37: “Bring It On”

[00:00:00] Hmm?

[00:00:01] Ah!

[00:00:03] Hmm...

[00:00:46] Hmm...

[00:00:48] Oh, everybody.

[00:01:10] Welcome to Still Slaying, a Buffyverse Podcast.

[00:01:13] I'm Penny.

[00:01:14] And I'm Becky.

[00:01:16] And I'm Kara.

[00:01:17] For this special episode, we're going to be discussing the cult classic cheerleading

[00:01:22] film, Bring It On, directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jessica Binninger.

[00:01:28] Bring It On was released in theaters 24 years ago on August 27, 2000, and of course, features

[00:01:37] one of our favorite Buffy alums, Eliza Dushku.

[00:01:40] Bring It On premiered just a few months after the season four finale of Buffy the Vampire

[00:01:44] Slayer.

[00:01:45] I want to welcome Still Slaying listeners back to the pod after we have been on a little

[00:01:52] bit of a hiatus.

[00:01:53] And also welcome superfan Becky to the podcast.

[00:01:57] Welcome, Becky.

[00:01:57] Woohoo!

[00:01:58] Thank you all so much for having me.

[00:02:01] Of course.

[00:02:01] This is like a dream.

[00:02:02] I'm so happy you're here.

[00:02:04] Yeah.

[00:02:05] You've been such a big part of Still Slaying, sending in such great feedback.

[00:02:09] And then you started doing your own podcasting over at, what's it called?

[00:02:14] Pirate Corps.

[00:02:15] Pirate Corps.

[00:02:16] Yeah.

[00:02:17] Pirate Corps.

[00:02:18] Which is just so cool.

[00:02:19] I love it when listeners go on to become podcasters themselves.

[00:02:23] That's what happened to me.

[00:02:24] Yeah.

[00:02:25] And me.

[00:02:25] That's so cool.

[00:02:26] It's been a blast.

[00:02:28] I love it.

[00:02:29] I absolutely love it.

[00:02:31] And we are currently covering what we do in the shadows, but we are looking for our

[00:02:37] next show.

[00:02:38] So if we talk of any shows that you guys are interested in and you want to come on, I, we

[00:02:44] would absolutely love to have you all.

[00:02:46] It'd be so much fun.

[00:02:46] That is awesome.

[00:02:47] I wish I was caught up on what we do in the shadows.

[00:02:49] I should just jump ahead.

[00:02:51] Cause it's not like it's a show that really requires a lot of serial, serial watching.

[00:02:56] They're killing it this season.

[00:02:58] And catch up to you.

[00:02:59] And because I, I, I'm like still two seasons back, but like, I, I'm just going to skip

[00:03:04] ahead.

[00:03:04] And it's just such a fun show too.

[00:03:07] That sounds like something good to work back in something happy.

[00:03:11] It's yes, it is a good go-to for when you need something to smile about and they are doing

[00:03:18] so good this season.

[00:03:20] Nice.

[00:03:20] That's awesome.

[00:03:21] And your podcast is called what's on tonight.

[00:03:23] What's on tonight.

[00:03:25] What's on tonight.

[00:03:26] So you guys look for that, but we'll also link it in the show notes so that you can

[00:03:30] find Becky even more easily.

[00:03:32] Sure.

[00:03:32] Thank you.

[00:03:32] Thank you.

[00:03:33] Uh, so with that said, let's go back 24 years.

[00:03:45] 24 years ago, I was in my first semester of seventh grade.

[00:03:52] Oh my God.

[00:03:53] So tiny baby.

[00:03:54] I know this was very fun to look back on.

[00:03:57] And during this time, of course we always look at what the number one songs were.

[00:04:04] And the number one song in the U S was doesn't really matter by Janet Jackson.

[00:04:08] And I remember listening to that song repeatedly when it came out.

[00:04:14] And the number one song in the UK was music by Madonna.

[00:04:20] And I remember my little brother listening to that song repeatedly when it came out.

[00:04:25] So this was a fun one.

[00:04:27] I was like, Oh yeah.

[00:04:28] Oh, he, I don't think he would enjoy me bringing up that fact anymore, but I really like it.

[00:04:34] Um, bestselling books during this time on the New York times bestseller list.

[00:04:38] We had winter solstice by Rosamund Pilcher and fiction.

[00:04:42] And then Tuesdays with Maury by Mitch album for nonfiction.

[00:04:47] And in the box office, bring it on was of course, number one during this week.

[00:04:52] Then we had space cowboys and the original Kings of comedy at number two and three.

[00:04:58] And I'm not going to lie.

[00:05:00] I don't remember either of those movies.

[00:05:03] I can.

[00:05:04] How boys was like old men who had been astronauts going back to space.

[00:05:11] I think, I think the plot was that like, for some reason they needed to bring back like octogenarian astronauts.

[00:05:17] Interesting.

[00:05:18] I don't remember that either.

[00:05:18] So it had Clint Eastwood in it.

[00:05:19] I didn't see it.

[00:05:21] I did get to see the, uh, Kings of comedy in person.

[00:05:26] Oh, that's fun.

[00:05:28] Was it, was that like a documentary, like comedy special movie or was it?

[00:05:34] Yeah, it was, um, Oh gosh.

[00:05:37] I'm going to blank on everybody's name now.

[00:05:40] Um, I remember the entertainer, Ernie Mack, all those guys got together and the Queens of comedy.

[00:05:47] I don't know if you've seen that with Queen Latifah.

[00:05:49] It's the same thing.

[00:05:50] They just did like a special, but then they, it was so popular.

[00:05:54] They took it on the road and it was, Oh my God.

[00:05:58] I bet that was really fun.

[00:06:01] It's yeah.

[00:06:01] That's a fun crew.

[00:06:03] I I'm surprised.

[00:06:04] I haven't seen it.

[00:06:05] Although again, this was the time of my life.

[00:06:07] So I was in my final semester.

[00:06:11] No, my first semester of my third year of law school.

[00:06:13] My life was very, very busy around law school, applying for jobs in the fall.

[00:06:21] I was flying around the country, interviewing at law firms and, uh, being up on movies and TV

[00:06:28] and music was not really, um, part of my life at that moment.

[00:06:33] Um, I did see bring it on in the theater though, like opening weekend.

[00:06:38] Oh yeah.

[00:06:39] Oh yeah.

[00:06:39] Well, you got the right one.

[00:06:41] So you're good.

[00:06:43] Oh my gosh.

[00:06:45] Uh, where were you in the, um, late summer, early fall of 2000, Becky?

[00:06:52] I was living in Roanoke, Virginia.

[00:06:57] Actually, no, I had just, I was getting, yep.

[00:06:59] I was living in Roanoke, Virginia, working for a restaurant company and I was traveling

[00:07:04] around opening new restaurants as a server trainer.

[00:07:08] Huh.

[00:07:09] Some of the most fun I've ever had.

[00:07:13] And then it was, uh, 2001 that I had moved to Nashville where I currently am.

[00:07:18] So for the, for that company.

[00:07:21] But yeah, I was drinking, uh, partying, working 12, 15 hour days, but man, we had a blast.

[00:07:30] And then a couple of the staff are kind of known to be, it's like a party culture, right?

[00:07:35] Like, Oh yeah.

[00:07:35] Oh yeah.

[00:07:36] And you know what's, it's so funny.

[00:07:38] Uh, a friend, I call in my son.

[00:07:41] He's not my actual son, but I've been with him since the day he was born.

[00:07:44] so I tell him he's my son and he worked for that same restaurant company at one of the restaurants

[00:07:50] for a little while and his stories I'm like it's it's exactly nothing's changed it's just a whole

[00:07:57] different generation of people yeah just now they have photo evidence yeah I have some photo

[00:08:03] evidence but I hope there's nothing else I hope I'm the only one that has the copy

[00:08:13] all right in the news that week on August 1st 2000 the first patient receives the Jarvik 2000

[00:08:20] which was the first totally artificial heart that can maintain blood flow in addition to generating

[00:08:25] a pulse this was huge news like huge news at the time yes I must have been drunk I do not remember

[00:08:33] on August 4th 2000 Queen Elizabeth the queen mother celebrated her 100th birthday becoming

[00:08:39] the first member of the British royal family to reach that age she celebrated her birthday from

[00:08:44] the balcony of Buckingham Palace with her daughter Queen Elizabeth II fans lined the procession route

[00:08:49] to Buckingham Palace to cheer her on then uh as now and as in all fiction uh they name everyone the same

[00:08:58] names in the royal family so it's always very confusing who's who I'm not confusing at all

[00:09:04] especially when Agon Targaryen Amon Targaryen Agon and another Agon and then another Agon

[00:09:11] on August the 7th uh Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore picks Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman as his

[00:09:20] running mate making him the first Jewish person to run for the nation's second highest office

[00:09:25] also isn't that isn't that the same year he invented the post-it note

[00:09:31] no

[00:09:33] I'm sorry

[00:09:34] the internet he invented the internet yeah Al Gore invented the internet

[00:09:39] I was thinking of Romy and Michelle's high school reunion

[00:09:42] yeah yeah we should cover Romy and Michelle on this podcast that's a perfect fit for us

[00:09:47] oh yeah it is a great and it's a great movie too

[00:09:49] it's like we're not fat we're pregnant every time

[00:09:54] August 8th 2000 Confederate submarine CSS HL Hundley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the

[00:10:03] ocean floor off the coast of South Carolina I am blown away that there was a submarine

[00:10:09] 136 years ago that people would like voluntarily get in and go like I'm afraid of the idea now so I don't know

[00:10:20] if anybody is interested in history or anything really I went on a deep dive about this submarine

[00:10:29] after I found this talking point and it's fascinating so fun fact you can go down the rabbit hole too if you want

[00:10:39] um on August 9th 2000 Bridgestone slash Firestone admits the treads on millions of tires it produced since 1991 are prone to shredding

[00:10:49] Ford Explorer is noted as especially vulnerable the death toll due to tires malfunctioning at that time was 46

[00:10:57] it's crazy I remember that too Ford Ford does not have a good history with this either this this was a really big deal and since I was in law school we

[00:11:08] we talked about it because it was um part of it was you know I was taking tort classes and product liability classes so

[00:11:17] it was really an interesting case oh I bet that was well on August 14th of 2000 the Russian Orthodox

[00:11:26] church canonized Tsar Nicholas II and his family Tsar Nicholas II was imprisoned and executed

[00:11:35] by Bolsheviks in 1908 that is the father of Anastasia of course thank you for those tongue twisters my

[00:11:45] goodness

[00:11:45] I know I am gonna need to do my own deep dive because what was the reasoning behind canonizing

[00:11:54] I understand that that they were executed you know they were political executions but how does that make

[00:12:03] them saints I need to like do more reading I don't understand what that's all about there was a lot

[00:12:09] about that too I mean I remember reading in the little blurb that it was for like they were humble

[00:12:18] and patient or something while they were imprisoned and I was like that seems like an odd reason but

[00:12:25] that is yeah that's that's the case

[00:12:28] politics involved oh yeah has right like they're trying to make a point about the Bolsheviks or something

[00:12:33] this was political interesting though

[00:12:37] not political yet on August 20th 2000 Tiger Woods wins back-to-back PGA titles after a three-hole playoff

[00:12:47] with Bob May becoming the first to win three majors in a calendar year since Ben Hogan in 1953

[00:12:55] this I do remember that was a big deal I think that's yeah he sort of burst onto the national scene

[00:13:01] my memory he made so many people interested in golf me included yeah back then same my dad I remember

[00:13:09] this still didn't work on me specifically that's so funny but that PGA championships uh tongue-tied

[00:13:20] I remember watching like it was a Sunday I think I think it's usually Sunday but my friend Mackenzie and

[00:13:27] I who actually we went and saw bring it on together we're playing in the pool and I remember my dad

[00:13:33] randomly shouting every now and then listening to the radio over in the garage when this was going on

[00:13:41] and he made us get out of the pool to watch the three-hole playoff because he was like this is historic

[00:13:48] you have to watch this oh that's awesome amazing and it is it is seared in my brain and he had on his little like black shorts and his red polo

[00:14:01] for tiger and I I will never forget that it was so funny and it was it was fun to watch too that's for sure

[00:14:09] that makes me think of ron swanson on parks and rec wearing his red and black so good god that's so funny

[00:14:19] i love that you have a personal memory of it that is cool

[00:14:26] on august 23rd 2000 the national institutes of health releases rules following federally

[00:14:34] finance work on stem cells derived from very very early embryo scientists see promise for treating many

[00:14:42] diseases especially aging disorders i remember this being quite the controversy yeah immediately

[00:14:49] everywhere everyone was talking about it that was one of our debate topics in seventh grade a big

[00:14:55] part of it became a big part of the presidential campaign yeah and it's kind of relevant again

[00:15:01] yeah so that's fun for everyone also on august 23rd 2000 the first season of the reality show survivor

[00:15:13] concluded with richard hatch winning the one million dollar prize i have never watched one episode of

[00:15:21] survivor that first season is the only season i've ever watched oh yeah that's it the only season i've

[00:15:29] watched is the actually the following season and i remember it was the first season was such a smash hit

[00:15:37] right that it was like survivor season two like was a really big deal and the first episode was on

[00:15:42] after the super bowl so i was at a super bowl party and uh they were like oh and then after we're

