Sister Act with Nithya Raman

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Speaker 1: On the Bedel Cast, the questions asked if movies have women in them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, or do they have individualism? The patriarchy ze invest start changing it with the Betel Cast. Welcome to the Bechtel Cast. My name is Jamie Loftus, my name is Caitlin Darante, and you know the deal. This is our podcast about the portrayal of women in movies. We use the Bechtel test as a jumping off point to initiate a larger conversation, treatment and representation. Yes, Jamie, have a question. Yes, please? What is the Bechtel Test? Oh? I'm so glad? Do you asked her? It was like three years later. I'm like, I don't understand it. What have you said it? And then I was like, that's not fair, sames, unrestupid. Well okay for Jamie fruit just you from my reference. Yes, it is a media metric created by cartoonist Alison Bechtel, sometimes called the Bechtel Wallace test, in which two female identifying characters with names must speak to each other about something other than a man, and by our metric, it has to be at least a two line exchange of dialogue, right, I think it'd be easy. Usually it's not. I mean, look at the Oscar nominees. Well what if so I hope someone like slides into our d M s and it's like Ford v. Ferrari pass the Bechdel test. You eve, but I didn't see it. What if it did? What if? What if the cars identifies, you know, and they rammed each other? Boats do canonically canonically, But I don't know. We'll see. Yeah, if anyone knows if Ford v. Ferrari passed the Beckdel test? What a wild ride? That movie? What ride? Yeah? Because cars? Because cars, you know what cars are. I'm really excited for both their guests and the movie we're covering today. We've been getting this request since we started the show, and we were just kind of just waiting for the for the for the right guests to come along. So I'm very excited. We're doing Sister Act. We're doing Sister Act. We're gonna deviate a little bit from the format because our guests. We're gonna ask some questions, an interview a little bit. We gotta get to know where you go. Because she is an urban planner, a community advocate. She served as executive director of Time's Up Entertainment, and currently she is running for Los Angeles City Council District four are election where it's literally sitting. It's in District four at this very moment, the election for which is on March three. It's Nythia Rahman. Hi, welcome, Hi, I'm so happy to be here. Okay, we're also just for our listeners. Were recording literally at Caitlin's house in District four right now. I mostly came because I think both of the our constituents, So yeah, one podcast. It's a real grassroots movement. So if you're an l A listener and you live in that district, perc your ears up extra. But everyone just okay, yeah I did. They were so excited you're here. We're so happy. We're big fans likewise, so um yeah, I want to just start about by talking about what motivated you to run for city council. What what you know made the decision to leave your day job and uh start campaigning. Well, it was not It's definitely not something I've been thinking about my whole life, so it was a big decision for me. Um. I also have two little kids. I have four year old twins. They're very cute right now after initial hard, hard period when they were infants, but now they're they're people. They're adorable, they're so fun and the campaign takes me away from them a lot um. And I left a very good job at a very exciting job at times up to come do this. But I'm running for two reasons. One is I was pretty angry about how the city was responding to the issue of homelessness, uh and the broader housing crisis that homeless this is just you know, one part of and I I started a homeless coalition in my neighborhood. I worked at city Hall a few years ago and wrote a report about the city's response on homelessness. And my report at that time found that the city was already spending more than a hundred million dollars on homelessness, but that the majority of the money was actually going to putting homeless individuals in jail and then releasing them, a policy which is both incredibly cruel and ineffective. So you can see by the growth of homelessness in Los Angeles five years later. At that time there were twenty three thousand people experiencing homelessness. Now there's almost thirty seven thousand in the city of Los Angeles, so it's grown by fourteen thousand and five years, which is a staggering increase. And to me, you know, I left city hall. I had twins, I left the workforce for a little while. But while I was at home, I helped start this homeless coalition in my neighborhood which actually serves Los Filas as well, uh and it's called CELA. We started as a group of neighbors who were get together doing volunteer outreach and getting to know people who lived on the streets and in our neighborhoods. So Los Fila's Silver Lake Echo Park, a bunch of neighborhoods that were right near the river. There's a lot of encampments near the river, and these were all our areas where there were no people experiencing homelessness living out outdoors before at all. This was new, and so I think a group of people who were like, what do we do? You know, this is happening, and we don't know what to do. We got together and started doing outreach and we would go out and talk to people who were living in encampments get to know them by name, we'd bring food and water, and we would try and learn from them, you know, more about them and their stories and how they ended up there, but also what was preventing them from getting back into stable housing. And as we learned about the situation that they experienced on the ground, what we realized was that the city had made it incredibly difficult once they were experiencing homelessness for them to actually get back into housing. So in that whole region, so we served an area stretching from Los Filas all the way to Cyprus Park, So if you know l A, that's a huge area of the city. There was no walk in shelter beds, There was not a single shower that they could go use. There was not a really a bathroom where they were welcomed. There was not a drop in case manager. Like if you wanted help and you wanted to talk to somebody to get the help that you needed, whether it be case management work, whether it be mental health support, whether it be addiction counseling, whatever it is that you needed help with, it was not available for you anywhere in this entire area. So I started looking at the system that we had created around homelessness and I knew this from my work at city Hall, but it was made so much more real to me once I was looking at it from the perspective of someone who was actually experiencing homelessness. Was that the system we set up in l A was not really designed to help people. It was designed basically by people who don't care about this issue. And I just thought, here, I am, I have a full time job, I have two little kids, and all these other volunteers who are weren't running the SELA program also do. And we kept asking the city for a drop in center with a shower and uh you know, a hot meal and access to case management for the area. They ignored us. They wouldn't even meet with us, Our council members wouldn't even really meet with us. Finally, we did it ourselves. We raised money, we we applied for grants, we held a fundraiser, and we started operating a one day a week drop in center, which has now grown to four sites, yeah in in Silver Lake. And I just started thinking, if the people who were in power felt any amount of the sense of urgency that I do, and that you know, all of these other volunteers did around this issue, I think we would