will try to live up to how I come across
up the pace.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, you are deliciously vulgar. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, I do curse a lot more in person than
I do on the page, for obvious reasons. But I'm
just like more vulgar in general in person. So when
my good friend, who is a contributing writer at The
New Yorker and the teacher in the English department at Northwestern,
Laura Michelle Jackson, told me that on a friend trip
(05:20):
in Sagatuck, Michigan, over a board game, I was so touched.
I was like, that is such an amazing compliment. And
I was like, oh, I got to use this in
my bio. I need motherfuckers to know I'm deliciously vulgar.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I can't wait to hear more.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
And they are indeed motherfuckers. It's part of the deliciously vulgar.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Experience, exactly when you get it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So well, we're so stuck to have you here.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Truly tell us your relationship with Miss Juneteenth.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Well, I ended up, you know, seeing the trailer and
hearing about it, and I asked to review it at
work when it came out in twenty twenty, and I
ended up really loving the movie. I loving its cultural
specificity and really having a great time talking to Nicole
(06:13):
Bihari for an interview about the film for Vulture as well.
But I hadn't seen it since I reviewed it, which
isn't out of the norm. A lot of times I'll
review something and then just kind of move on because
there's so much I want to watch, so much I
want to see an experience. So it was really nice
(06:33):
revisiting the film for this podcast, you know, a few
years later, and I was like, yeah, this is still
a really great, touching, moving film. That's a simple story
well told, is how i'd put it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, And you're, of course referring to the piece you
wrote for Vulture entitled Miss Juneteenth is a gently beautiful
film worth celebrating, which is a really wonderful piece. We
recommend our listeners check it out nice as a companion
piece to this episode.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Wow, companion piece deliciously vulgar. Actually, I wouldn't say that
that one is vulgar. It's a gentle, lovely piece.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
It's very gently lovely piece. But if you want something
on the more vulgar side, please I did write about
Dead Ringers through the lens of Rachel Weiss's performance and
I use the word cunt twice in my lead.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So wow, truly, I haven't read that yet. That's exciting.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I hope you have a fun time with it. I
had a really fun time writing nice.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I read visit your Kuella essay oft I'm trying to
think of like my anyways, big fan.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
No, that's funny you mentioned Kruella. My boyfriend and I
were talking about it the other day and I was like, man,
the headline for that was like, really good. It was
Kruella is the girl bossification of the mad Woman. Yeah,
because that whole movie is just a joke to me.
It's also like, are we doing a backstory on a
villain who wanted to kill puppies? How are you? What
(08:05):
are we doing?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Puppies killed her parents? It was is that the tech story?
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
So true?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Oh yes, to.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Push her mom over, Like at least that's what you
she thinks and what you as an audience think till
a reveal later on. Yeah, that's why she's like engineered.
Woa oh god, yeah that show she's complicated.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Ladies, Like, it's absolutely it was like I didn't need
more than Glenn Close.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Cruella that we should have just stopped. Yeah, train, let's stop.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
How about that, Let's stop doing the same thing again
and again. Let's have more films like Miss June Teeth
that are original and at a quiet tenor that's always
really nice. Like more quiet, sweet, welcoming movies that are
like a warm bath. You know, that's what I.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Want, absolutely, Jamie. What's your history relationship with Miss Juneteenth.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I had seen the movie once before. I remember hearing
about it when it came out, possibly from your work Angelica,
and being like, I'm going to see that in theaters.
But it was twenty twenty, so I did not indeed
see it in theaters. No, I do think that this
movie had a long tenure on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I want to say I.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Watched it on streaming in twenty twenty when it was
released and thought it was really lovely. Again, it felt
we were talking about this a little bit off, Mike,
but just I remember the first time I watched it
because of sort of what we're conditioned to think about
pageant movies, that it's going to be the coming of
age story for the person competing in the pageant and
(09:46):
not their parent, and I was I remember being like
pleasantly taken off guard by Turquoise being the protagonist of
this movie.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
And I just I really.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Enjoyed it, and I didn't really have my analysis goggles on.
I just liked it, and it was really fun to
go back and to experience it again. It's such a good,
Like I don't know, this movie just feels so effortless
in everything it's doing, and I feel like that's really
really really hard to do in a coming of age movie.
(10:16):
Even in ones I like, you get these like really
overwritten speeches about like and now I have come of age,
and which can also be great, but it's just like
this movie. Yeah, it just feels so lovely and effortless
and I'm excited to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Kitlyn. What was your history of this movie.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I didn't see it until beginning to prep for this episode,
so my history with it is very short. But I
really like the movie. I tend not to seek out
more like character driven stories because I like big, bombastic romps,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Me, explosions, no Dalmatians killing parents, that's the points exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So character study type movies are they can be a
little hit or miss for me, but this one's really
tender and moving, and I really liked it, and all
of the performances are really wonderful, and yeah, it's just
a very lovely movie.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I feel like, because I mean, so much of the
twenty twenty is like a confusing blur to me. I
was surprised in rewatching Nicole Bahari's performance that she wasn't
nominated for.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
More like I saw she got like a lot, like
she got.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. She got nominated for
I think, uh or she won a Gotham Award.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
But I was like, I feel like it shouldn't have
stopped there.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
It's such a beautiful performance, Like I just really and
then reading about her process and like researching and going
down to Texas and just like meeting people. I just
was really, I really fell in love with her in
reading about her process and actually like rewatching your performance
a couple times.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah, it's a shame she wasn't nominated for More, But
I think the reason why she wasn't is because it's
a great performance whose greatness isn't legible to what award
bodies expect from.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
A great performance, for sure, right, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Like I think a lot of times the performances that
are praised when it comes to award bodies, especially when
you're getting to like the Oscars and stuff like that
is often work that makes the quote unquote labor of
acting very visible for audiences, so they can see the effort,
(12:39):
they can see the choices made, and a lot of
times I'm not really a big fan of those kind
of performances, Like I think like Kate Blanchett and Tar
is an interesting example of that, where it's a culmination
of a lot of work she's done, and it's an
effort full performance in a lot of ways, which can
be really fascinating. I am partially fascinated by that movie
(13:01):
and performance, partially frustrated by it. But I think she's
an interesting example for what it takes for female actors
to gain credibility and award bodies. Also, like they expect
a certain kind of performance from black women to gain
traction with awards.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Right, it's a lot of like pain and tears and
like yelling speeches while tears are flowing down the face
kind of thing I think is what tends to garner
attention for like Oscar nominations, especially when it comes to
performances from black women.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Yeah, it has the Oscars ever nominated a black female
performer for a performance that is not rooted in pain?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Ooh, not that I can remember. I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
No. I mean because even if you're thinking about Angela
Bassett's nomination this last year, like that performed, I mean,
it was an incredible performance, but so rooted in grief
and pain, and yeah, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I've legit never thought about it like that, but now
I'm like, hmm, that's a little interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, suspect, let's keep our eye on that.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I was like, something is not quite right with that, Academy.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
I wonder what the problem is.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But I think that, I mean, part of what makes
Nicole bo Harry's performance so amazing. You say in your
piece Angelica, of like it's a performance that is just
so rooted in like existence and like she's so at
home in this character and it's so effortless versus yeah,
the effort full. Like I feel like when I think
of Academy Award effort, I think of like DiCaprio in
(14:48):
The Bear, and you're.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Like, oh my god, how bad do you want that
damn trophy?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Like oh he is, like I will take it all off.
I will literally have sex with someone for this trophy.
Let me do anything everything, you can have all of
me for an oscar, which is fine, you know, if
that's what you want to do. But I always find
it really interesting the neediness of certain actors with the oscars,
(15:21):
Like it's kind of fascinating watching, Like, sometimes it's expected
you expect Leonardo DiCaprio to like go like extreme, like
put his body through stuff, put his mind through stuff,
like be an effortful performer, like I said, But then
sometimes you're like looking at like the campaign trail and
(15:43):
you're like, for example, I was kind of surprised by
how much Colin Ferrell was campaigning, Like I don't think
he was being like so needy that is on a
DiCaprio level. But he's an actor whose career is interesting
because there was a moment, a long moment where he
was really trying to be a mainstream almost action y
(16:05):
but not quite action y, like you know that didn't
they have that total recall remake? Am I like making
it up?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Would you include his Phone Booth movie to be in
that like action part?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I was actually thinking of that that movie.