[00:15:49] gonna watch the first episode of the new survivor and i was like oh i've never watched it okay so i'm

[00:15:53] there and i'm watching the the first episode and they're introducing all the players this one guy comes out and

[00:15:59] i'm like i know him oh yeah and everyone in the room like turns and looks at me and they're like what

[00:16:03] and i was like i went to college with him he was oh my gosh and they're like what and i was like yeah

[00:16:10] my friend was the captain of the soccer team and that guy was a sophomore and he was on the soccer team

[00:16:15] and uh and i was like and you know after i watched the first episode i was like well i'll just keep

[00:16:19] watching until ethan gets voted off and wouldn't you know he won that's so funny so i i watched the whole

[00:16:27] season and and i was like i get why this is popular i totally understand why it's popular but i just

[00:16:32] i've seen it once i'm all set yeah you know what i mean yeah i don't i don't need to see it again that's

[00:16:38] fair um but it did survivor was like a huge impact on the zeitgeist right like everybody started using

[00:16:45] like voted off the island oh yeah in in common conversations it showed up in like other tv shows

[00:16:52] and stuff and i remember when lost premiered everyone's like so it's like survivor

[00:16:58] yep you know like it just it it was a it had a huge impact it's funny because this moment in time

[00:17:06] it was the summer you know mostly the summer between my sixth grade year and my seventh grade year and my

[00:17:14] best friend mackenzie and i i spent basically either all summer at her house or she was at my house and we

[00:17:20] would watch survivor every week and after bring it on came out we were obsessed we saw it in the theater

[00:17:29] six times which was a little much and we memorized everything in that movie to this day when i watched

[00:17:38] it for the first time since like high school a couple weeks ago i was talking along with the movie i remembered

[00:17:45] all the cheers and i was like damn how much did we watch this for this to be this seared in my brain

[00:17:52] but it was a good time i have a lot of it's like happy memories starting to like transition and grow up

[00:18:00] so it was it was really fun doing the on this day for this one that's cool that's awesome

[00:18:08] well on august 24th of 2000 argon fluorohydride the first argon compound ever known is discovered

[00:18:18] at the university of helsinki by finnish scientists on this same day nintendo also revealed its new

[00:18:27] gaming system the gamecube both amazing nintendo won on that one oh gosh

[00:18:36] that's such a random fact to put at the end i love it i wrote a science paper about it so that

[00:18:42] may be why it stuck out to me i was like argon so what we're learning is that the flashback section

[00:18:52] of our podcast is very personal for carol oh god very and and i think that's beautiful i just have

[00:18:58] a very weirdly specific memory i feel like i'm being initiated with all these tough words i know

[00:19:07] you are you did a great job though so thank you welcome to still slaying where we torment our guests

[00:19:15] worth it oh gosh so i thought we would launch our uh conversation with a sound clip open of the movie

[00:20:09] is this amazing cheer scene where uh they all introduce themselves after this part and then we

[00:20:17] learn that that big red is leaving and passing the captain hood of this award this nationally award-winning

[00:20:26] cheerleading team with no coach or other adult supervision on to torrance no adults who is kirsten dunst

[00:20:34] totally normal there's no coach there's no manager there's no cheer mom there's no any kind of adults

[00:20:41] involved in any of this death-defying athletics at all oh gosh i like that's one of mine also never

[00:20:49] learned big red's name she's just big red that's it that's it yeah yeah she's that important like

[00:20:56] madonna as a redhead i was quite offended by her being called big red yeah and you know the

[00:21:03] vilification of redheads but i have to be fair and admit that redheads are over represented in fiction

[00:21:10] especially science fiction considering how few of us there are in the population and so i really have

[00:21:16] no grounds to complain when sometimes we're also a villain because there's just so many redhead heroines

[00:21:23] out there like i that's the one thing about being a redhead that's like really lucky is there's like

[00:21:27] tons of redhead representation it's like that they're all more than there should be quote like

[00:21:32] stereotypically feisty fiery so they make great characters that's um one of the great things about

[00:21:40] being a redhead is starting around age nine men start to tell you they've heard things about redheads

[00:21:46] oh that's so gross that's awful i'm sorry you know the first like i don't know 10 times that some

[00:21:54] weird old dude said that to me yeah like what like we have tempers i've heard the tempers like it took

[00:22:00] me a long time to figure out what they were saying because that would be a more normal thing to say to a

[00:22:05] child yeah right well even in this movie the announcer at the competition oh my god about how he loves

[00:22:17] girls and that was so creepy you're so broke but also i bet incredibly accurate to what was actually

[00:22:26] going on oh 100 percent like right i was like i kind of want to dig up some old espn tapes and see

[00:22:33] if the announcers were all gross and sexualizing these young women like that oh i bet they were

[00:22:40] the the speed comment in the in the opening was hilarious and i'm gonna just tell a quick funny

[00:22:47] story for those of you that don't know i was a cheerleader um for three years in high school and

[00:22:55] a very short time in college before i decided i didn't like college and left um but one game

[00:23:03] a friend of mine two two girlfriends of mine decided we were gonna take vibran do y'all remember vibran

[00:23:10] the oh yeah energy pill yeah it's like caffeine pills oh gosh we got separated from each other by our

[00:23:17] cheerleading coach and put on different spots on the sidelines because we were out of control

[00:23:24] oh no and when i was watching the movie and they got to that line i was like yes that's so funny

[00:23:33] just cheerleaders i learned casually i learned a lot about energy pills that reminds me of that

[00:23:39] saved by the bell episode when jesse takes a oh that's a famous episode yeah and becomes addicted

[00:23:46] to them yeah i'm so excited in like a day and a half i'm so scared oh geez that is a classic classic

[00:23:57] that is a classic oh my god it's so funny so let's talk about i guess i want to start with

[00:24:05] the sort of stereotypes and and media images of cheerleaders that we've seen through the years

[00:24:13] and whether or not they're even remotely realistic i uh in addition to not having been a cheerleader like

[00:24:20] becky was i went to a high school that that barely had cheerleaders there was like two girls that were

[00:24:28] like but we want to be cheerleaders so they like showed up at games and did a thing but it wasn't

[00:24:33] we just like we it just wasn't part of my high school experience and again the college i went to

[00:24:38] there was there was no cheerleading at vassar so i i don't really know that much about cheerleading

[00:24:44] except for what i've seen in tv and movies and i know that it's a little bit like when we did the

[00:24:49] prom episode of buffy there's a ton of depictions of like cheerleaders as all american like high school

[00:24:58] experience there's like the head of the cheerleading team is supposed to always date the captain of the

[00:25:03] football team and like cheerleaders are popular and it all goes together with this

[00:25:08] image of of high school that i feel like is so prevalent in movies especially of the 80s and 90s oh

[00:25:17] yeah well and i i wasn't a cheerleader either i was athletic but not at all coordinated so cheerleading

[00:25:26] would not have worked out and in high school you know we had cheer squads like a jv and a varsity but it

[00:25:33] was more dance oriented and cheering it wasn't as athletic as it is you know in competitive cheer and

[00:25:42] we see here but i think notably like my first memories of cheerleaders in films are in movies i should not

[00:25:50] have been watching like revenge of the nerds or something like that where the cheerleaders were super

[00:25:59] sexualized and that was you know the main thing that you saw about them but as i was growing up in

[00:26:06] like what 1999 2000 going into middle school there are three movies in particular that i remember

[00:26:14] being obsessed with that seemed to kind of turn cheerleading and its perception on its head and

[00:26:20] obviously bring it on is one of them but in 1999 there was the iconic movie that i love to this day but

[00:26:30] i'm a cheerleader which was groundbreaking for a lot of reasons and then yeah sugar and spice came out the

[00:26:38] year after bring it on and that was you know all about the cheerleading squad that robbed banks and it

[00:26:45] was kind of this darker more satirical view on it and i those three movies stand out to me so much when

[00:26:54] i think about how it shaped my perception of what high school was going to be like which was you know

[00:27:01] a little dramatized and not that accurate but now that i think about it i'm kind of glad that

[00:27:08] that's what i saw cheerleaders being represented as as opposed to just the stereotypical sexualization

[00:27:16] that was so common in like 80s movies like porkies and revenge of the nerds and things like that but

[00:27:23] gosh now looking back on it that kind of trio was a pretty big deal

[00:27:32] and i um i think that there are a lot of conceptions about cheerleaders being like not a real sport and

[00:27:44] there's a lot of cheerleaders have to defend it as like no we're gymnasts we're acrobats we're dancers

[00:27:49] all the time it's a real thing and i uh i have a whole point about this later but i think that that's

[00:27:57] that it's part of sort of first of all there's just a societal thing where people think things

[00:28:03] that mostly women do are dumb right they're like oh it must not be a real sport if girls do it um

[00:28:10] when in fact cheerleading requires immense amounts of athletic skill and coordination and team like

[00:28:18] tight tight teamwork right like and is extremely dangerous as well oh yeah because they do all the

[00:28:25] things that gymnasts do but often with no net or mat underneath them it's wild but they wear like

[00:28:34] makeup and sparkles and put their hair in cheerful pigtails so people think that it's silly and not

[00:28:40] that important and i think this leads to things like very high injury rates among cheerleaders yeah

[00:28:46] being sort of unaddressed by society because society's like whatever it's just cheerleading

[00:28:51] they just yell and stuff but they don't pay attention to the seriousness of it yeah well

[00:28:55] and they make it look easy i don't know if any of you either of you have watched the netflix show cheer

[00:29:01] yes i've heard great things about it but i haven't yeah it's it's hardcore but you know having been a

[00:29:08] cheerleader for so long and and i mean that was i was in the best shape of my life of course i was young

[00:29:14] but like you said you've got to have you know i wasn't a flyer for the people that you know go up

[00:29:21] in the air and whatnot but because i was afraid of heights which is funny but i uh i was you know i was

[00:29:27] a bottom and you have to have serious upper body strength we didn't have male cheerleaders at that

[00:29:33] time oh wow that was not something that really started becoming a norm really until until college but

[00:29:39] you know later on in the years so we did it all ourselves and you know you practice as much as a

[00:29:46] football team does you practice as much and especially you know our squad was fortunately

[00:29:52] we made it to a regional competition but we didn't get to go any further than that but you put in the work

[00:30:00] and you know most you know nowadays they do a lot of separation like there's a basketball squad

[00:30:07] and there's a football squad they cheer they're two separate okay squads back then you had one

[00:30:14] we did junior varsity we did varsity and especially during basketball the girls would play and then we

[00:30:21] would cheer that game we get a 30 minute break and then we're right back and and it's non-stop you are

[00:30:29] literally leading these people to cheer and you know our basketball team was on point and that helps

[00:30:36] we would get through tournament yeah we'd go through tournaments and whatnot and i mean it was just

[00:30:42] non-stop you were just going and going and going so not to ramble but to your point that is one of the

[00:30:48] main things i loved about this movie and i love about cheer on netflix is that if anybody would take

[00:30:55] one hour and just watch it you will see it's not a joke these girls are hard hard work and some of these people

[00:31:03] this genuinely is their lives that's this what they do gosh cheer was very consuming fascinating not to

[00:31:13] go too off topic with that but i remember when that came out my ex-husband and i binged the hell out of it

[00:31:20] and could not stop like we were so impressed and it is nice seeing that yeah like it's a this movie is

[00:31:29] kind of light and fun and tongue-in-cheek for the most part but it's nice that they take cheerleading

[00:31:37] seriously and show how much work goes into it and you know the fun part being a lot of the actors they

[00:31:45] wanted to use stunt doubles as little as possible so you've got gabrielle union and kirsten dunst and

[00:31:52] eliza douchku working on these dances and these cheers and putting all this hard work into it and

[00:31:58] it's kind of nice that they got a taste of what it was like to be a cheerleader that probably helps

[00:32:03] immensely but i remember being so envious of what they could do watching this movie i was like i want to

[00:32:11] fly in the air that looks like so much fun but they make it look so easy and effortless that it's nice

[00:32:19] to you know get a little background and see how much hard work goes into it i can't imagine the core

[00:32:25] strength did a good job of showing especially at those national championships how intense to the

[00:32:34] point of being unhealthy it is for some people who participate in this yeah in this competitive

[00:32:39] cheerleading world this particular world like the one girl who was the two girls were talking and

[00:32:45] then one girl was like i'm sure they didn't even see your mistake your basket was perfect and they

[00:32:49] didn't notice the landing and then the other girls like let's go find your team

[00:32:55] the amount of injuries among competitive cheerleaders is equal to or some say higher than men who play

[00:33:04] football yeah so it's like they're mostly head and neck injuries or sprains and there's a lot of

[00:33:11] concussions just tons of concussions and a lot of girls having traumatic brain injuries where that they

[00:33:18] never recover from um there's some history about this and i'm gonna i have an article that we'll

[00:33:23] talk about later but um i thought the show did a good job of showing a little bit of the intensity

[00:33:28] without making it a drama right it's a comedy it's supposed to be funny but they did show like and

[00:33:33] they have missy say that line like i could make a killing selling diet prozac oh yeah like it's not a

[00:33:39] normal healthy environment around cheer right there's a lot torrance's parents don't have much to say but

[00:33:46] they do say like you're obsessed with cheerleading it's too much you know your grades are suffering

