Last Episode of Loud Murmurs Jan 28, 2022

Hello Everyone,

We will no longer be updating Loud Murmurs. Due to some very personal changes that happened recently, we decided to pull the plug on Loud Murmurs and sincerely hope that everyone can respect our decision.

Given the sudden nature of this announcement, we will keep our RSS feed up for another week. If you like a certain episode, feel free to download it onto your own devices within this timeframe. We ask that you respect our decision to shut down the podcast and not repost our content anywhere.

In addition to shutting down our RSS feed, we will delete our social media presence in the coming weeks. Our Patreon and Aifadian will be closed as well.

We want to thank you for all of your time and support in the past 4 years. We couldn’t have done it without you. While this podcast will no longer exist, our obsessions with movies and TV shows remain. The Internet is big: in the vast universe that is millennials-making-podcasts, watch out for a similar frequency out there. When you do, catch it.

Always,

Loud Murmurs

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E28 Bye Bye 2021 Dec 30, 2021

In our annual holiday special, our four hosts (minus Diaodiao) and our editor Joshua look back on our favorite LMM episodes, as well as TV shows and movies that made us laugh, made us think, and got us through the year.

2:47 Afra’s favorite: time travel trilogy (part I, II, III)
4:07 Ina’s favorite: ‘Sound of Metal’ (part I and II) and a window into the deaf and hard of hearing community (and their representation in pop culture, e.g. The Bachelor)
8:20 Joshua’s favorite: ’Shang Chi’ (episode here)
11:57 Juan’s favorite: We are all 'Minari'
21:48 Afra discusses ‘Spencer’
36:25 Ina discusses her favorite shows of the year: ‘Succession’ (worry not, we are making an episode on it)，HBO's ‘Sex Life of College Girls’ and the girls’ authentic friendship; wholesomeness of ‘Great British Bake-off’; ‘Ted Lasso’; ‘Hospital Playlist’ (embracing the urban friendships that have become family)
41:52 Joshua discusses his favorite from this year: creating characters and writing your own plot with TTRPG
48:15 Juan and Ina finally learn to appreciate audiobooks via: ‘How much of these hills are gold’, ‘The Cult of We’, ‘Empire of Pain’
55:37 Listener voice memos (thank you to those who submitted and thank you all for the support)

[Audio editor]

Joshua Ogden-Davis

[Links & resources]

Cathy Park Hong, “Minor Feelings”
Michelle Zauner (singer Japanese Breakfast), “Crying in HMart”
Jay Caspian King, “The Loneliest Americans”
C Pam Zhang, ”How much of these hills are gold“
Eliot Brown, Maureen Farrell“The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion ”
Patrick Radden Keefe, “Empire of Pain”

Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

Reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E27 Dune: Ecology, Hallucinogens, and White Savior Complex Nov 23, 2021

[Episode theme]

Loud Murmurs is finally boarding the Dune train. We invited interpreter William White and our listener and ecology PhD Luojun Yang to join the four hosts.

We dive into a couple of themes, like the significance of imagining a feudalistic society in the far far future, the technological developments of a post-Butlerian Jihad world, the socio-historical background of Frank Hubert’s novel, spice harvesting and our relationship with natural resources, the white savior complex and colonialism embedded in the book and movie, and last but not least, why we want to see more characters like Jessica.

This episode is brought to you by NEIWAI, a lifestyle brand that aspires to create lingerie & loungewear that free wearers' bodies and minds. NEIWAI celebrates women everywhere and strives to be a constant companion on every adventure in their life – in every precious moment. Our hosts are users of their products and we talk about our experience in the middle of this episode. Use our code LMM20 for 20% off NEIWAI products, or shop via this link.

[Timecode]

4:53 First impressions of Dune: “I’m one with the music”, “isn’t this just a trailer?”, “this is just the beginning”
11:05 Denis Villeneuve versus David Lynch’s version
13:05 The World of Dune: feudalism in a futuristic world, the Butlerian Jihad and why there aren’t smart phones in this world
15:52 soft versus hard Sci-Fi
16:45 if this story didn’t include aliens, would we still think it’s Sci-Fi?
18:10 Counter culture movement — socio-historical background of Frank Hubert’s Dune
20:56 the dual meaning of spice: hallucinogen and valuable resource (not unlike fossil fuel
22:26 harvesting spice and how it relates to environmental crises stemmed from exploitation of resources
24:51 we want to see more narratives that explore the human-nature relationship as climate change is becoming more urgent
27:34 the course of resources and how Hubert’s approach to ecology is very human-centered
31:08 AD TIME: our four hosts talk about our experiences with NEIWAI products and how “one size fits all” reduces body/cup size anxiety. Use LMM20 for 20% off your purchase or shop via this link.
37:34 white savior complex, colonialism, and cultural appropriation in Dune
42:52 culture adaptation in the original novel
45:15 how the movie treated the Fremens, Lawrence of Arabia, and Paul’s fate as a white savior
48:28 William White sharing his personal experience growing up in a pop culture they glorified the white savior narrative
51:32 strong female characters in Dune — Jessica, and how her portrayal differs in the David Lynch version
55:44 David Lynch’s Dune and it’s homophobic elements
57:10 the portrayal of the Baron in the two versions
59:02 strong female characters in Dune: Chani
1:02:17 what’s the value of Dune being made into a movie in 2021

[Host]

Diaodiao
Ina
Afra
Juan

[Guests]

白威廉 (William White)

Luojun Yang

[Audio editor]

Josh Ogden-Davis

[Be our sponsor]
Please consider supporting us on Patreon.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E26 “The Bad Art Friend” saga and our zeitgeist Nov 01, 2021

[Episode theme]
Who's the real bad art friend? Well, it depends on who you ask. Our hosts each share their own perspectives on the hottest Internet discourse and dive into a myriad of related topics.
[Timecode]

2:57 what is the NYT Magazine’s “Who is the Bad Art Friend” really about

6:30 Diaodiao’s perspective: it’s about the power dynamics behind an act of kindness

11:00 Afra’s perspective: the story highlights the gap between the societal impact and the literary nature of a work of fiction; Sonya Larson’s “The Kindest” portrays highly imperfect characters’ stories.