just be facing a very different situation in Los Angeles. So that's when I started thinking about running UM. And I'm you know, I'm trained as an urban planner. I've thought about cities, and I've worked on cities for pretty much my entire career except for my time at times up so and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. And then the second reason is actually that I wanted to run, was because this election is actually an incredible opportunity, Like we have a chance right now to invite a lot more people into the municipal election, which is historically had very very low participation rates in Los Angeles. Now it's going to coincide with the federal election for the first time, so it's on Super Tuesday. Yeah, and I'm sure everyone's planning to vote on Super Tuesday, So we have an opportunity to invite a lot more people into the municipal political process to say, like, when you're going out there and voting for whoever you want to vote for, you should care about this and you can transform what you see around you, like what you look, what you see on the streets, and of l a, what you see here right now. If this is not acceptable to you, and I know it's not to most people. Our message to them is you have a moment right now to completely transform. It's so exciting. We're very, very very grateful you're running because truly like every like um, I mean you can you can check out Nathia's website and Nadia for the city dot com for all of your policies in detail. But it just it seems like it's just stands to improve literally, I mean, everyone's life in district force. So we're excited about it. Um. I think something that our listeners are always trying to figure out, um, how to do, is is do you have any I guess advice for like the average citizen who's just trying to be more involved and be more engaged in local issues especially. I think that yeah, like you were saying that, I mean super Tuesday, Um, is such a huge opportunity for awareness. Um, what can the average person do to be engaged specifically in l A or anywhere. I mean, let's let's go for l A. Well, I think, yeah, I would just dig into a little bit more this idea that part of the reason why we have an l A that feels right now incredibly hostile to lower income residents, whether it be looking through how we serve our homeless residents, or whether it be looking at how we're dealing with a massive increase in rental prices that has far outpaced incomes, Like our city can do a lot to help tenants, our city can do a lot to help people who are on the verge of becoming homeless. And over and over again, they have looked away from those powers and responsibilities. And I feel like, I think if you're somebody who's living in l A particularly, I think it's really important to understand what powers are local officials have, whether it be at the council or whether it be at the supervisors, and get involved in those races and make sure that we're voting in candidates whose values you believe in and trust, because right now, we have a political system in Los Angeles that's really ossified, you know it is. It's like like I've been interacting with it now and it feels like you're up against some It's like whenever I deal with any aspect of the traditional system, it feels like I have gone back in time to three decades. Terrifying. It's like all men like, there's only two elected representatives out of eighteen total electives at City Hall, so fifteen council members and city attorney, mayor and a city controller, so only two out of those out of that teen our women. It's just like very clubby culture where everybody knows each other, but just a little bit of engagement from residents could completely transform that and it has so in recent weeks and months we've seen both of the city and the county that advocacy by either homelessness advocates who want to see a reduction in punitive responses to homelessness and push for a more compassionate response have shown up at city Hall and protested and changed policy, which yeah, which is incredible. And then at the county level, we've seen this huge criminal justice reform movement that has actually stopped the construction of a three point five billion dollar meant it was called a mental health jail. I mean it was a mental health facility, but it was really another big jail. And now there have another measure on the ballot called Measure Are, which everyone should get informed about. But in both of those situations, we've seen that involvement engagement by residents can change things and it doesn't take uch, you know. So if you can show up to like one, get on a mailing list, show up to one protest, you know, and just having those numbers, invite a couple of friends to it, and then go to brunch afterwards, it yeah, exactly, you know. So so even little things like I I love doing service, like I love the idea of and we invite lots of volunteers in the coalition that I started here in silver Lake and Los VELAs to come in and make food or too, you know, set up that whole shower program that we do weekly, and that's a great opportunity. But if you want to change the systems that result in us having to do that kind of volunteer work week after week, then you have to go to city Hall or you have to go to the Board of Supervisors and like show up in protest and make the change that's going to change the system. So that's what I would say to people who are getting involved, is like, get informed and get involved in advocacy because that can transform the city. Absolutely. Okay, cool, thank you so much. It was I feel like I'm talking We're way too long this We are asking you questions. But that's how that works. You shouldn't have a sign or something where you're like, you know, just like scrite your nose and you're like, we're also, I mean, just because of what our show is about, We're we're curious about your time with time's up. And um, what what was that experience like in what coming from city hall to being a stay at home mom to going two times of what sort of brought you there? Um? What brought me there was not particularly exciting. I just somebody sent me the job listing, and but I think they wanted me because I'm guessing I don't have a lot of insight, but I think they were excited about the fact that I had taken advocacy and transformed it into either concrete programs or concrete policy changes in the past, and I think they were hoping that I could do something similar there, which, UM, I'm very proud to say that we did so. In the in the year a little more than a year that I was the e D, we put together this incredible mentorship program for the executive and producer pipeline. Um. Yeah, and we actually took the money for that came out of Less Moon Vesta's settlement love that knife. So we had an opportunity to apply for that money. So I was like, we have this amazing program already in place. I applied for that funding and we were able to set it up and it was incredible. We have an incredible group of people who are associated with it, but essentially supports people who don't necessarily have the industry connections as who are assistants or junior executives in that pipeline and gives them this incredible network and an intensive mentorship relationship to help them move ahead. And it was a really cool program. And it's also it has a very unique thing which I think is relevant in the context of this pay up Hollywood, you know, this movement to talk about how a little. So we had a ten tho dollar stipend in program that would be given to anyone who was selected for it, because we knew that if you came in and we're getting paid minimum wage or whatever these you know, agencies or production companies pay you, you wouldn't necessarily have the money to go out and have drinks, which is