[00:33:51] they try to keep her from you know being quite so obsessed it they touch the movie touches on it

[00:33:58] it's not like an indictment of cheerleading or of the world of cheerleading because i don't think it's

[00:34:02] all bad but yeah it definitely like shines a little bit of a light on some of the harder parts of what

[00:34:08] that world does to people well and it's interesting you bring up the the comment about diet prozac and

[00:34:17] you know growing up in the early 2000s like late 90s early 2000s one thing that stands out so much is the

[00:34:27] obsession with being like rail thin and you know the super low-rise jeans that were trendy at that time

[00:34:36] and this movie there were so many parts that just like had diet culture screaming back at me in my head

[00:34:45] and i i don't remember clocking that very much when i saw it originally when i was what 12 but

[00:34:54] thinking you probably just absorbed it because it was so normal and i remember watching it

[00:34:58] and thinking like oh they're talking about carver and how she's like huge and the what's what's her

[00:35:06] name the other girl where uh sparky yeah where he makes a comment yeah oh about her ass and i was just

[00:35:15] like these girls are they have flat stomachs they're in such good shape they're probably size

[00:35:21] fours at the most or maybe it's like an athletic size six and i remember watching that and being like

[00:35:28] oh man yeah they're heavy i need to you know make sure i don't get like i can remember thinking that

[00:35:34] through and during the that time period it was i mean i'm sure y'all remember too fat phobia was at an

[00:35:41] all-time high it feels like in those years when fashion was all about like you said the ultra low

[00:35:48] rise jeans and the crop tops and the stringy tops that like you could wear a bra with it and you just

[00:35:55] had held it on with like dental floss and like yeah that that those fashions were everywhere and in the

[00:36:02] late 90s early 2000s and i've never been skinny and i just spent so much time being like nope never

[00:36:08] i'll never be able to wear that i can't wear that i can't wear that i can't wear that and just wanting

[00:36:13] so badly to have a figure like these girls and then having this guy call them fat of course he's played

[00:36:19] as a fool right but but even the other cheerleaders like whitney and courtney making comments about

[00:36:27] carver when courtney says something about like yeah not all of us spent all summer working out right

[00:36:33] carver and it's there are multiple jokes about her being the bigger one and yeah i and she's so

[00:36:41] it's perfectly thin and beautiful it's insane it's she's a little bit taller than the other girls so of

[00:36:46] course she's like yeah oh it's infuriating um the homophobia was also very dated right i did not care for

[00:36:55] that that was that was very unfun but i will say that 2000 was an interesting time in sort of the

[00:37:03] the trajectory of homophobia and acceptance of queer people because yeah the the gay guy on the team

[00:37:11] and his like best friend who's clearly not gay is they're friends without having any problems with

[00:37:17] each other which is nice and there's no nobody ever calls them a couple which i thought was good

[00:37:21] and when missy figures out that that one guy is gay she's like oh and she uses the f word that i'm

[00:37:27] not comfortable with but like she's very queer coded as well in addition to one of the cheerleaders

[00:37:34] saying she looks like a uber dyke there's also a few other references throughout the movie that make

[00:37:39] it seem that she's probably a lesbian but like it's not a major story point yeah and i also liked that

[00:37:45] like the idea of a character who may or may not be gay and it's not important to the story

[00:37:50] yeah and they do they just are like the squad treats those two male cheerleaders like it's not a big

[00:37:56] deal it's not really acknowledged or anything like that you have the stereotypical like jocks

[00:38:02] that are making fun of them and saying slurs but especially for this time period i feel like

[00:38:12] there was this was more i don't know like a little bit more of one of the decent examples of

[00:38:19] it shows a real trajectory if you look back at heathers which we covered on this podcast yeah

[00:38:27] which was made in the late 80s and the way that just calling someone gay was a really big deal

[00:38:33] and that whole funeral scene where the football where the dad is like i love my dead gay son yeah

[00:38:38] and how that was like a huge joke that like a father would love his son even though he was gay it was

[00:38:44] like a huge laugh line for that movie and you you know fast forward to 2000 and this movie is playing

[00:38:50] the homophobes off as the jerks it's a slight change it's a subtle change but it's a change

[00:38:57] right like those football players they're like they're losers they are losers yeah literally like i love the

[00:39:04] fact that the football team is terrible

[00:39:06] like and the announcer at the end of the game says like our next loss is scheduled for

[00:39:13] whatever like the next week and i was like oh this is good because it takes the focus it puts it

[00:39:19] entirely on the cheerleading team and it's kind of fantastic oh it's funny to me how many people

[00:39:26] were still in the stands though for this losing football team like there was a full crowd there

[00:39:31] that's true maybe they were there for the cheerleaders they did it for the cheers the cheer squad they

[00:39:36] were there they're there for your squad cheerleaders yeah um which is funny because

[00:39:44] there are there are moments that i've seen in other schools where the fans would only get excited when

[00:39:55] their cheerleaders came out to do their little halftime routine they could the teens were just absolute

[00:40:01] garbage i thought that was funny but one of my favorite things in this movie was the way one of

[00:40:09] my one of my least favorite one of my favorite things is i i wish that they would have given the

[00:40:15] clovers a little bit more of yes a backstory and some insight into you know gabrielle union's character

[00:40:26] and i i don't even think we ever got the name of the um i'm not sure if she's hispanic

[00:40:34] janela p the one uh was that her name i think so you have to look at the shorter one

[00:40:40] yeah who always was ready ready to run that's genealogy i love that but they i feel like they

[00:40:49] it started out as a oh sassy black woman stereotype or trope and it really kind of got on my nerves but

[00:40:59] i there was one one moment in the show where they uh you know torrents is upset because they aren't

[00:41:06] going to make it to nash the clovers aren't going to get to go to nationals and she's like

[00:41:10] dad you and your big corporation save it and she walks into the gym you know the you know white

[00:41:18] literally the white yeah yeah and and gabrielle union is like no we're good and that i'm glad that

[00:41:26] they gave them they figured out a way to make them to that they were able to do it on their own

[00:41:33] yeah so that the inner city kids didn't have to rely on uh you know white guilt yeah yeah to to

[00:41:40] get them to where they wanted to go i really appreciated that and i also appreciated that even

[00:41:47] right before the final competition starts and you know torrents comes over it that it can show that

[00:41:54] women it isn't all we're not always catty we're not always yes you know what's you know we are

[00:42:02] we can even in subtle digs having fun we can still be cool and have a great show of sportsmanship and

[00:42:13] support each other and when they won second place which i have to tell you when you lose fake fake it's

[00:42:23] like i feel like the cheerleaders that don't win first place are like the oscar people who don't

[00:42:28] oh yeah yeah and the camera's on you and you're like you are so fake but you're but how afterwards

[00:42:36] you know she's like you guys did great and torrents is like yeah but you were better yeah it was just

[00:42:42] bravo bravo for showing that women don't always have to be we aren't all catty hateful well people that

[00:42:52] you can love and support each other you can disagree you could be rivals you can even have

[00:42:59] um like a bad historical background between your peoples which is what this is and still be

[00:43:08] civilized and respectful of the person on the other side now i want to counter that because

[00:43:13] okay i am often very frustrated by the way the party in power at any given time loves to demand

[00:43:23] civility from people who are protesting oppression so when i say i admire how civilized and and calm

[00:43:32] those two were with each other they were on somewhat similar footing and there was no violence or

[00:43:39] oppression happening that would in my opinion justify being a little bit more hysterical emotional

[00:43:46] passionate aggressive what have you that's fair um i get very frustrated by people being like why

[00:43:51] can't you just be civilized and protest the right way right yeah it's just a way of of silencing the

[00:43:57] oppressed is to sort of tone police them into the ground we could have a whole other podcast on yeah

[00:44:03] i would love to be protesting the right way well i felt torn a lot watching the movie especially

[00:44:11] because i'm not gonna lie when i was in seventh grade watching this like i don't think the cultural

[00:44:18] appropriation aspect sunk in at all like that i was not thinking deeper about the movie then and

[00:44:26] watching it now i was like this is glaringly obvious yeah it's a very interesting kind of

[00:44:35] commentary on the time and what i loved was you know isis gabrielle union's character when

[00:44:44] she and torrence kind of have that back and forth before nationals when they're waiting to perform

[00:44:50] and the other janela p kind of gives her attitude for talking to torrence and she's like we understand

[00:44:56] each other so even before anything they were you know they respected each other as captains torrence was

[00:45:02] trying to make it right in a way that she thought best but then at the end when torrence says you know

[00:45:11] well y'all were better i love that isis's response was not like oh no well you guys did great too or i

[00:45:18] don't know where the judges made the call yeah she was like well we were weren't we and i was just like

[00:45:24] yes like because you can be confident you don't have to be you know humble yeah not all women are

[00:45:30] grateful that someone has noticed your brilliance yeah i was just like oh this is nice like it was a nice

[00:45:38] but there were still certain stereotypes like you talked about becky that made me uncomfortable

[00:45:44] i was like oh that's a little rough i wonder a lot about how how latinx and black audiences felt about

[00:45:55] the portrayal of the clovers i think it is very uncomfortable that a movie that is an allegory

[00:46:01] about cultural appropriation is told almost entirely from the white perspective that's true you know

[00:46:08] that's problematic but it's also an allegory about problems within white feminism yeah so big red is

[00:46:17] sort of old school white feminists right who are like we need to get to the top and and be able to

[00:46:25] compete with men and to be as as good as men and equal to men and not thinking about no the problem is

[00:46:31] that there's a hierarchy at all right it's like trying to get the cheat code for yourself yeah yeah and not

[00:46:38] not caring that you're knowing that you're cheating and not caring no because in her mind winning is

[00:46:44] worth the cheating and she doesn't care that she's stealing from people of color the fact that those

[00:46:50] people have fewer advantages than her doesn't even cross her mind right torrents inherits this system

[00:46:56] like a lot of us white women have inherited the system that we're in where we have a certain amount

[00:47:00] of privilege within the patriarchy and then you have a choice as soon as you become aware of that and

[00:47:06] you're like oh this is where i am in the patriarchy by because of how i was born i'm you know i'm like

[00:47:13] three steps down from wherever then you can either stay where you are and that would have been continuing to

[00:47:20] use the cheat stolen you know cheers or you can do the work like people always say do the work so they

[00:47:28] show torrents and the team doing the work and she gets resistance from the other white people on the

[00:47:33] team right who are like we don't want to do the work we already worked really hard we're not privileged

[00:47:37] it wasn't stealing we worked hard for this right we've all heard those arguments from white people

[00:47:41] before and then when they did finally do the work it was hard work because they had to start from scratch

[00:47:48] but they still had all the skills that they had built all all this time and they were still able

[00:47:52] to do something great when they actually focused and she does get to be a white savior and there's a lot

[00:47:57] of problems with that but i do like the sort of story about like you can't just exist in a system

[00:48:04] you inherited without having complicity for the crimes of that system you have to actively work

[00:48:10] to change it or you're just as guilty as the person who stole the stuff in the first place

[00:48:14] well and it's interesting that you talk like wanting to see more of the clovers watching it this time

[00:48:21] around i was thinking about how much i would have killed for a movie like from their perspective

[00:48:28] entirely with them being the main characters that we were focused on because that would have been

[00:48:32] fascinating and it seemed like test audiences wanted that too and i think i i think i put this in trivia

[00:48:40] but i'm not sure but one thing that i thought was very interesting is when they started showing the film

[00:48:45] and they started showing the trailer and testing it one piece of feedback that they got repeatedly was

[00:48:52] that people wanted more of the clovers people wanted to see more of the clovers so after they were done

[00:48:58] filming they went back and shot some scenes solely for the trailer of the clovers where they gave gabriel gabriel

[00:49:07] gabriel union's character isis they gave her a boyfriend and they had more shots of the clover cheer squad

[00:49:15] like in their school and doing things that are not at all in the movie they are only for the trailers

[00:49:21] and i it's crazy and i linked the trailer and i watched it right after i finished the movie and

[00:49:27] you can pick them out like that and it's frustrating because it it makes it look like we will definitely put

[00:49:34] that in the show notes oh yeah it's yeah oh yeah i want to i want to go look at that i did not know that

[00:49:38] it's crazy because you're watching it and it makes it look like these characters are going to be

[00:49:42] more fleshed out more 3d like you think you're gonna see more of their personal lives because

[00:49:48] that's what audiences were saying they wanted and they you know that just didn't happen it was just

[00:49:55] for the trailers it's so classically capitalist right they're like oh they want more of that

[00:50:00] put it in the ads yeah and then once they buy the tickets who cares but right they did that with

[00:50:05] the joker oh yeah oh really they put fake scenes there are there's there are several scenes in the

[00:50:11] trailer and they filmed them but they did not put them in the movie and for those of us who painfully sat

[00:50:19] through that uh well you're we're you're waiting for these grand moments and they don't come and i

[00:50:26] think that's i think that's very shady and i don't think that i mean does it rise to like legally

[00:50:32] actionable false advertising that's i don't know but y'all are the lawyers you tell me can it's shady

[00:50:40] it's definitely shady it is though yeah that'd be a fun case to try to make right it would be like a

[00:50:46] class action lawsuit and i was promised like that these characters would have more involvement in

[00:50:54] this movie because there's a boyfriend isis's boyfriend they're like making up making out up

