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The Lord of the Rings x Arcadia with Text Me Back! With Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays
We always nerd out, but in this episode we're joined in our geek sesh by the incredibly charming, brilliant and funny Lindy West (she/her) and Meagan Hatcher-Mays (she/her) to discuss (drumroll!) The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As you may already know, Hannah and Marcelle share a love of JRR Tolkien's world and in this episode they finally get to discuss Peter Jackson's adaptation from the early aughts.
The episode begins with an overview of the books' popularity in the middle of the 20th century and their lasting impact on fantasy and science fiction literature, television and film. Hannah then offers some context for the release of The Fellowship of the Ring. Together, we consider the desire by the public to escape in a post 9/11 world and the fantasy of a pastoral utopia! Hannah then offers some theory! We're talking Arcadia people!
This episode is a perfect listen for fans of The Lord of the Rings, as well as anyone who has ever fantasized about knitting in a cottage away from the hustle and bustle of industrialized cities!
Frey, Angelica. “Cottagecore Debuted 2,300 Years Ago.” JSTOR Daily 11 November 2020. https://daily.jstor.org/cottagecore-debuted-2300-years-ago/.
Huffstutter, P.J. “Not Just a Tolkien Amount.” LA Times 24 October 2003. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-24-fi-frodoecon24-story.html.
Kruske, Kyle. “Lord Of The Rings’ Hobbiton Shire Set Took A Whole Year To Make.” Screenrant 18 December 2021. https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-hobbiton-shire-set-one-year-build/.
Lois, Gemma. “‘The Lord of the Rings’: A Thematic Echo Of The Industrial Revolution – Extended Edition.” A Musing Clio 23 June 2025. https://gemmahistory.home.blog/2025/06/23/the-lord-of-the-rings-a-thematic-echo-of-the-industrial-revolution-extended-edition/.
Sanders, Sam. “Tolkien Acknowledged That Black People Exist in Arda, So Why Can’t Everyone Else?” Vulture 16 September 2022. https://www.vulture.com/article/rings-of-power-black-hobbits-lord-of-the-rings-amazon.html.
Shanahan, Paula. “Authentic Fantasy: The Representation of the Shire as a Nostalgic Arcadia.” Thesis. Submitted to the Department of Design and Visual Arts in candidacy for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Design for Stage and Screen, 2023. https://illustro-iadt.figshare.com/articles/thesis/Authentic_fantasy_The_representation_of_the_Shire_as_a_nostalgic_arcadia_Astudy_of_the_visual_and_design_references_within_the_shire_in_the_film_adaption_of_The_Lord_of_the_Rings/25435744?file=45129961.
Wikipedia, the encyclopedia of the people. 2025.
For more Lindy and Meagan, check out Text Me Back! — one of Hannah McGregor's all-time favorite podcasts! You can also follow them on Substack here! Be sure to pre-order Lindy West's upcoming book Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane.
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, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease!
“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020
Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.
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Pitty Party Preview: 6:00 PM
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Material Concerns: The Soft Episode Pt. I
31:32|Welcome back to Material Concerns!!! We keep this episode soft! Listen to find out what we mean by that! Head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget and you will get PART II!!!!!!Happy listening! We'll be back next week with a regular format episode!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”.