14:00 Ina's perspective: her bias against Dawn (a white female author) influenced her viewpoint and reading experience, but ultimately agrees donating a kidney is the ultimate act of kindness-

18:00 Juan’s perspective: this is a story about beating someone when they’re already down, stresses Dawn’s identity as a yet-to-be-published author and Larson’s identity as a writer; Larson’s prejudice and othering of Dawn shouldn’t be excused by the reason of creating a work of art

26:30 Additional context behind live donors for donating organs and how this context changes our thoughts

33:30 In the ultra-connected social media environment of today, what privileges are afforded to those who are kind? Is it bad to doubt the motive behind an act of kindness? Perhaps.

35:33 How did this story become a story about “two female authors pitting themselves against each other”？ How are “Cat Fights” and “mean girls” influencing our behavior and becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? How are female authors repressed in the publishing and writing world?

46:00 POCs being hyper-aware of white feminism and its faults

49:00 The context around American society and politics that the Chinese Internet discourse missed

1:02:00 - An original song! Bonus easter egg!

Original song by our editor Joshua Ogden-Davis

Well I gave away my kidney but my friends don’t even care

I said I gave away my WHOLE kidney and my friends don’t seem to care an appropriate amount

But I know up in heaven White Jesus is saving me a chair

Well I plagiarized a rando but she says she knows me

Well I plagiarized this rando and she says she knows me

But she ain’t cool enough for the group chat so she ain’t get no apology

[Hosts]

Diaodiao, Ina, Afra, Juan

[Audio editor]

Joshua Ogden-Davis

[Be our sponsor]

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.): https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in RMB)：

https://afdian.net/p/e0a54e82ebd111e9bd2d52540025c377

【Business collab】

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

【Listen to LMM】

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S4 E25 The self-awakening of Harley Quinn and Black Widow Oct 13, 2021

This episode is brought to you by 7or9 heels — an innovative brand that’s dedicated to making more comfortable high heels for women. Our podcast was invited to participate in their brand campaign with the theme “from pain to joy.” In this episode, we discuss the feminist awakening of female protagonists — specifically Harley Quinn and Black Widow. In the context of Hollywood’s movie-making industrial complex, paired with the awakening of the female consciousness, these two have evolved and became beloved characters that suit the female audience’s requirements. From the design of their storylines to their motives, to the clothes they wear when fighting — everything reflects the current gender dynamics, and we dive right into this discourse. Listen till the end for an Easter egg about our hosts’ fashion ideals.

Our Editor

Valerie

Support Us

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.): https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

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Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Collaborate with Us

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S4E16: Loud Murmurs x UrbanCan: “In the Heights” — Glossy Dreams In A Disappearing Community Jul 22, 2021

In this episode, we talk about film "In the Heights" — a film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2008 Tony Award-winning musical — with our friends from podcast 城市罐头. We mused on a few galactic questions: What exactly is gentrification? Why should we care, and how do we understand it in a Chinese context? Is commercializing the culture of a community the way to protect it? Why does this film feel lacking in 2021?

02:53 Introduction to the film
07:21 What is gentrification, and why should we pay attention to it?
14:00 Why is gentrification considered as a “foreign” concept to Chinese people?
19:58 Gentrification in the context of Chinese urban development
25:03 For a community struggling with gentrification, is commercializing its culture a feasible solution?
33:05 “Selective blackouts” and environmental racism
38:55 How do you design a good community? Can you?
45:56 Is getting out of the ethnic enclave a symbol of progress?
48:15 The common pitfall of films adapted from musicals
54:50 Casting controversy

Guests：Xiao Wang and Yao, hosts of 城市罐头 — A podcast about consumer culture, city life and urban planning.

Hosts: Diaodiao, Juan, Ina

Edited by: Valerie Chen

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.): https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

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Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

【Listen to LMM】

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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[Revisit] S3 E4: The “Weinstein” bombshell — is “MeToo” going too far? Jul 20, 2021

Chinese pop star Kris Wu is facing a #MeToo storm, after 18-year-old Du Meizhu accused him of pressuring young women into having sex. Wu has denied the accusations but he the accusations have triggered widespread public outcry. In light of this news, we want to re-share our earlier episode about the 2019 movie “Bombshell” and two books that started the “MeToo movement” around the world.

The week we recorded this episode, the verdict of the Weinstein trial had just come out and some say it is ushering in a new legal era in how we treat sexual harassment cases. We want to use “Bombshell” as a way into talking about what has changed, what hasn’t and what we can do to empower each other and push back against the logic (and normalization) of sexual harassment in career settings.

Links：

RSS Link for Surplus Value:
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/surplusvalue-918834/episodes/051-53769331

Promo：

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S4 E15 Audio postcards from the Shanghai International Film Festival Jul 01, 2021

[Episode theme]

This is a special episode. Afra went to the two-week-long Shanghai International Film Festival and talks to our friends Xiaoran and Yaqin about their experiences. In 2021, the success of this event alone feels like a rare victory for Chinese cinephiles.

[Timecode]

2:28 Why did we go to the Shanghai International Film Festival?

7:50 The cinephile community in Shanghai

16:10 How do hardcore movie lovers make the most out of these festivals?

27:25 Why do we still need film festivals? The human connections created through a shared love of cinema are irreplaceable.

39:04 Our favorite films at this year’s SIFF.