[00:50:59] against lockers and they filmed that just to make it seem like the clovers were bigger characters in

[00:51:05] the movie than they were and i was like why couldn't we have actually made them characters

[00:51:09] and then why because not put that in it was that's so frustrating it was really interesting watching

[00:51:16] the two squads interact and obviously like you see this distinction not only in terms of

[00:51:23] you know the racial distinction but then the socioeconomic distinction where you'll you look at torrance's house

[00:51:32] and elijah dusku's elijah i cannot talk today goodness gracious missy's house where they have you know

[00:51:41] this huge backyard overlooking like it's like cliff top backyard oh yeah florida ceiling windows

[00:51:48] yeah and the fact that torrance is you know just goes and asks her dad like look dad they need this

[00:51:56] money like can't you get it together and she tells him to do the right thing and then boom she has a check

[00:52:02] ready like the difference in privilege is drastic and it's just you know for the time in the year 2000 i

[00:52:10] think it was a movie that kind of turned things on its head because it wasn't your typical like kind of

[00:52:18] brainless teen movie at least they tried to have some meaningful conversations going on and i think

[00:52:25] they succeeded to a great extent but watching it now i felt like it just slapped me in the face how

[00:52:32] like ridiculous some of this stuff was like there's the one line where he says cheerleaders are

[00:52:41] dancers that have what is it gone like the r slur and i was like whoa that's in the trailer that line

[00:52:49] yeah is in the trailer and i was like it's in the trailer yep i was like that yeah would not fly

[00:52:55] anymore like there were a lot of there'd be boycotts yeah lines here and there where i was like oh nope

[00:53:01] but that that would not work anymore but i guess they were a little more few and far between than

[00:53:09] some of the other movies around that time but whoo i had a problem not really a problem because i have

[00:53:21] to stop and realize that i am a 48 year old person now and things were very different when i was in my

[00:53:30] 20s but the slipping of the digit oh yeah while the girl and uh i'm telling you

[00:53:40] i have done a lot of fundraisers for cheerleading in my during my time not once did we put on bikinis

[00:53:48] i didn't wash anybody's cars and spray water all over ourselves it just some of the

[00:53:56] yeah it was a little and you know the obligatory you walk into the locker room did they have to be

[00:54:02] in their strapless bras oh my gosh you know we you wear sports bras and whatnot it just there was

[00:54:08] so much about that that bothered me yeah it's like i feel like a female director could have had

[00:54:15] a lot of those same scenes and they wouldn't have come across as like dear penthouse forum you know

[00:54:21] what i mean like i met this girl this cheerleader and she was in a bikini at a car like it was a

[00:54:26] fantasy scene for i think to get men into the theater i don't know well um maybe it was to to try to appeal to

[00:54:35] the male true but i genre you know watching this movie i that scene in particular i was talking to

[00:54:44] my mom earlier today and she reminded me that after i watched that movie i wanted to go buy like matching

[00:54:52] bras and underwear sets because i was like i'm gonna be in locker rooms and high school like and

[00:54:59] everybody's gonna have cute underwear and i'm not she was like what what are you talking about and she was

[00:55:04] like you were insistent on buying matching and it's because of that movie and i remember thinking

[00:55:11] like and i you know i matured very young like i think i was a d cup by sixth grade like it was

[00:55:20] girl me and you are yeah i feel you on that like the struggle was right behind you real right like that

[00:55:27] was a lot to deal with and then seeing this movie and the fashion at the time where they're all in these

[00:55:32] cute little spaghetti strap shirts that was all i wanted all i wanted and we did not get it nope no

[00:55:39] but you were talking earlier about the the strings with the bras or you know without a bra and i'm

[00:55:45] like oh i never got to do that one time one time i wrapped a bandana around as a shirt with oh yeah

[00:55:55] that was huge in that time period yep and i remember walking out like i don't know where we were gonna go to

[00:55:59] some boys house or something and my dad was like no no absolutely not like this is not happening and

[00:56:07] i think but it was every weekend on like total request live or whatever that's what christina

[00:56:13] aguilera and britney spears were wearing oh yeah the fashion little handkerchief shirts at this time

[00:56:18] like the fashion in this movie there were so many things that influence like you know of the time but

[00:56:25] the the little tattoo armband that courtney is wearing in the locker room when they're getting

[00:56:34] dressed i had so many of those i had the it was like a choker necklace you could put it around your neck

[00:56:40] and that was super in and then torrance's beaded choker i had a choker just like that because of this

[00:56:48] movie and i wore it in my seventh grade school pictures and i don't think i took that thing off

[00:56:55] for a very long time like i i didn't realize before diving back into the movie how much of an impact

[00:57:02] this had on me like the phone the see-through green phone that missy had that torrance calls

[00:57:10] her boyfriend on i had that phone probably because of this movie like that's amazing it was just

[00:57:16] it all it all worked on you it did i was like oh these girls are you know they have it together and

[00:57:24] they're all like cutesy and matchy and this i was very susceptible to that at that time like sixth grade

[00:57:33] going into seventh grade like i was about to get my braces off and learn how to actually brush my hair

[00:57:38] hair and things like that but it was meanwhile i was about to enter the you know the stuffy

[00:57:47] corporate lawyer world big law i was out buying you know suits and sensible pumps because i had to dress

[00:57:57] like a lawyer and then um yeah and i didn't as we've discussed i did not have the body to wear

[00:58:03] no bra that was not happening it was rough fashion wise during that time like everything was teeny tiny

[00:58:12] and yeah skin tight boy i feel bad baby tees everything my parents yeah oh yeah well it's it's funny to me

[00:58:22] now like looking at the pictures that we were talking about earlier i can remember looking at

[00:58:29] myself in those pictures or at that time and feeling fat or that i shouldn't wear and i look at myself

[00:58:38] now and i look at myself then i'm like i should have been walking around naked i looked so good you

[00:58:45] know you don't it's yeah it it really is though and and it's you know we we're in control of our own

[00:58:52] feelings but society does put pressure on us to look and to feel like we look a certain way and

[00:58:59] when i had on my cheerleading uniform and i had like this tiny little pooch and i thought that was

[00:59:06] fat and i was unattractive and then you know having a larger chest i had to wear a bra and two sports bras

[00:59:15] to not flop everywhere sorry if that's you need to edit this out that's okay um it's real life

[00:59:22] it is real hot you know and but it just it's it's it's i wish i would have appreciated how beautiful

[00:59:33] i was and i feel beautiful now it's just a very different yeah kind of trying if that makes sense

[00:59:39] i try to think about it this way which is to look at pictures of myself 20 or 30 years ago and be

[00:59:46] like oh i didn't know how beautiful i was though and then yeah i i try to project 20 years in the future

[00:59:55] and look at myself now from the perspective of 72 year old penny and i'm like oh wow i look good for

[01:00:02] you know like compared to how i'm gonna look when i'm 72 so um that's how i've been trying to think

[01:00:08] about it uh because sometimes i'm like do that i should have you know i should have been braver

[01:00:14] about what i wore i should have gone swimming more often i loved swimming but i didn't go because i

[01:00:19] thought my body looked bad oh like yeah there's so many things that i didn't do because i thought i was

[01:00:24] too ugly or too fat so yeah i'm trying to not let that be part of my 50s i'm not gonna do that

[01:00:31] anymore well and it's it's so hard to get out of that mentality because it's like forced upon you

[01:00:40] by it's echoed around you everywhere you go culture like it's insane to me like i still remember the

[01:00:47] first time and i was fortunate as a kid because i like my i love sports i was in a lot of sports

[01:00:55] sports and i remember kind of feeling heavier or bigger but it's because i looked like i was freaking

[01:01:02] 18 when i was nine like i was five foot five like five foot five in fifth grade i was taller and bigger

[01:01:10] than like everyone in my class i always felt like i was so much heavier because i had like hips and thighs

[01:01:18] and all my friends were teeny tiny fitting into these camis without having to wear bras and looking

[01:01:26] back on it now it just it it does make me sad how much energy i wasted worrying about my body and how

[01:01:34] my arms looked in tank tops or how my legs looked in shorts and this movie kind of made all of that come

[01:01:43] screaming back a little bit and i was like oh yeah like this is why these thoughts were such an issue

[01:01:50] it wasn't just that you know women were portrayed this way in magazines and tv shows and movies right

[01:01:57] we we only saw like really svelte in-shape bodies and you know there's like the the trope of the like

[01:02:05] nerdy high school girl and she's just a gorgeous girl with glasses on her hair back like she's all that

[01:02:10] glasses off and she's like oh yeah and yeah you know whenever a tv show would have like one character

[01:02:19] who was like slightly overweight it would be like groundbreaking brave yeah and the worst police

[01:02:28] of this horrible female body image problem where where you know i mean girls develop like fatal

[01:02:36] eating disorders from this stuff it's not just like i felt bad and i didn't do this it's like

[01:02:42] really serious health consequences come out of these body image issues and think about all the

[01:02:48] energy women spend on dieting that could like we could have cured cancer by now and and um the

[01:02:55] worst police of it are other women yeah right like men will be like objectifying or insulting or say

[01:03:03] whatever they say but it's when other women tell you that you're fat or ugly that it really hurts at

[01:03:11] least for me yeah it's so much worse well it's funny that you say that because i a few years ago like

[01:03:18] i went down this kind of diet culture deconstruction rabbit hole with intuitive eating which is a whole other

[01:03:28] subject but it's basically like getting out of the mindset of you know oh how's my body gonna look in

[01:03:35] this or that and it's more like you know focus on healthy eating what you need to eating to feel good

[01:03:43] and not counting calories not weighing yourself like all this stuff but as i was in the middle of that

[01:03:49] i remember going to lunch with another prosecutor in my office another woman who had been a prosecutor

[01:03:56] in our office that was now like the head prosecutor of our attorney at our school district and a district

[01:04:03] a district judge from a neighboring county and we were all under the age of 35 at that time and i remember

[01:04:11] sitting at that lunch and listening to each of them talk about how they had to get a salad but they

[01:04:17] couldn't get dressing or croutons because they felt fat or they needed to work like get in a swimsuit and

[01:04:24] one was trying uh the keto diet and one was trying trying like some carnivore diet and all they talked

[01:04:30] about was like well i hate my arms right now or you know i've gained however many pounds and i was just

[01:04:37] like you know we are four like very like accomplished well-educated intelligent women can we please talk about

[01:04:46] something other than diets and feeling fat like this cannot be happening right now and they all looked

[01:04:54] at me like i was crazy and i was just like that was one of the times i remember it hitting me most

[01:05:02] i was like we waste so much energy on this and it's it's insane and it's it's just kind of second nature

[01:05:11] for a lot of women because it's so ingrained in you that they didn't think anything of it sitting

[01:05:17] there talking for an hour about you know diets and hating their bodies but but it's one of those things

[01:05:24] like when you wake up to white supremacy or the patriarchy and you start to see it it's everywhere

[01:05:30] once you see the insidiousness of diet culture and in fact it is part of the patriarchy and white

[01:05:37] supremacy right it's a way to control people it's a way to keep people off their game but once you wake

[01:05:43] up to it it becomes glaringly obvious everywhere you go and you're like oh that photo is trying to make

[01:05:51] me feel bad about my body yeah that person is completely indoctrinated and and and you also see

[01:05:58] healthy behavior and you're like it's like a beacon of light you're like oh that's how i should behave now

[01:06:06] none of us are nutritionists we are not giving anybody advice about what they should or should not

[01:06:10] eat we're just talking about the psychological effects of this culture on ourselves um from our

[01:06:19] own personal experience maybe you had a different one um but uh i think it's a conversation we need to

[01:06:26] keep having and we need to keep reminding and especially we need to talk to the younger generations

[01:06:32] and try to help them from falling into this pit that wasted so many years of our own lives it's it's

[01:06:37] coming back to like there was like 2000s tumblr was a very dark time when it comes to you know eating

[01:06:45] disorders and i remember thin spiration being big and now on tiktok it's happening again like people

[01:06:53] having leggings legs or the emphasis on thigh gaps and i was just like nope we're not doing this again

[01:07:01] not anymore and but it's happening to today's teens it's sad well and that well the the whole ozempic

[01:07:10] trend and you know i have a very good friend who um we have the same doctor and she got a special trial

[01:07:22] or something and and he did it and he lost a whole bunch of weight and at the same time i was dieting and

[01:07:30] exercising on my own just trying to you know and i got so discouraged when he in three months was like

[01:07:40] 30 pounds down and i'd lost wonder i was doing great yeah but i looked at that and was like i am failing

[01:07:48] i'm absolutely failing at this but it's like this meanwhile the long-term effects of ozempic are not

[01:07:54] known it's used indiscriminately widely and um doctors are pushing it like they're getting paid

[01:08:02] for it um i'm diabetic and so ozempic is a diabetes a diabetes medication right and that's how it was

[01:08:11] developed and uh it just has so happened to have this side effect of making it easier to lose weight or

[01:08:18] causing you to lose weight and i um have tried several different medications that are in the

[01:08:23] sort of ozempic family of medications and all of them make me violently ill like you could not understand

[01:08:31] how ill they make me and so i i am you know i'm taking some other medications and i'm really careful

[01:08:38] with what i eat which sucks because it means i have to start think about food all the time but