Pitty Party Preview: 5:00 PM
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The Oscars x Symbolic Capital
57:59|Did you watch The Oscars? Did you formerly watch The Oscars but don't anymore? Do you only consume The Oscars via clips on social media? Well guess what? No matter how you answered, you're not alone! In this week's episode, Hannah and Marcelle talk about the changing zeitgeisty-ness of the Academy Awards through a deep dive on the awards' early days, its legacy and what we might make of the show's move to Youtube starting 2029.Drawing on theorist Robert Boucault's new book, Oscar Bait: The Academy Awards & Cultural Prestige, Hannah helps us understand the complex ways the Oscars navigate various forms of capital in the field of filmmaking. We talk elitism, cultural capital, symbolic capital and capital intraconversion!Happy listening!Related ListeningBook 4, Episode 8: Magical Capital (from Witch, Please Reboot)Dopamine x Health Capitalism with Jesse MeadowsBarbie x Petro-CapitalismWorks CitedBaragona, Louis. “How the Oscars has changed over the past 92 years.” Business Insider 23 April 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/oscars-over-the-years-2018-3. Boucault, Robert. Oscar Bait: The Academy Awards & Cultural Prestige. New York: Routledge, 2026. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.4324/9781003597605. Feinberg, Scott. “Oscars’ TV Ratings Headache Turns Into a Migraine.” The Hollywood Reporter 2 March 2022. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-tv-ratings-live-telecast-1235102498/. Feinberg, Scott, and Alex Weprin. “Oscars Bolts From ABC to YouTube Starting in 2029.” The Hollywood Reporter 17 December 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/oscars-bolt-from-abc-to-youtube-starting-in-2029-1236453188/. Rao, Sonia. “Why do the Oscars Matter?” The Washington Post 16 April 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/04/16/oscars-academy-award-significance/ Richardson, Kalia. “A Decade After #OscarsSoWhite, Can Hollywood Do Better?” Rolling Stone 2 March 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/oscars-so-white-10-years-1235276085/.Thomson, David. “The House That Mr. Mayer Built: Inside the Union-Busting Birth of the Academy Awards.” Vanity Fair 21 February 2014. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/02/secret-oscar-history.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!). Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more! Need a last minute gift for a friend or family member? 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”.
Pitty Party Preview: 4:00 PM
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Material Concerns: Desperate to Understand Pt. I
28:23|Welcome back to Material Concerns — our out of format episode featuring guest co-host, Coach! In this week's episode, we do a very long check-in (as we are wont to do!) and follow it up with a Fixation Station! In Part II, we continue our impromptu Canada Moment and then head into Consumer Retorts and Creature Report! Head to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!Happy listening! We'll be back next week with a regular format episode!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”.
Pitty Party Preview: 3:00 PM
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9 to 5 x Labour Feminism with Zena Sharman
01:07:16|This week we are joined by the incomparable Zena Sharman (she/her). Zena is an essayist and non-fiction writer who is a fan and student of the film 9 to 5 (1980). If you don't know the movie, you almost certainly know the song of the same name written and performed by one of its stars, Dolly Parton. And if you don't know the song, you most definitely know the two other leads of the movie: Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda! And if you don't know them, well hell, we can't wait to introduce you!In the episode, Hannah and Zena lead us through a history of the feminist labour organizing that directly led to the film's creation. They introduce us to Karen Nussbaum who co-founded an organization called 9to5 in the early 1970s. Nussbaum and Jane Fonda became friends and allies through anti-Vietnam war organizing and developed 9 to 5 (the film) in effort to surface the struggle of working women at the time.Hannah then draws on work from historian Dorothy Sue Cobble who argues that contemporary disillusionment about feminism has a lot to do with historical amnesia about the actual diversity of feminist organizing. Hannah suggests that the 1980 screwball comedy 9 to 5, with its depiction of women from notably different backgrounds and with pointedly different gender presentations, might be exactly the feminist text we need in our present political moment. The conversation also touches on queer-coded characters in the story and the super queer team behind the film.Come for the love of Dolly Parton and stay for the rich conversation about labour organizing, cultural consumption, moral purity and coalition building!More ZenaZena is the editor of several anthologies, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory & Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health and Lambda Literary Award-winning The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care. You can buy her newest book, Staying Power (Arsenal Pulp Press), here! Full link: https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/S/Staying-PowerRelated EpisodesSapphic x Radical FeminismWorks CitedCobble, Dorothy Sue. The Other Women's Movement : Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sfu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=740297. Scott, Katherine. “A timeline: The pandemic’s impact on women in the workforce.” Canada Centre for Policy Alternatives 2 July 2024. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/a-timeline-the-pandemics-impact-on-women-in-the-workforce/. Sharman, Zena. Staying Power: On Queerness, Inheritances, and the Families We Choose. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2026.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!). Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more! Need a last minute gift for a friend or family member? 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”.
Pitty Party Preview: 2:00 PM
14:31|Welcome back to Pitty Party!We’ve gone analog, baby! In this episode, Marcelle, Zoe, and Gaby discuss fatphobia in the ER (and this season’s biggest op, James Ogilvie), Langdon and Santos’ first case back together, and Hot Nurse Jesse lifting a fax machine, among many other things.We’ll be back next week to talk all about season 2, episode 9, 3:00 PM.To listen to the full episode, head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease now! 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”.