But to see him after like all this time where
it's like, oh, he's like focusing on character work. He's
just in it for the work and the love of
the work. To see him like really out there campaigning
and I was like, man, y'all are everybody is thirsty?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
People need validation.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, I mean, I was like, I can relate with that.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah, when you say it like that, it is like
them getting recognized by a body of their peers, and
like when you think of it like that, yeah, of
course they want to be like they're fucking actor like that.
It has like part of the thing.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
But you do think I feel like Colin Ferrell is
like curated. I thought, I think pretty like the cool
guy persona much that you're like, oh, he doesn't care
about trophies.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
They're like, yeah, he does does care.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
He does really care. And it's like, I mean, okay,
you had he had a really good year last year.
Good for Colin Ferrell.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
He did good for.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
No, I was like, I've already this is gonna be
a great episode of Yeah, I put like that. I mean,
I guess it does make some unfair sense that Nicole
Bahari wasn't more recognized by larger bodies of work.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
But it's just like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Now that I've seen this movie twice in the last week,
I just am like so blown.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Away by her. I want to see her in more stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I read that she was blacklisted for a while after
requesting accommodations for an autoimmune disease that she developed during
the production of Sleepy Hollow, which is a show I
did watch a substantial amount of. But after learning about that,
(18:01):
and I was like, oh my gosh, I've learned two things. Yeah,
like horrifying that she developed an illness during production needed
accommodations for that illness. And then mister Hollywood was like, no.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Sorry, we're ablest, Like yes, I didn't know that. Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Yeah, yeah, because she came out talking about that like
after the show was done. And if you watch the show,
I thought the first season was really fun and I'm like, Oh,
they're gonna build on a relationship, this interracial, cross time,
weird relationship between these two characters, and then they don't,
and then her character is like, like they really stop
(18:39):
giving a fuck about her character in that show, And
I was just that was at a like moment in
Hollywood history, like right before our conversations about diversity started
to like be reawakened, and we're seeing like the studios
put more effort into that. Although I think it's craven,
it's never altruistic with these studios. These are companies, you know.
(19:02):
So it's like really interesting to kind of like look
at how her career was affected by that, because I
still don't think it's like bounced back despite you know,
a great performance in Miss Juneteenth. And it's a shame
because I think in a lot of ways audiences, critics
people in the industry. Then the industry has really gone
(19:24):
dramatically forward in terms of diversity, Like it's been a
noticeable difference. And I'm like, look at the like you know,
I'm gonna speak from a black perspective, but like look,
for example, at the black actors who were kind of
slipping through the crack despite being super talented, despite sometimes
having like one high profile thing. You would think, oh,
like the industry's doing better. Of course, this great performer
(19:46):
is gonna have like other opportunities, and that's like not happening.
I especially see that with like elder black actors. I'm like,
why aren't we seeing like I kind of thought about
it with Keith David and Nope, and I was like,
I'm glad he showed up in it, but like his
character is important for dying, not for doing anything. And
(20:09):
I'm like, I would like to see these older actors
get actual work that really lives up to their talents
and offers them the kind of work that they wanted
for so long. And they've demonstrated their talented but they
haven't gotten the consistent work. And I think that's what's
really frustrating. We're still seeing there's only a few like
(20:30):
directors and actors of color, of marginalized genders, of different
presentations and like sexualities and all that stuff, Like they're
not getting the consistent work. It's a very small group
of people who are getting the consistent work. And because
like Hollywood history is so jagged with progress for people
(20:51):
of color, you know, it seems like there's more happening
than there actually is, and it's easy to forget. Like
an actress like Bahari, despite being incredibly talented, and obviously
she has an autoimmune disorder, so that can affect you know,
what kind of work she's willing to take on, and
like what she wants to do but she's still like
(21:14):
she can still do like fun character work like.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
This, and we're just not seeing it. Yeah, and I
speaking to that point.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
It does feel like, especially with award systems and just
larger institutions, and I think areas of the media as well,
like there's a tendency to celebrate a moment but not
sustain it, or like celebrate a performance and be like
this person is back and then they're gone again because
there's not the consistent and I feel like that that
(21:43):
goes to obviously who's behind the camera as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I'm wondering if either of you know.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I wasn't able to find anything of the writer director
of this movie, Channing Godfrey Peoples.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
They have, They've released a short film the year.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
After this, but I don't know that there's been I
haven't heard anything from this amazing director.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And you're like, it's been three years, why are we
giving her stuff?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Like it's yeah, yeah, it's a damn shame.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
It is a damn shame. But let's talk about the movie.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yes, Let's let us take a quick break and then
we will come back for the recap. Okay, So here
is the synopsis for Miss Juneteenth. The story takes place
in Fort Worth, Texas. We meet Turquoise Jones played by
(22:38):
Nicole Bahari.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
She is a.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Former winner of her community's Miss Juneteenth pageant. We meet
her while she's like taking a trip down memory lane.
She's looking at her dress and her tiara. But that
was fifteen years ago. Turquoise is now a single mother.
She works at a bar. We meet her colleagues at
(23:05):
the bar, Betty Ray and the owner, this guy named Wayman.
She stops by an autobody shop to get her truck
fixed by Ronnie played by Kendrick Sampson.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I love Kendrick Sampson. He's very good, Yeah, in everything.
He's got such range, and he's so good in this movie. Anyways,
all right, that's all I have to stay at this time.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So Turquoise is in this like on again, off again
relationship with Ronnie, who is also the father of her
teenage daughter Kai. Turquoise takes Kai played by Alexis to
Keys I'm not sure exactly how to pronounce her last name,
(23:52):
takes her to register for this year's Miss Juneteenth pageant.
We also learn about Juneteenth, which is, of course, the
holiday that celebrates the date that slaves in Texas learned
they were free on June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, which
was two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
(24:15):
The winner of Miss June teenth receives a scholarship to
any historically black college of her choosing. And for this reason,
Turquoise is like really pushing for Kai to participate in
the pageant, and she really wants this victory for her
to have access to this scholarship. But you can tell
(24:37):
that Kai is not really interested in competing in the pageant.
She's just doing it to appease her mom, and Kai
would rather join the dance team.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
That's something that really stuck out to me about this
movie right away, where I feel like the other pageant
movies we've covered.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Like they make it a joke.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I know, in Miss Congeniality, it's a consistent joke throughout
the movie that like it's a scholarship, when it's like, no, actually,
we are here to be competitive and to be pretty
and blah blah blah blah blah. And I like that
this movie is like, no, it is for the scholarship.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
That's why.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
I mean, it's for a lot of reasons, but that
is a big component of it. I feel like that's
usually kind of pushed by the wayside or made to
seem disingenuous in a way. That kind of, yeah, that
I think is sort of meant to illustrate people who
participate in pageants as frivolous and unimportant.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
So I liked that this movie hit that really clearly, definitely.
