A League of Their Own

GeekTherapy · October 17, 2022, 9:52pm

Originally published at: https://geektherapy.org/a-league-of-their-own/

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#334: Lara is obsessed with the new A League of Their Own series, and loved the original movie. Link and Josué join her in discussing how the show expands on themes and characters in the original, and how showing queer joy really hits a home run.

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Transcript

Josué Cardona 0:11
Welcome to GT Radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. And my co hosts for tonight are Link Keller.

Link Keller 0:24
Hello.

Josué Cardona 0:25
and Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:26
Hi,

Josué Cardona 0:28
Lara, it’s your turn.

Lara Taylor 0:30
I sound more excited every week.

Josué Cardona 0:32
You sound great.

Lara Taylor 0:33
Fabulous. Fabulous.

Josué Cardona 0:36
It is my pleasure to have you here. Yes.

Lara Taylor 0:39
It’s my turn to pick and I want to talk about some gay ass shit.

Josué Cardona 0:43
Okay. Yeah.

Link Keller 0:44
mmmYeah,

Lara Taylor 0:47
I mean, I had an idea and we can talk about that. But I also the show itself is pretty good. I want to talk about a league of their own.

Josué Cardona 0:55
The movie or the series?

Lara Taylor 0:58
Both, either, compare contrast. Yeah, yeah.

Josué Cardona 1:04
I’ve seen the movie many times. I’m a fan.

Lara Taylor 1:06
I’ve seen the movie very, very many times.

Josué Cardona 1:10
My favorite Madonna song is this used to be my playground?

Lara Taylor 1:15
It’s where I fell in love with Geena Davis.

Josué Cardona 1:18
She’s great. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 1:20
And Rosie O’Donnell and. And Madonna. I

Josué Cardona 1:27
I’ve mentioned Geena Davis on the show many times because of the Geena Davis Foundation. And their motto is if she can see it, she can be it. It’s for girls to see like in media to see you very positive portrayal

Link Keller 1:39
it’s only for Geena Davis

Lara Taylor 1:40
The Geena Davis Foundation, where Geena Davis can see herself in all the media she’s been in.

Josué Cardona 1:51
And be it.

Lara Taylor 1:53
Um, but

Josué Cardona 1:55
long kiss good night. Have any of you watched that movie?

Lara Taylor 1:57
No.

Josué Cardona 1:58
I love that movie where she where she plays an assassin. That was that loses her memory. And then Samuel Jackson shows up like as her handler and she’s a housewife. No,

Lara Taylor 2:11
no, but that sounds like bad ass. It’s Geena Davis. You better not be quoting the wrong

Josué Cardona 2:16
I’m pretty sure

Lara Taylor 2:18
Okay, Link says yes.

Josué Cardona 2:19
Just gonna Yeah, okay. Yeah. My first DVDs I bought, like the one I haven’t seen in a while. Continue, sorry.

Lara Taylor 2:26
Yeah, yeah. No, but I’m watching that movie. As a kid. I could probably quote the whole movie from beginning to end. Maybe not off the top of my head. But if you got me going, I could the whole thing. The song that they sing, is there like it? I sing it all the time. And it’s been stuck in my head for weeks now. I think so. If nobody has heard of a league of their own, it’s about the women’s all American girls baseball team or baseball league. During the during World War Two when the men were off at war, and all the baseball players got shipped off to war. So who was going to play baseball? women were going to play baseball. I almost want to say like there was a lot of things that went over my head in the movie when I was a kid like they were talking about STDs and I had no idea avoid the clap Jimmy Dugan. But I the the movie itself. It hit me as a kid like, I love baseball. I am probably the only person on this podcast who loves baseball

Josué Cardona 3:43
can confirm

Lara Taylor 3:45
can confirm and just watch it. I love baseball movies. More than actual like baseball. I feel like baseball is an experience when you go to when you go to the game. It’s different than when you’re sitting at home watching on TV. I still love watching baseball games on TV and missed it when COVID happened and there was no baseball going on. And I definitely tuned in for the weird games with the canned audience and the cutouts and all of that. And I hope they someday make a movie about baseball I think the weirdness of baseball during COVID

Josué Cardona 4:23
be like the league of their own. Tom Hanks plays a cardboard cutout in the stands.

Lara Taylor 4:31
I have a feeling one a Tom Hanks was probably a cardboard cutout for one of the teams. But it was one of those movies that was like you saw women doing something that they wouldn’t normally be doing and this is in the 90s Fast forward to now. I did not as a kid watching that movie originally. Like as an adult looking back on the movie. I know how gay That movie was. But as a kid, they shied away from a lot of it. And Rosie O’Donnell played her character very queer even though it was never said.

Josué Cardona 5:09
So an interview with her recently where she said that she was told to like tone it down

Lara Taylor 5:13
did you see an interview or a tik tok of an interview?

Josué Cardona 5:16
Look, I don’t know where I saw things anymore, but it was most likely on Tik Tok.

Lara Taylor 5:22
Because I saw that tik tok

Josué Cardona 5:23
it counts it counts.

Lara Taylor 5:24
It does. It does. Yeah, yeah. But she she played the character queer even though the director told her not this isn’t gay. And in that interview, she says, Well, they’re making a TV show of A League of Their Own, with but with gay. And I’ve been excited about this show since I heard about it. It was off my radar for a while. And then all of a sudden, I saw an ad that it was going to be on Amazon. And that’s all Nina and I did that week was watch A League of Their Own. It was amazing. And I think the original concept I came up with when I was pitching the idea, the show today was like, how do reboots or remakes or whatever, bring new context to things and I think watching that movie as a kid, and as an adult, I had somewhat of an idea of what the experience was. But watching this show, they give you more time with characters that are clearly built off of ideas of characters in the in the movie, and different new ideas as well. But watching what it was like to be queer, a queer person, a queer black person a queer black person working in a factory in in World War Two, it was it was definitely interesting and brought, I don’t know new context and the show broke me a few times. I definitely cried a lot. I think more than I did. watching the movie as a kid. Because spoilers for a movie that’s like 30 years old. The Rockford peaches don’t win the whole thing. And it was very sad for me. But I don’t know. Josué you saw that movie.

Josué Cardona 7:31
I have seen the movie.

Lara Taylor 7:33
Did you watch any of the show?

Josué Cardona 7:35
I did. I watched I’ve I’m halfway through the third episode.

Lara Taylor 7:39
Okay, I haven’t gotten to the ones that broke me yet. But

Josué Cardona 7:42
yeah,

Lara Taylor 7:43
I don’t know.

Josué Cardona 7:44
Yeah,

Lara Taylor 7:44
I had a hard time the first episode. I was like, oh, that’s clearly supposed to be Dottie Henson. And oh, that’s clearly supposed to be Doris Murphy.

Josué Cardona 7:53
No. They’re different though. Right?

Lara Taylor 7:54
They are but you can kind of get it like catcher came from a farm.

Josué Cardona 8:00
She’s never set foot on a farm. What are you talking about?

Lara Taylor 8:02
Exactly. Exactly. I liked those. I liked the plays back to the the original. The coach in the movie hates being there doesn’t want to be coaching. And he actually loves it and wants the attention in the show. So it was different enough after I think watching that first episode, I was comparing it a lot to the to the movie. And then at the end I was when there’s I can’t remember what happens at the end. That was queer. But I was like, oh, that’s how this is different. Okay, I’m here for this.

