Leftist Teen Drama

Welcome back to our series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by twins and self-professed “camp freaks” Kelly and MG Gilbert to break down all the class conflict inherent to the plot of CAMP ROCK (2008). From watching teens and tweens network at camp (gross) to trying to place the subprime mortgage crisis in the story’s timeline to cheering on Mitchie as she stands up for service workers,...

In our third Special Episode of Leftist Teen Drama featuring a writer talking about her related body of work, Maria welcomes pop culture writer Thea Glassman to the podcast to discuss her 2023 book, Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television. We delve into our mutual obsession with teen dramas, Thea’s reporting process for the book, and how she narrowed her book down to the seven revolutionary t...

TW: discussion of rape and rape culture

Welcome back to our series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by childhood friends Rosalie Murray and Dondré Taylor-Stewart to break down the teen feminist film MOXIE (2021). We have a soft spot for this group of outcasts who form a feminist movement at their high school, drawing parallels to our own short-lived feminist action in our 2011-2012 seni...

Welcome to an emergency special episode of Leftist Teen Drama in which Maria pays tribute to millennial teen drama icon Michelle Trachtenberg, who sadly passed away at the age of 39 on February 26, 2025. Thanks to Erin Rittweger, Colette Shade, Charlotte Morrill, strideofpride, and Kelly Diaz for contributing such powerful reflections on Michelle’s legacy to this episode. And thanks to Diana Hussein for inspiring me to make this ep...

In our second Special Episode of Leftist Teen Drama featuring a writer talking about her related body of work, Maria welcomes Colette Shade to the podcast to discuss her brilliant book of essays, Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was), just released on January 7, 2025. We deep dive into Colette’s essay collection, chatting about all things Y2K pop culture and leftist politics, including Colette’s...

In the Leftist Teen Drama Season 4 finale, Maria is joined by Laura Marino and strideofpride to dissect the class dynamics on a longtime listener-requested show: the iconic teen drama GOSSIP GIRL (2007-2012)! Approaching this episode from our usual leftist lens, we mainly zero in on the “working-class” characters who are thrust into the owning-class world of the Upper East Side: Dan Humphrey, Vanessa Abrams, and Jenny Humphrey. Sin...

Maria is joined by Abir Mohammad to break down powerful depictions of British teenagers in the South Asian diaspora on SOME GIRLS (2012-2014), ACKLEY BRIDGE (2017-2022), SEX EDUCATION (2019-2023), and WATERLOO ROAD (2023-present.) This episode is jam packed with South Asian teen characters living in all their complexity – as sexual beings, as Muslims, as hijabis, as queer teens, as protest leaders. We celebrate beloved characters l...

Maria is once again joined by childhood friend Dondré Taylor-Stewart to talk about the often-political ALL AMERICAN universe, and specifically the HBCU spin-off ALL AMERICAN: HOMECOMING (2022-2024). We trace Simone Hicks’ journey as an HBCU athlete-activist, as she emerges as a leader during two separate experiences of collective Black trauma: a bomb threat and a cop stop. We discuss the show’s depiction of Black joy, resilience, a...

“My So-Called Life was the OG Leftist Teen Drama,” Diana declares. Both MY SO-CALLED LIFE (1994-1995) and Maria turned 30 this year! Diana Hussein again joins the podcast to break down all the politics of this groundbreaking yet short-lived teen drama. We discuss everything from a pre-Columbine gun violence (B) plot to the political awakening of Angela Chase and the raw and groundbreaking depiction of an unhoused queer teenager of ...

Maria is joined by Kelly Diaz and Taylor Garland to discuss the inherently political Swedish teen drama YOUNG ROYALS (2021-2024). We trace the star-crossed romance between Crown Prince Wilhelm and the working-class, socialist student Simon Eriksson as their relationship brings out class tensions and questions about the legitimacy of the monarchy. We also analyze our strangest sit-in plotline yet when, inspired by the very people th...

Maria is once again joined by Nicki Morris and Kelly Gilbert to dissect the conclusion of Aimee Gibbs’ arc on SEX EDUCATION (2019-2023). In Season 4, Aimee pursues art to process her trauma and ends up finding herself through darkroom photography – and producing deeply political art about the patriarchal violence she experienced in the process. We break down Aimee’s parallel artistic and sexual healing journeys, from rating vibrato...

Maria is joined by Kelly Diaz to discuss the epic student occupation plotline on SWITCHED AT BIRTH (2011-2017). When the safe sanctuary that is Carlton School for the Deaf is threatened with closure, deaf and hard of hearing students make a plan to fight back, inspired by the real-life Deaf President Now (DPN) protests at Gallaudet University in 1988. This plotline was a central part of Kelly’s dissertation on depictions of youth a...

TW: detailed discussion of anorexia and eating disorder recovery throughout the episode; depiction of a panic attack at ~1:04:00-~1:05:30

In the Leftist Teen Drama Season 4 premiere, we dive into two “the personal is political” plotlines on EVERYTHING NOW (2023). In this short-lived British teen drama, we get introduced to two wonderfully different Black teenage girl characters with a gorgeous best friendship. Maria is joined by ch...

We are so back. Our 2024 season includes a lot of discourse about class conflict, abundant “the personal is political” moments, and of course, two different civil disobedience plotlines (though one is truly our weirdest sit-in plotline yet!) Check out a little teaser of Leftist Teen Drama Season 4, premiering on Sundays, starting on November 10, 2024 through the end of the year. XOXO, Free Palestine 

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Welcome back to our new series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by Kelly Diaz to break down all the political themes of the movie of many names: THE HAIRY BIRD/ALL I WANNA DO/STRIKE! (1998). (We went with the most thematically appropriate title for our podcast episode title, as you can see!) We discuss the solidarity and friendship between the main teen girl characters at Miss Godard’s ...

Welcome to our new series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by friends and comrades Nicki Morris and Emma Rose to break down the political mysteries of the ENOLA HOLMES (2020) movie series on Netflix, but especially the workers’ rights plotline in ENOLA HOLMES 2 (2022), based on the real-life 1888 matchworkers’ strike in London led by women and girls. 

For this episode, we recommend you ...

It’s the end of an era, as Maria is joined by Dondré Taylor-Stewart and Abir Mohammad for a finale of epic proportions: not just the Leftist Teen Drama Season 3 finale, but our third and final episode about the Black queer teen journey of Eric Effiong on SEX EDUCATION (2019-2023). Season 4 wraps Eric’s arc up in a way that generally satisfies us all. We break down how Eric sought to bridge his queer and religious communities, and i...

Maria is joined by Abir Mohammad and Kelly Diaz to discuss some truly one-of-a-kind teenage civil disobedience that was featured in Kelly’s dissertation on youth activism on television. On HEARTBREAK HIGH (2022-present), when a favorite teacher resigns after false allegations are made about her, Amerie Wadia decides she has to lead a protest and bring Ms. Obah back. With the help of veteran activist Sasha and her other friends, Ame...

TW: discussion of rape

Maria welcomes Kelly Diaz back to the podcast to cover one of the plotlines featured in Kelly's dissertation about youth activism on television. In the second season of FELICITY (1999-2002), a student named Leila comes to the health center where Felicity Porter volunteers looking for Plan B. Felicity is dismayed to find out that the Board of Trustees recently created a policy forbidding the student health cen...