And then so Kai participating in the pageant means that
she needs to keep her grades up and represent herself
well in the community, and it also means a lot
of costs. There's like buying the gown, there's registration fees,
(25:52):
There's all these expenses. But Turquoise doesn't make a lot
of money at the bar nor at her second job
at a funeral home. We also meet the owner of
the funeral home. He's this guy named Bacon played by
Akron Watson, who is openly in love with Turquoise, talks
(26:15):
about it.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
All the time, has been for a very long time,
but she.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Is not interested in him at this time. Kai gets
accepted into the pageant, which Turquoise is more excited about
than Kai is. Turquoise wants her to perform Maya Angelou's
poem Phenomenal Woman as her talent because that's what Turquoise
did when she was competing in the pageant. However, Kai
(26:41):
wants to dance for her talent, but Turquoise isn't having it. Meanwhile,
the pageant expenses are starting to pile up. Also, Turquoise's
electricity bill is overdue, so she picks up extra shifts
at work and tries to get her mother, Charlotte played
by Lori Hayes, to watch Kai, but Charlotte refuses. She
(27:06):
is super religious and wants to like save Turquoise and Kai. Meanwhile,
Ronnie gets arrested for I think shooting an alligator that
attacked him while he was fishing. Yep, yes, I was like,
is that what happened?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And that was at that point in the movie. I'm like,
I don't know a lot about Texas.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I know, I was like gators I associate with Florida,
but it just goes to show how little I know
about US geography. So anyway, so he gets arrested and
now Turquoise has to bail him out, which is another expense.
Turquoise and Chai celebrate Kai's fifteenth birthday together, though they
(27:51):
have to do so in the dark because the power
has been shut off. Then we see Kai continuing to
prep for the pageant. Turquoise continues to work a bunch
at the bar, although one of her shifts gets cut
short when she discovers her mother. Charlotte is blackout drunk
(28:11):
at the bar, and Turquoise has to take her home
and care for her. Meanwhile, Kai is hanging out with
her boyfriend. I don't know if we even ever learn
his name. I don't think we do, but some boy
from school. And then Turquoise comes home and catches her
and reprimands her for sneaking around and having boys over,
(28:32):
and Kai is like, I'm not a kid anymore. Classic
mother daughter.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Classic thing. A teenager will say, yeah, and it's like yeah, no,
in my mind, you're going to be a kid for
a while. It's okay, okay to be a kid.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, it's so fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Like I just think of like movies I watched when
I was a teenager, being like yeah, she's right, and
then like watching it when I'm thirty and being like, no,
she's no, Yeah she should be home by eleven.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Yeah, I'm the latest. I can't or pray for my
kids and whatever. Strictness I won't be moving with.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Oops you No, I feel I'm like full team mom.
Oh as long as like, because Turk is.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
An amazing mom, I'm full. Like I'm like, yeah, you
do have to come home by eleven? Sorry?
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Yeah, like you're fifteen, Come on now, come on, what
are you even doing? You can't even drink, you can't
even like, what are you doing out there.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Hanging out learning dance moves? Yeah, and her boyfriend does
seem very sweet.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
He's supportive, he's writing mixes for her dance choreography.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
It's a very teenager.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah yeah, babe, I made you this tape anyway. So
Turquoise keeps working very hard to pay for all of
these expenses. She has a conversation with her boss Woymen
about taking pride and being able to run your own
thing that no one can take away from you, even
(30:06):
if it is something like a hole in the wall
dive bar. Meanwhile, Bacon, the funeral home guy, tells Turquoise
that he can provide for her and her daughter, and
he's like really trying to convince her to be with him,
and she's like pass. Then there's a scene where Turquoise
(30:27):
Mom tries to save her and Kai.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
It's very uncomfortable, like throwing holy water. They're like the
part of the congregation is like in a circle around
Turquoise and Kai and like crying over. It's so uncomfortable,
and it's like, oh, wow, this mother sucks. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Especially, I thought it was so brilliant the way that
we learn about Turquoise's mom over the course of the movie,
where we're like, it almost seems like she's presented kind
of as like a stock character of like very really
just parent, but then you learn that she's struggling with
addiction and that it's clearly affected the direction of Turquoise's life,
(31:07):
and then we go back to the religious stuff and
then you're like, no, like.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Charlotte, it's it's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah, because that like,
it's so that scene is so claustrophobic.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Yeah, And all this to say that things are kind
of falling apart for Turquoise and Kai can see how
difficult her mother has it. Also, the dress rehearsal for
the pageant is coming up, and Ronnie owes Turquoise money
which she needs to pay for the dress, but he
(31:41):
kind of disappears, so Kai has to do the dress
rehearsal in her regular clothes, and it's you know, humiliating
for them. Then Wayman, the owner of the bar, has
a heart attack and is hospitalized. Bake asks Turquoise to
go to a fundraiser party to help with his medical bills,
(32:06):
and they go and they have a nice time. But
Ronnie finds out that she went with Bacon, and he
gets jealous and aggressive and then he storms off, and
Bacon is like, all right, do you want to be
with me or not? And Turquoise is like, I thought
I already made this clear, but no, I just want
something for myself.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Another great moment, because I feel like a movie that
came out twenty years ago, that scene probably would have
gone differently.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Yeah, she probably would have been like, yeah, let's smooch Bacon.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
You've worn me down after all these years, right, isn't
it romantic?
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:44):
But no, She's like, I don't really know what I
want right now, but it's not you, and I need
to figure out what I want for myself. Then it's
the day of the Miss Juneteenth pageant. Kai wears her
mother's dress with some alterations. Because they couldn't end up
affording the eight hundred dollars dress that Turquoise was trying
to buy. Kai does perform the poem, but she does
(33:09):
it to dance choreography that she's been practicing to music
that her boyfriend mixed for her, and Turquoise isn't sure
about this at first, but the performance goes well and
then she's really proud of her daughter. The runners up
and the winner are announced and Kai, in another like
(33:32):
interesting movie subversion, Kai does not win anything, and she's
upset because she thinks she disappointed her mother. Turquoise is
upset on Kay's behalf for not getting the opportunities that
come with winning, like the scholarship. Then Turquoise apologizes to Kai, saying, oh,
(33:54):
you know, I've been trying to make you miss June teenth,
but you're Miss Kai Marie Jones, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Like, oh, then we're crying. We're crying. Great.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
And then the story wraps up with Turquoise putting a
small down payment to buy Wayman's bar because he can't
afford to keep running it with his medical bills, and
this gives her a chance to have something of her own,
something that she can run, so it's a win win
for both of them. And then the movie ends with
(34:25):
Turquoise and Kai having a nice moment, and then Turquoise
is like, hey, when are those dance team tryouts? And
we're like, yay, she's learning.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
The and.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
So let's take another quick break and we'll come back
to discuss, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Where do we want to start and delicate? Is there
anything that jumps out to you right away?
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Yeah? One thing I wanted to call out, and I
mentioned a little earlier, was just the cultural specificity of
miss Juneteenth. I think it's very easy for mainstream media,
film and television in particular, to kind of act like
black people are a monolith and there aren't like some
(35:19):
dramatic cultural differences even amongst people in the South. And
I think a lot about Juneteenth because that is specifically
a Black Texan thing that is not that wasn't like
a popular talking point amongst all black people. It was
very specific to Black Texans, not just Black Southerners, but
Black Texans. And I just love the work the film
(35:44):
puts in to really show the specificity, the importance, the
care that these black folks put into Juneteenth celebrations and
what it means to them. And while I am very
happy to have juamteenth off because white people figure doubt
it was a thing, I do think it's really interesting
(36:04):
how it's become like sort of flatten into oh, yeah,
this is like for all black people, And I'm like,
we can't forget the specific cultural forces at play that
led to Juneteenth existing as a celebration, in Juneteenth becoming
a holiday.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
I have a lot of feelings about how the South
is portrayed and discussed in film and television. Yeah, as
a Southern gal, I'm from born and primarily raised in Miami,
but my family and my maternal family is from rural Louisiana,
and also I have a lot of family in Texas
(36:46):
as well, but Louisiana is kind of like my second home.
Specifically this very small town that if I were to
say the name and you knew it, it would be
weird to me because it's like very, very very small.
But I think what's interesting right now, and like rewatching
misju Teeth, I was thinking about a lot of the
(37:06):
conversations happening about another Southern state, Florida, and everything going
on with its anti gay, anti trans bills, and I
was thinking about the ways that people kind of discount
how many black people are in the South, and it's
just like, oh, yeah, we should just saw off that
part of the country and like move on from it.
(37:26):
And I'm just like, so, we're just gonna leave black
queer people to just kind of what languish, like what?