[01:08:42] um i can't take ozempic the number of people and doctors who have tried to get me to go on ozempic

[01:08:50] and who i say i've tried it it makes me sick and then they're like oh have you tried ozempic i'm like

[01:08:55] two minutes ago i told you it's like listen to me i've tried it and it made me sick and they're like

[01:09:02] well how sick and i'm like really really you think my weight is more important than the fact that

[01:09:09] like you are physically like having a negative reaction i was throwing up like three times a day

[01:09:16] i mean it was oh gosh unreal and it still comes up and i'm like why isn't there some kind of neon

[01:09:23] note in my chart like stop talking about ozempic with this patient um i've tried like four of the

[01:09:29] drugs in that line of drugs they all make me barf ozempic was the worst i did lose weight but you know

[01:09:37] because i threw up several times i was gonna say when you can't consume anything that's probably

[01:09:42] gonna happen um it was scary how fast it was and um and it didn't last as soon as i stopped taking the

[01:09:50] ozempic my well that's not completely true i lost about 40 pounds and i gained back about 12 so i kept

[01:10:00] some of it off from the ozempic period great but i mean the obsession with weight loss and i could do

[01:10:10] like seven podcasts about this but the the way that being overweight is 100 equated with your health

[01:10:17] no matter what the health symptoms are that you're having like lose weight is the advice that i have

[01:10:23] gotten my whole life for every single medical problem i have ever had the only time it was worse

[01:10:29] was in college they always thought whatever was wrong with you was an std no matter what you're

[01:10:34] either pregnant or an std that's funny i'd be like i sprained my ankle there this has nothing to do

[01:10:40] i could have raging gonorrhea it doesn't matter i'm here for a sprained ankle like stop talking to me

[01:10:46] about my sex life um which in college was basically non-existent so that wasn't a problem same and i would

[01:10:53] i would i did that on purpose i was not i was not doing it on purpose but i did go to a school that was

[01:11:01] mostly women and gay dudes so what did i think was gonna happen um sounds safer

[01:11:08] then that's a lot of tangenting that we've just done let's take a little break

[01:11:15] and we're back and i'm gonna just start us off by talking about some stuff i learned about the dark

[01:11:22] side of cheerleading i just so happened to listen to a podcast called the daily where they uh every

[01:11:29] day they read an article from the new york times i have stopped subscribing to the new york times i was

[01:11:34] very unhappy with their recent editorials and coverage and blah blah blah but this article was

[01:11:40] amazing it came out on october 22nd and it was on the november 17th issue of the daily and it was about

[01:11:47] um the sort of corporate history of cheerleading and so i'll start with a little bit of just the

[01:11:53] general history but this podcast was fascinating i've already listened to it one and a half times

[01:12:01] it's so worth your time to read the article or if the podcast like reads the article so there's

[01:12:06] an article in the paper and then they just read it on the podcast so if you don't want to pay the new

[01:12:10] york times the podcast is free um that's a good idea yeah so the first known organized cheers um that

[01:12:19] began that that are like sort of i don't know wikipedia also i thought i looked at a lot of websites uh

[01:12:26] started at ivy league colleges sporting events in the 1860s they were purely men men cheering on other

[01:12:33] men's sports and they just had organized cheers and it wasn't you know what it is today and the

[01:12:39] first known cheer in the u.s was shouted by the crowd at princeton university in 1884 and it went ray

[01:12:46] ray ray tiger tiger tiger sis sis sis boom boom boom ah princeton princeton princeton so it's not nearly as

[01:12:56] catchy as you know must be some toros in the atmosphere but it's um awesome it is what it is

[01:13:03] uh so it sort of grew over time in the late 19th century early 20th century it was primarily

[01:13:09] men who were called yell leaders or cheerleaders until big surprise world war ii when women took

[01:13:16] over all kinds of male roles in our society and there started being women cheerleaders and drill

[01:13:23] teams and marching bands and women started to be incorporated into all these things and it became

[01:13:28] bigger and bigger and grew over those decades um today women are or females are approximately 85

[01:13:37] percent of all participants in american cheerleading wow um so uh the first cheerleading clinic was held in

[01:13:46] 1949 at texas teachers college which is now called sam houston college i think uh and organized by a man

[01:13:54] named lawrence herkimer who invented the herky which is a move that is still used today and he is called by

[01:14:02] many people the father of cheerleading he went on to create the first cheerleading training organization

[01:14:11] called the national cheerleaders association this grew over several the next several decades and became more

[01:14:17] and more popular he eventually had a protege named jeff webb who he brought on to the national cheerleaders

[01:14:26] association and trained over the years jeff webb is largely credited with moving cheerleading from being

[01:14:33] very yell based to the more athletic and acrobatic style of cheerleading that we saw in the movie

[01:14:40] and because he was himself a cheerleader and he thought we can make more of a splash if we do more jumps and

[01:14:45] flips and and so he sort of spearheaded that and he founded his own organization he apparently uh betrayed

[01:14:53] lawrence herky herkimer founded his own organization varsity spirit in 1974 and the podcast article goes into a

[01:15:02] lot of detail about the history of rivalry between the ncaa and varsity spirit and varsity spirit went on to be

[01:15:12] the dominant brand in everything cheerleading related competitions camps uniforms all these related

[01:15:17] products and services they have spun off lots of other organizations from the main organization that are

[01:15:26] things like the national coaches association that is the regulatory body that oversees safety and

[01:15:32] cheerleading but they're owned by varsity spirit uh there's all these uh different ways that varsity

[01:15:38] spirit owns like we call it vertical integration in the world of antitrust law they own all these

[01:15:44] different levels of participation in cheerleading from training to camps to competitions to training coaches

[01:15:50] to certifying coaches to overseeing the regulatory to selling all the uniforms to creating the pom-poms

[01:15:56] all that stuff it is a multi-billion dollar industry i think very exploitatively of the young people who

[01:16:06] participate in it who pay to participate in it making billions and billions of dollars for the people who

[01:16:12] own varsity spirit title nine was passed in i want to say that early 80s and it has all kinds of

[01:16:24] um requirements for women's sports to be equal to men's sports that's what most people think of as title

[01:16:30] nine being jeff webb and his people lobbied hard for cheerleading not to be considered a sport and to

[01:16:38] remain an activity because they didn't want the title nine oversight and regulation of the safety

[01:16:45] and and the limits on what you could do to these cheerleaders and if they were a sport they would be

[01:16:50] under the ncaa there would be all these regulations on them but they're not they're an activity so

[01:16:55] they're independent and they're completely dominated and run by varsity which is now called varsity

[01:17:00] brands because of course they are an umbrella company the most recent valuation of varsity brands

[01:17:06] was in 2018 when a private equity firm in boston called bain capital purchased varsity brands from a

[01:17:13] previous owner uh for 2.9 billion dollars and in internal memos they cited the advantage of a

[01:17:20] competitive moat that varsity brands had dug around themselves wow there the article and the podcast go

[01:17:27] into detail about some of the business practices over the years that jeff webb has engaged in the ways that

[01:17:33] he crushed competition the ways that he exploited the the cheerleaders the coaches the parents the way that

[01:17:42] uh he protected his monopoly over cheerleading taking advantage of young people who just want to

[01:17:49] participate in something fun to compete in an activity that you know they see as being socially

[01:17:55] you know beneficial to them a lot of times it's great for college applications etc etc as cheerleading

[01:18:03] became more popular and more profitable the competitiveness and the safety risks grew in tandem

[01:18:09] from 1980 to 2001 emergency room visits for cheerleaders soared 500 so um in 1980 uh hospital emergency room

[01:18:21] visits due to cheerleading were 4 954 in 2012 26 786. there are some other relevant statistics like um this is

[01:18:32] from the national center for catastrophic sports injury and it says that collegiate cheerleading accounted for

[01:18:39] 70 percent of all female catastrophic sports injuries and high school cheerleading for 65.2

[01:18:45] percent of all high school school high school female sports industries high school cheerleaders will

[01:18:50] experience an average of 3.8 injuries throughout their career college level athletes 3.5 injuries

[01:18:57] overall football and cheerleading have the highest incidence of fatal injuries and accidents in fact

[01:19:03] there was an average of at least one death per year on cheerleaders from 91 to 2015.

[01:19:10] and the most common causes for the high injury rate include lack of proper equipment poor training

[01:19:15] and conditioning and inadequate coach supervision um there are a number of organization organizations that

[01:19:23] have been formed to deal with these safety issues there are again this amazing article has uh stories of

[01:19:30] certain individuals who have suffered like brain damage from cheerleading injuries and who went on to

[01:19:36] become activists for safety and cheer a lot of the organizations are hard to tell apart because they're all

[01:19:41] called things like u.s cheerleading association national cheerleading association american associating

[01:19:47] association of cheerleaders and many of them are owned by varsity brands so it's a little bit of an

[01:19:53] alphabet soup to try to figure out who you can and can't trust within the industry things are getting better um

[01:19:59] in part because of this movie like it's raised awareness for what competitive cheerleading can do and there

[01:20:05] was a lot of activism that followed after that and there are more there are the statistics are showing that

[01:20:11] injuries are going back down again a number of very risky flips and throws have been outlawed in competition

[01:20:20] um and of course the article ended with a whole story about how in addition to exploiting all of these

[01:20:27] beautiful young people for their athleticism and performances of course there was also sexual abuse

[01:20:33] and molestation going on by coaches team doctors officials at competitions and being swept under the

[01:20:40] rug and covered up by varsity brands because you can't just exploit women in one way you have to exploit

[01:20:46] them sexually as well so um i listened to this podcast at the beach i like to go on walks at the beach

[01:20:53] and i stopped dead in my tracks at one point and was standing on the beach with my mouth open

[01:20:58] and some dude walked by me and was like are you okay and i was like um patriarchy

[01:21:04] and he just kept walking um no he didn't he didn't stop to have a combo i think he was like oh you're

[01:21:14] crazy i'm out of here yeah

[01:21:16] yeah

[01:21:17] but it it made me really sad because i i have loved watching cheerleading competitions like on espn

[01:21:27] the the routines are thrilling right the energy is amazing the the throwing somebody in the air

[01:21:35] where they call them the flyer and then catching them in a basket is thrilling because it is death

[01:21:42] defying like it is so dangerous yeah and a lot of times they're performing on a hard floor grass

[01:21:54] or concrete not even on mats and it blows my mind so i can no longer like just enjoy watching cheerleading

[01:22:03] because now i have this in my head and i can't unknow it and i'm like oh i wonder how many of the

[01:22:09] those girls have been molested by one of their coaches like when i look at a bunch of cheerleaders

[01:22:14] on a tv screen i'm like oh how many of those girls are going to get like traumatic brain injuries

[01:22:21] between now and when they turn 20 like it just um makes me really really really sad um but we'll link

[01:22:30] the podcast in the show notes i would i hope somebody makes a movie of that story because i think

[01:22:36] it's going to be fascinating the the monopolistic practices of jeff webb are textbook and

[01:22:45] antitrust enforcement in america has really gone downhill since um well since reagan and um

[01:22:53] and this guy is like every example of monopolistic unfair business practices that i ever read about in a

[01:23:01] law school textbook jeff webb it's like he took those textbooks and was like oh i'll do that next

[01:23:05] like he did all of the things and there's a ton of websites about the history of cheerleading

[01:23:12] that are clearly written by varsity brands because they're like oh because cheerleading was excluded

[01:23:19] from title nine it meant that a lot of female athletes joined cheerleading with more sports experience i'm

[01:23:25] like that is such a weird version of that story but all right you know it's a pr version

[01:23:30] um maybe everyone should read this article the ticket master lawsuit because of the

[01:23:39] crap show that was trying to get taylor swift to heirs tour tickets might change some antitrust laws

[01:23:45] for the better i hope i i can hope but i don't have a lot of faith in

[01:23:50] no the next or the current frankly justice department oh geez yeah i can't think about that too hard or

[01:23:57] oh yeah let's not get too far on that topic but um the injury i would like to the dark side of

[01:24:05] cheerleading i was like one thing to add real quick that ties into the movie um you know there is a

[01:24:11] pretty big injury in the movie that we see with carver and you know we see her and poor carver

[01:24:19] and she'll be back at practice tomorrow yeah oh she's okay i love i love the scene of her and

[01:24:26] like her neck brace with her crutches like dance like trying to move along and dance back and forth

[01:24:32] it's just it's so awful but we hear like they're very casual talking about how you know she broke her

[01:24:38] leg in three places and she's gonna be homeschooled for the next few months and it's you know kind of

[01:24:45] par for the course and part of me i was like well you know that seems fairly accurate like injuries

[01:24:52] seem to be a big part of cheerleading that you just have to deal with kind of like with you know

[01:24:56] gymnastics or football and it was kind of nice that they included something like that acknowledging how

[01:25:04] dangerous it is even if it was tongue-in-cheek and yeah part of the plot but it just it shows you how

[01:25:12] dangerous it really is and the the fact that they had real cheerleaders mixed in with the actors doing

[01:25:23] the real stunts i would love to see more behind the scenes stuff about that and what kind of liability

[01:25:29] insurance they had on set oh i've had to be a lot um becky you were about to say something

[01:25:38] i was just gonna just a few random facts um that i have and you you brought up the nca

[01:25:50] national cheerleading association and the there's the universal cheerleading association those are your