where you like make the relationships that get you, you know. So I think it was a program that was designed really well but also really acknowledge the realities of Hollywood and what it takes to get ahead in the industry. Um. And we had a couple of other week just released these resources for performers on sets telling you exactly what your rights are when you go out and do an audition. Yeah, and we that we compiled all these resources from different places and I kicked started that project and it was released after I left. But it was very very important to me that people who were new to the industry knew not just what their rights were, but where they could turn if they needed help. So we did that. UM. But I would say my broader experience of being at times up was really fascinating because as an relative outsider to the entertainment industry and someone who had come from an advocacy nonprofit background, I was and I don't know whether your experience you're both like in then you consider yourselves in the industry, right, yes, yeah, well I maybe, I mean I would be curious about your experience, But I felt like the industry is really conservative. I mean I think, yeah, it feels like a vested interest in like making it not look that way. But then once you actually start to talk to people, You're like, oh, this is actually very fucked up interesting, Okay, cool. Yeah, And I think like the Times Up moment and movement and the me too activism and a lot of organizing that's now happened not related to Times Up necessarily, although some of it did happen under the Times Up umbrella around like women of color coming together or different groups that have kind of been ignored or left out in some ways. I feel like that is pushing for some changes. But I was kind of surprised at how conservative the industry was and how a lot of it I think is related to the way in which you get a job, so you tolerate abuse because if you speak out, not just sexual misconduct, but any like just like somebody yelling at you or throwing stuff from whatever, aggressively long working hours or whatever it is, because your next job depends on this person's referral, right, And that's that's basically like you're a freelancer, but you're in a union if you're lucky, Yeah, if you're lucky, but it and in a fairly small industry where everybody knows each other. And that's just a recipe for I think really bad can be a recipe for really bad working conditions. So I was really excited to be in a position where we were bringing workers together and talking about workers rights, you know. And I think it sometimes entertainment industry people didn't think about themselves as workers and didn't think about themselves as having workers rights because that's like a different you know. And so it's like exciting to be like, hey, you're a writer, but that's work. Yeah, that's where you deserve to be treated in a particular way. So it was it was cool. It was a really exciting moment in Yeah, history, I guess exciting to be a part of it and play some small role in in it. That's so amazing. Yeah, is there is there anything else you would like for us to touch on before we start talking sister act? And I guess I would just say to the residents of Los Angeles, Yes, you look around. You see a city that I think is really struggling. We have a massive homelessness crisis. We have rising rents, we have bad air, we have unsafe streets, and I could go on and on and on, but all of these things are solvable, and all of these things are completely surmountable if we have the right people in office. And I'm here to tell you that you deserve better, and I feel like that probably applies to most cities in the US, Like, it's not this is not an l A specific thing. There. If you don't live in l A, get informed, damn deserve better too. Yes, I can't wait to vote for you. So thank you for happy that you're here. Um. Oh, and I had one I had one fun question, okay, which is, okay, so you have two young kids at um, what is something that you like because we're always trying to like our whole show is just basically like the media that messed with our brains as children and talking about it now, is there something that you can watch for your kids that you're like, I feel good about this. So my kids actually only have watched with any desire. Two things. One is Daniel Tiger, which is the cartoon does derived from Mr Rogers Neighborhood. It is so simplistic and it's so sweet and lovely and it's so boring. But I can't I can't have you see it. Yeah, like babysat kids watching Daniel Tiger and like, well, nothing, you know, it's nothing bad is happening, but what is happening? Right? Um? And the only other thing that they watch and I have a boy and a girl, boy and girl twins, and the only other thing that they watch is Frozen. Alright, I mean that's we've covered that. You know it does pretty well, sister ed you love to see it. Uh so, I mean we're always just looking to because we're like, we don't know what to recommend to parents who listened to the show. Um so if you if you haven't heard of Daniel Tiger or Frozen, now are the two humans in America who haven't heard of froz? Yes, you gotta check it out. People can't can't stop talking about it. I haven't did you see this? I didn't see the second one. I did see the second one from Molina voices of character, There's there's an interesting conversation to be had about that movie as well. Maybe we'll get to it someday. All right, great, in the meantime, listen to our Frozen one episode. Everybody. Actually, I'll down I didn't know you had done for I'll download that and listen to it. But but now let's let's let's pivot into the rest of the show. We're talking about Sister app that's right before we do. Let's take a quick break first, and then we'll be right back. We're back. Okay, So we're talking Sister Act. It's a movie. It can what what's a movie? Now? Hold on, now, hold on, bear with me. We're today, we're talking about we're talking about a feature length film. Uh. It came out in It stars Whoopie Goldberg. It's called Sister Act. Uh. Nittia, what is your experience with this movie? When did you first see it your relationship? Shoot, I don't even I've seen it so many times. I was rewatched it before coming here today, and I realized I knew lines, I knew you know, like I have watched you know, I've just it's been so much a part of like rerun go Home on the couch, Oh, Sister Acts on. I'm gonna watch it again from I'm like, if if anyone has ever just like had TBS, you've seen this movie, Like there there were certain moments where I had, like I have a similar experience with it where I really liked it when I was a kid, and then just like as I got older, I just would like see it every once in a while until like some point in the movies I'm like, oh, that's a commercial break, you know, like like that kind of movie that's on TV all the time. Yeah, I don't know. I never watched it with like any critical lens before. I just was like, I like it, and I was so pleasantly surprised watching it with a critical lens. There's so much to love about this movie. So it's just romp and had a ten on the Caitlin Rompo Meter What's your History. I had seen it, I believe once when it came out at a drive in movie theater. I would have been about six. That sounds like such a fun but because I was, well, here's the thing, I was young and rambunctious, and because we were in the confines of a car and not like in a theater where we had to respect other people's you know, time and attention, I don't think I paid any attention to the movie. Um whoopsies. So I felt like I hadn't really seen this movie for the first time until about a year ago, and I was like, I haven't seen I've seen doubt that others not the Yeah, the Sister movie. It's