And it really breaks my heart because there's a lot
of cultural beauty to these places and a lot of
black joy in these places that is being discounted because
of terrible, racist, homophobic monsters. And I just I don't know.
(37:53):
I just want people to, you know, watch movies like
Miss Juneteenth and see the beauty and cultural grips roofs
of the South and understand that the South is worth
fighting for in my mind, but I have family in
the South, so I'm looking at it differently than I
think some people do. But yeah, mister and tenth kind
of brought up a lot of ideas about just the
(38:15):
South where it's at right now, who lives there, who
deserves our care, and sort of the people who slip
through the cracks, because a woman like Turquoise is not
really the lead you get in a lot of films like,
she's working class, she's struggling, she's a single mom, and
the film really recognizes her humanity, and I think it's
(38:36):
our responsibility to recognize the humanity of people struggling in
the South in general.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Definitely, absolutely, And like you point out in your piece,
and I think we've kind of touched on this already,
but the story is quite small scale. You know, it's
about this like pretty specific microcosm of this pageant, and
it's happening over the course of it seems like only
maybe a couple months at most, But it's like it's
(39:06):
such a beautiful story that taps into so much of
what Turquoise's life is like and what she's dealing with.
And you know, she's a single mom, she's poor, she's
dealing with the attention of a few different men, none
of them seem like great romantic options for her. She
(39:30):
had to kind of relinquish the opportunity that she did
get by winning Miss June teenth, you know, a decade
and a half prior. I don't think it's ever said
outright in the movie, and maybe this is just my
head canon, but it seemed like she wasn't able to
quote unquote cash in on like the scholarship or the
(39:52):
you know, the opportunities that she uh received by winning,
because she got pregnant with Kai, and so she wasn't
able to either go to or finish her schooling. You know,
she had to raise her daughter.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
And it felt like she implied, and again maybe I'm misreading,
but like she implied that her relationship with her mom
also made it all the more difficult and kind of
passion on that and like caring a lot for her
mom while she was struggling with addiction.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Definitely, right, So there's you know, all these variables that
kind of prevented her from reaching a certain potential, and
now she's so focused on making sure the same thing
doesn't happen for her daughter. But it manifests this like
really wonderful relatable story where like she knows what she
(40:46):
wants for her daughter, but she has to learn to
accept what her daughter actually wants for herself, and she
has to figure out what she wants for herself. So
she's like kind of projecting all this stuff onto Kai,
kind of ignoring what Kai clearly wants for Kai, and
also sort of ignoring what Turquoise wants or like what
(41:09):
she should maybe pursue and it's just like this story
of self discovery and like letting go to some extent,
but also like doing your best.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
Yeah, definitely. I think one thing I was thinking about
is the way this country works.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
The way this world works.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
If you're struggling in poverty, you do not have the time,
the chance, and the opportunity to really dream, let alone
realize those dreams, which is what makes the ending of
Miss juneteen so beautiful. And while Turquoise is definitely struggling,
I think there are these really beautiful moments of communion
(41:52):
amongst black people, these really moving moments of joy and
just connection. And I would describe Miss June Teeth as
like a lo fi gem. I love, bombastic, gargantuan, monstrous,
you know, money dumped into them kind of movies. I love,
(42:13):
you know, the small movies as well. I love I
just love movies. But you know, watching a lo fi
gem like this is it's really refreshing because it's like
you're kind of stepping into the lives of other people
for a brief period of time. And what makes I
think Miss June Teeth so strong as you get this
feeling of history, you can feel the history that preceded
(42:34):
the movie, and you have a vision of how their
lives will continue afterwards and how different it will be.
And I really like that hopefulness and also that sense
of time, and like you really do feel like you're
just kind of, oh, I'm just stepping into the lives
of these people in this moment of their life, and
they're just living their life. And it's just really nice
(42:55):
to watch black people just being just like living, no
matter like the circumstances of that life. But like, you know,
I think it's important, and I hate using that word,
but I do think it is important to witness people
of color, queer folks just kind of living and not
having their lives be completely defined by their marginalization. It
(43:20):
can infuse the story, of course it will, but having
so many of these so called diverse stories that we're
getting be so obsessed with the struggle is really.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Frustrating, absolutely sure.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
And I feel like that goes back to the Oscar
discussion we were having earlier, where it's like the performances
that pain is so central to are the ones that
are uplifted, and it seems like the ones that get
the institutional backing. I wanted to share a quote from
Channing Godfree People's that sort of speaks to that point.
(43:58):
This is from when the movie was released. She says,
I believe the kind of work I want to do
is tell stories about humanity, and especially the humanity of
black folks. When you talk about Charles Burnett's Killer of
Sheep and My Brother's Wedding, Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust,
you get to see black folks in these really natural
environments with all their subtleties. These are the films where
you see black folks just be I talked a little
(44:20):
bit earlier about this authentic community I grew up in.
It gave me this sense and I could just sit
in this community and just watch and take it in.
I believe in authentic dialogue. I'm a stickler to stain
close to the script because I'm showing a community on
screen that hasn't been seen before. Growing up in this community,
there's so much that you feel. I love subtlety and
nuance and finding those tiny human moments. Those are so
(44:41):
important to a character's journey, and those are the moments
that feel the most real to me, and that comes
across in every single frame of this movie, and I think, like, yeah,
also connects to what you're talking about Indelica about the
extreme specificity of this movie. And part of what makes
it feel so effortless is because this is chanting Godfree
(45:03):
People's like lived experience and something that she had a
vested interest in wanting to share with the world as
a filmmaker. And it just feels, I don't know, every
element of this community feels like you're saying like real,
like almost like a documentary, like you're just stepping into
this world that doesn't explain itself to you, you just
explore exactly.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:24):
And one thing I want to really call out is
Channing godfre People's like amazing direction. This is like, you know,
witnessing someone's first feature, and it's just like so realized
like this, and you can get across like, oh, this
is their voice. And there's such warmth to both the
(45:44):
direction and the cinematography and such detailing that's really beautiful.
And it's the kind of direction that doesn't call attention
to itself, but it is making very smart choices about
framing and where bodies are in the space that they're inhabiting.
I was really, really taken in by her direction when
(46:05):
I first watched it and rewatching it.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
It's so beautiful and and like there's so many I
don't know on the rewatch of this movie just seeing
all these because she so fully understands and knows how
she wants to present the Fort Worth community and this
black community in particular. You get all of these subtleties
of like different kinds of communities within this community. Like
(46:29):
you see the church community and how that affects Turquoise
and Kai. You see the pageant community, which can be
really exclusive and can be extremely judgmental, and you know,
Turquoise is obviously feeling judged by a community that at
one point was really important to her. And then I think,
like the best of it is you see the community
(46:49):
at the bar, which is like so loving and supportive.
And I always get like emotional when when Woymen has
a heart attack and everyone's like, we have to fix this,
and we have to fix it by like coming together
and having a party, and that's how we're going to
support him through this, and it works, And like, I
just I love that there's so many different worlds within
(47:12):
the world and and it's not you're not like told
by the movie, like this community is good, this community
not good. Like you're you just start following Turquoise as
she navigates it.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
It's also interesting to see how she upholds certain standards
that the pageant has, which you know, it can be
pretty rigid. They're pretty what's the word for, when I
don't know, it's almost like a bourgeois kind of Oh,
(47:45):
you have to like pick up your little It was
a very like Titanic, start from the outside and work
your way in kind of where it's like pick up
your wine glass, pick up your dinner fork, all this
stuff and not that like Turquoise is like practicing anything
like that at home. But she again understands how this
(48:07):
opportunity is one of very few, if not the only
opportunity she's going to be able to like provide for
her daughter to get out of this kind of cycle
of poverty. So she's kind of monitoring her daughter's behavior,
who she hangs out with, what she wears, how she speaks.
