Each episode host Dino-Ray Ramos will welcome a filmmaker, actor, creator or cultural figure to discuss a film or TV episode from the past of the guest’s choosing that is acclaimed, celebrated and considered a classic. We will discuss why the like the project but then do a deep dive and unpack how the film/series was enjoyable in the past, but upon revisiting there are details that are racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and wildly cringeworthy when it comes to representation of marginalized voices...but for some reason it remains a “problematic fave”.
Before there were flames on the side of Madeline Kahn's face in Clue, Peter Sellers was doing full-on yellowface in the Robert Moore's whodunit? Murder By Death -- and we talked to singer, dancer, actor, and RuPaul's Drag Race icon Peppermint all about it!
Set up as a send up of the "old dark house" genre, the film had an incredible cast including the aforementioned Sellers in yellowface; the OG Obi-Wan , Alec Guinness; queen Maggie Smith; Columbo -- I mean, Peter Falk, the Bride of Frankenstein Elsa Lanchester; Eileen Brennan, who also starred in Clue as well as literary legend Truman Capote and James Cromwell in his first feature role!
It's a stacked cast -- and the movie is super-duper fun -- but the way they lean into the yellowface of it all makes it problematic, obviously. The movie also handles its female characters very interestingly and the real Asian who stars in the movie, Richard Narita, deserves some sort of award for having to act opposite Sellers' yellowface. There is also some queerness that manages to find its way in there as well as bizarre representation of people with disabilities.
Murder By Death is wild and Peppermint and Dino had a grand ol' time unpacking all of it!
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Peppermint
Instagram: @Peppermint247 (https://www.instagram.com/peppermint247/?hl=en)
Twitter: @Peppermint247 (https://twitter.com/Peppermint247)
Dino-Ray Ramos (@dinoray on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DinoRay) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dinoray/)) serves as host and producer of Problematic Fave. Brian Aguilar (@bee.rhi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bee.rhi)) also serves as producer and editor of Problematic Fave.
DIASPORA: thediasporatimes.com; (https://thediasporatimes.com/)@realdiaspora on Twitter (https://twitter.com/realdiaspora), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/realdiaspora/)
Marginal MediaWorks: @mrgnlmedia on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mrgnlmedia/)
Send your "problematic faves" to thisisdiaspora@gmail.com (mailto:%20thisisdiaspora@gmail.com) and we'll share them on the pod with our guests!
10 Aug 2023
Dylan Adler - 'Kung Fu Panda'
If anything, the biggest takeaway from this episode of Problematic Fave with stand-up comedian and writer Dylan Adler (The Late Late Show with James Corden) it's that Tai Lung, the villain in Kung Fu Panda, is giving masc top energy and is a queer icon.
In this week's episode, we talk about the the 2008 animated feature starring Jack Black and Angelina Jolie and as delightful as it is, this classic is giving Orientalism for the children!
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Dylan Adler
Instagram: @dylanadler_ (https://www.instagram.com/dylanadler_/)
Twitter: @DylanAdler6 (https://twitter.com/DylanAdler6)
dylanaadler.com (https://www.dylanaadler.com/)
Dino-Ray Ramos (@dinoray on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DinoRay) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dinoray/)) serves as host and producer of Problematic Fave. Brian Aguilar (@bee.rhi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bee.rhi)) also serves as producer and editor of Problematic Fave.
DIASPORA: thediasporatimes.com; (https://thediasporatimes.com/)@realdiaspora on Twitter (https://twitter.com/realdiaspora), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/realdiaspora/)
Marginal MediaWorks: @mrgnlmedia on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mrgnlmedia/)
Send your "problematic faves" to thisisdiaspora@gmail.com (mailto:%20thisisdiaspora@gmail.com) and we'll share them on the pod with our guests!
4 Aug 2023
Lagueria Davis And Aaliyah Williams - 'Barbie'
Greta Gerwig's Barbie starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and a small town of pretty actors has been unleashed into the wild and there is a lot to be discussed -- and what better people to discuss this with than with Black Barbie: A Documentary director Lagueria Davis and producer Aaliyah Williams, a pair that has been living, breathing everything Barbie since this documentary about Black Barbie was born. Davis's aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell worked on the Mattel assembly line and had a hand in changing the landscape when she asked her her boss Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie “Why isn’t there a doll that looks like me?” The docu explores her story as well as the broader struggle for Black female representation in a world where worthy rarely means Black.
Davis and Williams, along with host Dino-Ray Ramos have LOTS of thoughts as they unpack this film that has been celebrated profusely, marketed aggressively, broken box office records, and caused some pockets of interesting conversation about the iconic doll.
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Lagueria Davis
@lagueriadavis on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lagueriadavis/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/lagueriadavis)
Aaliyah Williams
@theliyah1 on Twitter (https://twitter.com/theliyah1)
@theliyah on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/theliyah/)
Black Barbie: A Documentary (https://www.blackbarbiefilm.com/)
Dino-Ray Ramos (@dinoray on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DinoRay) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dinoray/)) serves as host and producer of Problematic Fave. Brian Aguilar (@bee.rhi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bee.rhi)) also serves as producer and editor of Problematic Fave.
DIASPORA: thediasporatimes.com; (https://thediasporatimes.com/)@realdiaspora on Twitter (https://twitter.com/realdiaspora), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/realdiaspora/)
Marginal MediaWorks: @mrgnlmedia on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mrgnlmedia/)
Send your "problematic faves" to thisisdiaspora@gmail.com (mailto: thisisdiaspora@gmail.com) and we'll share them on the pod with our guests!
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