a Sister Act is there was I have a whole thing because I was like, maybe, unfortunately Doubt is for some reason one of my favorite movies. It's so depressing, but there's the right reaction that yeah, that is I really I don't like. I came out when I was fifteen, and I saw it in theaters twice. Why. I couldn't tell you, um, but there were a lot of them like, oh, this is just like Doubt without all the problems. Yeah, it really is. You've got your maryl character, You've got your Amy Adams character, thankfully you don't have your Philippine war Hoffman character. And that's the makings of a fun movie. True. So yeah, I had only seen this movie really for the first time until like about a year ago, um, because I was like, I can't have I never seen do I what is Sister Act? So I watched it and I was like, what a fun movie? Like I didn't realize that was the story. I thought that like Whoopi Goldberg was already a nun. I didn't realize that she was like in hiding as a nun. So I was like, oh, what fun I do? I do always forget that there is a murder Writers and then like two seconds later the music gets very silly. Yes, yes, it's like they're like, oh, she's got to get out of there. It's like do do do? Do Do? Do? Right? The nineties were wild? Okay, so should do the recap and we'll go from there. Okay, So we first see Dolores van Cartier. That's, of course Whoopi Goldberg as a kid in Catholic school. She's not taking it seriously. We cut to her as an adult. Then she's a lounge singer in Reno, Nevada. Ever heard of it? Sort of? I hadn't really seen. I'm like, this movie made me want to go to Reno. I've never been. Um, I've seen a lot of seasons of Reno one and that makes me not want to go to Reno. I would agree, Yeah, yeah, isn't that where you go to get like an old timey divorce or something that used to be like the hot spot for like I think you can have to go anywhere in Nevada, right, I think so? I think that like that was I feel like I've I don't know, I think that's the movie. The women they go to Reno, I think, yes, they do that movie is so weird. Yeah, we have to do it someday. Anyway, if you want to get married very quickly or divorced very quickly, go to Nevada anyway. So that's where she's based and she is together with Vince Laracca. That's Harvey Kitel's character, playing the type fame. But everywhere, um, he has his wife, he's he's married to someone else, uh, and doesn't want to leave her for Dolores. So she's like, screw it, I'm leaving you and I'm getting out of here. But right when she goes to tell him that she's leaving, she witnesses him and his goons murdering another goon of his. So, not wanting any witnesses to his crime, Vince sends his goons after Dolores to kill her, and then the fun music starts playing. She's like, yeah, she gets out, she gets away. She goes to the police and they're like, wait, you're with Vince Laracca. He's this big organized crime guy and we're trying to put him away. So if you're willing to testify, we can do that. In the meantime, we have to put you in witness protection until this court date you got the movie, there's got to be a movie. So Lieutenant Souther puts her in a convent in San Francisco and she has to pretend to be a nun and the high jinks in Sue Baby, Um Reverend Mother, they's so good. Reverend Mother played by Maggie Smith. She's the only one who knows who Dolores really is, and everyone else in the convent thinks that she is a nun named Sister Mary Clarence. She's basically Mary all in doubt for all my Doubta Smiths, she's your Oh yes, that's I see. I couldn't have remembered that. And it's allegedly my favorite movie. Um. So she meets the other nuns, including Mary Patrick who is Cathy and Jimie. She's very cheerful, and then there's a young nun who is dressed differently and I don't know enough about Catholicism to know why. I don't know either. She is a Sister Mary Robert Jr. Nun. Yeah, it's like when you're like a brownie and then like a junie, and like a daisy, and then a brownie and then a Catholic or like shot just like the Girl Scouts. Basically the Catholic church. It operates, uh, just like Horrible the Girl Scouts. And then we see them in like the church service. The nuns are singing and acchoir. They're really bad. No one's attending the services. Reverend Mother doesn't want any of the nun is going outside because it's a dangerous neighborhood I guess, or she she thinks it is um And then Dolores is trying to adjust to all of this, but she's not good at being a nun. Believe she was born to stand out. Meanwhile, Vince realizes that Lieutenant South there must have Dolores, so he puts out like a hit on her for a lot of money. So now a bunch of like sleazy bad guys are out looking for her. And then there's a rat in the police department. Someone is leaking info to the bad guys. Like plot, they're just like I guess I just mostly want to see the nuns. Yeah, I guess there's got to be a climax to the movie. Yeah. And then back at the convent, Reverend Mother is like, hey, Dolores, since you have a background of music, you're going to join the choir and she does it sound like a punishment and like that sounds like the best part of being a nun. And she helps the nuns become better singers. She kind helps update the music choices, she's mixing genres, she's giving I love that like long scene where she's like coaching them and they're listening and she's, Oh, it's so good. And then because their music is so exciting now it's bringing people into the church and people are actually fill the butts, are filling the seats. There's very like moments where you know, like in a movie where they're like young people enter and they're dressed in a very like young person way. There's a lot of young people enter moments, and the and the reverence like, oh, young people are entering, Welcome young I was like, oh, man, it's like I don't know what the costume design situation was, but I'm like, oh, definitely a young person palette going on here. What was also weird was that I feel like style has come back around so that when the young people entered, I was like, I want that right. And this also, this movie takes place in San Francisco. I spent a lot of time being like, where are they. I don't like, we were just my boyfriend and I were just like they could be. Um, I don't know, I didn't guess San Francisco. And then at some point, yeah, I think there was a shot at the Golden Gate Bridge. Yeah, and so that was the only yeah, right. And it's also at this time that they're going out into San Francisco, into the neighborhood and their help trying to turn it around. There's a porn store and they're like, don't go in here. And then then the pope hears about how good the choir is, and he's like, I'm gonna come see a concert because popes are are good. They're good, and they they're fine, they're fine, great judges of music. Yeah, for sure, I was like, this is a this is a happening, Pope, right. But it's also at this time when Lieutenant Southor is like, hey, we got you your court date, Dolores. You don't have to really be in the convent anymore. But then it's also at this point where Vince finds out where Dolores is because because of the mall right, and then you're like, right, the it pays off, so shocked. I forgot. Yeah, So Vince sends his goons to kidnap Dolores and bring her back to Reno, and then the nuns find out that Dolores isn't actually a nun, so then they chartered a helicopter to fly to Reno to help save her. And then there's this whole big chase scene Dolores punches the d goons and the nuts j hijinks more silly music, and then finally the cops stop the bad guys and arrest them, and then the nuns go back to San Francisco to their concert for the poem and he loves it standing ovations so good. And then at the end I forgot the end, there's