Josué Cardona 8:42
Yeah.

Lara Taylor 8:43
And it’s all my queer friends can talk about.

Link Keller 8:49
The scene this scene was Greta cutting Carson’s hair and saying “Do you want me to stop?”

Lara Taylor 8:56
Yes.

Link Keller 8:57
WHOO HOO that’s good shit right there. Yummy.

Lara Taylor 9:07
It was interesting to watch with with Nina because she and I both have different experiences with our queerness. And when we came out and how our relationships were, and there were moments when like, she was like, this is really hot. I was like, talking about Carson having a husband and then basically cheating on him but not because she said I don’t want to like I’m not happy. I’m leaving you in a letter, but she wasn’t sure if he read it or not. We went back and forth on this many times me and Nina, but she was like, this is hot. And I’m like no, it’s not. I don’t want to be that person that’s with somebody that’s with somebody else. I don’t I don’t want that and it was very interesting conversation. But it was it was interesting seeing what each of us brought our experiences to seeing the movie This show feels like one long movie. I know plenty of people who watched it as one long movie.

Josué Cardona 10:06
Well, um, something you just said about like, it’s interesting how people you know how you experience it differently. So, I’m not a queer woman. Despite what Tiktok says, and I, I’ve been reading a book called the book by bell hooks called the will to change men masculinity and love. And I haven’t finished it yet, but I’ve been reading that and so I started watching the show. And of course, like, what jumps out at me is the way that women are treated during that time. And that’s a big part of the movie as well. But it’s just so infuriating. And to think that, like, my mom was born in the 50s. So like, my grandmother went through all this stuff. My mom still it was better for when my mom you know, was young, but like that still wasn’t that long ago.

Lara Taylor 11:00
No, it wasn’t

Josué Cardona 11:01
and and just those moments where, like, the the lady from the, the, I forget her name, but she that she owns the department store are the makeovers like the one makeover stuff, the one that’s in charge of making them lady like,

Lara Taylor 11:19
yeah.

Josué Cardona 11:20
When that moment when she says, like, No, I’m not making you look ridiculous. I’m making you not look ridiculous. Like, I’m gonna help you enter that world, that world of men. And then once you’re, I’m gonna help you get there. Once you’re there, do whatever you want. But if you want to play if you want to, like any power, any recognition, these are the rules. This is something that you have to do.

Lara Taylor 11:45
And there’s a lot of talk about rules throughout the show and the rules of being a woman the rules of being a woman in baseball, the woman the rules of being queer in the world.

Link Keller 11:57
Yeah, it’s almost like a game is a really good way to structure something when you want to talk about the roles people exist within and society and how we structure them and police them. So weird, huh?

Josué Cardona 12:15
hmm

Lara Taylor 12:15
hmm hmm

Josué Cardona 12:15
I don’t know. Like, the only other show I’ve been watching now is the house of dragons. And like, right, like The last episode was very much that type of thing. I’m like, You’re a woman. You can’t play here. Like this is a man’s world thing. Just hitting it, you know? So. So hard. It’s almost like, like, it’s like fatigue, like, oh, this week, like, everything we’re watching as a reminder of that, and not how it was, but like how it still is in many ways. Yeah, yeah.

Lara Taylor 12:51
Yeah. I’m definitely picked up on that in house a dragon. We just watched that last night too.

Lara Taylor 13:00
But yeah So those are things on my mind

Lara Taylor 13:04
at least there you’ve got dragons, like, she’s got a dragon.

Link Keller 13:07
There should be dragons in baseball is what I’m saying.

Lara Taylor 13:10
There’s no crying in baseball, but there’s definitely dragons in baseball.

Josué Cardona 13:15
But like, I haven’t gotten farther into the show, so I don’t know how much they’re gonna explore this. But like in House of dragons, like she has power. She’s a dragon rider and all these things, right. And she still has status and like she’s still in a position where she can do a lot of stuff. But I like this The, even though it only happened a little bit in the show so far, in A League of Their Own. Actually, there was just one scene that comes to mind right now. When the I think they’re like, I don’t remember if it was at the crab dinner or something that she tells, like, the friend of the girl was trying to play baseball, she she’s like, Oh, stop it, I will go on a sex strike if you if you if you don’t continue, right. It’s like this idea of like, there is even even in that time, right? There’s still like, people still have some power, like women still have power in a relationship or, or in that relationship in particular, you know, that it’s still explores that right, like, it’s not just showing a completely submissive, and I mean, the movie does that too. Right? Like, that’s kind of the it’s, it’s cool to see them playing baseball and like, really playing right. It’s something about Yeah, we can do it too. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 14:34
Well, and in the show, there’s a lot of eventually as we go through things, there’s a lot more power that is given to women and that they were that they take like, oh wait. They’re making money off of us. Like yes, we need them. They are paying us they are but they can’t make money off of us. They can’t make money off of baseball without us. Being here, and they need us to do that. And at one point in the show, the manager leaves the coach leaves and spoilers, Josué, Carson becomes the the leader of the team and becomes the manager. And everyone’s looking to her, and she keeps fighting and pushing for this is what needs to happen. And there’s a moment where she’s fighting with a man and like, ultimately wins out on like, this is the rule, we need to follow the rule, she has to be all sneaky and work around and like try and convince them. But it happens. And she has some power compared to the other women in the group. Because she’s a married woman, right. And she doesn’t have to follow all the same, she has to follow the rules that the league puts out like, you can’t smoke in public, you can’t but there’s less pressure because she’s already married and doesn’t need a chaperone necessarily for things. So

Link Keller 16:06
I think they do a really good job of showing the different power dynamics of women who are all all oppressed in this timeline, but in different ways. And the ways that Carson as a married white woman is treated and her power in comparison to the the women on her team who aren’t white, versus Maxine and the other black characters compared to the more obviously queer presenting characters. And I think they do a really good job of showing that, like these power dynamics are constantly happening. It’s not just like, you’re a woman, therefore you have less power is like yes, but Asterix. There’s more to it. There’s

Lara Taylor 16:55
there’s there’s a lot of intersectionality there

Link Keller 16:57
multi faceted. Yeah, absolutely.

Lara Taylor 17:00
And those same people taking the power back where they can where Maxine is like Well, I’m gonna tell your secret if you don’t do this for me. Which is a whole different dynamic or some of the other like, I’m not gonna pitch I’m not gonna I’m not gonna play you’re not going to make me do what I what you want me to do you need me right now. And I’m not going to with why can I think of her name? The the main the main pitcher, the striker Spanish striker. Yeah. There’s so much going on in the show. And I have said that if they don’t have a season two, I’m going to riot because of the way they ended the first season especially. But there’s so many with the intersectionality I think it was really cool to see these two parallel processes. And I’ve seen many tiktoks about this as well to how Carson’s story is about coming into community as a white queer woman and having it’s not, it’s not coming out it’s she’s coming into the community and learning how to be like, what it is to be queer. And the same thing for for Max, but she’s learning about herself through family and her experience and the it’s two very different worlds. And the episode that broke me was episode six.