She's like often correcting her grammar because she kind of
(48:31):
has to like align with the expectations of the pageant
and the propriety and the femininity and the beauty because
even though again it's like we've talked about this a
lot on various Pageant episodes. It's like, yes, this is
a contest to grant a scholarship, But if that is
like the most important part of it, why are the
(48:54):
girls like walking around in these expensive gowns and like
in full make hair and makeup and stuff like that
if it really is about a scholastic thing, Like why
is appearance a factor at all? Kind of thing? But
like Turquoise kind of has no choice but to sort
of uphold those standards. And it's interesting because it's like
(49:15):
some of these movies, like Dumplin was sort of like
about trying to dismantle the pageant industrial complex, yeah, which
is like, you know, that's not what this movie is about.
And it's just like, yeah, Kai is just like trying
to be a regular teenager pursuing her own interests. Her
(49:35):
mother is like trying to open up this door for
this scholarship opportunity. I don't know, It's just like a
lot of interesting things that you're watching the characters navigate
and balance, and like, you know, Kai is doing this
to please her mom even though she clearly doesn't want to.
It's just it's a lot of like interesting again, very
(49:58):
relatable things to watch unfold, especially front like in a
mother daughter relationship dynamic.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
Yeah, and it's just so refreshing to watch mother daughter
stories in film because like everything is so obsessed with
father sons.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
We talk about this all the time, or.
Speaker 4 (50:20):
Even just father and child slight rant, Like I'm dragging
my feet to watch Picard's season three, which I've heard
is actually good and justifies the show existing. Finally, but
spoiler alert for people they decide to get like that
doctor Beverly Crusher and John Luke Bokard actually have a
kid together, which he didn't know about, right, and of
(50:42):
course it's a son. And I'm like, how many more
father sons do we need in Star Trek.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
Especially because Picard and has mother like there's like there's
a bud. Yes, you don't get a lot of mother
son's stories either, like.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
No, you don't.
Speaker 4 (50:53):
You would think that mothers don't have sons or something,
or they do. Mothers die. It's just really frustrating, and
I think miss Jiunteenth is like really good at teasing
out the complications that come between a single mother and
her like only daughter, whether there's other siblings or not,
you know what I mean. And I think a lot,
at least speaking personally, a lot of the growth and
(51:15):
work that comes with that relationship, especially if there's like
imbalances for whatever reason, is like the mother coming to
terms with the fact that you can't make your daughter
into the woman you wish you were. You have to
nurture the woman she's becoming. Damn. That was a banger line.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
That is the truth. Cut it printed there.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
It's true, And I feel like that is like something
that any daughter of any mother can relate to to
some extent.
Speaker 1 (51:45):
But I don't know, I'm trying to think of an
example of this.
Speaker 2 (51:48):
It's just done so well and just again like effortlessly
in this movie where you know that what Turquoise like,
you understand why Turkose is doing what she's doing, but
you can also clearly see that it's miss guided and
it's not what her daughter wants or needs right now.
And then you can also see the movie, you know,
grants Turquoise the grace while like making it not like
(52:10):
you know, tiptoeing around like clearly Kai doesn't want this,
but you can also see how Turquoise's treatment from her
own mother informs that, and like, I think that there's
I don't know, I mean I can relate with this
in my relationship with my own mom of like my
mom was, you know, deprived of a lot of love
(52:31):
and Adam mother who was struggling with addiction her entire life,
and the relationship was strained, and you know, it's like
people respond to that experience differently and how it comes out.
And Turquoise is like a little bit of just like,
I know what's right, this is the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
Just trust me.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
Let's get just get through this and you can do
what you want later, which is like a very I
think common thing. And it's not it's not it doesn't
make you a bad parent, but it was interesting watching
them navigate that kind of together.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
I don't know, it's just like so thoughtful.
Speaker 3 (53:05):
I love it definitely. Some of the most like endearing
and tender moments of the movie is Turquoise and Kai bonding.
For example, the like the cake scene when and a
lot of these moments are like kind of sprinkled with
like the tension that exists between them, the way that
(53:26):
tension is bound to exist between any like teenage kid
and their parent but it's like the cake scene starts
out with Kai is like, I don't know, sitting in
a dark closet on her phone, like probably texting her
boyfriend and clearly like, you know, feeling a certain way
(53:48):
about the power being shut off. And she says something
like it's you know, it's my birthday.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Can we go out?
Speaker 3 (53:53):
And Turquoise can't afford that, but she's already bought this
cake and she's like, you know, we're gonna celebrate here.
And then they have this fun little like smearing cake
on each other's faces, and it's again like both of
them trying to like alleviate the tension of this like
situation and these circumstances. And then there's another sweet scene
(54:15):
where Kai is teaching her dad some of her choreography,
and then her mom comes home and she's just like, oh,
what are you guys even doing? But then she joins
in and like learns some of the dance moves too,
and it's just like these sweet moments that show, yes,
there is tension in this relationship and yes they don't
(54:38):
always get along, and Kai probably feels a bit suffocated
by all this pressure that Turquoise is projecting onto her,
but they still find these like beautiful moments of levity,
which was just like so wonderful to see.
Speaker 4 (54:54):
Yeah, yeah, it's a very intimate film. Is a film
that really prizes intimacy between and it's characters, and those
tender moments you're highlighting, I think are really good examples
of that.
Speaker 2 (55:07):
I wanted to, Yeah, go over to We've talked about
it a little bit, but just kind of a comforull
circle on it Turquis's relationship with her mom, Yeah, and
how that is sort of unspooled throughout the course of
the movie.
Speaker 1 (55:23):
I just thought it was so well done. And again,
just like.
Speaker 2 (55:28):
This movie allows its characters to have shades of gray
in this way that feels really unusual, where it's like
Charlotte clearly was not the parent that Turquoise needed, Like
she seems to be kind of, i mean struggling with
addiction in a way that she still seems, you know,
at grandma age, not ready to acknowledge. And that's really
(55:51):
I mean, I think that the performance by Lorie Hayes
is so beautiful and painful because it's you know, you
can be you can hold some anger for Charlotte for
not being the parent that Turquoise needed, and also see
that she's been suffering for so much of her life
and is doing I mean, everyone's doing the best they can,
(56:11):
and she's not able to be there for Turquoise or
Kai in the way they need, and that's just presented
as something that is unfair and sad, which is often
how having someone in your life struggling with addiction can feel.
And Turquoise is so gentle with her, and it just like,
(56:31):
I don't know, that scene got me really emotional. It
is really hard to watch someone have to navigate that
situation and also be like, that's my mom, you know,
like I want the best for this person and they
cannot show up for me, but I can show up
for them right now.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
And still I like that.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
After that, it's not that's not the conclusion of that relationship.
Charlotte doesn't change overnight. She's been this way towards Turquoise
for a long time and is still you know, essentially
ambushes her and Kai and Turquoise is like this, this
is the line we've found, the line congratulations, which is
(57:12):
sad in some ways because she's severing the relationship with
her mom, at least for now, but I thought it
was really I mean, that's like a really great moment
for her, and you see the kind of spectrum of
what this mother daughter relationship has looked like over the
years in without a lot of time, and it's so
beautifully written. And again just like Nicole Bihar is unbelievable
(57:34):
in the way she performs those scenes. And yeah, I
don't know, it's like a relatively small part of the movie,
but like Turquoise growing up with a parent who was
both suffocating in a different way and struggling with addiction.
I just thought it was like so good. I haven't
seen that relationship done like that many times.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
Yeah, truly, and it's I mean, Turquoise, the patience she
shows her mom is I don't have that kind of
patience like It's also it's just it was such an
interesting We were touching on this as well already, but
the way that information about the Charlotte character is woven
(58:15):
into the narrative, where at first it seems like, you know,
you kind of have a sort of a stock character
of like the overbearing religious mother. And it came as
such a surprise to me when she shows up at
the bar and she's like blackout drunk, and you're like, wait,
is this the same woman who had just been like
(58:38):
talking about needing to save her daughter and like wanting
to bring Turquoise and Kai to church to you.