like that freeze frame and then it switches to a People magazine and it's like, guess what like Witness Protection None or whatever it is. It's like, what a silly, fun way to end a movie. So yeah, that's the story. That's the story. Where should we start? I just wanted to start with a fun fact that I learned, yes, which is the actor who plays Pope John Paul the Second in this movie. I was like, oh, who is this? I've never heard of this person. Apparently his entire career was playing Pope John Paul the Second in various things. He's credited on like twenty things, and it's all Pope John Paul the Second. He was Pope John Paul the Second on Alf he was, he was on Ali McBeal as the Pope. He was on Murphy Brown as the Pope. He was on Golden Girls as the Pope. He was on everything, and is he in the Two Popes? He was, No, he's dead. So they had to get Anthony Hopkins. I have no idea. Yeah, they called maybe he was like a pope impersonator. That was his job. And then someone just saw him and was like, oh, you should just play the pope where we just have you standing saying anything. And by all accounts, the Pope thought he did a great job. They're like, he was like, that's a good representation of me, the Pope. UM. So that's well, that's I guess that's all I have to say. Thank you so much. UM for me, I thought this movie held up quite well, and I think it has a lot to do with it only being being rated PG, so there's not a lot of like because a lot of the movies that end up being especially comedies that end up being wildly problematic and toxic because they have freer reigin to make, you know, just racist jokes and homophobic jokes because there are rated and stuff like that. I don't know if that's the only reason why it holds up very well, but I'm like, oh, you know, this is a movie for like kids and families, and I've watched it more than once with my mom. Yeah, it's such a pure whatever it's on TV. They're really is something for everyone for everybody. Uh. It directed by oh, I want to get his name right, Emil Ardelino, who also directed Dirty Dancing, his other big So he's this guy's just churning out classics. It was also I was watching it, I was almost I waited to do the research until I just want to have fun watching it, And I was like, this movie is so good that I think it may have even been written by a woman. But it wasn't. It was written by a man who did a good job imagine it. But then I also read that it went through a few different rewrites. Some of the screenwriters who were brought on Carry Fisher was Carry Fisher and Nancy Myers, So which is carry Fisher has punched up some of the some of the best movies that you never think she was involved in. It's true, she's the coolest, but yeah, I mean this movie largely is just about it's very female driven. The men are either the pope, the priest who's in a couple of scenes, and then the of guys. But aside from that, it's like just a very female driven story. You know, Whoopie Goldberg is the lead is peek here. Yes, she's a peak of her Whoopie Goldberg like powers. And I loved that. I remember I look, you know, I was watching it, and I remember seeing her in the movie and she's this you know, sexual being, you know, who's the love interest for Harvey Keitel. And I remember being really excited that there was a I don't know that just I was like, oh, excited that, you know, I'm dark skinned, and just to see her as this like very attractive you know, and I don't know, it was great. It was like really exciting to see that when I was young and totally and it was an audience. It was not directed just towards black audiences. I mean, it was for everybody. And you know, and that and that was exciting for me. I remember that. That's great. Yeah, and I also read that this was originally written for Bette Midler, who you know that it's been a fine It would have been a good movie, I'm sure. Still, but like, Whoopie kills it. She kills it. She absolutely kills it. It's so good. And and what you said, Mathea goes to show like why casting diverse casts is important for representation. Yeah, yeah, this is like, you know, when did Friends start airing? Fo? Yeah? So later, but still, you know, like I think it took Friends how many seasons to have a oh yeah with like a black love interest? So long? Yeah, yeah, it's I mean it's like, yeah, Whoopy, the impact of Whoopie could I mean, we could go on for days. She's amazing. She's done like such good advocacy over the years too. And but just like, yeah, just by like being herself and owning this role and like being sexual, being capable of being like just like strong willed, and especially in this movie that's built around sisterhood, is like so cool and impactful. And I was really excited that they didn't have a romantic moment between the police officer, and yeah, it seems like there were a few moments where I'm like, are they going to do it? I was relieved that we're just mutually respectful. Yeah right, it would have been like pretty inappropriate had they gotten together. It would have blown the case. First of all, yes, exactly, that's a great point problem for prosecuting Harvey Channel to offer a bit of criticism about not necessarily the movie, but his character. He sort of does blow it when he's like there's a scene where like Harvey Kitel and his goons are like walking around and then Lieutenant South there's like, hey, you're going down. I got you. You know something's going something happened and I'm going to get you. And why would he be so confident if he didn't have of Dolores and his protections. And that's what gets Harvey Keitel to be like, oh he must have Dolores, we have to go kill her. So it's just like his like male ego was just it's part of why what he was in even more danger. South should get his ego under control. But did you? I mean, I thought his character was really cool and in so yeah, we're it's like I feel like they were almost And I'm like, maybe this is just like speaking to how a lot of movies like how we've been like like unconsciously trained to interpret movies. But I thought that he was going to be positioned as a love interest strictly because he was nice to her, like that doesn't bode well for m but youth written because he was just like nice to her, like he was sympathetic to her situation, Like there were some moments where he's like, well, deal with it, but in general, like he came to her show when he was like, hey, probably don't do this. Here's was like okay, but are you gonna come? He's like yeah, looks pretty cool. Like you just seemed like a supportive, kind person, and so yeah, when I kept thinking him like, oh, I think he's good to be the loved interest, I'm like, I think I just think that because when men are kind to women, especially in movies of this time, you're kind of trained to think that they're going to want something out of it, I guess. And it's just that such a common like studio note to be like, wait, there's not a hetero romance in this movie, Well, then what are we even doing? Put it in there, I hope. And and that also, I mean, we can't say this for sure, but I just know that like historically, Whoopie Goberg has always had a lot of say on like what goes into her star vehicles and what doesn't. So she also has a lot of you know power where you have to imagine that suggestion was made and then I mean it didn't fit into the story, you didn't need it. And and also she's got to stay a nun, right right, so Southey doesn't stand a chance against God. Maybe that's the love storright there. Right, she does get married to Jesus, So there's still a heatero romance in this movie. Great points. We gotta take another quick break, but then we'll come right back and we're back. Um. Something I wanted to touch on is so we do often see in a lot of movies women