Material Girls

Today we’re bringing you a special re-release of an episode that’s dear to our hearts: Dirty Dancing x Nostalgia with Andrea Warner, originally released on May 14, 2024. Andrea had just published her book The Time of My Life, a deep dive into the 1987 hit movie Dirty Dancing, and she joined us on the pod to talk about what made the film and the soundtrack so special.Andrea passed away on Sunday, September 27th, after living with cancer for three years. We will miss Andrea with our whole hearts and thought today we would honor her memory by revisiting this special episode which showcases her brilliant mind and joyful voice. You can spend more time with Andrea through her pop culture podcast Pop This!, which she co-hosted with Lisa Christiansen and Andrea Gin. You can also check out her other books: We Oughta Know: How Four Women Ruled the '90s and Changed Canadian Music; Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography; Rise Up And Sing! Power, Protest, and Activism in Music; and Kihiani: A Memoir of Healing, which she co-authored with Inuk singer and songwriter Susan Aglukark.Thank you for listening. May her memory be a blessing.To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode!Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both.Original Show Notes (from 2024)In this episode, Marcelle and Hannah are joined by Andrea Warner (she/her), the author of The Time of My Life, an exploration of Dirty Dancing as a deeply feminist film. We begin with a conversation about sexy films that made our younger selves all hot and bothered before heading into the segment "Why This? Why Now?" Hannah guides us through the difficulty that writer and producer Eleanor Bergstein faced in getting this movie made and distributed. We talk Reagan, Roe v. Wade, and nostalgia for the 1960s. Hannah then introduces us to American literary critic Fredric Jameson, cultural historian Bill Osgerby, and Russian-American cultural critic Svetlana Boym. Together, Hannah, Marcelle and Andrea parse through their respective work about postmodernism, nostalgia, late capitalism and the construction of history to get a better understanding of why Dirty Dancing is such a compelling film. We end the episode with a discussion of the appropriation of Black music in the movie, the power dynamics within Baby and Johnny's romance and the unique representations of mutual aid.Works CitedBoym, Svetlana. “Nostalgia and its Discontents.” The Hedgehog Review: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture (Summer 2007). https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/the-uses-of-the-past/articles/nostalgia-and-its-discontentsHutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. London: Routledge, 1989.Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991.Osgerby, Bill. “‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’: Romantic Nostalgia and the Early 1960s.” In The Time of Our Lives: Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture, edited by YannisTzioumakis and Siân Lincoln, 207-222. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2013.Warner, Andrea. The Time of My Life: Dirty Dancing. Toronto: ECW Press, 2024.Music Credits“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

It's just Marcelle and Coach this week! They keep it on brand with a conversation about dating boys and getting on meds for ADHD. Be sure to head over to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease for Part II which is almost entirely a list of book recommendations and thoughts on revolutionary work.Support Material GirlsTo learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

It's fall 2026 and it seems there is no better time to take a look at the hit television series, Andor, and Hannah Arendt's concept of “the banality of evil." Marcelle begins this episode by considering the means by which evil becomes banal, routinized, and bureaucratic. She then leads us in a discussion about the way oppressed people under authoritarian rule are incorporated into the process of the regime’s management. Does this seem relevant... or rather, ZEITGEISTY? We thought so! Join us for an episode that may leave you feeling sick to your stomach (like Coach) OR motivated to prep for revolution (also Coach).To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode!Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both.Works Cited“Adolf Eichmann.” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2018. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/adolf-eichmann.“Andor.” IMDb. September 21, 2022. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9253284/.Arendt, Hannah. 2006. Eichmann in Jerusalem, A Report on the Banality of Evil. With an Introduction by Amos Elon. Penguin Books.Butler, Judith. 2011. “Hannah Arendt’s Challenge to Adolf Eichmann.” The Guardian. August 29, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/hannah-arendt-adolf-eichmann-banality-of-evil.“Department of Government Efficiency.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Government_Efficiency#Actions_within_federal_government.Elon, Amos. 2006. “Introduction.” Eichmann in Jerusalem, A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt, Penguin Books, pp. vii–xxiii.Marsh, Walter. 2025. “By Calling a Genocide a Genocide, Andor Just Made Its Most Political Point Yet.” The Guardian. May 7, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/07/by-calling-a-genocide-a-genocide-andor-just-made-its-most-political-point-yet.“Nielsen Media Research.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Media_Research.Porter, Rick. 2025. “Streaming Ratings: ‘Andor’ Concludes With No. 1 Overall Ranking.” The Hollywood Reporter. June 12, 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/streaming-ratings-may-12-18-2025-1236263981/.“Streaming Media.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media.Music Credits“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

On this week's episode of Material Concerns, Gaby joins Hannah and Marcelle for a long check-in and some Old Man Yells at Cloud, the segment where they complain about stuff—and boy do they deliver! Join them over on Patreon at patreon.com/ohwitchplease for Part II, full of even more complaints, some Oops All Oops, and to see if Gaby got engaged last weekend!!Support Material GirlsTo learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