[01:25:56] two major competitions and or at least that's what it was when i was younger i'm assuming it's still the

[01:26:03] same but the difference is the universal cheerleading association has a focus on more traditional

[01:26:11] cheering with stunts and tumbles and the nca in nca sorry ncaa is what you see on netflix's cheer where

[01:26:22] it's like a full-on dance uh the tricks the whole nine so when i think of a cheerleading competition

[01:26:32] i think back to my days when we worked with the uca uh because we would go to you go to your summer

[01:26:40] camps and they would teach you every and this whole stealing cheers thing definitely did not happen

[01:26:48] everybody most schools had the same cheers because you learn from the same camps every year and they

[01:26:55] you everyone had the same dance routine now when you would go into competition that's when you would

[01:27:01] have somebody come and help choreograph some new stuff but i digress this is i can see you're all

[01:27:07] fascinating you look thrilled are you kidding me so interesting that's my focus face

[01:27:13] oh is it okay all right i'm learning in the movie they made it seem like hiring a choreographer was

[01:27:19] like a big scandal yeah but it sounds like uca would send you one right like here's your

[01:27:27] well you go to camp it's a three or four day camp and i that whole spirit stick scene

[01:27:36] i flashed back to my senior year cheerleading camp and i felt like i was i was there the jewel uh spirit

[01:27:45] stick is real the each person each day it's a squad which who shows the most you know pep and energy and

[01:27:53] and drive that day that you carry that spirit stick with you every day and then at the end of the camp

[01:28:02] it's like the the spirit stick that um missy dropped has torn you know drops at the end of the

[01:28:10] movie that's like a little smaller just generic one that everyone gets one to take home with you

[01:28:17] but that urban legend i can't say specifically we didn't make it to nationals because someone on our

[01:28:27] team dropped the spirit stick but i believe that we did not make it to nationals because someone on our

[01:28:35] squad dropped the spirit stick it sounds like the you know how in theater like don't you dare say

[01:28:44] mcbeth in a theater especially not on opening night it sounds kind of similar like that yeah yes

[01:28:52] sincere we didn't think you would burn in hell yeah i'm not quite that might have been a we we weren't

[01:28:58] we didn't think about that but there is there is a stigma there is a or whatever urban legend that

[01:29:04] if you drop the spirit stick it's it could be very bad so that was a big funny thing so interesting but

[01:29:11] anyway you would go to the camp um you would you know each you room together that whole scene was real

[01:29:19] but what i thought was hilarious and you mentioned it earlier penny that they got way wrong in this

[01:29:26] movie is you had a cheer coach which was usually in a smaller small town school like mine was one of the

[01:29:40] teachers and fortunately miss carter i love her wherever you are miss carter you were an angel um she was our

[01:29:48] science teacher and she was our cheerleading coach and no cheerleading background whatsoever

[01:29:57] but you know you do a lot of things yourself but that's where the camps come in and teach you

[01:30:03] basics or some you know new cheers that this but the it's the cheerleaders that come before you that teach you

[01:30:14] pretty much everything you need to know and then uh you learn a lot at camp so passing the torch is

[01:30:22] is real to an extent but parents there are some parents who are way more involved than other parents

[01:30:32] too much um and i'm i think they missed a really fun opportunity to i know they made a joke about

[01:30:40] one of the parents which i think is in your trivia notes um good old crazy texas mom yeah i think they

[01:30:50] missed a chance to have they could have added a little bit more comedy to have the one you know that

[01:30:55] parent but there is absolutely no way these girls are traveling doing anything without a coach or

[01:31:04] someone nearby that's they missed that there was i did like that one part at i can't remember if it

[01:31:10] was their regional competition or nationals where one of the moms walks up to the judges table and is

[01:31:17] like um excuse me you had your head down yeah yeah and i forgot about that you're right and he's looking

[01:31:25] at her like uh what i was like yep that that checks out that sounds about right like i remember parents

[01:31:33] at like volleyball or swim team yelling at judges or coaches and i was like i guess they're crazy stage

[01:31:40] parents in they're in every activity that's competitive right because they yeah it's just

[01:31:47] whatever their kid happens to be competing in that's where that parent is going to express themselves

[01:31:53] you know buffy has that great episode in season one that we didn't cover where buffy tries out for the

[01:31:57] cheerleading team and uh one of the other girls trying out for the cheerleading team it turns out her

[01:32:03] mother was like a head cheerleader and wants to reclaim her glory days and she uses witchcraft to

[01:32:10] switch bodies with her own daughter and so she could be a cheerleader again it is twisted episode

[01:32:16] it's a great episode um maybe we'll go back and cover it sometime i'm and i've got one more thing

[01:32:23] to add on my fun facts about cheerleading back in the 1990s uh

[01:32:31] captains were not picked by the squad captains are picked by the cheer coach tryouts do not happen

[01:32:42] in they do happen in front of other members of the squad but you don't each year the squad starts anew

[01:32:52] you even if you cheered the year before you still have to try out again and it there are a group of girls

[01:32:58] in there but it is a group usually the cheerleading coach uh we had people from the university or

[01:33:07] universal cheerleaders association that would come and i remember one of them pulling me aside after my

[01:33:14] tryout my senior year and telling me that i had the best toe touch they've ever seen oh that's fun

[01:33:22] that's cool that was just like a big moment pat yourself on the back yeah right it it did not it

[01:33:30] does not it did not work exactly how it did in the movie i love that tryout scene by the way like

[01:33:37] oh the montage of freaks yeah they were so great so good like the guy that comes in singing pippin

[01:33:45] makes me yeah i was like isn't this the audition for pippin but yeah there's a ballet guy there's

[01:33:53] the girl who just keeps crying because she just broke up with her boyfriend that's oh that's so

[01:33:58] funny to me like there's no she might have been great but we'll never know um and the cherry pie song

[01:34:04] they spent that was what forty thousand dollars to have that song in that movie specifically

[01:34:11] for that did you ever see that girl's face i was like do we know who that is she looked vaguely

[01:34:17] familiar i don't know she looked like every other actor of that age at that time and you know what

[01:34:23] i mean like that's true some of the makeup that they had on them too yeah like there's one scene in

[01:34:31] particular i think courtney they're at the game and she's bending over in front of jan and she kind of

[01:34:38] turns around and like winks at him and is flirting with him and that angle in particular you just see

[01:34:45] her light icy blue eye shadow and i was just like oh yeah that was the first time i was allowed to do

[01:34:52] makeup it was icy blue eye shadow and i liked that i picked but that was very very of of the times it

[01:35:02] seemed like but yeah that audition scene was pretty brilliant like that line in particular when missy

[01:35:10] comes in and courtney tells her that you know tattoos are strictly verboten and she licks her finger her

[01:35:18] middle finger and wipes it off that image is like seared in my brain from that that should have told me

[01:35:26] something honestly because i remember being like oh i like her and then faith on buffy i was like oh

[01:35:33] what is this yeah like missy missy was probably a very important character for my young

[01:35:44] realizations but i love the cheer that she does back at torrance and you know she's like i transferred

[01:35:52] from los angeles your school has no gymnastics team this is a last resort like that was one of my

[01:35:59] vocal stems for years i my i think my parents hated this movie because of how much i repeated it but she

[01:36:08] just like she is perfect in that role just like kirsten dunst is perfect in her role as torrance and i

[01:36:16] think that's one of the things that makes this movie work so well is they seem to really play up

[01:36:23] the characters strengths and personalities from the actors like they drew from the actors and put a lot

[01:36:32] of them into the characters and it worked out perfectly like cliff i had the biggest crush on cliff too

[01:36:38] same like it's so funny he's basically xander i mean but but less problematic xander he is healthy

[01:36:47] version of xander to me right he's way more mature than yeah he's yeah he's he's more evolved than

[01:36:55] xander but he's very xander there's so much about him yeah it's funny like her you know his clash t-shirt

[01:37:03] and all the different punk posters in his room when he's like rocking out to guitar that toothbrushing

[01:37:10] scene was great i thought well when i was it's gross now but when i was in sixth grade i was like ooh

[01:37:17] she's sleeping over and they're like flirting and brushing teeth like i thought about that brushing my

[01:37:23] teeth for a while because like it was just so cute with no toothpaste to me brushing your teeth with no

[01:37:30] toothpaste yeah it looked like they had well when they spit there was at least something but i love

[01:37:36] torrance like the first time she leans over and she like covers her mouth and spits in the sink so

[01:37:42] he can't see her so demure it was so feminine yeah but like i thought that scene was like the epitome of

[01:37:49] flirting and sexual tension when i was 12 well it's it's like the rom-com sort of classic like

[01:37:57] she didn't go looking for him to flirt with him she just happened to be in his home like it it's so

[01:38:05] lucky she just happened to have bad breath at that moment oh yeah and like that he was going to how

[01:38:10] many times did you think like when you you met a friend in high school and they had an older brother

[01:38:15] you were like ooh maybe the older brother it never works out but like so many movies told us that that

[01:38:21] how you're going to meet the love of your life is he's going to be the brother of some friend of

[01:38:25] yours i definitely made out with a couple of my friends older brothers but i did it didn't go

[01:38:34] yeah so did i but it wasn't a good idea nope it was bad i made out with my older brother's friends a

[01:38:40] couple of his friends that's always just kissing nice my little brother luckily i had a little brother

[01:38:47] if i had an older brother it probably would have been a problem but speaking of little brothers

[01:38:52] cliff i think not cliff her torrent's little brother oh yeah i don't remember his name he sucks he

[01:39:00] played that role perfectly and very annoying little brother so annoying but so funny yeah when he goes up

[01:39:11] and farts on her oh my gosh that's i'm like that that that was like an actual happen so real it was

[01:39:19] like the personification of like calvin right he's like he's like this little smart mouth

[01:39:27] little like troublemaker but he's also cute like yeah i love it when she was like quit like leave me

[01:39:34] alone or i'll tell all your friends you're at a cheerleading competition he's like you wouldn't

[01:39:39] like it's like yeah like it's the shirt cheerleading equals death like yeah yes and how many times did

[01:39:46] you have to go to something that your sibling was doing and you just did not want to be there

[01:39:51] like so many times how many pinewood derbies have i been to so many pinewood derbies and mine were

[01:39:59] little league games so many little league games yeah soccer games baseball games it's so funny

[01:40:09] pinewood derby i was usually the one in the activities that they had to come to good women

[01:40:17] in male-dominated fields i love it i sure was that's one of my favorite trends on tiktok right now

[01:40:25] yeah it's pretty funny but it's just i don't know the movie the people that they cast in general it was

[01:40:32] just kind of something it's a it's a great magnetic yeah it really is and i was thinking about it i was

[01:40:40] i watched the movie again one last time today sort of half watched it while i was putting on my winter

[01:40:44] tree but um gabrielle union it's very pretty thank you uh gabrielle union had just been in um 10 things i

[01:40:53] hate about you and she she was sort of like on the cusp of being a household name and i think this movie

[01:41:01] really pushed her into the zeitgeist and her performance as isis is iconic and you know we've

[01:41:09] talked about it we wish there had been more for her to do but what she did do on screen she owned the

[01:41:16] screen she was amazing in that role and i was looking at her today and i was like you know i've

[01:41:23] seen recent pictures of gabrielle union and it is not fair she she is only looks like it's been like

[01:41:30] three years since she filmed i know she looks barely aged and it's been 25 years like come on age already but

[01:41:39] no also if you like could you could you get a molar too please yeah she released a i don't remember

[01:41:46] memoir bio i don't know what you would call it a biography book a few years ago maybe 10 years

[01:41:52] ago and uh she reads the audio book and it is an amazing book and i i really recommend it

[01:42:01] she has gone through some pretty intense experiences in her life and she talks about them very honestly

[01:42:09] and directly and movingly and um also talks about what it was like to check that out black in hollywood

[01:42:14] at that time and what it was like to be a part of these like zeitgeisty teen movies it's a it's a

[01:42:20] really good listen i did the audio book of it um i i think you'll have to check that out i joined my

[01:42:27] local library nice oh awesome library started i've done that since i was a kid are you on revolution yeah

[01:42:35] i'm on what libby so yeah you can get books on libby yes all you have to do is enter in your like library

[01:42:44] card number and it's an app and so you can check out like ebooks and audiobooks through the app and

[01:42:52] it's so handy so it's basically like free kindle yeah yeah free kindle free that's why i joined the

[01:43:00] library because they're like they it was actually when i went to vote yeah um that's smart i was like

[01:43:06] i'm at the library i'm gonna go join the library and i was like do you have audio books and i love it

[01:43:12] she's like well yes we do you have everything and so my library has like um uh the somerville library

[01:43:19] you can get like baking pans of different shapes and sizes so like say you want to make like a train

[01:43:25] cake for your four-year-old you can go get like a train-shaped baking pan and just check it out from

[01:43:31] the library you don't have to buy one nice um they also that's really cool like you can you can borrow

[01:43:37] tools from the library as well it's really cool yeah i think that's not that unusual uh gabrielle union

[01:43:43] i just i loved her so much growing up and i'm sad and she's talked about it kind of being relegated to

[01:43:50] like you know the friend or like the token black friend character in these high school movies and

[01:43:57] it's so frustrating that she wasn't given more because there's just something about her there's this

[01:44:03] warmth to her and this you know confidence to her like she's so engaging on screen and i just oh i wish

