Leftist Teen Drama

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...

It’s a CROSSOVER EPISODE! Maria is joined by Aly and Rachel, the brilliant hosts of the Out in The Wilds podcast, for a wide-ranging discussion on Indigenous representation, ownership, and authenticity on both THE WILDS (2020-2022) and RESERVATION DOGS (2021-2023). At their core, both these shows are about solidarity and the power of community. We discuss everything from Indigenous ways of storytelling and authentic representations...

Maria is joined by guests Liv Christian and Kelly Gilbert to analyze the private prison plotline that colors all of RIVERDALE (2017-2023) season 2 and the top of season 3. Riverdale stumbles into showing how politicians – and the private interests that bankroll them – stoke fear and chaos to inflate actual crime numbers and push for funding for punitive measures like more policing and new prisons. In the process, they destroy the v...

Maria is joined by three friends who are all previous or current staff of UNITE HERE, the union that the Essex Food Service Workers would undoubtedly be affiliated with in real life—Nicki Morris, Diana Hussein, and Paola Rodelas. The four of us break down the SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS (2021-present) strike episode, celebrating Kimberly and Canaan getting involved in their union but also setting the record straight on the series of...

Two non-American teen dramas dare to go where most American teen dramas refuse to: letting their teen characters choose to have abortions with no guilt or regret afterwards. In this episode of Leftist Teen Drama, Maria and guests Rosalie Murray and Kelly Gilbert analyze and compare the depiction of abortion care on DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION (2001-2015) through the eyes of Manny Santos and SEX EDUCATION (2019-2023) from the pers...

In the Leftist Teen Drama season 3 premiere, we dive into the very real labor struggles behind the teen dramas we love to watch and dissect. From both a worker and fan perspective, we dive into the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America (WGA) Strike, the 2023 WGA Strike, and the 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) Strike, as well as the various effects these strikes had on teen dramas ...

Leftist Teen Drama is back! Still in the midst of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, we ground Season 3 in the very real labor struggle behind the teen dramas we love to watch and analyze. Then, we dive into our usual political teen drama fare, covering everything from abortion access and indigenous representation to prison abolition and a sit-in or two for good measure. Enjoy this little teaser of Season 3, premiering on Sundays starting...

In our first ever Special Episode of Leftist Teen Drama, Maria introduces Kelly Diaz, who recently defended her dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania entitled “Lights, Camera, [Social] Action!: The Goals, Messages, and Impact of Youth Activism on Television.” (Maria—and Leftist Teen Drama—were featured in the dissertation!) Maria and Kelly delve into the project, unpacking everything from Kelly’s motivations to undertake t...

It’s the Pogues vs. the Kooks, the PCHers vs. the 09ers, the Harbor School vs. Newport Union! In the Season 2 finale of Leftist Teen Drama, Maria is joined by guests Kelly Gilbert and Nicki Morris to discuss the class conflict inherent to the plot and setting of three teen dramas: THE O.C. (2003-2007), VERONICA MARS (2004-2019), and OUTER BANKS (2020-present.) From star-crossed romances and parallel fights on the beach to a Neptune...

“How do you feel?” “Like I’ve come home.” In a follow-up to Leftist Teen Drama’s first-ever podcast episode, Maria and guest Dondré Taylor-Stewart trace the season 3 journey of Eric Effiong on SEX EDUCATION (2019-present.) Maria and Dondré discuss the life-changing experience Eric has during his visit to Nigeria, with his season bookended by a turbulent relationship with Adam. From the various mechanics of gay male sex to the nuanc...

In the fictional neighborhood of Freeridge, Los Angeles, four Black and Brown kids get to solve a mystery in the midst of their largely immigrant community rife with gun violence and poverty. Maria and her guest Xiomara Loarte discuss all four seasons of ON MY BLOCK (2018-2021), which doesn’t shy away from showing all the everyday realities of growing up with gun violence, from Ruby’s PTSD to the immigration system and prison indus...

Remember the time Summer Roberts from THE O.C. (2003-2007) went to college and became a hardcore environmental activist? Maria and her guests Emma and Hailey trace Summer’s Season 4 journey to find her destiny as an early 2000s climate activist, in the long tradition of teen drama mean girls finding their voices through organizing. With many of Summer’s demands sounding eerily similar to the demands of today’s climate justice movem...

We’re talking about SPORTS—and specifically, the long history of protest through sport as it’s depicted on two teen dramas. Maria and guest Dondré Taylor-Stewart dive into early 2000s football teen drama FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2006-2011) and its 2010s-20s counterpart ALL AMERICAN (2018-present) as both shows tackle football strikes for racial justice. We analyze the differences between a Black football player strike, led by Smash Wil...

You’ve seen it on Instagram. It made you smile, it made you cry: the moment the other girls show up to help Aimee Gibbs from SEX EDUCATION (2019-present) get on the bus where she was assaulted. But the reason Maria, along with guests Kelly Gilbert and Nicki Morris, analyze this stunning plotline, is because Aimee’s healing journey doesn’t stop there, and instead continues into season 3. From the moment when Aimee’s assaulted while ...

GMOs and anti-Muslim bigotry, it *must* be the George Bush era. Maria and her guests, childhood friends Dondré Taylor-Stewart and Rosalie Murray, go back in time to the first two seasons of DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION (2001-2015) to discuss political storylines headed by resident activist girl Emma Nelson and resident Early-2000s-Black-Woman-Who-Deserved-Better Hazel Aden. From Emma telling off teasing boys when she gets her peri...

You know we had to do it: it’s time for Marxist Paris Geller! In this season 6 episode of GILMORE GIRLS (2000-2007), rich girl Paris Geller is forced to work a catering job and finally connects with Marxist theory. Hilarity ensues. Maria is joined by her childhood friends and fellow GILMORE GIRLS superfans Laura Marino and Jessica Hajdukiewicz to discuss this iconic moment. But before we get to the main event of Paris discovering M...