Afleveringen
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What is cinematic pleasure, you ask? We offer Nia DaCosta’s HEDDA (2025) as an answer: stylish formal choices, substantive commentary on gender/race/class, delicious sexual tension, and a transfixing titular character whose antics range from petty revenge to evil. We also manage to put the film in conversation with Saltburn (a far inferior object, Marin argues) and the panned Ryan Murphy legal drama All’s Fair (which Maggie watched during a bout of the flu).
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Yes, we’re already a month into 2026, but that’s not going to stop us from reflecting on Girlhood Movie Database’s 2025! We’re awarding our favorite films, performances, and intertextualities that we covered on this podcast, along with additional pop culture that brought us joy. Happy New Year!
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN is one of Marin’s all-time favorite films, while this was Maggie’s first time watching it. We praise Gerwig’s unique screenplay and meticulous blocking, debate if Amy’s character is redeemable in this version, agree that Beth is actually the best March sister, and both almost cry on mic because this film is so moving. (There’s also an extended prologue about our current Botox/filler epidemic and Kim Kardashian’s acting career, so buckle up.)
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Secondary texts referenced:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Women (1994) dir. Gillian Armstrong
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This Halloween we’re delving into a horror we like to call “marrying a hot stranger who’s a walking red flag.” Guillermo del Toro’s gothic-horror melodrama CRIMSON PEAK was a formative theater-going experience for teenage Marin and a decade later she’s happy to report that it still rules. We have a lot to say about its pulpiness, violence, and romance, plus some tangents about Ryan Murphy and Charlie Hunnam.
Follow us on Instagram: @girlhoodmoviedatabase
Secondary texts referenced:
Hereditary (2018) dir. Ari Aster
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Longlegs (2024) dir. Osgood Perkins
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
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Sometimes a movie just gets that an integral part of teenage girldom is being mean to your mom after she’s nice to you! Hence our fervent praise for Shuchi Talati’s GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS (2024), which is a nuanced and detailed story about a mother-daughter relationship in flux.
Follow us on Instagram: @girlhoodmoviedatabase
Secondary texts referenced:
Make-Up (2019) dir. Claire Oakley
Portrait of A Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Celine Sciamma
The Starling Girl (2023) dir. Laurel Parmet
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Today we’re discussing a formative text from Marin’s childhood/Girl Scout days: TROOP BEVERLY HILLS (1989). This movie was critically shredded upon release—mostly due to its humane depiction of the upper class—and, well, do we have a newsflash for the critics of 1989: the rich characters in this movie are nothing compared to the 1% ruining everyone’s lives in 2025! We also have a lot to say about expressions of femininity, queer coding, the trad wife movement, and professional critics slinging ad hominem attacks against child actors.
Follow us on Instagram: @girlhoodmoviedatabase
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More like “my ass is crying”! We’re talking about Megan Park’s charming, wise, and slightly fantastical coming-of-age film MY OLD ASS (2024), which we wholeheartedly recommend you watch.
If you have arrived at the ARRIVAL SPOILER WARNING, skip to 41:45.
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Secondary texts referenced:
Rabbit Hole (2010) dir. John Cameron Mitchell
Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve
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We’re cleansing our hearts and brains this week by discussing a very good movie with real, human stakes! What a relief. Gina Prince-Bythewood’s LOVE & BASKETBALL (2000) has us cheering, laughing, and appreciating the beauty of sports despite our own personal lack of athletic prowess. Do we question if the male lead proves himself to be a worthy romantic partner? Sure, but those reservations are also connected to the film’s thoughtful portrayal of ambition and its evolving nature. We also appreciate any movie which gives us the opportunity to consider the weird cultural legacy of Tyra Banks.
