Deep Thoughts about Big
Manage episode 464950462 series 3493147
Okay…but I get to be on top!
Tracie loved revisiting the 1988 Penny Marshall-helmed film Big this week. Tom Hanks’ performance of a 12-year-old boy wearing a grown man’s body is laugh-out-loud funny, and the film asks some profoundly important questions about how grownups can hold onto their childlike joy and wonder. But the love story between Hanks’ Josh Baskin and Elizabeth Perkins’ Susan–an actual adult woman–never sat well with either Guy girl. The sisters discuss how this film would not work if it were gender-swapped, why it seems to reinforce the idea that women should mother their romantic partners, and their theory that the sexual and romantic component of the story was potentially from studio meddling.
No need to ask Zoltar for a wish–just plug in your headphones and take a listen.
CW: Discussions of grooming
Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls
We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.
We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com
We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.
Chapters
1. Deep Dive Into "Big" Film (00:00:00)
2. Plot Synopsis of Childhood Adventures (00:06:21)
3. Transformation and Chaos (00:09:35)
4. Toy Company Job Promotion and Friendship (00:12:59)
5. Corporate Rivalry and Personal Growth (00:18:26)
6. Exploring Play and Adulting (00:29:39)
7. Critiquing Gender Dynamics in Film (00:38:27)
8. Exploring Empathy and Female Representation (00:48:24)
9. Reconnecting With Joy and Playfulness (00:59:10)
92 episodes