51:28 Is SIFF accessible to people with disabilities? How can it improve?

[Guest introduction]

Chen Xiaoran: Founder of DirecTube

Yu Yaqin: Film critic

[Audio editor]

Josh Ogden-Davis

[Highlights]

Taking you on a journey through audio to the 2021 Shanghai International Film Festival.

[Be our sponsor]

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.): https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in RMB)：

https://afdian.net/p/e0a54e82ebd111e9bd2d52540025c377

【Links & resources】

DirecTube: https://directubedotcn.wordpress.com/

Yaqin’s articles on FIRST Film Festival: https://www.allnow.com/post/5f281ca0d47fa200018d9c0c

【Business collab】

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

【Listen to LMM】

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S4 E14 Rewatching “Lord of the Rings”: To die just a little Jun 24, 2021

In light of the recent re-screening of Lord of the Rings, we chatted with physicist Cheng Yangyang and LOTR superfan Wenjin about this classic work that we had the privilege to grow up with. We talked about the exiled human king, re-examined the orcs, and mused on the revenge of the ents. We also talked about how the work inspired us, and how we, as diasporas, see ourselves in the wandering steps of Aragorn’s self-inflicted exile -- the act of “dying just a little”.

2:44 Our first experience with LOTR
10:29 Resetting myself after the apocalyptic 2020 by re-watching LOTR
20:15 Is it still worth it to talk about race in LOTR in 2021?
35:38 The Isengard flood and the revenge of nature
41:10 Aragorn - the orphan raised on a foreign land
50:00 The 2021 rescreening and the icy 1-star reviews

Our Guests

Cheng Yangyang (@yangyang_cheng): Particle physicist, writer, and postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law School.
Wenjin (@norloth): Host of the podcast "托尔金的树叶", illustrator, and LOTR superfan.

Links & Resources

Some of Us Did Not Die by Yangyang Cheng

Audio editor

Ziyi: a documentarian, podcaster & football lover

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD) or AFD (in RMB), and please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E13 “I’m a helpless believer in love” — A conversation with “Word of Honor” screenwriter Xiaochu Jun 16, 2021

[Episode theme]

This episode is the edited version of Afra and Juan’s interview with Xiaochu, screenwriter of the popular Chinese wuxia fantasy “Word of Honor.” We talked about why the show is well-received outside China, her experience studying and trying to make it as a producer in the movie industry in LA, and her understanding of the characters Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing. There’s also a Q&A with three fans of the show at the end and Xiaochu’s special English message to fans overseas. Listen till the end!

[Timecode]

1:38 How do you feel about the popularity of “Word of Honor” overseas? Did you expect this?

5:54 Xiaochu originally wanted to become a producer and studied film in Los Angeles. What made you decide to go back to China after graduation?

8:39 Why does this show appeal to so many women? How do the two main characters challenge gender norms?

11:08 Xiaochu’s thought process for writing the in-depth character profile for Zhou Zishu in the early stages of writing the show

12:36 Xiaochu talks about the parodies and reactions to “Word of Honor” on the internet

15:49 What’s her favorite TV show these days?

17:38 If she were a character in the world of wuxia, what kind of character would she be?

20:00 Is “Word of Honor” a show that pushes back against workism?

22:30 Female characters in “Word of Honor”

25:36 The relationship between Cao Weining and Guo Xiang

28:28 What’s the one thing Xiaochu insists on keeping intact for the story, despite pressure from others

31: 08 Xiaochu: my mother is the biggest fan of internet reaction to WoH

32:38 How does WoH overcome the barrier of language and culture and appeal to overseas audience

35:16 How does Zhou Zishu reconcile with his initial rebellion against authority and his return to order towards the end of the story?

38: 30 Which scenes or plots didn’t make it into the show? Does Xiaochu want to write out what their life is like after the finale?

[Guest introduction]

Xiaochu: screenwriter of “Word of Honor”

[Audio editor]

Juan

[Highlights]

Xiaochu: “Personally I’m a totally helpless believer of love, so it means the world to me to see my expression to be heard, to be seen, to be answered by people from so many different cultural backgrounds.”

[Be our sponsor]

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.): https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

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【Links & resources】

Our previous episode on “Word of Honor” https://www.buzzsprout.com/258327/8435030-s4-e7-word-of-honor-a-beautiful-queer-fantasy-for-straight-eyes

Boys Keep Flirting With Each Other on Chinese TV But Never Fall in Love by Viola Zhou

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k95mg/boys-love-drama-china-tv-untamed-lgbtq

【Business collab】

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

【Listen to LMM】

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a n

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E12 Cruella: The Rebooted Disney Villain is Dressed to Kill Jun 13, 2021

“Cruella” is Disney’s latest live-action release where a beloved old movie gets a brand new life, starring two crowd-favorite Emmas: Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. Juan and Diaodiao saw the movie together in the theater, and they dive into the themes of the movie, the complicated history of Disney villains, and the problematic elements in the movie that made us cringe (queerbaiting alert!)
【Timecodes】

3:52 “Cruella” is way more awesome when watched in theaters and with friends
7:39 Disney villains: the moral and societal values they represent
9:29 Who is Cruella (old and new)
17:00-17:52 SPOILERS
19:02 Cruella as a punk icon and fashion icon
25:36-26:07 What’s Cruella rebelling against? SPOILERS
28:55 The commodification of Disney villains
29:38 Queerness and queer baiting in Disney movies
31:27-31:39 SKIP FOR SPOILERS

【Audio editor】

Joshua Odgen Davis

【Be our sponsor】

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.) or Patreon 's Chinese equivalent (in RMB)

【Links & resources】

【Business collabs】

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
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Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid

Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E11 ‘Sound of Metal’ — A Window Into Deaf Culture (Part Two) Jun 09, 2021

In this episode, we continue our conversation on ‘Sound of Metal’, a movie about a drummer whose sudden loss of hearing puts him on an unlikely journey of growth and self-discovery. We also discuss how little we know about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. The conversation is so good and so long that we split it into two parts. See full transcript in Chinese for part 2 here.