Special thanks to Jess for providing this episode’s Juvenalia Encore <3
Follow us on Instagram: @girlhoodmoviedatabase
Secondary texts referenced:
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
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Well, if you ever wanted to hear a 2-hour-ish rumination on the confusing and contradictory sexual politics of THE TWILIGHT SAGA, you’re in luck. How does this series feel like an obvious metaphor for Christian purity culture while also having no sense of its own metaphorical resonance? What does Renesmee’s “miraculous” conception say about the films’ attitudes towards sex? Is it possible to tell a compelling story about a human-vampire romance if that story is solely in service to a stereotypical “happily-ever-after”? It’s a minefield! At least the Volturi are fun.
Follow us on Instagram: @girlhoodmoviedatabase
Secondary texts referenced:
Beauty and the Beast (1991) dirs. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 2, episodes 13, 14, and 22)
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, translated by Jean-Yves Leloup, foreword by Jacob Needleman
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It’s finally time to discuss what might be the most lovably hated movie franchise ever: THE TWILIGHT SAGA. In this episode, which covers the first three films in the series, topics of discussion include: the chaotic aesthetics of the late 2000s, chosen one narratives, cultural appropriation, the false allures of choice feminism, and why 12-year-old Marin was a Twilight book purist who rejected these movies altogether. (We also talk at length about the 2010 Robert Pattinson vehicle REMEMBER ME, so if you don’t want to know about its baffling plot twist, avoid 39:44 to 46:21).
Special thanks to Lindsey for providing this episode’s Juvenalia Encore!
Secondary texts referenced:
Adventureland (2009) dir. Greg Mottola
Remember Me (2010) dir. Allen Coulter
Good Will Hunting (1997) dir. Gus Van Sant
“No, feminism is not about choice” by Meagan Tyler (published in The Conversation)
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Chanlee Luu—poet, friend, and author of The Machine Autocorrects Code to I—joins the podcast to discuss Zhang Yimou’s HERO (2002), the wuxia classic that’s full of stunning martial arts sequences, gorgeous colors, and timeless questions about truth, narrative, and political sacrifice. We also use the film as a springboard to discuss Chanlee’s own writing, her background in science, and poetry as archive, comfort, and resistance.
Secondary texts referenced:
The Machine Autocorrects Code to I by Chanlee Luu, available wherever books are sold. Visit bookshop.org to order a copy from your local bookstore!
“50 Years of HOPE and HA-HAs,” a Vietnamese American art exhibition in DC which features one of Chanlee’s poems
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We’re discussing a monumental film this week: Céline Sciamma’s PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019). Yes, it’s romantic and poignant and emotionally and intellectually rich, but it also features really direct communication between its two lovers—and that might be the hottest thing of all. We discuss myth-making, companionship as the bedrock for romance (also hot, Marin argues), the Green World Archetype, and, most importantly, which scenes make Maggie want to puke because they’re so good.
This episode’s Juvenalia Encore is a poem written and performed by Rachel Anne! Follow them on Instagram: @cairnradesign
Secondary texts referenced:
The World to Come (2019) dir. Mona Fastvold
In Secret (2013) dir. Charlie Stratton
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Céline Sciamma on her ravishing romantic masterpiece” by Emily St. James (published in Vox)
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We’re entering 2025 with new equipment and a revamped recording schedule, but we also want to take the time to appreciate the movies we covered and conversations we had in 2024—hence our creation of the prestigious Maggie & Marin Movie Awards. Which films were our favorites? Which intertextualities were the sexiest? Why does this episode open with Marin talking about Jojo Siwa? (It comes full-circle at the end, we promise.) Happy New Year!
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Hallelujah, folks. We’ve got a movie brimming with whimsy and goofiness that offers a tender vision of girlhood, first love, and queerness: Maria Meggenti’s THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE (1995). Maggie takes us on some major philosophical quandaries—Why is it difficult to analyze joy? What if you don’t need to love yourself before you love someone else?—and Marin puts her English degree to good use with an exuberant read on the film’s title. Apologies for the delay in posting this episode. We recorded it at the end of October but a variety of factors (the U.S. presidential election, general exhaustion, etc.) collided shortly after and we’ve taken a break this month. We’ll be back recording in December and have some very special projects and episodes on the horizon!