Link Keller 18:30
that was my favorite

Lara Taylor 18:32
that one in the season finale or are my favorites um, but in in Episode Six there is they go to a like a hidden queer bar the white white and some of the other the other players who are not white on the on the baseball team bar owned by Rosie O’Donnell’s character, which I was like Yes. Bring bring in all them. All of them. I’m I was hoping I would see Geena Davis in this show, but I did not. So they’ve got that going on on one and everybody’s having a great time. And Max is at her trans uncle’s house. At a queer party, there figuring herself out over time, and the music is playing. And the whole time I’m like, oh, fuck, somebody’s gonna get rated. And I was waiting for it to be the house with the black people in it. And it was the bar and I was very happy that it was the bar because this is just juxtaposition that shows you what it was like to be queer in the 40s and the brutality of it, and Black joy at the same time. And I thought it was wonderful. And also very sad watching Rosie O’Donnell get beat up by the police. I was so sad. So sad. But I think it was, it was one of those things that in the 90s wouldn’t definitely not be in a movie or a show. Even if they were trying to get an Oscar out of it. So

Josué Cardona 20:17
yeah. I keep thinking, I keep thinking about, right, the original concept that you wanted to do for the episode, right? And that’s it, like if we revisited, right, like, we’re getting to tell the story again, or we’re getting to watch it, right, we’re seeing the story told again. And it’s telling all of these different parts. Like, again, like, I’ve only seen a few episodes, but seeing Max and her friend, like, trying to buy something at a store and like, dreading having to go to the white store

Lara Taylor 20:46
her friend Clance is like my favorite character in the whole thing

Link Keller 20:49
Clance is the best character

Lara Taylor 20:51
she wants. She’s gonna be a comic book artist. I love it. I love it. I love how she talks back to little kids about how Captain America is propaganda. As I sit here with Captain America behind me all over the place, and it’s great. Clance is the best.

Josué Cardona 21:14
Seeing their experience, right, that. But so what it makes me think think about is, well, it’s two things. And we can we can talk about both if, if, if we have time, but one is yes. Right. Like we’re retelling the story. And we’re telling now, I mean, of course, we have seven more hours, to

Lara Taylor 21:32
we’re fleshing out these stories.

Josué Cardona 21:34
Yeah, but telling you like, what do we want to tell it? So like going deeper into different things, and like the fact that there’s Hispanic characters on the team, and there’s, like, there’s all kinds of all of the isms are in this show, right? And you have enough of that to play with, and then spending a lot of time with Max and seeing the experience of her and her family, what it’s like to be black in Illinois, like, like, they’re here, where I live now. And, again, like that scene where I was, like, we have to go to the white store. You know, that’s like, remember the legally they have to,

Josué Cardona 21:35
like, don’t go don’t go to the white store. Don’t go to the white store.

Josué Cardona 22:02
Yeah. And it’s like, remember, legally, they have to, they have to sell to us. But then it’s like, they’re ignoring them. Right, that that whole experience. So one part of the of what I, what I was thinking about is right, now, we get to see all of that, and something that we wouldn’t have seen in 1990, whenever this movie came out, when when was it? 92? 92? Yeah, and so. But also, the movie is portraying some, like a time period 80 years ago. And we’ve talked so much over the years on the show about how we get exposed to ideas through media, right? This isn’t a documentary, this is still a fictional story. And it makes me think about how much like how authentic the like the representation of the period is. Because it’s very dramatic. And, and in that way, entertaining and engaging. But I wonder how, like, because when I see it, I think, shit, that sucked. Right? For like, a lot of people on that show. living through that, but I wonder how accurate it is. And that’s, like, part of part of my thought. As I’m watching it now, right? Because again, it’s not that far, far back. And but, but how accurate is it? Like? How many people are gonna believe that that’s how it was? Actually in a weird connection. I saw a video it was a tik tok of Tom Hanks, saying that he had never heard about the Tulsa massacre. And

Lara Taylor 23:51
wow.

Link Keller 23:52
Yeah, I saw that tik tok also.

Lara Taylor 23:54
Yeah, I hadn’t heard about that. I mean, I don’t remember ever learning about the Tulsa massacre, before the HBO series Watchmen. And I remember hearing learning about that. And as as as kind of, I don’t like that, that reaction of Tom Hanks, right. But that was me, like three years ago, when when that show came out. I was like, this is a real thing?

Lara Taylor 24:17
And I didn’t know about women’s baseball until I watched the movie in 92

Josué Cardona 24:21
of course Yeah, I mean, it still sounds like nobody talks about that. The only reason there are is the movie

Lara Taylor 24:26
there are professional women’s baseball leagues today. They’re just small. Yeah. And no one talks about them.

Josué Cardona 24:35
Yeah. But about like, the events of the of the movie are like, huge, right. And I can just imagine. It must have been a big deal during that time. Baseball in America, you know, having I don’t know. Yeah. And it’s something we don’t talk about. Yeah, but yeah,

Lara Taylor 24:53
yeah.

Josué Cardona 24:57
I hope that, you know, the watchmen was accurate. Just like I just like, I hope that league of their own is accurate. Like, even though I know like, I can’t believe that this is, this can’t be my only source of information for this. But for a lot of people it will be

Lara Taylor 25:12
Yeah. And I think I saw some interviews of players from the actual league because they did do in the first in the movie. They did a few scenes where they went when they were older and they went to the Baseball Hall of Fame which there is an actual my dad went to the Baseball Hall of Fame for when he was in the area for work trip and got me like a Rockford peach like pin and a baseball card and things like that, that they had. So that’s an actual exhibit they have there. Obviously, they covered up things in the movie with like Tom Hanks’ character and Geena Davis’ character. But I they did interview actual players, I think during the time, and I think they felt it might not have been completely accurate, especially since the movie had no queerness in it. But well, no, like, recognized queerness in it, I guess. But I think that they felt that it was fairly accurate to their experiences. This has so many more experiences of different people, because everybody in that in that movie was white. And they didn’t even acknowledge that. Even back then, some of the best players came from Latin America. And like they acknowledged even in the song, they I thought they were gonna change the song a little bit. Because in the song in the movie, and in the show, it talks about we’ve got Canadians, Irish ones and Swedes, those are all white people. And I thought they were going to change one of the lines to have something else but they didn’t. But yeah,

Josué Cardona 26:53
it’s the two Hispanic characters, right? One is Mexican one is Cuban. And they’re like, oh, you know, the Spanish star or whatever. Something from Spain? You know, it’s like,

Lara Taylor 27:05
the spanish striker

Josué Cardona 27:06
oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s, you know, it’s a lot easier to sell Spain than it is. Mexico.

Lara Taylor 27:12
One of my favorite things is when the two of them finally bond. And you’ll see it in the show Josué where they start talking to each other on the field in Spanish, and they’re like, You can’t talk in code.

Josué Cardona 27:26
I lived through that in the 90s.

Lara Taylor 27:30
But in but it

Josué Cardona 27:32
and the 2000s

Lara Taylor 27:32
seems like in being able to be on the field and play, there’s a moment where

Josué Cardona 27:40
well even in the beginning, right? Like, like that. That thing from before. When the girl from Cuba, she like she, she she doesn’t know English. And when she meets the other girl, she’s like, I thought it was

Lara Taylor 27:54
the only one

Josué Cardona 27:54
I thought I wasn’t going to talk to anybody. Yeah, yeah. And she’s so happy. That moment. Sorry for interrupting.

Lara Taylor 28:00
Yeah, but I’m

Josué Cardona 28:04
sorry, I’m sorry.

Lara Taylor 28:05
It’s okay. My brain usually doesn’t do that. Um, yeah, I don’t know where that was going.