[01:44:13] she would have gotten some something meatier but this movie like she shines in this movie i think this

[01:44:21] movie got her a lot of open doors yeah i think um after this she had a few starring roles in like

[01:44:28] rom-coms and stuff i think this movie did a lot of good things for her but i agree that i wish she had

[01:44:34] more going on i i would like to see her in some prestige dramas and you know doing her thing now because

[01:44:42] you know i haven't seen her lately i think she's mostly focused on her family like and she has like

[01:44:47] i love her such good comedic timing yeah too like on top of everything else that one line where

[01:44:56] they're they're talking like they confront them like yeah we just love seeing our routines on espn

[01:45:01] and torrence is like what the hell are you talking about she's like burr it's cold in here like i know

[01:45:05] you don't think a white girl made that shit up and i was just like this is so good but she's just oh

[01:45:12] i love her all right now seems like the time for a sound clip that i've been saving yay oh yay

[01:45:48] this movie is what spurred my obsession with dj cools let me clear my throat and why it was on every

[01:45:55] workout playlist for the end of time after that so it's like that's a good choice sorry i do want to say

[01:46:03] oh you're fine a lot of those moves would not be happening in a high school gymnasium approved

[01:46:13] they were so yeah i was i'm watching watching that back in uh the when it came out i was like yeah

[01:46:21] no we would not have gotten away with that yeah they were too too dangerous and flashy but right

[01:46:26] they're fun to watch they're so fun this movie are so fun to watch even the like corny spirit

[01:46:32] fingers one it's still really fun to watch them do it well and i love that montage of them you know

[01:46:40] preparing for nationals and studying all the different types of dance and movement and incorporating

[01:46:46] that in it's just it's so clever and it's such a fun idea and it's nice seeing them you know actually

[01:46:52] have to work for it and yeah yeah i also really love that they do not win

[01:46:58] that yeah that's my final point okay all right go for it yep i was like they could i'm so glad that they

[01:47:09] did not make it your typical expected ending that they put in all this work and they triumphed i

[01:47:19] personally would have loved to have seen a squad we didn't even see like come out of nowhere and be

[01:47:28] come out of nowhere and and um both of them you know second third however you want to do it but

[01:47:36] that's what i really would have liked to have seen but i was very glad that they did not reward them for

[01:47:45] years of not reward them but that they they they did not win and that the clovers won and that at the

[01:47:54] you know you mentioned it earlier penny when she's like you all were better than us and

[01:48:00] isis is like yeah we were weren't we i am so grateful that they did not take that in a direction

[01:48:07] that would have been really disappointing yeah me too let's talk about torrance's boyfriend

[01:48:16] yeah that's great i'm just gonna have to do this one i don't know if you're not gonna be

[01:48:24] good at all my little points and it's like aaron douche aaron douche oh my god aaron is still a

[01:48:30] douche that is all i had to say i will say that one of his lines i repeat to this day my brother and i

[01:48:39] will say back and forth to each other if we're getting in a car that i got the door tore like

[01:48:44] over and over again oh that is that has stuck with us for some reason but yeah that guy i just love it

[01:48:52] so much when she's like aaron you're a good cheerleader but you're just not boyfriend material

[01:48:58] it kills me because it's right it's so bad how badly have you always wanted to have like

[01:49:04] the perfect thing to say to someone who's hurt your feelings and like zing them with their own words like

[01:49:11] that like oh that's awesome it's such a good one and then opening the door six months later yeah

[01:49:17] and he's such a skeez like when she's talking to him on the phone and he's giving her sparky's

[01:49:22] information and stuff and reassuring her and he rolls back over to the girl in his bed and she's

[01:49:28] like who's that yeah you're not my sister are you i was like oh yeah he's the worst he is so gross

[01:49:37] the worst i do like though that they made him seem really gay but then that wasn't the story that he

[01:49:42] was gay yeah yeah right like when we see him in bed in college i remember in the movie theater i was like

[01:49:49] it's gonna be a dude in bed with them when he rolls over yeah and the fact that it was a girl and

[01:49:54] i was like oh he's not gay he's just an asshole yeah her parents and he's like an eddie haskell

[01:50:01] to pick her up oh yeah who an eddie haskell like sucking up to her parents i was like oh come on man

[01:50:09] the mom's like remember he's leaving for college and the dad's like oh okay yeah okay

[01:50:14] i can imagine like i mean i don't have my own kids but i can only imagine if your kid is dating

[01:50:19] someone that you just like oh i know this isn't the guy but like you can't tell them not to date

[01:50:27] them because then they'll stick with them even harder so you just have to be like okay and like

[01:50:33] smile through your teeth in that fake way that you do like oh god geez yeah that would be particularly

[01:50:41] rough i can imagine but it's just it's so different too like she has no chemistry with that die

[01:50:48] no but you can tell that it like up until this time this moment in her life she's never had to be

[01:50:55] deep about anything right there's one moment when somebody says to her i think it's missy is like

[01:50:59] cheerleading isn't everything and she's like i'm i am just cheerleading and like who did she date

[01:51:05] the head dude on the team because like that's all she cared about was cheerleading and she couldn't

[01:51:11] even like see other men you know what i mean like i think we're supposed to see like she was with this

[01:51:16] dude who i mean let's face it he's ken right he's just ken yeah and um and he was never good enough

[01:51:22] for her but she she had never been challenged in her life ever to you know she just followed a path

[01:51:29] and this is the first time when she had to dig a little deeper and surprise surprise when she did

[01:51:35] erin wasn't good enough to come with her on that journey torrence did have a lot of growth in this

[01:51:42] movie like it is kind of nice she went through a lot of changes yeah gosh that guy's such

[01:51:50] yeah every time i was like wow i really hate him

[01:51:54] yeah i really do yeah and then seeing her get together with cliff like i love the fact obviously

[01:52:02] in the 2000s like he made her a mixtape or a mix cd oh my gosh and that was adorable and brought her

[01:52:09] flowers and all that i just oh i would have fallen for that guy so hard yeah me too i totally would have

[01:52:18] i i had such poor judgment i would have fallen for aaron oh god

[01:52:23] oh god

[01:52:25] he was definitely not my time it took me a lot of there when you heard about my prom date

[01:52:31] yeah oh yeah so yeah i was not i i was not the best um that guy too sorry yeah yeah we don't like

[01:52:39] that i say that i like saying it's so messed up yeah i've never really been into blondes that's

[01:52:47] never really like that all american guy look has never been i like dark hair scruffy has that every

[01:52:55] single time that is what i go for and a lot of the times that gets me into trouble because they're

[01:52:59] usually sarcastic smart asses too so you know i i yeah we've talked a lot about um our affection for

[01:53:08] bad boys and dark boys but cliff is not dark he's just now like performatively cool and that's fine for somebody

[01:53:20] who's 17 or 18 right like yeah he is developmentally appropriately a child man at that age

[01:53:27] when he was confident and witty like when he walks in he's artistic classroom yeah for the first time and those two

[01:53:35] jackass football players cough and say loser his response to them like where he's like oh guys like

[01:53:44] the loser cough and starts talking about how it's out i would have eaten that up in high school yeah like

[01:53:50] that type of guy and that kind of cleverness he's very the nice version of christian slater and heathers

[01:53:58] like he's like yeah he's like yes he's like he's like he's like he's like he's like

[01:54:11] he's like he's like he's like he's very like kind clarify that okay not yeah not actually a bad guy like

[01:54:20] he's kind and respectful but he's kind of a smart ass which is a perfect combination cute yeah he's

[01:54:27] into punk bands and like you know whatever it's fine way better for torrance than aaron yeah way

[01:54:34] better and he and missy like their brother sister chemistry was believable to me like i really enjoyed

[01:54:40] them together too and like the kind of back and i agree like when he she shows up at the car wash

[01:54:45] and the frame you just see like missy walk in and it's focused on her boobs and he like freaks out

[01:54:52] because it's his sister he's just like no no no like i don't need to see that like that interaction was

[01:54:59] cute and when she's like let's get this over with torrance cory or my brother wants to check out your

[01:55:05] asses and she said like um okay

[01:55:10] awkward

[01:55:12] that was cute i'm gonna talk about the song oh which one sparky oh prepare for total domination domination

[01:55:22] oh geez y'all that song i think came out in 91 or 92 is it like a jock jams

[01:55:31] it is a jock jam but i am honored after seeing this movie to have danced in front of the school

[01:55:40] to part of that song oh my god that's amazing i feel like did you have i love that

[01:55:47] oh yeah spirit fingers are legit that was another thing that seemed to be everywhere

[01:55:52] this movie is everybody talking about spirit fingers jazz hands and spirit fingers and they're not the same

[01:55:58] nope no they are not definitely 2000 gosh that guy was insane he was and whenever i've done spirit

[01:56:06] fingers as a joke and so there's always a like a division in the room of people who are like oh

[01:56:14] yeah spirit fingers and other people who are like what are you doing like what the hell are you talking

[01:56:18] what's happening somebody called an ambulance like then he's having a stroke

[01:56:24] spirit fingers right but i love how he is just like popping pills and he looks like all of his veins

[01:56:31] are about to pop out of his head and his arms he's so worked up with these okay and my favorite thing is that

[01:56:39] they had him come back for those closing credits where they're all dancing around to hey mickey

[01:56:43] i was like they paid that guy another day to come back for this like he was already done with his

[01:56:50] part of the story but they paid him for this and he's like in the same outfit and oh my god i love

[01:56:56] it best closing credits of all time and a lot of the scenes from the closing credits are in the

[01:57:02] trailer yeah like oh disproportionately so i because i watched i watched it again today and i watched the

[01:57:10] trailer right when i finished so it was you know fresh and the number of scenes that are not in the

[01:57:17] actual movie at all it's kind of astounding for that that's amazing including the clover scenes

[01:57:23] that you know they filmed just for the trailer and the scenes from the hey mickey and credits like there's

[01:57:29] a bunch of that but it was a good trailer i loved those credits i remember leaving the theater like

[01:57:36] like we were all sort of like singing and like dancing along with it like yeah it was just such a

[01:57:41] a fantastic way to end the movie it was so fun um it's a very energetic and i've always loved that song

[01:57:48] hey mickey that's a good one oh it's stuck in my head now that's gonna it will be stuck in mine for a

[01:57:58] good three weeks somebody mentioned an earwig i don't know on a podcast i was doing and that is the song

[01:58:07] that pops into my head whenever somebody says earwig i'm like oh here we go and i'd for me hey mickey

[01:58:14] it's um the one that always gets stuck in my head is centerfold by the jay kiles band oh my god oh my

[01:58:22] god oh that one's in there that is a catchy song though i can see why that's fair i hate it when i don't

[01:58:31] know all the words so one little tiny section is just yep over and over and over again you have to

[01:58:37] like sit down and listen to the entire song to get past that part of it anyway that's true there were

[01:58:46] there so the reason that i wanted to cover this movie on still slaying is uh the most obvious reason

[01:58:53] is because eliza dushku who played faith in season three of buffy that we just finished

[01:58:57] is one of the main characters missy in this movie but there are a ton of other buffy references and i

[01:59:05] think yes that cara has a list of them oh yeah i had a lot of fun looking into it i'm sure i even

[01:59:14] missed some because like first of all the dialogue in the movie made me really happy the most notable

[01:59:21] one is uh what's her name janela p uh saying can we just beat these buffies down so i can go home

[01:59:30] yeah i was like oh that's perfect that was so good and then i don't know if this i don't think this was

[01:59:37] at all intentional because season five of buffy had not come out yet but there's that line that

[01:59:45] darcy says when she's you know she's repeating different sat words throughout the movie and at

[01:59:52] the cheer competition she says remember they give extra points for alacrity and effulgence

[01:59:57] and i immediately thought of spike as william trying to use effulgence in a poem yes to try to describe

[02:00:07] cecily like the his you know his love and he's trying to rhyme with effulgence and i was like ah

[02:00:12] that's a fun coincidence and then of course we have other actresses actors in the movie that

[02:00:20] appeared in buffy and one of which was the infamous season five villain glory she played

[02:00:29] courtney in this movie um i think claire kramer is her name and then nicole builderback is the other

[02:00:37] one courtney and whitney both appeared in buffy courtney obviously had a bigger role as glory but

[02:00:45] whitney was a cordette in the wish when cordelia you know goes into the alternate universe as if

[02:00:53] buffy had never come to sunnydale and i remember her specifically because she's got her hair pulled

[02:00:59] back in a bun and has on this like really dark green sweater and she looks fantastic and i love

[02:01:05] that she's also the one who the master puts in his like yeah blood machine yes it's so i can't believe

[02:01:12] that's glory no that's not glory that's what i did that's what oh courtney is no but oh courtney is

[02:01:18] glory yeah i kept looking at her thinking all i kept thinking was ally

[02:01:24] water oh yeah oh yeah i know where do i know her from and why i i was taking notes on my computer

[02:01:32] why i didn't google yeah i will never understand but you just blew my mind because you can see it like

[02:01:37] once you make the connection there when she gets angry i'm like oh yep there's some glory

[02:01:42] coming there it is like but it's just it's so good and uh the girl who played whitney was also in

[02:01:49] the unaired pilot of buffy is just like a random sunnydale student so that was fun and then there are