Secondary texts referenced:
National Anthem (2023) dir. Luke Gilford
“The Body Electric” by Hurray for the Riff Raff
“Review: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love” by Roger Ebert
Beautiful World, Where are You? by Sally Rooney
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This week we’re talking about the definitive slasher of Maggie’s girlhood, Amy Holden Jones’s THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982)—a movie which offers just about everything you could want in a horror classic: inventive gore, insightful commentary on female sexuality and objectification, goofy phallic symbols, queer longing, and girls eating pizza over a corpse. Happy Halloween!
Secondary texts referenced:
Slumber Party Massacre (2021) dir. Danishka Esterhazy
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We’re prepping for Halloween by subjecting ourselves to the most stomach-churning sight of the 90s: Skeet Ulrich’s greasy hair tendrils. Marin’s pick this week is SCREAM (1996), the first horror movie that actually scared her. And while Skeet’s hair IS an abomination, this film has plenty of other horrors for us to dissect: teenage misogynists, extreme fandom, and weaponized self-awareness. We also praise Drew Barrymore (naturally) and discuss how her one scene really is as affecting—in both its terror and its sadness—as everyone remembers.
Secondary texts referenced:
“The fandom menace: People, get a life!” by Roger Ebert
Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich
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It’s the movie that launched Sofia Coppola’s directing career and awakened Young Maggie to the beauty of Kirsten Dunst’s armpits: the dreamy, detailed, and devastating THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (1999). We wrestle with the male narration, Marin details falling out of love with the novel upon which the film is based (and appreciating the film more as a result), and we talk about the knottiest of conundrums: how to protect adolescent girls from the world without totally depriving them of it.
Secondary texts referenced:
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
“No” by Anne Boyer (from A Handbook of Disappointed Fate)
“Our Sisters Shall Inherit the Sky” by Alana Massey (from All the Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers)
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We’re investigating a supremely entertaining work of garbage this week and, honestly, thank goodness—we needed some laughter around here. CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999) has it all: one of the most despicable romantic heroes in teen film history, ~tension~ between step siblings, a perfect Sarah Michelle Gellar performance, and a Counting Crows needle drop that offends Maggie but reverts Marin into a sentimental tween. We rant, we cackle, we reflect, we put this movie in conversation with some of the most influential art ever made (because this is our show and we do what we want). Enjoy!
Secondary texts referenced:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018) dir. Madeleine Perry and John Olb
“Introduction to Les Liaisons Dangereuses” by Alfred Mac Adam (Barnes & Noble Classics edition)
“Pure Heroines” by Jia Tolentino (from Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion)
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MILLER’S GIRL (2024) was panned by critics and didn’t recoup even a fourth of its budget at the box office, so, naturally, we had to talk about it and dare to ask, “Is it really that bad?” The movie is fundamentally about a student being groomed by her teacher, so there’s a lot at stake in terms of how it addresses victimhood, villainy, and power—and our feelings about the outcome are complicated.
Secondary texts referenced:
Bunny by Mona Awad
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
The Room (2003) dir. Tommy Wiseau
Jade Halley Bartlett interview with Forbes: “Miller’s Girl As a Villain Origin Story”
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We wade into the world of documentary filmmaking with Sandi Tan’s SHIRKERS (2018), which reflects on Tan’s teenage experience of making a movie with her friends and losing the footage after their teacher steals it. The movie’s “layers of aboutness,” as we writerly types love to say, are plentiful—and get into as much as we can wrap our heads and hearts around: magical realism, punk spirit, youthful determination, and how to live a life that is in service to your art.
Secondary texts referenced:
“Lessons of the Line: Charles Simic and Me” by Dana Levin (from the Yale Review, spring 2024 issue)
“After the World-Breaking, World-Building” by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal (from Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders)
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