being kidnapped. Danzel fridged things like that. Um, there is a kidnapping in this movie, but normally the movies we tend to see, and especially you know, action and superhero movies. Um, when a woman is kidnapped, it's to raise the stakes for the male hero and then he has to go and rescue her and to like be more heroic. In this movie, two women are kidnapped, Um, and whoop, he saves them both. Yeah, for she saves she helps Mary Robert escape and get away, and then Dolores gets away on her own. Um. I'm impressed that you can keep all the names of the nuns because I just I mean, I just watched it, watched it already, like who the bangs? Exactly? Where is the spinoff Bangs Nune? We already have? What is it? What is the Cool Pope? What's that show? There was the Young Pope and now it's called Now there's a spinoff called I think it's like the New Pope. Give the people Bangs Nuns? We need banks nuns. Yes, none, none. Representation has been down since the nineties, It's true, except for doubt. Let's not that's doubt erasure. That was embarrassing. But yeah, that that whole sequence is again you're sort of like knowing the time that came out, You're like, oh, no, is that you know? Is it like you half expected South to you know, burst in or just based on what you've seen before. But and I feel like because it is still a testament to like Whoopi Goldberg, where you just always get the feeling whenever you see her on screen that she is going to be able to save herself like she and and that scene where she is able to get Mary Robert to tumble out of the car and not die, not die, that could have ended very badly. Well that she did it when they slowed and she's Okay, go save yourself, I'll take care of her. This is not your problem, right, I'm like, oh, she's maybe she's done this before. Reno seems wild, but she's able to save her friend and then yeah, and then save herself like it. That's that's how you know. There is the moment at the very end when Harvey Citel is about to shoot her and then um South comes in and shoots him instead. So technically that's a bit of a rescue. But because we've already seen what be getaway on her own twice now, already at the very beginning and then again at the end, it didn't feel like, oh, she's like constantly being damned. What are saved by a man? And also like that's his job as a police officer to like yeahs like the first time we've seen like it was like we gotta see South or succeed. At some point he's just been accidentally selling her out movie by being a good friend. Um. Another thing I think is worth talking about is a big component of this movie is like female relationships and female friendships that develop. Um, there are some relationships between women where there is some tension which we're always like careful to analyze and say, Okay, well is it warranted or is there any context for because yeah, it's like sometimes we'll see I think like a kind of modern trend that will sometimes see is like like movies full of female relationships where there's never been a problem and you're like, well, this doesn't feel really either. What I really liked about this movie is that with these female relationships, you are generally getting enough context on the character to understand where because it's like that the relationship between Maggie Smith and Whoopi Goldberg could have been so like reductive and basic and this none is mean, This Nune is fun. But with even with Maggie Smith's character, you get a like that scene towards the end where she explains where she's coming from and like she has these insecurities about being obsolete and not belonging, and you're just like, oh, you know, you get the end to her character, and I feel like you kind of get the same for Dolorous for the most part. Two for sure, so nice and all the other nuns are so nice to her, just immediately love her. They love her, they welcome her, They follow her out to the bar crosser there as like God, these nuns are so desperate to do something, because the second they were like, wait, where's she going? We should go probably go to this biker bar. I did have one question. Is Maggie Smith the British actress? Yes, yes, okay, but it's it's funny because in a lot of movies, I feel like with nuns not I haven't seen as probably as many as you, but too well, I haven't seen doubts, you know. That's fine. Yeah, I feel like nuns often have British accents for some reason. But maybe it was just because Maggie. Because it was both Maggie Smith and the priest who was he was Irish? Yeah he was, yeah, he was not. Yeah. The two heads of the church were not American, but they were in San Francisco, and no effort was really made to feel like here. I do think that there is sometimes this like dufus brain thing in American culture where they're like, Okay, how do we make this character sound authoritative? Let's just hire someone British like probably like they're they should have hired out for Molina. We should that's true there, I mean that we're okay. In addition to Banks and non we needed a choke. This sounds like a show that would exist American one. You put American before anything, it probably exists already or good how many shows the good Doctor, the Good Wife, you need, the good nuns, the bad nun? Um that also bad teacher? Yeah, I guess bad also bad? There's other bads? Right or is it just or like the Something Girl, Bad Boys? But then there's also a movie called good Boys. Yeah? Yeah, what is going on people? There's there's also the Blank Girl. There's so many The Blank Girl, the New Girl, the Danish Girl, others, amongst other titles. See that great point that just happened? Um, but yeah, Nydia, like you're saying, the relationship among the nuns is so like there is sometimes conflict, but for the most part they're all rooting for each other, and you get that relationship with Bangs None and and Dolores where she brings that cute little daisy clock. You're like, Oh, she's so weird, so weird, she's so weird. She looks like she's in her twenties, but maybe she's actually fourteen. She gave you fourteen or forty. And you're like, I wouldn't be surprised when she brought the clock. Was when I was like, yeah, I thought that Dolorous was very patient with her. An adult woman brings you a daisy? How do you react? I read this whole article and I, oh, I should I should pull it up because I don't remember what it was called or the source, so you know. Um, but it's shipping Dolores and Mary Robert and how they have a lesbian relationship and if it's like a coded lesbian relationship throughout the movie. Um, some convincing points were made. Listen, I'm down, I'm down, and she and she saves Mary Robert and the Mary Robert runs back to the common and she's like, Dolores is my best friend. We have to go to Reno and everyone is like yes, there's no discussion I love that scene where they Catholic guilt the helicopter pilot. It's also funny to me. I felt like the level of religiosity and the fact that people wouldn't shoot a nun, the fact that like a helicopter pilot would be unable to resist the advances of nuns guilting him, like it was so taken for granted. Do you think if that was a plot twist now that everyone would be like, yes, that works. I don't know. I'm like, I feel like if I was faced with an aggressive none, I would probably do what she said, but I wouldn't. I mean, yeah, I agree like this movie. I mean, first of all, is a great propaganda film for the Catholic Church. Makes it look like a blast. I mean it is a blast. There are no problems. I mean I've never seen one there. I mean just like bury your Spotlight DVD or whatever. Um. But but yeah, it comes out with yeah, like the assumption that the entire city of San Francisco is Catholic and suffering from deep Catholic guilt and they will they will