[02:01:56] a couple of other little bits that i think we included in trivia and we can skip them when we get to

[02:02:03] them but like just random things the composer for bring it on was also the main composer for buffy

[02:02:11] from 1997 to 2001 and he i think he came back for a few like important episodes and then he was the

[02:02:19] composer on angel from 1999 to 2000 so that was a fun little you know buffy connection there were more

[02:02:26] than i thought there would be well i can't believe you haven't said it yet but rancho carne high school

[02:02:33] oh yeah sunnydale high school yeah what is it san diego state university or i can't remember now i'm

[02:02:42] drawing a blank but that high school is in my mind california that's a real high school

[02:02:49] that's kind of perfect and there's conventions they have buffy conventions that happen there and stuff

[02:02:53] i want to go but it's also the 90210 high school it's um it's the high school in a lot of southern

[02:03:01] california set teenage things they use that high school a lot get into trivia about how mothers have

[02:04:28] killed to get their daughters on squads and her mom replies that mother didn't kill anyone she hired a

[02:04:33] hitman which is of course based on this notorious texas case there's a lifetime movie about it too

[02:04:41] that i actually really recommend it's fascinating it's good yeah i've seen it but it's good it's so good

[02:04:48] the mother's name was wanda webb and in 1991 she wanted her daughter to be on the cheerleading squad

[02:04:54] so badly that she tried to hire her ex-husband's brother to kill her daughter's biggest rival in

[02:05:02] competition as well as that rival's mother uh it was this whole big thing but he was wearing a wire

[02:05:09] and she was arrested without you know anybody being harmed or killed but that was just that was such a

[02:05:18] huge case and i feel like it's infamous now especially in the cheerleading world so i love that

[02:05:25] they they threw that in eliza douchku describes herself as being extremely similar to missy i can see that

[02:05:36] yeah as uh she's a tomboy and was as far removed from a cheerleader as it was possible to be

[02:05:43] and her artist audition for the film paralleled missy's she showed up in all black and responded

[02:05:50] to a question about whether she'd been on a cheerleading been a cheerleader with no but i used to beat them up

[02:05:57] sparky telling missy to smile that's so faith too that's fantastic uh and sparky telling missy to

[02:06:06] smile and her only grimacing reflects that eliza had to have additional practices to work on her facial

[02:06:14] expressions as she looked angry on camera all the time that's that's my face now i'm just angry

[02:06:20] all the time that's like that's a great fact no but i used to beat them up that's perfect oh gosh okay

[02:06:29] next up gabrielle union has said that she personally asked for some of the dialogue to be changed as a

[02:06:37] condition of signing on on the project because originally you know and we talked about this

[02:06:42] isis was a bit more of a stereotypical you know quote-unquote sassy black woman and gabrielle said

[02:06:50] you know she was like a bad stereotype there was a line in the original script god this is awful

[02:06:55] that was like oh meow me gonna ow you my nails are long sharp and ready to slash who said huh and that

[02:07:04] girl ends up at uc berkeley which was a alternate ending uh she said how did girls from compton talk in

[02:07:12] their minds how about we make her a very clear leader where her path to cheer justice is done with more

[02:07:18] class and dignity but also justifiable anger she doesn't need to speak in made up black

[02:07:25] blaxploitation dialogue and that i was like good for her for speaking up because that must have been

[02:07:33] kind of an i can't i mean i have no idea but i can imagine that would be infuriating to read be like

[02:07:37] really like this is what we're doing so i i i really want to listen to her book now it's so good i do too

[02:07:45] i've made a note to to go look for it blaxploitation is one of the best

[02:07:53] words i've ever heard and i'm good i think that's the only time i've seen that i can't at least i don't

[02:08:00] recall coming across it before but it makes perfect sense yeah there's a whole genre of like of films

[02:08:07] called blaxploitation it was big in the 70s um think like shaft and like the old pam greer movies

[02:08:14] and then in the late 90s and the 2000s there was a whole string of like tongue-in-cheek ironic remakes

[02:08:22] of blaxploitation films um like jackie brown was one of those that was a quentin tarantino movie

[02:08:29] here's where my pretentious film major comes out i've read it i love it you guys love it when you

[02:08:36] drop the knowledge the iconic opening cheer scene was almost cut from the movie jessica bendinger a

[02:08:43] writer on bring it on told the huffington post that she vouched for the opening scene when others wanted

[02:08:47] it cut i was like if you cut this cheer then it's just a dumb movie who cares you need to let everybody

[02:08:54] know your tongue is in your cheek there needs to be self-awareness she said and god was she right

[02:09:01] seriously good for her that was the best way to start off the i cannot so good imagine the movie without

[02:09:08] that in it oh this is fantastic the actors had to go to an actual cheer camp before filming which i think

[02:09:19] was a great idea nicole builderback told bustle that she had to prepare a cheer of her own for the

[02:09:26] audition and once she was offered the role everyone had to enter cheer camp for four weeks my goodness

[02:09:34] they had to learn the pyramids build up the strength had to learn all the tosses she said we learned all

[02:09:40] that stuff so it was eight hours a day and we got a lunch break it was tough it was a lot of work she said

[02:09:45] and that is what cheer camp is you're you're going non-stop yeah but four weeks that's intense

[02:09:53] no ours was just one yeah about the choreography in the movie to show some separation between the clovers

[02:10:01] and the toros production actually hired two separate choreographers for each squad and the director

[02:10:08] peyton reed said that when high hat choreographed burr it's cold in here for the clovers um that's

[02:10:17] that should say while high hat choreographed burr it's cold in here for the clovers and the other

[02:10:23] choreographer had a great time choreographing the really stiff white girl version for the toros

[02:10:30] and i love the fact that they had two different choreographers to make that distinction because

[02:10:37] you feel it in the movie like i like when they show up and perform the cheer along with them that's oh

[02:10:46] that's such a good scene but i thought that was an interesting fact i hadn't heard that one before yeah

[02:10:51] in an interview with gotham magazine kirsten dunst said that she was torrance when i was 16 and did bring

[02:10:58] it on i was that girl it was like me being in high school as myself it wasn't a stretch at all she also

[02:11:03] noted that she too was a cheerleader in school as was her best friend oh so cute and though she had

[02:11:11] been a care a cheerleader in eighth grade and gabrielle union cheered in high school each squad was made up

[02:11:17] of eight actors and 12 cheerleaders most of the east compton clovers were from san diego's james

[02:11:24] madison high school whose cheerleading squad was ranked third in the country at the time dang that's

[02:11:29] that's why they were so good cool seriously but they loved that that must have been so much fun

[02:11:35] i can only move uh next natina reed shamari fears and brandy williams made up the girl group black

[02:11:45] and made their movie debut and bring it on as three of the clovers i remember them this is so fun they

[02:11:51] were used to you know filming music videos but not movies so at first the three kept looking directly

[02:11:57] at the camera when they were supposed to be looking at kirsten dunst and so after a brief conversation

[02:12:03] with the director they made the adjustment and now are just a fantastic part of the film and their song

[02:12:10] as if is on the movie soundtrack and is featured in the medley that's played for the toros during their

[02:12:18] final routine in nationals oh that's awesome well that's cool i didn't know any of that um in an

[02:12:25] alternate ending dunsts that's a hard word to say dunst yeah torrents and unions isis joined the same

[02:12:32] cheerleading squad at uc berkeley the scene was reluctantly put in by reed in the dvd extras

[02:12:38] of course the oh mickey blooper reel was the ending in the theatrical cut i think that would

[02:12:44] have been too cute yeah but it would have been a great sequel yes i would have watched the hell out of

[02:12:51] that sequel elijah douche q and jesse bradford were arrested in the middle of filming this is great some

[02:13:02] brother sister bonding it's perfect eliza jesse and a couple of the cheerleaders decided to cross

[02:13:11] the border into mexico and party and they ended up in a mexican jail and had to be bailed out this was

[02:13:18] the night before the car wash scene but everyone made it back to set with elijah being notably hung

[02:13:24] over oh that's fantastic that sounds about right um when they are at nationals the cheer that missy

[02:13:34] hears being performed outside of the hotel window is actually a cheer from kirsten dunst high school

[02:13:40] alma mater that they worked in i thought that was cool so we talked about this before but gabrielle union

[02:13:48] told her tiktok followers in january 2022 that additional footage of the clovers was shot

[02:13:54] exclusively for the trailer after test audiences told studio executives they wanted to see more of

[02:14:00] them none of those scenes she says were actually used in the film but rather to make people think

[02:14:05] we were in the movie more than we were which is gross that's just yeah so gross it's not it's so that

[02:14:13] is not a fun fact it's such capitalism it's yeah all right so

[02:14:22] that brings us to the moment where i asked this question which usually the answer is not interesting

[02:14:27] but this time maybe it will be does it still slay becky what do you think yes it does it still slays i

[02:14:37] enjoyed the movie it there's some things that don't age well but overall it brought me joy and i would give it

[02:14:48] tense for your fingers cara how about you yeah it's still one of my favorite movie memories from when i

[02:14:59] was growing up there's some nostalgia i think that's attached to it and like you said becky there are

[02:15:05] some things that are definitely problematic and didn't age very well but overall i think it's

[02:15:11] still kind of a important message along with you know a bunch of just really fun energetic

[02:15:23] chemistry on screen with the actors so i think it definitely still slays i kind of want to watch it

[02:15:28] again same yeah i agree that it has some some problematic issues things that don't age very well but

[02:15:36] the the cheers and the yells are fantastic the all of the scenes of the cheering are dynamic and just

[02:15:44] so fun to watch it has really fun quippy dialogue it's bright and colorful the chemistry is there so i'm

[02:15:53] gonna agree that it still slays with the little asterisk yeah that's fair i like that i i like the 10

[02:16:03] spirit fingers that you gave it that's one of the funniest things i've ever heard thank you

[02:16:08] spirit fingers i wonder how i'd not give it 10 yeah two two spirit fingers oh yeah so normally at this

[02:16:18] point in the podcast we would have news but there's no real buffy or bring it on related news to talk about

[02:16:24] and we don't have any feedback because scheduling and stuff like that sort of made that impossible

[02:16:30] so uh that brings us to the end of our show

[02:16:36] if you would like to join the conversation you can find all of our contact information in pot at

[02:16:44] potastica.com and in the show notes for each episode also at potastica.com you'll find links to

[02:16:51] our social media pages and all of our other shows so many shows to choose from right now so much greatness

[02:16:59] i just finished penny's uh penny and jim's agatha all along finale so good the two of you had me in

[02:17:11] tears by the end of that episode it was just it was very emotional for us yeah such a beautiful

[02:17:21] love fest and the way you guys embraced the listeners and all of our um magical moments in the

[02:17:31] magical moments in the show it just i it was wonderful thank you thank you so much for saying

[02:17:38] i will say y'all's coverage of that was dynamic it was so much fun to listen to and i i already

[02:17:46] re-downloaded all the episodes to listen to again nice in the background while i work so it'll be

[02:17:53] good i will say i have also been listening like crazy to uh podcasts podcastica's coverage of from

[02:18:01] this past season of from was fantastic if you're not already watching that show you should absolutely

[02:18:09] give it a try it's on unless you're squeamish yes it is a little it is a little much my brother would

[02:18:16] not like this show but i'm afraid of scary movies and that's why i haven't watched it is scary yeah i i

[02:18:26] don't think i'm normal like i will watch walking dead or criminal minds to fall asleep to so i am not a

[02:18:32] good judge as to what will disturb other people but it it is worth it i would watch it during the

[02:18:41] daytime if you for sure and not while eating most episodes also i will say that as well that's a

[02:18:47] problem because i do that a lot well and i guess a slight trigger warning there is a child that dies in

[02:18:52] the very first episode so just know that going into it but it's it really is a great show it reminds me

[02:19:00] of how i felt about lost when it was originally airing and podcastica's coverage of it is really

[02:19:08] fun this season they've got they've always had great interviews with the actors and different people

[02:19:13] involved with the show so definitely a plug for them i uh i agree with that from from is dark and

[02:19:23] twisted and disturbing and addictive and i love it but i would not recommend it to everyone because it

[02:19:30] is very dark uh but if you if you like walking dead and you like lost i think you would like from just

[02:19:39] okay that's i like both the first couple of episodes watching bright daytime and and yeah be ready for

[02:19:46] it to be creepy yeah it skews more i don't take break horror than lost or walking dead but i'll say

[02:19:54] like anybody out there if you watch haunting of hill house i feel like this one shouldn't be

[02:20:00] an issue you know like oh i did watch that yeah you'll be fine then yeah okay i just i know some

[02:20:07] shows like that i'll watch one or two episodes and then i'll watch what we do in the shadows or the

[02:20:12] office yeah you gotta balance it out in your buffer show yeah like it may take me a while to get through

[02:20:18] it but i will yeah well everybody thank you so much for listening to us and we will be back very very

[02:20:26] soon to uh return to buffy the vampire slayer coverage in about two weeks so stay tuned for that

[02:20:36] yes next time we'll be starting our coverage of season four of buffy with episode one the freshman and

[02:20:44] we are so excited to get back to that i can't wait i've missed y'all so much oh thanks for listening

[02:20:50] everyone until next time i'm penny and i'm becky and i'm the poo so take a big whiff happy

[02:21:05] and i'm kara keep playing