Josué Cardona 28:11
I was gonna lose my thought, but I didn’t think you would. That’s why I know. I’m sorry. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 28:16
It’s okay. It’s okay.

Josué Cardona 28:17
we’ll be alright.

Lara Taylor 28:19
We’ll be fine. Link, do you have a thought?

Link Keller 28:21
Yeah, sure. I’ve got thoughts. I I have not seen the 1992 movie. I have only

Lara Taylor 28:32
you should watch it.

Link Keller 28:33
Watched the. I should I should because I do I do like Geena Davis.

Lara Taylor 28:39
Geena Davis, uh, Madonna. Come on now.

Link Keller 28:43
Alright. Geena Davis is better sell than Madonna. But

Lara Taylor 28:48
I know I know.

Link Keller 28:49
I really enjoyed the show. I want to touch back on Episode Six. Even though Josué you haven’t seen it yet. But it’s really good. I think it is my favorite. Partly because of all of the queer Joy getting expressed. But I love the framing of the Wizard of Oz. Where we have these characters these separate groups of characters watching this movie that is incredibly popular. And how they understand what that movie is and what it means and what the messages that it is portraying and how it relates back to our main characters Carson and Max and how they fulfill the role of Dorothy in their spaces. I just that is that is good media stuff right there. I loved that. I thought that that was fantastic.

Lara Taylor 29:47
The this movie was the first time I had heard the use of Nina had told me that somebody had said this to her before. Are you a friend of Dorothy but I had never heard it of that before.

Link Keller 30:00
Yeah? I learned about that a while ago

Lara Taylor 30:01
that the movie was the first time I’ve seen it, like, used in media, right? That a friend of Dorothy is someone

Link Keller 30:08
I’m glad that they included that and I’m glad that they included it in a way that the audience knew. Like, even if you didn’t know, like, you knew what, like, this was a code. And then Carson, the main character being like, What the fuck are you talking about?

Lara Taylor 30:26
Because she’s the oblivious, like newbie to the queer world.

Link Keller 30:30
Yeah no, I really liked that. I thought that was great. I I loved the gay bar scene. I I didn’t know that Rosie O’Donnell was in the original. So I was surprised and annoyed when she showed up in the show. And I was like, What are you? What are you doing here? Yeah, that makes more sense.

Lara Taylor 30:57
She was she was the main characters,

Link Keller 30:59
a callback, and like, okay, that’s fine

Lara Taylor 31:01
she was the only one of the originals that had a cameo this season. And I was I was sad about that. Yeah, the other people I wish would have shown up

Link Keller 31:10
Geena, get on board. But I did I loved having that scene with Carson, and Jess, and Mita [Lupe]. And then being like, oh, you’re a queer and Carson being like, what? I don’t know what you’re getting at they’re Like, no, I see it now. And then going through like, Wait, who else who else on the team is queer?

Lara Taylor 31:39
Where the whole misunderstanding of like, why she was saying, I’m gonna turn you in or whatever. Like, no, no, not about the queerness. That’s about baseball.

Link Keller 31:48
She Yeah, Carson comes in hot and angry because she’s like, you’re fraternizing with the other team. And they’re like, Yeah, we are baby. high five, high five, shots, shots. And it’s like, well, I feel like I’m missing something. Hold on. It’s like, take a take long pan around the room and see what you see. And she’s like, oh, there’s a bunch of queers, and they’re making out in public-ish. Oh, ooohh and then her, you know, excitement at the idea of this kind of space existing where she’s like, Oh, shit, I gotta get Greta up in here because I want to kiss her where other people can see. I want to I want to kiss you. But I want to kiss you in a space

Lara Taylor 31:50
not in secret

Link Keller 32:39
that exists within our community. And I thought that that was really, really cute. Some cute, queer shit right there. Being like, I found this new place. I have to tell my girlfriend.

Lara Taylor 32:53
And also her girlfriend being like, oh, no, we’re not. No, no, no, we’re not going there. That’s not safe. Yeah. And then you let the guard drop. And then it really isn’t safe.

Link Keller 33:08
Yeah. And then they end up in the theater. Where Wizard of Oz is playing. So leaving Oz and returning to the real world?

Lara Taylor 33:22
Yeah, yeah.

Link Keller 33:25
Delicious.

Lara Taylor 33:26
Yeah. For a baseball movie, it’s a baseball show. It’s really not about baseball.

Josué Cardona 33:33
I haven’t said anything about baseball.

Lara Taylor 33:35
Um, some of the baseball. So I really liked the Final Episode Episode Eight. The baseball that they play in that episode is really good. It is the only time they put more modern music in the soundtrack because otherwise it’s normally like 40s like swing music or other 40 late 40s jazz things like that. They start playing Barracuda and like other like women power

Josué Cardona 34:06
hype music

Lara Taylor 34:07
songs, hype music, and it is amazing. And definitely the kind of baseball that people who don’t like baseball would love to watch because they’re being badass and it’s

Link Keller 34:19
it’s a montage, which is turns out the way that I like to consume sports media.

Josué Cardona 34:29
I like highlight reels.

Link Keller 34:30
I mean that’s basically what is that’s what it was. Yeah, cut to all of the most exciting bits and they put the

Lara Taylor 34:38
and you get the tension

Link Keller 34:39
music on top of it. And then they have an emotional high point. And you said that the Rockford peaches didn’t win but in my heart that was a win

Lara Taylor 34:49
it did

Link Keller 34:49
that was a win and that’s why I cried.

Lara Taylor 34:53
Well and in in the movie, they make more of a big deal about it.

Josué Cardona 34:59
do they go As far? as Okay, yeah,

Lara Taylor 35:01
yeah, I think I think the they do not play against the same team that they do in the movie. So one of the matchups for the first season of women’s baseball was not accurate to history. But they’re I don’t think the record features one the first season. But in the movie, they make more of a play up of we don’t even know if there’s going to be another season. Like throughout the show, they keep talking about, oh, we’ll come back next season next season. We’ve got a few more months and then we’ll see each other when the next season comes around. And

Josué Cardona 35:39
was there another season in real life? Yes, yes. How many seasons were there? Okay.

Lara Taylor 35:43
I can look it up.

Josué Cardona 35:44
world war two did last a few years.

Lara Taylor 35:46
Well, no, it lasted past World War Two for for a number of years. Because in the movie, they make a big deal about the boys are coming back from war, and they’re gonna want to play baseball again. What do you think people are gonna watch girls play baseball? Same kind of thing with the factories. Well the boys are going to want their jobs back women you gotta get back to the kitchen. Yeah. But baseball did the women’s baseball league.

Josué Cardona 36:15
Oh, 11 years it lasted. Oh, okay. Yeah, so we could get 11 seasons of the show.

Lara Taylor 36:24
Yeah, we could.

Josué Cardona 36:27
Maybe the peaches will actually win. I was actually I was surprised why I was surprised that they did the peaches again. There were other teams.

Lara Taylor 36:35
There were other teams, I think. I don’t know why they picked. I think it was maybe the underdog story for the first season.

Link Keller 36:43
Absolutely the underdog story, but more so than that it was so that they can make the fruits joke. Come on, you guys. It’s all about Yeah, we’re the fruits. We’re the fruits!. A bunch of fruits!

Lara Taylor 36:54
I mean, yeah, it’s the comets. The blue socks. What was the other one? Comets, blue socks? Peaches. I can’t remember the last one. But I do know what cities they’re all from just don’t know. The the mascots.