【Timecodes】

3:37 Xinke share her thoughts on the errors in ‘Sound of Metal’
8:33 the overly complicated U.S. healthcare and insurance system
11:02 we discuss the audism and ableism in the movie
15:56 the candid portrayal of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community in the movie
17:13 Yiru shares her experience with Deaf education through music
20:25 cochlear implants: Ruben and Xinke’s experiences
26:00 the controversy around cochlear implants
35:19 the significance of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community
38:05 What can we do to challenge ableism and audism in our day to day lives

【Guest introduction】

Xinke Liu (she/her) is the co-founder of a startup that provides medical-grade hearing aids for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She wore hearing aids in her teenage years and underwent the procedure to have cochlear implants after college. She is currently based in China.

Yiru Chen (she/her) graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a major in Film and TV production and minors in Psychology and American Sign Language. She is currently a student of the MA program in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is an active member of both Shanghai and New York signing communities and her goal is to promote sign language education and arts in both countries. Her film “Handscape” has been screened at multiple film festivals in and out of China.

【Audio editor】

Joshua Ogden-Davis

【Too long didn’t listen】

This is not your typical story of a person overcoming hardship to find himself. It’s not even that inspirational. What it does achieve is portraying one aspect of the vastly diverse and complicated Deaf community to the mainstream hearing community. It’s up to us to learn and educate ourselves about the rest.

【Be our sponsor】

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.) or Patreon 's Chinese equivalent (in RMB)

【Links & resources】

Handscape, directed by Yiru Chen
36kr interview with Evoco Labs
Good resources on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community in China:
Relevant Movies
- Feeling Through
- Child of Lesser God

【Business collabs】

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E10 ‘Sound of Metal’ — A Window Into Deaf Culture (Part One) May 30, 2021

This week, we talk about the movie ‘Sound of Metal,’ a story about a drummer (played by Riz Ahmed) whose sudden loss of hearing puts him on an unlikely journey of growth and self-discovery. We also discuss how little we know about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, about sign language and Deaf culture.

The conversation is so good and so long that we split it into two parts. See full transcript in Chinese for part 1 here.
【Timecodes】

3:15 Brief introduction to Sound of Metal
8:56 Our first impressions of the film
18:15 On-screen moments that moved us: seeing a hearing guide dog, ASL, and deaf music education
20:55 The exquisite sound design of the movie
25:48 What’s currently missing from mainstream awareness of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community, what are the 4 deaf identities, ASL (American Sign Language) as a language, what is Deaf culture
36:48 Why we need to cast more deaf actors in deaf roles
44:14 ASL as a language and its role in forming a community

【Guest introduction】

Xinke Liu (she/her) is the co-founder of a startup that provides medical-grade hearing aids for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She wore hearing aids in her teenage years and underwent the procedure to have cochlear implants after college. She is currently based in China.

Yiru Chen (she/her) graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a major in Film and TV production and minors in Psychology and American Sign Language. She is currently a student of the MA program in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is an active member of both Shanghai and New York signing communities and her goal is to promote sign language education and arts in both countries. Her film “Handscape” has been screened at multiple film festivals in and out of China.

【Audio editor】

Joshua Ogden-Davis

【Too long didn’t listen】

This is not your typical story of a person overcoming hardship to find himself. It’s not even that inspirational. What it does achieve is portraying one aspect of the vastly diverse and complicated Deaf community to the mainstream hearing community. It’s up to us to learn and educate ourselves about the rest.

【Be our sponsor】

Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.) or Patreon 's Chinese equivalent (in RMB)

【Links & resources】

Handscape, directed by Yiru Chen
36kr interview with Evoco Labs
Good resources on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community in China:
Relevant Movies
- Feeling Through
- Child of Lesser God

【Business collabs】

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E9 We talked to a therapist about “WandaVision” May 20, 2021

“WandaVision” takes place after Thanos snapped his fingers and eliminated half of the people in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. The show departs from the usual superhero Marvel movies in a number of significant ways: it’s a TV show, the main character is a woman, the heart of the story is about grieving, trauma and intimacy.

Like people in the Marvel universe, we all collectively lived through a traumatic event on a global scale and are still far from being completely free from the influence of the pandemic. It’s been said that WandaVision is a pandemic parable. Barring from the typical third act CGI light beam fight in the sky, this story has a lot of elements we can all relate to: living in our TV, being stuck at home and isolated, processing waves of direct and indirect grief. So today, we invited an actual therapist to talk to us about WandaVision.

Guest: Lola, she/her, licensed therapist based in Chicago. She founded a social-justice informed Fig Tree Counseling (figtreechi.com) in 2019.

Warning: We spoiled this show, thoroughly, so know this before you listen. Thanks!

We Talked About:

04：16 Why we love WandaVision, and why this is not your typical superhero story.
07：53 How does the show deal with the concept of “trauma”? How does Wanda try to regain control? How does the show visualize grief?
12：00 How does the show portray the five stages of grief?
15：12 How does Wanda’s childhood trauma shape her as a character? Agatha — the unlicensed therapist.
19：39 How do we find power in grief?
21：03 Monica Rambeau and Wanda’s friendship
23：34 How should we understand the line “What is grief if not love persevering”? Is the goal of grieving to move on and to forget?
26：16 The moral questions of Wanda’s way of dealing with her personal grief
29：10 Hurt people hurt people. How do we avoid infecting others with our own emotional problems?
32：00 What is it like to lose your partner/spouse? How can therapy help?
35：50 WandaVision is a pandemic parable, so what can we learn from it?
42：00 How to take your first step with therapy?