Speaker 1 (58:46):
Know, pray.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
And it's such a little detail, but the fact that
like there's like a little line from Charlotte saying that
she didn't think that Turquoise was working tonight, and so
also that she's still it's an ongoing quest to hide
her addiction from her daughter and from her family, which
is like, yeah, so simple and so quick, but definitely hits.
Speaker 3 (59:07):
And prior to that, because I think there are three
main beats where the Charlotte character is involved. The first
one is the scene where Turquoise takes Kai to the
church to meet up with her mom and say, I
have to work tonight. Can you watch my daughter? And
Charlotte is like no. She basically says like kind of
(59:27):
gives an ultimatum like I'll be more involved in both
of your lives if you accept Jesus into your heart,
and Turquoise is like, well pass, so never mind. And
then and then Charlotte says something like really her full
She's like, well, she's not my daughter, so you know, like, yeah,
why should I bother in.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
Front of Kai too? Yeah, it's like, gee horrible.
Speaker 4 (59:49):
Yeah that was a really cuol. It really stuck out
to me.
Speaker 3 (59:52):
Yeah, damn yeah, which, you know, shows the hypocrisy that
a lot of religious fundamentalist type people tend to display.
And the hypocrisy keeps going because in the second beat,
she previously Charlotte was like, oh, you're working at the bar,
you know, you're doing the devil's work, and then she
(01:00:14):
is at this same bar where this quote unquote devil's
work happens, and she's drinking heavily. And to be clear,
I'm not casting judgment on alcoholism, but again it's.
Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
The hypocrisy element.
Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
It's yeah, it's the hypocrisy for Charlotte to judge Turquoise
for working at a bar, and then for Charlotte to
turn around and get drunk at that same bar to
the point where like her daughter has to bring her
home and take care of her. And then the third beat,
Charlotte pretends that never happened and she's in church again,
(01:00:49):
and this is the scene where she's trying to you know,
save Turquoise and Ki and she's continuing to judge Turquoise, Well, what.
Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
Would really help her is like helping out with Kai,
like the simple things that Turquoise is.
Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Asking for, right that.
Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
And then the final beat of all this is Charlotte
becoming physically abusive to Turquoise, which is like the last
straw for Turquoise. So yeah, it was just like I
was fascinated to see it play out the way it does,
because again, it feels very authentic and realistic in a
way that relationships like that are not often characterized in
(01:01:28):
a way that feels so authentic.
Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
Yeah, I think one of the things we haven't touched
on yet is Turquoise's relationship with the men in the story.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Yeah, who wants to start.
Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
I'm glad she chose herself. We need more stories of
women being like you know these you know, not to
say I don't want romance, but these guys aren't right
for me. I'm just going to live my life. We
do not have enough stories like that. So many stories
about women would like end this one very differently. It
(01:02:03):
would revolve around her making a choice between Kendrick Sampson's
character Ronnie and her boss at the funeral home, Bacon.
But that's not the story that you know, Channing Godfrey
People's is smart enough to understand, like that's not really
authentic to Turquoise's story or what this character needs, which
(01:02:25):
is to figure out things on her own, like to
really figure out, like what do I want for myself
and for my daughter in a way that is holistic
and recognizes her own desires and the desires.
Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Of her daughter.
Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
I think neither of them are bad guys, which I like.
I like that, you know, they have their faults obviously. Ronnie,
I think specifically decided to use the money for the
dress for something else because there's that moment in the bedroom,
right and they're having a conversation or like they're having
a conversation. At some point he's like, oh, but someone
(01:03:03):
is like selling their like whatever, and like, you know,
this could lead to me opening up my own kind
of car shop business or whatever, and like Turquoise is like, uh,
you gotta be And it's just like they're not. Neither
of them are bad people, even though I feel like
Ronnie doesn't. I mean, doing something like that with the
(01:03:26):
money shows, in my opinion, a little bit of a
lack of respect and understanding, right, Yeah, And then Bacon
is so obsessed with whatever image in his head he
has of turquoise. He refuses to acknowledge that she's not
interested in him, and like she does not need him
(01:03:47):
to solve her problems, like she didn't do that on
her own. Yeah, come on, Bacon, Like dude.
Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
There are times it's just yeah, it feels it's so
funny because I feel like Bacon in some ways presents
himself is like I'm the mature option, but he's acting
like a teenager in the way that he talks to her,
where he's like someday, it's like it just feels very like,
I don't know, there's a little bit of an entitlement there,
(01:04:14):
but it's just like also emotionally immature, the way that
he's like, well, sure you're not interested now, and you were,
you haven't been interested for fifteen years, but one of
these days.
Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
They just open your eyes and see me. And it's like, no,
if it hasn't happened yet, Uh sorry Bacon, but uh.
Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
And it doesn't make him a bad guy, like like
you're saying in dacol Like in the same way, it's
like Ronnie again is like one of the one of
the people who cannot show up for Turquoise and Kai
in the way that they need. But you can also
tell that he very like he loves his daughter, and
he's not made out to be a bad person or
anything like that. He's made out to be someone who
(01:04:57):
is who. I think that like the main I guess
flaw of his that stood out to me. She kind
of just said in Talco was like that he sort
of undercut the amount of work that Turquoise had done
in raising their daughter. It doesn't mean he doesn't love
his daughter, but he like there's a few different times
where he sort of just says.
Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
Like, well, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
You always do, and it's like, well, she shouldn't have to,
like if you did what you said you were gonna do.
And but again, it just feel it feels like a
person that you've met before in all the like messiness
that people can be. And also that like Turquoise, I
don't know, I felt for her in the way that
(01:05:40):
it's like she's still clearly attracted to Ronnie and like
has love for him, and it seems like to me,
again I'm like probably projecting all over the movie, but
like that like she always is like holding out hope
that he's gonna show up in the way that she
needs him to, but like nose deep down, he probably
won't because she is usually prepared for Ronnie to not
(01:06:02):
show up in the way that she needs him to,
but still has love for him, and like that's a
that's a you know, also very different, painful dynamic to
be in that I feel like you don't see presented
in that way of like they're not a bad person,
but they can't do what I need, and so it's
like I have to walk away. And yeah, she chooses herself.
(01:06:24):
There's so few examples of that. Yeah, and that we
get her happy ending, and it makes sense, Like I
feel like sometimes you'll get like if a character chooses themselves,
it requires this like disx machina writing to be like
and then this amazing coincidence happened, so they'll be fine.
But it's like no Turquoise had, you know, was able
(01:06:46):
to make it happen for herself, and her buying the
bar was her idea, and it was an idea that
was like supported by her community at the bar and
like worked out in a way that felt very very
real and still optimistic and happy ending.
Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
I just hope she gets better tips than a quarter.
Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Moving forward.
Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
That one guy is like a little something for you,
and his tip is twenty five cents, right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
Yeah, what am I supposed to do with that? I
can even buy bubble gum with that?
Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
Like what in this economy? What?
Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
Yeah? This twenty five cents? Even, Like what is that?
Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (01:07:27):
You might as well give me a penny?
Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Thanks?
Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Yeah, the men. It's like what she wants from Ronnie
is to be more reliable, and with that probably comes
from like financial stability, which is what Bacon has and
is offering. But she has no romantic feelings for him,
it seems, and Ronnie she does. But again, he's not reliable.
(01:07:53):
He might have a gambling problem. It's kind of suggested.
He also brings Ki into that situation where like, oh,
some people start like brawling in front and she's like
visibly getting frightened and he's like, no, it's all good.
And it's like you shouldn't be bringing a teenager into
a scenario like that. That's potentially very dangerous. So like,
(01:08:16):
you know, he's making some choices, but again, like this
is a movie where people are making mistakes constantly and
it's just a matter of who is going to learn
from their mistakes, who is going to grow, And I'm
glad that we're focusing on a character who demonstrates so
much growth by the end, Like Turquoise is like you
(01:08:38):
see it with her finally acknowledging that her daughter wants
to dance and saying like when are the dance tryouts?