Link Keller 37:13
Sorry, I pulled up the Rockford peaches Wikipedia page. And there’s a quote here from Eileen Burmeister was asked why the peaches supposedly favored theatricality over technical skills, she replied, “If God meant for us to play baseball, he would have made us any good at it.” Great quote.

Lara Taylor 37:38
Oh, interesting. So I just looked up the league champions. So the movie was accurate on who they played. They played the racing bells and loss to the racing bells. The 1990 or the 1944 season, the Milwaukee chicks one. That’s not even a team that’s in the movie or the show. Then then the Rockford peaches finally win in 1945.

Josué Cardona 38:06
It looks like the peaches actually won more championships than any other team. Yeah,

Lara Taylor 38:11
the bells won twice. The chicks won twice the second time as the Grand Rapids chicks. And then the peaches seemed to have won like four times. Yeah,

Josué Cardona 38:21
yeah. Interesting. Kalamazoo on the last one, and that’s when they said no, we gotta stop this. Yeah. I have no idea where Kalamazoo is

Lara Taylor 38:32
Michigan? Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Josué Cardona 38:41
So you want us to talk about revisiting things right. And I think the creators definitely revisited this and they gave us a lot more to

Lara Taylor 38:48
they definitely revisited it and, and expanded on a lot of things that were not covered in the movie. And the interesting thing is that they didn’t, the show didn’t cover some things that were covered in the movie, like guys picking up on players and then in the movie, like they get married while she’s on the team and things like that. Most of the guys that tried to pick up on girls on the team in the show, were barking up the wrong tree.

Link Keller 39:22
I did love the scene with Shirley where they’re walking somewhere and a guy gives her flowers was like I’m a big fan and she stopped so she’s just like, I’m famous. That was very funny. I like Shirley a lot I wish I wish that they had contextualized her character a little bit more in that this is taking place during World War Two and she’s Jewish.

Lara Taylor 39:50
Yeah,

Link Keller 39:51
but you know, like, I can’t I can’t I get everything that I want

Lara Taylor 39:54
I’ve seen also other conceits of her being Jewish and being the neurotic one Yeah,

Link Keller 40:00
I mean, there’s that whole stereotype but I feel like if you, you know, take two and a half lines in a scene and contextualize that as like, yeah, Jews are pretty neurotic during World War Two. Like, I wonder why that might be so weird that they might be, you know, concerns about family

Lara Taylor 40:21
botulism

Link Keller 40:22
that they don’t know if is alive or dead. In, you know, in Europe or you know if like, America is not particularly well known for its comfort giving to Jewish people during that time. It’s like, it’s Yeah, I like I said, I wish they had contextualized her a little bit, but I did think that it was very funny. The big moment of her eating a bunch of canned food and then kissing Carson and being like, like,

Link Keller 40:24
I’m not gay!

Link Keller 40:52
I’m not gay. Okay, I didn’t die of botulism. And I didn’t catch the gay. I was like, Okay, you got me. That’s pretty funny. That made me laugh that she really she really came around.

Lara Taylor 41:01
She really did.

Link Keller 41:03
Sometimes you just gotta you gotta throw yourself into what you’re scared of.

Lara Taylor 41:07
And the end of the episode before that, I was like, fucking hate her. So, yeah, yeah, the show. Definitely. Yeah, that’s another thing they didn’t I don’t think in the first movie in the movie that they? I don’t think they talked about Jews at all, even in the context of Hitler.

Link Keller 41:28
Which is funny because jews love baseball

Lara Taylor 41:29
throw it in hitler’s face. Definitely. Definitely. There are there was a an exhibit. I don’t remember what museum It was recently, that had like Jews in baseball and famous Jewish baseball players. And there’s a graphic novel about a player for the golems. Yeah, Jews love baseball. But yeah, Josué I wanted to talk about revisiting things.

Josué Cardona 41:59
Yeah. I mean, and before we bring up other examples, if we’re gonna do that, I think I think we, the show is definitely, you know, if you’re looking for queer stories, right, to, to, to use for conversations for relating for that we got a whole bunch of them in this show.

Lara Taylor 42:26
This show, you can pick any almost any queer experience and relate to it. It was interesting. It was the first time I’d heard the term invert, used about queer people, and that is a psychological term from back in the day. I always thought it was just queers. is what they call them. So

Josué Cardona 42:46
inverts.

Lara Taylor 42:47
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 42:48
Was it in the DSM that way?

Lara Taylor 42:49
I thought it was more. Yes. I think it was more in reference to trans people.

Link Keller 42:56
Yeah.

Lara Taylor 42:58
Which is why I probably hadn’t heard it

Link Keller 43:00
it is also at, like, contextually, in that time, there was not a lot of distinction between people who were gay and people who were trans. Like, it’s very much lumped together in that there’s something wrong with you. But yes, so that did lean more towards trans people of literally like inversing your gender.

Lara Taylor 43:26
Yeah, and that was a term I had and I had to google it and I was like, Oh, that’s a term that they used in psychology. But I guess that makes sense. Like, queers wouldn’t be a an official like psychological term I suppose. That’s just what they

Link Keller 43:44
no, that was just that was just a slur then

Lara Taylor 43:46
yeah, yeah.

Link Keller 43:49
Yeah, I wish we’re not really equipped to talk about the black side of the story which I thought was really interesting and and given a lot of depth and nuance and love and like we said earlier Clance’s my favorite character is She’s hilarious she is great

Lara Taylor 44:16
I want her to be my best friend like

Link Keller 44:18
I want to marry her if only she wasn’t the support straight of the group

Lara Taylor 44:25
you only support straight in the movie

Link Keller 44:26
that’s not true May Bell May May Bell may Bell is is the other support straight

Lara Taylor 44:34
the one that has a kid Yeah, I should throw throw back to the movie where the kid actually comes on the road with them

Link Keller 44:42
but yeah, I did I wish that I could speak with more context on that side of the the black story lines there but I thought it was very cool that it was included that it was not just focusing on the Rockford peaches. It gave me lot more context to the way women were treated and the expectations people placed upon them even during the society shifting event of World War,

Lara Taylor 45:13
and especially the way black women were treated.

Link Keller 45:15
Yeah,

Lara Taylor 45:16
the factory would hire black men and white women, but not black women, right? Yeah, yeah. I do appreciate getting to see that entire half of the story as well. Because like I said, the movie there were there were no people other than white people

Link Keller 45:35
that was my assumption. So I’m very glad that it was included in the show. I thought it gave a lot, a lot a lot to the strength of the show. And my personal enjoyment and entertainment, too, is.

Josué Cardona 45:51
Yeah,

Link Keller 45:53
I just wanted, I just wanted to touch on that I’m not equipped to go into into depth, because that is not my lane but it’s very good

Lara Taylor 46:02
go watch go watch the show.

Josué Cardona 46:03
But and that’s that’s what I was mostly thinking about when I mentioned the thing about, like, that’s a version of history that we’re seeing, right, like, like, link, you and I both have extended family who are black and but, like they weren’t around in the in the 40s.

Link Keller 46:23
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 46:23
And, you know, I haven’t talked to any of them about that. And in my case, it was like Puerto Rico. And, you know, and how old is my stepfather. My stepfather is 70. So, I mean, yeah, definitely not in the 40s.

Lara Taylor 46:41
Yeah, yeah.