Links:

‘WandaVision,’ a sitcom sendup, was a pandemic parable, too

‘WandaVision’ Lives Inside TV. Just Like We Do.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S4 E8 The Underwhelming Yet Controversial 2021 Oscars May 03, 2021

This episode, we unpacked our reactions to the 93rd Academy Awards that honored films created in 2020 with our dear friend Eileen Chow. Despite being a particularly underwhelming viewing experience, the Oscars created cultural moments that sparked heated discussion across China, the US, and all diaspora in between. We talked about:

1:20 The “Diet Oscars” of 2021
7:50 Chole Zhao’s Nomadland acceptance speech is a phenomenal cross-cultural pop-culture moment
15:00 The controversy of quoting “Three Character Classic”
30:10 Best Male Lead - “The Father” and many issues in Oscar planning
34:31 Best Supporting Male Actor - “Judas and the Black Messiah”
37:10 Best Editing - “Sound of Metal”
39:39 Best Animated Feature Nominee - “Wolfwalker”
41:20 Best Documentary Nominee -“Crip Camp”
48:50 Youn Yuh-jung couldn’t care less about Brad Pitt and we are very here for it

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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S4 E7 “Word of Honor” — A beautiful queer fantasy for straight eyes Apr 30, 2021

In this episode, host Afra talks to Viola Zhou and A-Liang about the hit Chinese fantasy period series Word of Honor. It’s your classic wuxia story but with a delicious twist — it centers around two incredibly handsome men who find soul mates in each other, but never quite fall in love.

“Word of Honor” became an internet sensation and cultural phenomenon in China and Southeast Asia. The show’s international fans write long critical essays and guides explaining terms and references specific to Chinese culture.

What makes the show such a hit? How does it challenge and enforce gender norms? Is this queerbaiting in the Chinese context?

Guests:

Viola Zhou is a writer covering tech, Chinese society, and internet culture at Vice.

A-Liang is a PhD student at Kings College, researching Chinese danmei culture.

2:14 Our own experience with the genre of danmei.

6:15 Why the show “Word of Honor” appeals to so many international audiences.

12:44 What makes the character Zhou Xu so easy to fall for? How did the actor portraying Zhou Xu become the “wife” of the entire Chinese internet? What is “nisu” culture? How does the character subvert rigid gender stereotypes?

18:32 Our favorate, most memorable scenes from the show, portrayal of same-sex love in the Chinese context

23:56 Why is there such a huge market and appetite for subtle gay dramas adapted from boys’ love webnovels? How is this related to China’s burgeoning feminist movement?

25:50 Our issues with the female characters in the show, how they reflect the patriarchal values of wuxia classics, the marginalization of women who challenge men’s authority

29:29 How straight guys react to “Word of Honor”

31:58 The problem with the show’s ending, its Han-centric values, and why the character Zhou Xu’s internal logic is flawed. How the show deals with politics and authority.

43:14 The role of Chinese poetry in “Word of Honor” and the subtle political values reflected in Chinese poetry.

50:10 Criticisms of the danmei genre. Is danmei an appropriation of queer culture? How does danmei interact with LGBTQ communities in the real world?

Links：

Boys Keep Flirting With Each Other on Chinese TV But Never Fall in Love by Viola Zhou

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k95mg/boys-love-drama-china-tv-untamed-lgbtq

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S4 E6 Why we’re obsessed with K-Drama Apr 13, 2021

Today, our hosts Afra and Ina are joined by friends and guests of the show, Professor Eileen Chow and journalist Muyi Xiao in our discussion of K-Drama.
While some of us jumped into the K-Drama obsession early on, for others, it was a new hobby from the pandemic days. We dive into fan culture and its influence on TV shows, South Korea’s TV and Film industry, how we each got into K-Drama and why we continued watching, how TV shows have been historically in the U.S. and other countries, and stay tuned till the end for our top recommendations.
Timecode:

6:33 Eileen talks about fan culture

9:30 Why we like K-Drama: pure happiness

11:20 Why we like K-drama, another reason: it’s variety in genre and plot

20:47 US television was historically designed to cater to male audience

25:32 how a new generation of showrunners familiar with fan culture are shaping our TV shows

30:10 K-Drama’s exoticization of foreign landscapes

41:50 Intimacy in K-Drama

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S4 E5: Sippin Tea - Meghan and Harry's Tell-all Interview Mar 21, 2021

The pandemic quarantine has fueled new hobbies, and one of ours is the British Monarchy related content: THE Oprah interview, all four seasons of The Crown, and way too many biographies, documentaries and diaries (from the people who experienced it first hand). This episode, we are joined by a fellow unofficial “scholar” of the British Monarchy and related tea, stage director Mo Zhou. We start by unpacking the interview, then shining a light on the outmoded rules and values of the family and the damaging effects to the people within, and collectively ponder where tradition ends and modernity begins for the British Monarchy: the Firm, a political power, and a culture phenomenon that happens to take the shape of a family.

03:05 Recapping the Oprah Interview
11:25 Why do we know so much about the monarchy?
15:30 Revisiting what we know about three generations of the monarchy
45:00 Why is the Crown family called “the Firm”?
51:59 Can we imagine a new and more modernized monarchy in the age of Brexit?

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S4 E4: We Are All “Minari” Mar 15, 2021

Korean American director Lee Issac Chung’s semi-autobiographical film “Minari” is one of those films that make you think back to it days after watching. The film tells the story about a Korean-American family seeking the American dream in rural Arkansas in the 1980s.

"Minari" is a tender and nuanced film that leaves you feeling nostalgic and reflective. And although it’s a highly specific story about a Korean American family, hosts Juan, Ina and Afra talk about finding lots of parallels in our own migration stories.