die for Anne at the drop of that which is I don't know. I mean, there there are some and none of them particularly, Like, I don't think they're really like quote unquote problematic. I just think that they do feel very of their time, like assuming that everyone is religious and easily manipulated by religious figures. The kind of world with no race that this movie has written in that I feel like it's kind of a hallmark of the nineties where it's just basically any character in this movie could be played by anyone of any race, and that topic is just kind of just not addressed in this particular movie. Um, although I would say that one of the things about Maggie Smith's character, she's like, the nuns aren't allowed to go outside, it's too dangerous. And when you finally get shot to the neighborhood this quote dangerous neighborhood, it's predominantly black. So it's like, okay, well you're that's Maggie Smith is racist. It's what we're saying. God damn it, Maggie Smith is racist. Yeah, so yeah, that could have been avoided. Yes. Um, the other thing that I I my little you know, ding went off. The word hooker gets repeated a couple of times very nineties nineties language. Yeah, there there was an any like don't don't consume point and you know, porns have its pregeous movie that like goes with the like very catholic because I feel like this was a movie that church groups could go to. Yeah and so, but also like I grew up completely secular, and I movies with religious components often don't appeal to me or you know, I'm not drawn to them necessarily. Um, but I felt like this movie was all weirdly secular enough that I was like, I can get on board with this. This is fun. I'm having a great time. Plus the great music. Music is so good. I will have to I have to say that when they were singing the first reproduced song reproduced under Whoopy Goldbergs production, fun, what a fun Yeah. And then they're doing the hymn and then they break into the more the clapping and the rhythmic portions, and then people just start walking in off the streets. The young came in. But I will say at that moment, I don't know whether I'm particularly emotional right now or what, but I was like, music does your night? It was it was man, I was so ready to cry for that moment because it's, yeah, you see the youth outside and they're like, what's that beautiful music? Oh, what's that? That's the church. I'm like, I'm getting propagated. I love it. I love it so much. There was I mean, I was like, maybe I'll go back to church, and then I was like, no, wait, hold on um, but it works. Man. At the church where we do the shower program in Silver, like Silvery Community Church, they have beautiful music. It's like folk music, and it's just gorgeous. I've taken my kids there a couple of times. I mean, we're not I wasn't raised Christian, we're not deeply you know, I don't practice any particular religion deeply right now. But yeah, it's just so beautiful and lovely to be in the presence of music with all these other people. I mean, I guess that's going to a concert, but yeah, but like it's I don't know, but it's also spiritually, you know, it's connected to a higher Yeah, and their music is what brings the pope and he's like, I've heard about your great choir command. I really like that scene where where Dolores, you know, where Maggie Smith is about to say, you know, we can't sing again. Just like the nuns are so game for whatever. When there's like that vote where Maggie Smith's like should we do boring music or fun music? All the nuns are like fun music, and Maggie's like okay. Then she like almost resigns because again she's like feeling kind of inadequate and a rule. But then it's like, no, I do I have to stay. Everyone has like a nice little arc. You also have that relationship that I really like between Dolores and Sister Mary Lazarus, who had been the head of the choire. She's the choir and and right at the very beginning of their interactions, she's like, I see what's happening. You got brought in as a ringer. You're trying to replace me. But then when she sees that Whoopee is like knows what she's doing. She knows music, she knows where to position the people, she knows what notes or what notes, and she's like, oh, I'm gonna step down. You're clearly better at this um. And there's I feel like that could have been in a lesser movie. They would have tried to like pit those women against each other and just like had her be like no, no, this is my thing. But she she like, she's like, no, you have the skills, this is your background. And then they become friends and they together when they eat ice cream. That it was a very nice scene. There was some confusion around time for me in the movie. Interesting because you know, they when we first see the church, it's under construction. They have all the scaffolding there and right, you know. And then the implication is that by increasing people who are coming into the church, people are passing the hat and putting in more money, we're able to finish the repairs at the church. But that would take a long It would take a long time. How I guess it comes down to those montages of like how much ground are we cover? Because there was like a few long montages of like nuns doing various but the whole time they were supposed to wait for the court date was two months and then yeah, and then and then the lieutenant calls her and says, I got it speeded up so it a month. In a month, they were able to increase attendance at the church enough to raise ten dollars or more. I are a contractor, finished the repairs enough how that the Pope could come in and be totally impressed and went over the youth of all of San Francisco. They've saved them. I mean Delor. She's a she's a quick operator. She really solved Catholicism. And in the beginning it was also interesting because she was like a failed lounge singer but incredibly successful. Sometimes you just have to find a caller, you know, it's that's beautiful. Oh no, I think I have more varied religious issues than I realized. Um yeah, I'm trying to think of other I mean, oh, something I did want to bring up. So I bring this up a lot on the show. But usually, UM, I wouldn't even say that this movie is marketed specifically at women. I think that it's kind of a general movie. Will be Goldberg is such a huge star at this time. This movie was hugely successful. Um I had a thirty one million dollar budget and it made two wounder thirty one million dollars at the box office. So like the movie was, it seems like everyone was seeing it. But we do find, especially when um the film critic pool was less diverse that movies that are directed at general audiences and then usually specifically women or people who are not whatever the white male critic don't get as good a review. Somehow, this movie only has round to me, which hurts my feelings, like, how does it not have? And we have I have? I found a quote from our noted enemy, Roger Ebert, who always has the dumbest takes in spite of being the most famous film critic of all time. Here's what do you have to say about his direct I found to be very fusing. He said, this movie is a little bit low key and contemplative and a little too thoughtful, which I didn't like. I was like, what he didn't like that the movie was thinking about things. It's like, now, hold on, there's a point to all this, so that you know, so don't with the point bank don't always trust Rotten Tomatoes some of the old guy has weighing in or but I would even take issue with the characterization of the movie. It's too thoughtful, right if it it's a wrong, it's just immediate music. It's a it's a musical right with with multiple musical montages, right all rule. I don't know, I don't I don't know what was going on with him, but he was not he