Josué Cardona 46:42
He wasn’t, you know, yeah. It’s, yeah, it’s, um, I always, I always hope. Especially because, like, we’re talking about Black joy. And we’re talking about all these different experiences, and both the good and the bad. Like, I hope it’s accurate. And not just entertaining, you know, but in, in, in both ways, but I don’t know that. I don’t know why I was so concerned about it. When I was watching this, this movie, or this show, there’s I wonder how often creators like the power that you have, right, to tell a story. And to tell a truth. Whether it be true or not. Right, you’re telling what what will become some people’s truth? Because none of us can go back that far. And and if, if you’re not a, you know, a history nerd, and are willing to go back in and Google additional information, you’re gonna make some assumptions about that.

Lara Taylor 47:47
Yeah. And the people who actually lived through this, and we’re players are,

Josué Cardona 47:52
some of them are

Lara Taylor 47:52
between few and far between. Yeah, some are still alive. In fact, Josué you said that you saw a video. That’s

Josué Cardona 48:01
one of the original players now in her 90s. Yeah, yeah.

Lara Taylor 48:04
And that makes me incredibly actually, I think I saw that tik tok as well. And it made me incredibly happy and incredibly sad. And I think the same thing was the, the, the woman who plays Carson Shaw, is also one of the producers. And I think directors in the show,

Link Keller 48:23
Abbi Jacobson. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 48:25
And one of the few submitted made her sad as well, big and happy because like, could you imagine living your whole life and never getting to be your full self? And also finally having the courage to say something, it’s really

Link Keller 48:38
more that aspect, right? Because she, she’s, she’s been in her life. Queer, it’s just the the public announcement, the the standing up and saying, like, I’m holding this label, so that you all can see it outside of my own private life, which is reflected in the show in the ways that, you know, the different characters sort of express their queerness. And who picks up on those messages. Yeah.

Josué Cardona 49:12
And in that interview, right, it’s an interview with Abbi. And she’s, she’s saying, like, oh, like, you don’t know that your that a show is going to have that impact. You know, it was like, it was like, and I wish I remember the name of the player. But she, like, she learned about the show. They were consulting with her. And she saw how queer the show was. And it was like, Oh, I have permission now to like, my, that’s my story being told, and I’ve never I’ve never admitted this but now I guess I guess it’s it’s time I can actually, you know, say this in public. it’s powerful, media.

Lara Taylor 49:52
Some of the ways they created the show were more interesting like you get I don’t know that tried to build this idea. Yes, teams are like families in actual baseball like today. But I think it’s very different from like, We are a group of women together trying to fight against this other and prove ourselves that we are actual, we deserve to be here to be professional baseball players together. And apparently, before they even started filming, they had all of the players come together. And all the actresses come together and play baseball for like months to learn how to play baseball. And they got a team team before they actually got into the filming of the show. Which is amazing.

Josué Cardona 50:45
Yeah, yeah.

Link Keller 50:46
I pulled that up.

Josué Cardona 50:47
That’s cool.

Link Keller 50:47
I pulled it up. Her name is Maybell Blair, and she is 95 years old.

Josué Cardona 50:57
Is the Maybell on the show related?

Link Keller 51:01
no, different characters.

Josué Cardona 51:04
Yeah.

Lara Taylor 51:05
And the characters that they that they put together, I think, in the movie there. So some of them are similar storylines and threads that apply to different players in the in the show, I think, because they’re amalgamations and compilations of different stories they’ve heard from different players over time, and wanting to try to bring as much history as they can to it. Even if it’s not completely accurate that the catcher for the rock the Rockford, peaches was this person in this year and those kinds of things.

Josué Cardona 51:43
I just want to point out that in that right, they show they bring all of these women to Chicago for tryouts

Lara Taylor 51:52
from all over the country and all over North America.

Josué Cardona 51:56
Yeah. And then they all stay at this hotel. And then in the morning, they get up. And there’s just pieces of paper with their names written and pen. Because it’s the 40s. And they come down and they look on the list to see to see if they’re if they made it to one of the teams. Yeah, time’s have changed.

Lara Taylor 52:18
No, it’d be a text message, not even the email.

Josué Cardona 52:21
I mean, yeah, it’s, I don’t know. I don’t know why that affected me so much. Watching it just that is the history,

Link Keller 52:30
it’s a high emotional moment of having, you know, like in theater, the casting sheet, it’s getting to see it

Lara Taylor 52:36
and having to wait, we’re having to wait behind other people to get my name

Link Keller 52:41
getting to watch people in front of you be excited or heartbroken and being like, it’s Oh, it’s about to be me. Which way am I gonna go? Oh,

Josué Cardona 52:49
I love I love those things. Right. But like, the fact that this is literally a professional, like, they were professional baseball players, right. Like they were they were they had contracts. They were making a lot of money. You know,

Lara Taylor 53:00
I don’t know, if they were making a lot of money,

Josué Cardona 53:03
yeah but you know, but they were like, it was a job.

Link Keller 53:05
contextually, compared to Maybe other jobs, but not compared to other baseball players. Yeah,

Josué Cardona 53:11
true. True. Yeah. But like, it was like, legit. You know, it wasn’t it wasn’t like, did I make the team at school? You know, I make the cast, you know, on the school plays,

Link Keller 53:22
like, am I about to be a part of history?

Josué Cardona 53:25
history? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. And so again, it’s all those little things. I think it feels like they’re doing the time period justice. Which is, which is fantastic.

Lara Taylor 53:38
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 53:39
I like that a lot. And you can also just revisiting? Yeah, I don’t know, I think. Yeah. Are there other examples that you had thought of in terms of like revisiting media in a particular way,

Lara Taylor 53:51
the only other one that I could really think of is, the Selena movie is another movie that I’ve watched a million times. And my co workers used to make fun of me because I love it so much. And they do too, because they grew up listening to Selena. I had no idea who she was until I watched the movie and then watching that movie over and over again, another one I can quote, like, almost verbatim, then the show on Netflix goes into it, because it’s a show and I think that’s what is the theme here is that shows are able to give you more time. It it covers the same time period from when she’s a little girl until her death. But like you get so much more context about what it was like for her when they have a whole episode about like, when she tells her dad that she got married. Right, rather than just like a 30 second scene.

Josué Cardona 54:47
Yeah.

Lara Taylor 54:48
And so learning more about her experience going to different thing like it’s been a while since I’ve watched it so I can’t think of a specific thing I learned from it that I I didn’t know from the movie, but I thought it was fascinating because you got to learn more about her brother, who I didn’t realize who was so into writing her songs and producing her music. They give a little snippet of that at the end of the movie. But from the beginning, he’s like writing her music. I didn’t know if they only show in the movie that there’s her brother and her sister in the band. There are like five or six other people that are in this band throughout the years. And it was really cool to see that piece as well and learn a little more about Tejano music. So yeah, another like, fictionalized thing about a real person. And this one was supposedly more the family was more involved in this one than the movie.

Josué Cardona 55:53
There’s a, there’s a Cuban singer named Celia Cruz. And she, they did like a story of her like, it was technically a Spanish soap opera like so like a telenovela kind of thing of her of her life. And it’s like 60 episodes. And as I was watching it, I was excited to watch it, because because I think she’s like an important figure in Spanish language music. And as I’m watching it, like some things I was like, huh, and I started looking up. The whole thing is like, the most dramatic possible version of real events. And they changed things up. And in so many ways. I was like, I had to stop watching it. Like I couldn’t do it, because I couldn’t just enjoy it, because I knew that it was that history part. Again, the revisiting. But yeah, in general, going back in and when

Link Keller 56:47
when did that series that you’re talking about come out? Do you just been

Josué Cardona 56:51
two years ago, three years ago, or selena or so celia cruz?