She realizes that to be able to kind of have
any autonomy over her finances and job is to like
just take it. And it's a huge step and it's
a gamble, but it feels right, and so she buys
(01:09:02):
the bar. And I like that scene where Wayman is
Turquoise is talking about the American dream and he's like,
there is no American dream for black folks. Like whatever
you have, that's yours, like cling to for dear life,
and people are going to try to take it away
from you. But like for so many of us, that's
(01:09:24):
the best we can hope for. And now she does
have that, she has like her own things. She's gonna
and she's gonna fix that. Damn the stall in the bathroom,
the door on the cooler, and I'm just like, I
almost wish we got like a scene a few months
down the road where she had like made some slight
adjustments to the bar to like make it a little
(01:09:46):
more pleasant.
Speaker 4 (01:09:47):
To work out.
Speaker 3 (01:09:50):
But yeah, sorry, I'm just like rambling, but it's just
such a nice story with such wonderful character characters is
individuals and then like character dynamics.
Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
Yeah, we explore. Is there anything else anyone else wanted
to touch on?
Speaker 4 (01:10:08):
I hope Channing Godfrey People's announces another Reilson that is
like my main thing right now.
Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
So I did a little bit of googling while we've
been talking, and it seems as if in twenty twenty one,
but again, that's over two years ago she started work
on a TV adaptation of Miss Juneteenth. But I haven't
been able to find much outside of that announcement that would.
Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
Be really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
I was like, I mean, that would possibly give Caitlin
what you were just talking about, like a more a
deeper look at this world or a longer timeline or
whatever that looks like to her. I mean, I hope
that that happens. But it was announced, you know, two
and a half years ago now, and I haven't seen
an update. Fingers across, I don't know. I mean, yeah,
I just I would I would watch anything that she
(01:10:58):
releases really like, yeah, and I really love I mean,
I love just in general, when directors and writers.
Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Have a vested interest in a location. I just love that.
Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
And it seems like she wants to continue to set
a lot of her work in Fort Worth and in
the South and in like small communities, and it's like
some of my favorite stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
I really I hope we see more from her sand same. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:11:24):
And then the last thing I wanted to just briefly
touch on was that there are a few allusions to
the fact that Turquois used to be a stripper. Oh yes,
it doesn't seem like she's ashamed about it. She is
somewhat secretive about it, But to me, it felt like
she was kind of like keeping it on the down
low to like keep up appearances because of the the
(01:11:48):
propriety and the etiquette that the pageant is so concerned with, like,
you know, Kai and her family have to be you know,
quote unquote model citizens sort of. But when Ky learns
about this and she confronts her mother, Turquoise is just like,
I'm not sorry for being able to put food on
(01:12:10):
the table, and she kind of implies that she did
this out of desperation, which, like you could argue, is
like sort of shamy of sex work. But also again
it's just like she's not This isn't some like dark
secret that she's holding on to. It's more like, I
did what I had to do. It wasn't ideal for me.
I wish I didn't have to do that, but I'm
(01:12:33):
trying to make sure that you if that's not something
you want to do in your future, like I'm trying
to provide other paths for you.
Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
So yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
Didn't strike me as shamey towards sex work. I think
that it was like it felt like in the moments
it came out, it felt to me more like Turquoise
was trying to navigate the stigma she's aware it has,
and also just like acknowledging that that was not what
she wanted her end game job to be in a
way that didn't seem like it was cruel or dismissive
(01:13:08):
of people who do want to be strippers for a
long time and like really loved that job, it wasn't
a job that she loved.
Speaker 1 (01:13:15):
And also I.
Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Think I don't know, it didn't really ping for me
as a shaming moment.
Speaker 4 (01:13:21):
Yeah, same, Yeah, same. I thought that was a very
revealing moment about like the boundaries and dynamics between Turquoise
and Kai, and like how Kai looks at her mother,
and like there were moments watching it where I like
so felt for Kai because I've like been in her
place where you're just like dealing with such tension with
(01:13:43):
your mother. But then I think, like, you know, the
parent child relationship, often it takes a very long time
for children to recognize like, oh, my parent is just
a person. They lived this whole life before me and
even since they've had me that I'm not going to
know everything about. And I think that's like what that
moment is kind of touching on, like the parts of
(01:14:06):
your parents you don't really know. And I think for
Kai it was like, oh wait, there's a lot about
my mom I don't realize, and how much she works
and tries to figure things out for me. And I
think the way Channing Godfrey People's Rights and directs that
moment is really sharp in its understanding of the characters,
(01:14:29):
and it's like a closer shot of both of them
and like you can kind of it's really just smart
character work in terms of framing and like giving these
performances room to breathe in a way that can reveal
further layers about such a moment. I really, yeah, I
thought that moment was really interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
That's right. I also felt something.
Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
I mean, it doesn't exactly I mean, it thankfully doesn't
exactly mirror the scene between Turquoise and Charlotte when Charlotte
needs to be taken care of and needs to be
taken out at the bar, But I feel like that
is the moment where Turquis is very much the child
and is like, my mom needs me to be this
person for her right now, this is what I'm going
to do. You sort of see that in the moment
(01:15:12):
with Kai and the birthday cake, where she's frustrated that
the power has been turned off, like this is not
the birthday she wants. She's we know she's disappointed about it,
but you can sort of see her make the decision
of like I'm going to go with this because my
mom needs me to do this right now for her,
(01:15:32):
of like, you know, Turquis just needed her to take
the cake and be happy and like even perform like
happiness in this really difficult moment for both of them,
and it's so I feel like that's such a such
a part of like becoming an adult, of like recognizing
those moments and even when it's painful, like Kai true,
(01:15:54):
I mean, and not so much of why she's doing
the pageant in the first place. And then over the
course of the movie, even though Kai is not the
main character of the movie, like learns to draw her
boundaries with her mother of like this is what I'm
able to give you, and you need to meet me
where I'm at too. But I really liked that just
like really subtle performance moment between them where they just
(01:16:18):
both have to they both decide like the power isn't
on and that has to be okay, and it's still
a birthday, and it's.
Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
Just like such a yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
Again, it's like the combination of the writing and how
subtle and great both performances are that makes me cry.
Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
It's really nice, beautiful. This movie obviously passes the Bechdel test.
I mean, I don't think we really need to talk
on you. Most of it does.
Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
Yes, indeed, so onto our nipple scale.
Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
Where other ill fated title No, it's perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
Where we rate the movie on a scale of zero
to five nipples based on examining the movie through an
intersectional feminist lens. This is a rare moment on the
Bechdel Cast because we're usually dolling out one nipple for
a movie. I'm going to give five nipples yea to Missjuneteenth.
(01:17:20):
I really can't think of anything to criticize about it
from an intersectional lens. I think it's just really beautiful
in the way that it handles the story, the characters,
their relationships, the balance between showing the things that they're
(01:17:45):
dealing with the things that they're struggling with in kind
of balancing that with moments of love and levity and joy.
And I love the realism of it all, the fact
that the movie had the guts to not award Kai
with like one of the runners up or the Queen,
like because every other movie would have been like and
(01:18:06):
she won because she pulled out all the stops and
did this.
Speaker 2 (01:18:10):
It possesses the bravery of School of Rock in that way. Yeah,
I love I love when the main character doesn't get
the prize. It's always like a more rewarding viewing experience.
Speaker 3 (01:18:21):
Yeah, because what's more important is like the lessons they
learned along the way, and sure would it have been
nice if she did get the scholarship. Yes, But also,
as Kai points out, like if I join the dance team,
I can get a scholarship through that, and that's actually
what I want to pursue. And even though there's not
(01:18:42):
like that big victory at the end, things definitely are
looking up for them with like this new ownership of
the bar and Kai is going to join the dance team.
So there's again just moments of like levity, there's an
understanding that this family stealing with a lot, but it's
all just like handled very beautifully. And this comes as
(01:19:07):
at no surprise because of who directed the film. We're
always talking about, okay, like who's handling this subject matter,
and because the writer director is a black woman.
Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
From for her worth for like this is her youth
that she's like showing.
Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
In this movie.
Speaker 3 (01:19:24):
Yeah, yeah, so goes to show why it's so important
for people of marginalized communities to have the chance to
tell their own stories and tell whatever stories they want
to tell. Ye and Channing Godfrey Peoples did an incredible job.
And yeah, like we said, I hope there's a lot
(01:19:46):
more on the horizon for her. So five nipples, I'll
spread them.
Speaker 1 (01:19:54):
Among Channing love a spread.
Speaker 3 (01:19:57):
Yeah, yes, and it's a delicious spread. Nicole Bahari, the
actor who plays Kai Alexis to quays again, still clear
on her pronunciation. So sorry Alexis those that's who gets
my nipples.
Speaker 1 (01:20:16):
Yes, I'm gonna go five as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:20:19):
This movie is it just it fucking rips. It is
like just spending time in a very specific world. I
love like you're saying, Angelica. I mean, there's not a
lot of movies about black people in the South, and
the fact that this seems to be, based on the
interviews she was giving the exact movie that Channing Godfrey
(01:20:39):
Peoples wanted to make, and she got to make it,
and she got to make it on her own terms,
and it's fucking awesome, And I just like, I really
love this movie. And I feel like of it's also
in the like pageant movie genre, completely.
Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
Unlike anything else totally.
Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
There's so many I feel like, I mean, I guess
you could make the argument for a little Miss Sunshine,
but I think like especially the Miss Juneteenth pageant and
the way that that information is introduced to the audience
I feel like very often you're almost as an audience member,
like over explained to and it almost feels like an
(01:21:16):
Adam McKay movie for a second of like, hey, let
me tell you about June teenth, and it's like it's
not chanting Godfrey people's job to tell me what June
teenth is. And it like you find out about this
community and what's important to them and their history very
organically through the world, and it's I love, I don't know.
I just love everything about this movie. The Mother Daughter Dynamics.
(01:21:38):
I feel like there's so many movies about generational trauma
right now that there's like generational trauma tropes that this
movie evades completely. You get little tastes of so many
different parts of this world. There's so much about Turquis
and Ronnie's relationship that we don't know, but you get
a feeling for it just on the performances and the writing.
(01:21:59):
There's so much ab out Turquoise and Charlotte. We don't know,
but you get a taste of it, and I just like,
I don't know. I think in the past couple of years,
I've really grown to appreciate movies that don't feel the
need to explain themselves to you like you're there, and
you can sort of get a feel for what the
world does when it's shown to you the way that
(01:22:19):
this movie shows you fort Worth and shows you Turquoise's
community and life.
Speaker 1 (01:22:24):
And I just love it. Yeah, I'm gonna go five nipples.
How am I gonna spread my nipples? Let's see, let's see.
Speaker 3 (01:22:30):
Oh, you know what. I want to give part of
my spread to shout Out opal Lee and her cameo
in the Yeah movie she gets She's included in my
spread as well.
Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
I'm giving all of mine to Chanting Godfree People.
Speaker 2 (01:22:46):
I'm gonna keep it simple and I really look forward
to seeing what she makes next and hope.
Speaker 1 (01:22:51):
That it will get the support that it deserves.
Speaker 3 (01:22:54):
Definitely. Yeah, and Jelika, how about you?
Speaker 4 (01:22:57):
Five nipples all the way? Yeah, And I'm ann echo
Jamie and give them all to Channing Godfree Peoples. I find,
how you know, culturally realize and warm and striking and
aesthetically astute. The film is to be really inspiring. I
think there's this belief that all stories have already been told,
(01:23:20):
but watching something like Miss Juneteenth as a reminder that
because of how barred black people have been from telling
their own stories. That's not true. There's so many stories
that have yet to be told. And I think, you know,
Channing Godfrey Peoples is really inspiring for being able to
create a film she's really proud of and didn't have
to compromise on and offered audiences something they hadn't seen before,
(01:23:47):
whose importance lies in the artistry of it and the
care put into it, not just because it's you know,
showing this side of black identity. Yeah, I'm just you know,
just really taken by the film and I really love
it and hope people continue to discover it over the years.
Speaker 3 (01:24:05):
For sure, I would say all stories about the straight
white male experience has been told, Yeah, but there are
so many others.
Speaker 1 (01:24:15):
Yeah, doesn't mean they'll stop trying.
Speaker 4 (01:24:18):
They will not stop, never gonna stop.
Speaker 1 (01:24:20):
But so frustrating. And I can't wait to see Nicole
Bahari lead another movie.
Speaker 4 (01:24:26):
Yes, yes, damn it. She's such a good artist. She's
put so much care into her craft. I feel like
we've only like scratched the.
Speaker 1 (01:24:36):
Surface of what she can do as a performer.
Speaker 4 (01:24:39):
So for sure, I really hope for the best for
her career.
Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
Same.
Speaker 3 (01:24:43):
Yeah, well, Angelica Thank you so much for joining us.
This has been a delight. Come back anytime, truly.
Speaker 4 (01:24:51):
Yeah, I would love to come back on Thank you
for inviting me. This was a really fun conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:24:57):
First. Yeah, any movie you want, you can.
Speaker 2 (01:24:59):
I mean, it's also fun to shit on a movie
for two hours if you've got one.
Speaker 4 (01:25:04):
Yeah, it's funny. I've become like known for some reason
as a contrarian, like I hate everything, but ha ha
see I talked about how I loved a movie for
like almost two hours, So fuck off haters.
Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
And that's that beautiful vulgarity. Wait, what's the deliciously vulgar.
Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
Aspect of that you all came for?
Speaker 3 (01:25:28):
But truly, thank you again. And where can people check
out your work? Follow you online, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (01:25:35):
Most of my work you can find at New York
Magazine site Vulture or in the pages of New York
Magazine because that's my job.
Speaker 1 (01:25:42):
That's my main girl.
Speaker 4 (01:25:44):
That's where most like ninety seven percent of my work
is just Vulture because it's my job. But I do
freelance occasionally. And you know, if you follow me on
Instagram at Angelica Jade Bastian, you can keep up with
my work, or you know, subscribe to my lovely newsletter,
which is updated every four months, because that's just how
(01:26:07):
I roll.
Speaker 1 (01:26:07):
Sorry, y'all, but I love a jump scare newsletter.
Speaker 4 (01:26:11):
Yeah, it's like, hey, hey, y'all, it's been six months.
I'm back.
Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
I'd rather that than like a weekly news I'm like,
get out of here, quit bugging me.
Speaker 4 (01:26:19):
Yes, I leave me alone. What are you doing? What
do you have to say? Yeah, but my newsletter is
on substack and it's called Mad Women and Muses, and yeah,
you can find me there. You can find me at Vulture.
You can find me shooting the shit on Instagram lives
occasionally to talk shit about whatever movie I want to.
But yeah, you know, google me, you'll find me. I'm
(01:26:42):
around wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:26:44):
We're around two and you can follow us on Twitter
and Instagram at Bechtel Cast. You can go to our
Patreon aka Matreon, where we famously did a whole month
dedicated to Pageant movies, which we famous called Pagentuary, and
that plus many many other episodes. It's five dollars a month.
(01:27:07):
You get two bonus episodes every month, plus the back
catalog of what I Think one hundred and I don't know,
thirty fifty something like that bonus episodes. And that is
all at patreon dot com slash Bechdel Cast.
Speaker 2 (01:27:24):
And you can get merch over at tipa dot com
slash the Bechtel Cast.
Speaker 1 (01:27:28):
And yeah, with that, how do we how do we?
Speaker 3 (01:27:32):
Okay? The runner up of this episode? No, I'm kidding,
it's not us.
Speaker 1 (01:27:38):
You know who won?
Speaker 3 (01:27:40):
All three of us? Well, we won Miss Spectyl Cast.
Speaker 1 (01:27:46):
We're all. We did it again, five hundred episodes running.
Speaker 3 (01:27:49):
We did it, yes, okay, bye by