Our special guest for this episode is Eileen Chow, Duke University Visiting Associate Professor of Chinese and Japanese Cultural Studies and Co-director of the Duke Story Lab.

【Hosts】

Juan

Afra （@afrazhaowang）

Ina （@capfainina0328）

Eileen（@chowleen）

【Highlights】

Mother tongue, accents and the language of people caught in-between cultures
Moving the cultural discussion beyond “authenticity” and representation
The justified anger of female characters in “Minari”
How Korean is this story
The cinematic language of “Minari” and why it reminds us of Hou Hsiao-hsien
Forgotten history of Asian American farmers in the U.S.
The spike in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=544416&refid=stpr
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E3: Loud Murmurs X The Weirdo Podcast: What Female Characters Do We Want More Of On Screen (Part 2) Mar 06, 2021

This is our Part Two of our two-part International Women’s Day Special Programming, in collaboration with our friends over at The Weirdo Podcast. Listen to Part One here.

Our two-part special centers around the six categories of female characters that we’d like to see on screen. We combed through our Clubhouse discussion notes, our own experiences as pop culture consumers, and compiled this “wishlist” from the viewpoint of an average audience (rather than that of a TV/film industry insider). Some wishes are already being fulfilled while others seem farfetched. But we hope that we can see our collective wishlist being realized: whether on the small screen or big screen, in fanfics or novel. We are manifesting this into the world, now world, let’s make it happen.

【Hosts】

Juan

Afra （@afrazhaowang）

Ina （@capfainina0328）

Diaodiao

若含（@echoruohan）

王磬（@qingww）

【Highlights】

2:45 We want to see representation from Chinese Minority Races without their characters being exoticized
7:40 Women of Minority Races in China should not be reduced to caricatures of sexual resources from exotic regions
10:36 We want to see more Minority Race characters in modern TV shows, rather than “props” in period dramas
11:20 It’s only fair (and rational) that Minority Races get equal representation in TV and films -- these folks want to be seen as well
15:30 We want to see more TV/film creations from a women’s point of view: female directors, cinematographers, etc. What does the “female gaze” look like?
20:54 We want to see authentic female characters, they can be successful and independent, breaking the glass ceiling, as well as sink to the depth of the gutters as a villain
22:03 Breaking the ceiling: how do female characters explore their own lives and self actualize?
29:28 Sinking to the gutters: We want to see pure villains whose motivation hopefully has nothing to do with her partner/kid/family but herself and her yearning for power

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=544416&refid=stpr
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E2: Loud Murmurs X The Weirdo Podcast: What Female Characters Do We Want More Of On Screen (part 1) Mar 06, 2021

This is our Part One of our two-part International Women’s Day Special Programming, in collaboration with our friends over at The Weirdo Podcast.

In February, we teamed up with our friends at the Weirdo Podcast and hosted a discussion on Clubhouse, inviting our listeners to share what their ideal female character on screen would be like. The two-hour long initial conversation ballooned into over three hours, with 50+ listeners from across the world sharing their thoughts. We jotted them all down and categorized it loosely into six broad categories. Think of it as “suggestions” to the entertainment industry or all the players who are involved in making TV shows and movies, here’s the female character(s) that the audience REALLY wants to see on screen! We’re answering the million-dollar question here.

Our two-part special centers around the six categories of female characters that we’d like to see on screen. We combed through our Clubhouse discussion notes, our own experiences as pop culture consumers, and compiled this “wishlist” from the viewpoint of an average audience (rather than that of a TV/film industry insider). Some wishes are already being fulfilled while others seem farfetched. But we hope that we can see our collective wishlist being realized: whether on the small screen or big screen, in fanfics or novel. We are manifesting this into the world, now world, let’s make it happen.

2:35 Introductions and the “why” behind our two-part special
7:43 We want to see more female characters from all age groups
12:09 The movie Eighth Grade did a good job of portraying the struggles of that specific age groups; Chinese-language films/shows such as《少年的你》(Better Days),《过春天》(The Crossing) 以及《隐秘的角落》(Bad Kids) also do a good job of showing the challenges and traumas of youth
24:37 We want to see real female characters across age groups for two reasons: one is what they REALLY look like (physicality) and the REAL challenges they are facing
30:34 We want to see more female friendship on screen
38:26 We want to see female characters with real bodies

Please give it a listen, share your thoughts with us on Twitter (and all other platforms), and stay tuned for Part Two!

Special thanks to The Weirdo Podcast’s editor:

【Editor】方改则 Gaize Fang

【Music】Intro: Drop Point - Bryan Teo; Outro：Hold on a Sec - Bryan Teoh

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[REVISIT] S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Open Road Mar 01, 2021

In celebration of Chole Zhao becoming the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Director, we are revisiting this episode we recorded last year.
Our three hosts Juan, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland,’ a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival).
We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we live, and we dive into the thorny social issue of caring for elderly laborers in both the U.S. and China.
In this episode, you’ll hear:

00:00-07:30 First impressions of “Nomadland”
07:30 - Frances McDormand’s sublime performance and how the movie can’t be contained by one genre
08:20 - How the film portrays space through storytelling and cinematography, the juxtaposition of the endless road and the cramped van
11:37 - The relationship between human and nature and land in the modern society
14:47 - The real social issues behind this poetic film
19:06 - How China and and the U.S. face similar yet different social issues with aging workers
23:32 - The decline of the welfare capitalism
31:07 - The nomadic lifestyle of those who turned away from the city life and the realities of being on the road
37:06 - How the movie manages a social critique without undermining individuals’ dignity, resourcefulness and resilience

Links：

Millions of elderly laborers, who’s in charge of their retirement? https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1337242
”Bitter Flowers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z788IgjZDaY
“Policing the open road” https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/policing-the-open-road/

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=544416&refid=stpr
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S4 E1 Pixar’s “Soul” was heartwarming -- but only for 5 seconds Feb 13, 2021

“Soul” is a movie about death, about jazz, about longing and limitation. Since its premiere, many people in the U.S. and in China praise the movie for warming their hearts and nourishing their souls. As we immerse ourselves in the positivity the movie brings, we realize that this heartwarming feeling is temporary and its existence is closely tied to the vacuum of the movie’s unrealistic world. Life isn’t as black and white or as easy as the movie depicts it to be.