Link Keller 56:55
that one

Josué Cardona 56:56
The one that I’m talking about now?

Link Keller 56:57
Yeah,

Josué Cardona 56:57
I think it was like two, three years ago. I must have been like three or four years ago. Yeah.

Link Keller 57:02
Okay.

Josué Cardona 57:03
Why?

Link Keller 57:04
I think, I think part, I hope that we will see more things like this taking a popular historical or historical adjacent movie and turning it into a series. I don’t think that works for like traditional TV shows. As much as it works for streaming platform TV shows with the intention, like Netflix spent literally a decade training its audience to binge watch TV shows. And so like we keep referring to Amazon’s A League of Their Own as a movie, because in many ways, it feels like a movie. It doesn’t feel like a TV show. It’s just a very long movie,

Lara Taylor 57:49
an eight hour movie. Yeah.

Link Keller 57:51
And I think I think part of that is like, the medium is like it is allowing us to tell these kinds of stories with more depth with more nuanced with more time spent with characters than you would get in a 90 minute movie. But you also couldn’t have the same sort of story arcs told in a, you know, weekly, 25 minute tv show.

Link Keller 58:02
So yeah, so the Celia show is a lot like the crown on Netflix, right. Because Celia Cruz, I don’t know, like, she must be like 80 years old now. And it goes through like her entire life. And like halfway through the show.

Lara Taylor 58:30
Nina watched that one

Josué Cardona 58:31
Yeah, like halfway through the show, they recast because they do a time jump. But they did that they did that in the crown, too. So it’s like it’s like a parallel, right. And that’s also like a historical account. And it’s always interesting to see. The this episode wasn’t supposed to be about history, but there’s something about that about like retelling the story as

Lara Taylor 58:53
well. And one of the things about revisiting and how I can apply it to my own life is like wanting to, like there are times where I get more context from my family members will talk about something that happened when I was younger, before I was born. I’m like, oh, that’s why that happened. That’s why that person didn’t talk to that person. That makes so much more sense to me now. And I didn’t that person isn’t just an asshole or something like it’s, there’s more context to it. And I think with having several health scares in my family in the last few years, I want to get more context and more information from my family about why these things happened. And what like, my dad is very into genealogy. Mostly he’s into like, dates, names, all of that. And I’m the kind of person who wants to know more about the why and who those people were. And so working with him to try and figure this these things out. And the context of the time when things happened as well. Like, oh, why is that we found out that I, my grandfather is not my biological grandfather, or his parents are not he is my grant biological grandfather, his parents are not his biological parents. Oh, because he was from another family member who wasn’t married, and they needed someone to adopt him. So there’s a lot of things that like, Oh, now I have that context and knowing that I have family that knows these things, I want to find the information and be able to retain that information and be able to hold on to the stories as well. So revisiting things does have a lot to do with history.

Josué Cardona 1:00:38
There’s something about the, like the why, like, Why didn’t league of their own address certain things, right. And sure, you only have 80 minutes, right? Could be one reason, but we know right, from we heard from Rosie, in that tiktok that, that she was explicitly told

Lara Taylor 1:00:57
you’re playing it too gay Rosie.

Josué Cardona 1:00:59
This is Yeah, this isn’t this movie isn’t gay. There’s nothing gay about it. Stop it. Right.

Link Keller 1:01:04
There’s nothing gay about baseball. are you sure? have you seen the outfits?

Lara Taylor 1:01:09
The queerest looking character in the movie ends up being the one that marries a man while she’s on the baseball team. Because she was too. She wasn’t girly enough. And nobody liked her. And there was a big thing about that. Yeah,

Josué Cardona 1:01:23
but like that context, I was like, Oh, we’re gonna revisit this. And it’s true family stories. It’s the same way. It’s like for years, we talked about it this way. But I guess now we can tell, you know, now you’re old enough for like, now that this you know, this piece of it, we can tell you and we can we can we examine it. And this is this is kind of weird. But I think it’s the same way. It’s like when video games get Remastered? Or a movie, right? Or when George Lucas goes back and fixes something, right? It’s like you want to revisit and you’re like, oh, you know, I think it would be better this way. Or I couldn’t do this back then. But I can do it now. So I’m going to do

Lara Taylor 1:01:53
Final Fantasy seven remake is a good example of that, because you’re getting the same story. But not you’re getting a whole lot more detail. Because instead of one game, we’re getting what like three games. And there are

Josué Cardona 1:02:06
allegedly

Lara Taylor 1:02:06
very allegedly, and that but there are changes being made to the story, even though it’s staying true to the core of what the story is supposed to be saying supposedly, as far as I have played it. Yes, that is true.

Josué Cardona 1:02:19
Yeah. I mean, I think this conversation always comes up when, when a movie is based on a book. And I like those conversations, like why did they change this? Or why did they do this? And sure, a lot of it is like, you’re limited in terms of of time, but but there’s still something really interesting about what you choose to tell and who’s telling the story. Not just when, but who as well.

Lara Taylor 1:02:42
Well, and you brought up house of the Dragon like fire and blood is there’s no dialogue. In that book, I read it it is a history text of the history of the Targaryen. House. So like

Josué Cardona 1:02:57
it’s not a narrative

Lara Taylor 1:02:57
so like watching? No, not at all, watching the show is very interesting getting to see them try and put some personality into these characters that I like they give them some personality. The writing has some personality in the books, but like, not much. It’s just like, this is this type of person that would do this. So it’s very interesting watching it, and being able to lean over to Nina and be like, I don’t know, I don’t remember exactly what’s going to happen. Like, I know this person does this, and this person does this. But this is all new to me. And I like that because I’d read all the books for for Song of Fire and Ice until current. So I knew what was supposed to happen until it went off the rails.

Josué Cardona 1:02:57
Yeah. And that’s an interesting. I mean, it’s a good example of it’s a fictional history and a fictional revisiting of that fictional history. And, and expanding it, but it’s the same thing, right? Like, if you’ve only read about something in in an encyclopedia article, or only seen a report on it, or maybe you saw a documentary, or you only learned about it from watchmen on HBO.

Lara Taylor 1:04:12
What those people said you don’t know what they say you don’t know what it was like

Josué Cardona 1:04:16
I would I would appreciate Yeah, more more information or like, of course there are tons of stories there. That that will never be told. But getting the opportunity to see that yeah, it’s I think it’s it makes me think also about like how like our own stories and how we’re gonna how they get retold and, and

Lara Taylor 1:04:38
don’t make me quote Hamilton, who lives who dies who tells your story

Josué Cardona 1:04:43
I still haven’t watched Hamilton

Lara Taylor 1:04:46
you need to watch Hamilton

Link Keller 1:04:47
you don’t, you’re fine.

Lara Taylor 1:04:49
No you need to watch Hamilton.

Josué Cardona 1:04:51
I’ll tell you something off air.

Link Keller 1:04:56
The medium is the message and how we get this information, whether it is through more fact focused, date focused, textbook style versus getting to hear a story as told by someone’s descendants versus getting to hear your story as told by the person who experienced it, that all changes the way that you receive that information, and it matters.