We simply could not pass up an opportunity to discuss queer filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's latest horror, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. To make sense of the film and its engagement with sex, identity, femininity and transness, we dig into the history of gender representation in slasher films and spend most of the episode thinking through The Gaze, a concept coined by English art historian John Berger (in his 1972 book Ways of Seeing) that was later picked up by feminist film theorists. Hannah and Marcelle consider how cinema, and the experience of both watching and being watched, reinforces and potentially destabilizes sex differences — and further, ask how Schoenbrun's work as a trans filmmaker plays with that relationship in ways previously sidelined by theorists and other artists, alike.If you haven't seen Camp Miasma, no worries! There are no spoilers in this episode. All you really need to know is that the movie stars bicons Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder and that is probably 90% of the reason our team was really into it.***Works CitedClover, Carol J. “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.” Representations 20 (1987): 187-228. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507. Doyle, Jude. “Notes on Camp: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun, 2026).” The Jude Doyle Newsletter Experience 29 August 2026. https://jude-doyle.ghost.io/notes-teenage-sex-and-death-at-camp-miasma-jane-schoenbrun-2026/. “Jane Schoenbrun.” Wikipedia. Accessed 1 September 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Schoenbrun. Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Screen 16, no. 3 (1975): 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6. “Ray Blanchard.” Wikipedia. Accessed 1 September 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Blanchard. Steinbock, Eliza. “Towards Trans Cinema.” In The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Gender, edited by Kristin Hole, Dijana Jelača, E. Kaplan, and Patrice Petro. New York: Routledge, 2017. 395-406. ***Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

In this week's Material Concerns, Coach talks at length about her experience at Edinburgh Fringe, Marcelle showcases her scrapbooking talent and methodology, Hannah celebrates her impending freedom from massive professional responsibility! Join us for a long check-in and then a powerful creature report. Part II is over on Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Part II features the rest of Creature Report and a Mailbag Teaser answering the question: What are your ingredients for a good hang with friends? What about a good holiday with friends? (Thanks Lili from the UK for the fab question!).Support Material GirlsTo learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

If you’ve been in a bookstore recently, chances are good you’ve seen a table stacked high with thick hardcovers with black covers and neon lettering. So of course, we had to talk about the currently unfolding contemporary phenomenon: the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman! Hannah leads us in a conversation all about LitRPG, transmedia storytelling, and participatory fan culture. Plus, she and Marcelle dig into the stellar audiobook production of the series and why these books are getting men reading. If you’ve never heard of Dungeon Crawler Carl or you’re already a fan, this episode is for you!Related Listening:Fourth Wing x Author FunctionWicked x ParatextsDungeons and Dragons x LudologyWorks CitedDanis, Sam. “Dungeon Crawler Carl creator Matt Dinniman says LitRPG is just getting started.” Audible Blog, 11 February 2025, https://www.audible.com/blog/matt-dinniman-dungeon-crawler-carl-audio-interview. Freeman, Matthew. Historicising Transmedia Storytelling: Early Twentieth-Century Transmedia Story Worlds. New York: Routledge, 2017. GodTaoistofPatience. “[Royal Road] The History of Royal Road, or how a translation site of a niche Korean Novel became one of the pillars of Web Fiction in the West.” Reddit, 19 April 2026, https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/1sq1xd9/royal_road_the_history_of_royal_road_or_how_a/. Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Jenkins, Henry. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Jenkins, Henry. “Rethinking ‘Rethinking Convergence/Culture.’” Cultural Studies 28, no. 2 (2014): 267–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2013.801579. Maas, Jennifer. “‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Series Casts Audiobook Star Jeff Hays as Princess Donut’s Voice.” Variety, 23 July 2026, https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/dungeon-crawler-carl-tv-series-princess-donut-jeff-hays-1236819828/. Mulroy, Clare. “LitRPG is hot. Why fans can't get enough of books like 'Dungeon Crawler Carl'.” USA Today, 9 May 2026, https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2026/05/09/best-litrpg-books-dungeon-crawler-carl/89776156007/. Schneider, Michael. “Peacock Gives Series Order to ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Series From Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door, Chris Yost.” Variety, 18 June 2026, https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/dungeon-crawler-carl-series-order-peacock-1236785705/. ***Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

Baby's back! Gaby joins Hannah and Marcelle for a long, Canadian-forward check in and a very important (and also Canadian) Consumer Retorts. Join us on Patreon for Part II and plenty of BoCo (bonus content, just a new thing we're trying out).Support Material GirlsTo learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

Is your FYP and Instagram feed full of brightly colored decorations, furniture, and art? Are you finding yourself drawn to funky shaped furniture, maximalism, and painted doors? Boy do we have the episode for you! Today, Marcelle leads us through a conversation all about the “dopamine decor” trend! Through adrienne maree brown’s theory of pleasure activism, she and Hannah unpack dopamine science, homeownership amongst millennials, and why we turn to beauty when the world is hard.Related listening:Dopamine x Health Capitalism with Jesse MeadowsAthleisure x Optimization with Anne Helen PetersonPixar x Affective EconomicsWorks Cited:brown, adrienne maree. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. Chico, CA: AK Press, 2019.Cancilla, Julia. “The Surprising Science Behind the Dopamine Decor Trend.” ELLE Decor. December 20, 2024. https://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/trends/a63250266/dopamine-decor-trend/. Accessed August 4, 2026.Cullinane, Alice. 2025. “Dopamine Decor: Why People Are Getting a Happiness Hit from Homes.” BBC News. December 14, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg2j5l4q7wo. Accessed August 4, 2026.Lee, Ingrid Fetell. “Does Dopamine Decor Really Work?.” The Aesthetics of Joy. March 8, 2024. https://aestheticsofjoy.com/dopamine-decor/. Accessed August 4, 2026.Mirdamadi, Michael, and Joshua Gordon. “Millennials in the Canadian housing market: An intergenerational comparison.” Housing Statistics in Canada. Government of Canada. May 6, 2026. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/46-28-0001/2026001/article/00001-eng.htm. Accessed August 4, 2026.***Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.