didn't seem to be he didn't like fun. He seemed to not fun. You get the vibe from all of his reviews of like, why wasn't this Taxi Driver? I'm like, if it's not taxi driver two stars like um now, and then wasn't exactly like stand by Me because costead stand by Me for girls stars? Um So anyways, just another reflection on the state of film criticism this time. Did you have any other that's kind of it? I have. Surprisingly, I really don't have too much of a bad word to say about this mo. Now. I have to say that I'm so grateful that as part of my campaign duties, I had to rewatch Sister Act, and it should be a job qualification. It was such a pleasure because there's so much to do right now. But I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I will set a side time for Sister I need to watch this. Don't disturb me. I'm rewatching Sister Act. Sometimes my mom will call me and I'm like, sorry, I've got too much work to do right now. I have to go watch the Social Network. I understand why my parents don't think this is a job. I get it. I get it, I get it. But I'm a worker and you have rights. Yes, we need to a podcast union. We need a unionize. Honestly we should. Does this movie pass the Vectel test tons, I think almost more than any movie we've ever covered. There's whole scenes that passed the Bechtel test. Um. I believe that the scene where Sister Mary Robert brings in the weird daisy besides mentioning her brother one time, that entire scene passes the Bectel test, which is like virtually unheard of. Yeah, no, I mean I was like, so the pope, do the nuns even talk about another man? I mean Help or God or Jesus. But yeah, most of the male characters are unseen because they're Jesus and God. So I do like, how okay, So there's one scene. There's a few scenes where the priest is present. I do like how kind of generally sidelined he is. But there is that one scene where like, and I don't necessarily know entirely how to feel about this, but there's a scene between um, the reverend mother or mother reverend I don't know, Maggie Smith and Dolores, and Um, she's yelling at Dolores for this is pop music. This is secular music. Uh. And then the priest comes in. He's like, no, I'm going to undermine your authority here and be like hey, like he was on Dolores, I thought that he just like for me, kind of was on board with the nun hive mind of like we love what we called burg will do whatever she says, so and that, I mean, I see what you're saying. But I was like, they should be singing fun music or why am I watching um? But yes, yeah, big, big, many passes, many passes between many combinations of characters. Yeah. Usually if there's two women on screen talking to each other, it'll pass the metal test at some point in the car. And that's most of the scenes of the movie. So this movie is truly it's the one feminist text we've We've found it distract as our feminist text. I of it. I was so happy. I mean, it's a sister in the title. What do you expect? I'm so excited that we covered this movie today. Really may be so happy. Let's write it. Yes, rate it on our nipple scale. We have a scale of zero to five nipples in which we rate it based on its representation and treatment of women. I'm gonna go with a solid like four and a half, And there's just a few of those little like nineties jokes and like, you know, uses of certain words and you know, like black neighborhood equals dangerous neighborhood. But it was far less problematic than I would have expected if a movie from the early nineties. It's about it's a movie about a woman being accepted into this sisterhood. And and even though she's like at the beginning, she's like, I don't like this, all the nuns are still like, but you're so great, and you're so good at being a nun, and we like you so much. Everyone this movie is so accepting of each other, so very supportive. Yeah, and the one female relationship where there is tension is contextualize and like everyone comes around by the end. So yeah, it's just it's a beautiful story about sisterhood and we need more of them. So I would give this four and half nipples and give one to Whoopee, one to Maggie Smith, one to her bangs the bangs of the Bangs, none, none, and I'll give one to Kathy Najimie, and I'll give one to Lieutenant South there love it. Yeah, I'm gonna do four and a half to two. I think that this this movie just made me so happy. And no movies hold up. In this movie, like holds up never happens. It's so I just love how there were so many opportunities for their writing to kind of turn women against each other, but it really never takes that option. And like the sisters are on board the whole time. They're there to support each other. And when there's a reveal of like Dolores isn't who she says she is, they're like, who cares she was kidnapped? We're going to arena? Like it's just it's so I just like I'm getting emotional um there. I mean, there's very low um representation of women behind the camera here, which is like something to just be aware of. There's one credited female producer, but it's you know, directed, written by editor, cinematography. The whole bit is kind of men across the board. Just something that we try to be aware of. But the story itself and the actors that are there, it's just it's just the best. So four and a half two will be one of Maggie, one of Cathy and half to banks. Yeah, I'm you know, I probably not because I haven't done this as much as you guys, but I'm gonna give it five nipples. Uh, and just look at the disgusting clue. We were like just because yeah, like I expected this to be yeah, expected it not to hold up as well, and I was Yeah, I was so happy to be able to watch a movie like this. It was just so happy and it gave me an adult rated joy. Do I have to assign the nipples to people? If you want to? I would, I would, I would follow you and we're assigning in your nipple assignments, spreading the nipples across the board. Plenty of sisters, plenty of nipples. I'll give the pope and one of my nipples. Yeah, good for you, didn't get any well, Nathia, thank you so much for being here, Thank you for having me. Tell us what you want to plug. Where can people find you on social media? Oh yeah, yeah, so I meant Nitia for the City dot com. But if you use social media, follow us on Twitter. Nittia v Raman. That's an I T h y A and my last name is r A m A and not not quite like the noodle. Um. But if you know, if you just google Nitia City Council, I'm the only Nitia running for city council. Imagine that. Um. And we're on Instagram and Natia for the city as well. And um, definitely if you're in l A, please look me up, come out to canvas. Um. We have a huge volunteer army that's knocking on every door in the district to try and get people excited about this election and how they can expect change in the city. Um. Yeah, so look look me up, come out, come meet us. And when when's the election again? March three? And vote? Ever come out and vote, yes exactly. I'm sure everyone's going to be voting for the primaries. You should be well not stop bothering our listeners about it. Um. Yeah, thank you so much for making the time and and and carving Sister Act into your schedule. Yes, thank you for giving me the opportunity to carve Sister Act into my schedule anytime. Very grateful. Thank you. Guys. Where's Sisterhood right now? Yes? Yes, this is the Sisterhood of the Traveling Act. Where's that movie? Okay, you can follow us all the normal places Twitter, Instagram, et cetera. At Bechtel Cast. You can go to our website bechtel cast dot com for our show dates and episodes. Our patren aka Matreon is five dollars a month to bonus episodes every month, plus the entire back atalogue. And I think that's about it. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you. Byfi