Josué Cardona 1:05:30
And in the Geek Therapy sense, and and in relationships, and sort of like, taking the time to reflect on something that happened in the past with all of that new context is, is huge and can make a huge difference. And, and sometimes our memories re like, over time we change them and just going back, it’s, it can be impactful. And it’s something that we do all the time. And the idea of retelling a story, right? Even like even if you just go basic, basic CBT. Right. It’s like, go by like you can there’s a different way that we can talk about this, you know, it’s like, Oh, were you a shitty person? Or, you know, or were you struggling with the effects of trauma, you know, in a situation that was particularly triggering? And therefore, like, oh, yeah, no, I can retell this story in a way that is healthier. And also, it’s still the same story.

Lara Taylor 1:06:25
Yeah. And looking at that, looking at that context, I had several conversations this week about like, Well, why do you think you reacted that way? What’s behind that? What are you trying to convey? And why do you think your partner reacted that way? What could be what? What’s the context there? What could have been going on for them? We should do that more often as people.

Josué Cardona 1:06:51
It’s helpful. It’s helpful. One of my favorites is what advice would you give yourself like if it had you been there not being you? What would you have done?

Lara Taylor 1:07:02
Every time I throw that one out, people were like, Would I was it doesn’t? And then they just, yeah, yeah.

Josué Cardona 1:07:12
oohh, I see what you’re doing. I do know what to do. I’ve always known.

Lara Taylor 1:07:22
Yeah, and then they don’t do it.

Josué Cardona 1:07:24
Of course not out at the moment. Yeah.

Link Keller 1:07:27
Get a little bit better every time. Yeah,

Josué Cardona 1:07:30
practice makes good. All right. Closing thoughts. Link?

Link Keller 1:07:38
I think baseball is really boring. But a league of our own is good show.

Lara Taylor 1:07:44
I made a convert of Link, only as far as women’s baseball TV shows.

Link Keller 1:07:51
I mean,

Lara Taylor 1:07:52
and maybe the movie.

Link Keller 1:07:54
D’Arcy is a big draw for me. I got a big ol’ crush on Janet.

Josué Cardona 1:08:04
Closing thoughts Lara?

Lara Taylor 1:08:07
I love A League of Their Own. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the song is still the song is still stuck in my head. And I’m not gonna sing it.

Josué Cardona 1:08:16
Do you like the movie or the show better. You don’t have to answer.

Lara Taylor 1:08:26
I won’t, I won’t rewatch the show because there’s going to be more episodes, but I will rewatch the movie. It’s only

Link Keller 1:08:33
I don’t think that’s a fair question of which you like better because I think that the fact that they both exist, and Lara likes both of them so much increases the enjoyment of both of them.

Lara Taylor 1:08:43
Exactly. Literally

Link Keller 1:08:45
exponential

Lara Taylor 1:08:46
The Valentine’s Day present that Nina got me in 2019. Before COVID was to go watch A League of Their Own in the theaters, which I never got to do. And then COVID happened and so we have not got gone to do that. And I’m very jealous because a friend of mine just went to go watch it on the San Francisco Giants baseball field. Which I wish I’d known about that because we would have gone to that. Anyway, it is it is one of my favorite movies. I have rewatched it more times than any of my geeky like, favorite movies. And I love me some baseball.

Josué Cardona 1:09:25
In 2020 they released a 4k blu ray remaster Have you watched that? Have you watched the 4K remaster?

Lara Taylor 1:09:32
No, but now we have to

Josué Cardona 1:09:35
you have to

Link Keller 1:09:37
we could have a watch party with Kayla.

Josué Cardona 1:09:40
Oh yeah.

Lara Taylor 1:09:42
Absolutely. Kayla wanted to watch it again. The show all the way through again with me.

Josué Cardona 1:09:51
I I enjoyed this conversation a lot because I I love retelling like I liked the fact There’s so many Batman movies, right? Like, I’m not like, oh, they ruined Batman like now I want to see someone else’s take on the story. I like to see that I like to see different versions. That’s something that comic books do.

Link Keller 1:10:12
Very well

Josué Cardona 1:10:13
right then. Yeah, well, I mean, like more than any any other medium right and now that we have TV shows and movies, like DC doesn’t care, they’re like, We got to flash on TV. We got to flash on. In the movies. We

Lara Taylor 1:10:25
got five different Batman’s and Joker’s in the movies right now.

Josué Cardona 1:10:30
Was it? Last time I had a conversation like this? I was like, I can count 14 different versions of Batman that are current, right? Two of them being Lego Batman’s right. The ones in the games, the ones in the different comics, like it’s and I love that stuff. And I love I don’t think there’s, there’s a right or a wrong, right? I mean, when you’re talking about history, right? There’s something about that, that I get wrapped up in the authenticity of it. But still, I love things like what I saw on Tik Tok this week about how Isaac Newton is a character is a character in Marvel Comics. And he’s just like this mad scientist who like taps into another dimension and has this magic and he’s like, basically a villain. I’m okay with that. I’m okay with that.

Lara Taylor 1:11:15
Because Marc is not here. Do you worry about historical accuracy in Assassin’s Creed?

Josué Cardona 1:11:19
we can’t talk about assassin’s creed without Marc.

Link Keller 1:11:21
it’s against the law

Josué Cardona 1:11:22
But you know, like, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, like I like those ideas

Lara Taylor 1:11:27
that I love that book.

Josué Cardona 1:11:31
I’m Okay with that.

Link Keller 1:11:33
Abraham Lincoln is the king of Mars. I don’t know what you guys are talking about. A little adventure time reference there. Okay. sign us off Josué.

Josué Cardona 1:11:45
Those are my that was my closing thought. So thank you, everyone. Let us know. What’s your closing thoughts? Your reactions your if you like A League of Their Own. Have you seen the 4K blu-ray?

Lara Taylor 1:11:58
Are you a member of the All American League?

Josué Cardona 1:12:00
are you? Yeah. Have you been to the hall of fame?

Lara Taylor 1:12:02
have you come from cities far and wide? near and far, sorry.

Josué Cardona 1:12:07
Yeah. Let us know. All of the links to our social spaces are in the show notes. For more Geek Therapy. For more Geek Therapy can visit geek therapy.org Thank you so much for listening. Remember to geek out and do good. And we’ll be back next week

Link Keller 1:12:27
mmmbye

Josué Cardona 1:12:28
Geek Therapy is a 501 C three nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a better place through geek culture. To learn more about our mission and become a supporter was a geek therapy.org

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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Characters / Media

A League of Their Own (1992)
A League of Their Own (2022 series)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks
House of the Dragon (2022 series)
Watchmen (2009)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Golem’s Mighty Swing (graphic novel)
Selena (1997)
Selena: The Series (2020)
Celia (TV show 2015-2016)
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Fire and Blood by G.R.R. Martin
Hamilton (2015 musical)
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by S. Grahame-Smith
Adventure Time

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Themes / Topics

Conversation Topics:

* Change
* CBT
* Cultural representation
* Difficult emotions
* Fear
* Finding Oneself/Identity Development
* Leadership
* LGBT Issues
* Love
* Making new friends
* Resilience
* Strong female role models

Relatable Experience:

* Coming Out
* Fear/Anxiety
* New Life Event (New Rules)
* Trauma