So how do we navigate the messy journey that is life? How do we live our lives while accepting that death is inevitable? Our hosts Ina and Afra sit down with our old friend and esteemed guest Yangyang Cheng to discuss Pixar’s new movie, “Soul.”

3:33 Afra shares how the movie prompted her to think about death
6:28 Yangyang talks about her personal experience with the movie and its faults in having a Black main character, but ultimately the movie isn’t a Black movie at all
13:49 The movie depicts life and death as choices that we can actively make, which isn’t realistic at all
17:54 what is the “purpose” of life? Or are we talking about the “meaning” of life? Yangyang shares how the meaning of life can be inherently a capitalist notion as modern society associate life meaning with one’s career
27:00 the concept of time in life and how it helps us define our lives, with a nod to “The Good Place”
38:52 sometimes we believe there’s a higher being in existence and as humans, we always strive to achieve this higher ground as a part of our legacy on this Earth
40:05 Yangyang muses on writing, self-actualization, and the meaning of life!
44:50 “Soul” has a main character who’s Black, but ultimately it’s a mainstream story that’s inherently white

P.S. We debuted a new intro for season 4! Tremendous thanks to our fantastic editor Joshua for custom-editing this intro for us.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries.

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S3 E26: A look back at Loud Murmurs in 2020 Dec 30, 2020

With a sigh of relief, we’re proud to say that this year has finally come to an end. And what a year it has been! There are not enough words to accurately capture all that has happened this year, and as much we want to forget what this year has brought to us as both individuals and as societies, we shouldn’t. The most important thing to happen this year is the fact that it happened, and we owe it to the past, the present, and the future to remember it for what it was.

In this episode, we invite our two editors, Joshua and Val, to join our four hosts and review what this year has been like for us and for Loud Murmurs, and we share some of our favorite episodes with all of you.

Since its creation, Loud Murmurs gave us an opportunity to chase after the seemingly disconnected and random thoughts we’ve had after binging a TV show or watching a movie. It’s pushed us to dig deeper, challenge our biases and thinking, and do the work and research necessary to understand things we are not familiar with -- and to ultimately share it with everyone of our listeners. Thank you for being with us this past year, and thank you for accommodating us as we continue to learn and grow. Cheers to this year and the many more ahead!

00: 40 Love from the hosts, editors and our listeners

23: 00 Diaodiao’s favorite episode: S3 E22 and E23 Social Dilemma 1 + 2

30: 50 Ina’s favorite episode(s)：All the episodes on first-generation diaspora stories

35: 25 Joshua’s favorite episode: S3 E12 “Becoming” by Michelle Obama

40:02 Juan’s favorite episode: S3 E15 Black Panther and the Green Book with Joshua and Esham

50: 00 Val’s favorite episode: S3 E19 Remembering RBG — Feminist fighter, role model and cultural icon
Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
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S3 E25: Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7: Very Naaiiice 2020 Political Moviefilms Dec 25, 2020

In this episode, hosts Juan, Afra and Diaodiao talk to our old friend Lin Santu and new friend, standup comedian Huey (TikTok @drhueyli), about two recent political films starring Sacha Baron Cohen.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a dramatized reenactment of the 1969 trial of seven activists charged by the federal government with conspiracy, for their roles in organizing the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

We talk about the film’s various limitations and how it comments on and relates to the BLM protests this past summer.

In the second half of the show, we dive into acerbic comedy Borat 2. The highly anticipated sequel to Borat may be best known for the infamous scene with Giuliani in the hotel room, but the breakout star is actually Borat’s 15-year old daughter Tutar. Is this the kind of commentary we need in today’s divisive political climate? We talk about these and more in this episode.

4:30 What are we talking about when we are talking about Sorkin?
11:32 The history behind “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
26:00 Police brutality in 1968 and 2020
40:10 “Borat Subsequent Movie Film” is ridiculously relevant and absurdly realistic
47:30 We need to see more of Tutar
53:00 Do we still need Borat in a post-truth world?

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S3 E24: The Queen’s Gambit: the refreshing fairy tale we need in 2020 Nov 28, 2020

The “Queen’s Gambit,” the new Netflix show about chess genius Beth Harmon, has managed to give us some joy amid this long period of listless pandemic-induced depression.
Hosts Ina, Juan and Diaodiao bring you this free-form, overly enthusiastic discussion filled with feminist (and other types of) rage where we try to get to the bottom of why this show is so damn satisfying to watch even with all its limitations. If you are expecting an intellectual, philosophical conversation about the most pressing social issue of our time — this is not it.

But we had a ton of fun. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

P.S. Do you ship Benny/Beth or Beth/Benny? ; )

Timecodes:

03:00 - 08:00 Why is the “Queen's Gambit” such a perfect show for women of our time? Why is it important that the show is set in the 50s?

08:30 - 11:00 How does Beth’s relationship with Beltik flip the traditional gender dynamics on its head; why does Beltik remind us of women in Chinese Wuxia novels/films?

11:25 - 15:00 The show’s portrayal of sex and love and Beth’s relationship with Benny and Townes

15:30 - 21:00 Female characters in the show: who is Alma and why her life is a tragedy we can’t take our eyes off of; why her story reminds us of “Why women kill” and resonates with so many middle aged women in China?

21:30 - 25:00 Why the discussion of whether women should work or stay with families is one of the most talked about pain point in present day China; how the show portrays women’s trauma and resilience

25:30 - 27:20 Is the show trying to pit women who conform against those who don’t?

27:30 - 29:00 Why is the portrayal of “tragic and helpless housewives” so offensive in China?

29:14 - 32:28 Is the character Jolene the “deus ex machina” of the show and why the show’s treatment of race draws criticism?

32:30 - 38:00 What kind of actual hurdles did Beth overcome and were they too easy? The reality of gender inequality in chess and other industries in 2020. Why do we say “Queen’s Gambit” is a fairy tale set in an alternative universe?

39:50 - 40:00 Knowing all the limits of the show, why do we still welcome MORE stories like this one?

41:00 - 43:00 Time to shamelessly ship Benny/Beth; Jolene/Beth; Beth/Cleo

44:00 - ENDING Maybe we need and deserve some pure joy in this f-ed up world.

READINGS：

AO3: Queens Gambit fanfics (Oh we support this tag: #Benny watts is bisexual I can tell bcs of his stupid little hat)

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/The%20Queen's%20Gambit%20(TV)/works

Older women on China’s TikTok are being scammed by flirtatious fake celebrities, highlighting a prevalent problem on the platform

https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3107118/older-women-chinas-tiktok-are-being-scammed-flirtatious-fake

Chinese fans go wild over dark drama ‘Why Women Kill’ as season one ends

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1167371.shtml

Promo：

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S3 E23: “Social Dilemma” Part Two: Long Road Ahead of Undoing the Damage Nov 20, 2020

In this episode, our two hosts and two guests continued our discussion on Netflix’s “Social Dilemma”. We talked about how the industry shaped us as practitioners (0:47) -- how it encouraged our uninhibited curiosity and restricted our imagination of what the Internet could have been(5:40). We also debated whether users should also be considered “laborers” in this new form of capitalism, and if they should get a share of the profit (15:20). We talked about what we did not like about the documentary, which is widely accused of sensationalism and oversimplifying complex issues (31:00). Lastly, we broke down the steps that are currently being taken -- and steps we would like to see (41:38) -- in the long march ahead of defending humanity against surveillance capitalism.

Links:

《计算机世界的教条和谎言——从设计批判的角度看科技》https://nyshalong.com/event/11
“The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” by Shoshana Zuboff
“The Curse of Xanadu” https://www.wired.com/1995/06/xanadu/

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S3 E22: “Social Dilemma” Part One: Oh Turing, what have we done? Nov 09, 2020

This is the first section of our two-part discussion of Netflix’s “Social Dilemma.” Brace yourself as our two hosts and two guests dive into a collective mental breakdown while breaking down the complex set of problems the documentary shed light on -- surveillance capitalism, attention economy, and social media addiction. We discussed our reaction to the documentary, how it forced us to reconsider our day-to-day jobs as practitioners, our personal relationship with the attention and addiction industry, and why we need to start paying attention because, this time, things are truly different.

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S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Open Road Oct 19, 2020

In this episode, our three hosts Juan, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland,’ a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival).
We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we live, and we dive into the thorny social issue of caring for elderly laborers in both the U.S. and China.
In this episode, you’ll hear:

00:00-07:30 First impressions of “Nomadland”
07:30 - Frances McDormand’s sublime performance and how the movie can’t be contained by one genre
08:20 - How the film portrays space through storytelling and cinematography, the juxtaposition of the endless road and the cramped van
11:37 - The relationship between human and nature and land in the modern society
14:47 - The real social issues behind this poetic film
19:06 - How China and and the U.S. face similar yet different social issues with aging workers
23:32 - The decline of the welfare capitalism
31:07 - The nomadic lifestyle of those who turned away from the city life and the realities of being on the road
37:06 - How the movie manages a social critique without undermining individuals’ dignity, resourcefulness and resilience

Links：

Millions of elderly laborers, who’s in charge of their retirement? https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1337242
”Bitter Flowers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z788IgjZDaY
“Policing the open road” https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/policing-the-open-road/

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S3 E20: The Street Dance of China & Legendary: Celebration and Subversion Oct 04, 2020

In this episode, Diaodiao and Afra talk about their latest obsessions — dance competitions!

We are talking about Youku’s electrifying reality dance show "The Street Dance of China", and HBO Max's vogue ballroom dance competition "Legendary" with a special guest: Bazi, who is the father of House of Kawakubo, the first vogue ballroom family in China.

Bazi talks us through the dance genre known as voguing and why it's as much of a community as an art form. We compare the representations of female and LGBT dancers on the two shows, unpack our own experiences in the dance community, and explain why both of the shows celebrate a subversive culture but fail to be subversive themselves.

If you haven't watched either of the shows, don't worry, you can still enjoy this episode!

"Street Dance of China" Season 3 aired on July 18, 2020 and very soon became one of the most popular reality shows in post-pandemic China. The show features four celebrities who are known as "Captains." The captains pick their own team from a group of insanely talented dancers and battle the other teams for the final championship.

"Legendary" brings together eight ballroom houses to compete for a cash prize of $100,000. The show refuses to handhold its audience through the rich traditions, history and terminology of ballroom culture.

Street Dance of China Season 3 is on the air, why is it still popular?

HBO Max’s Legendary gives the ballroom community a deliriously fun twirl into the spotlight

E410.「人妖」李二毛的一生故事fm

VOGUING! SHANGHAI! 聚焦中国首个 Ballroom 文化平台

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S3 E19 Remembering RBG — Feminist fighter, role model and cultural icon Sep 21, 2020

This is a very special episode we put together in 3 days. On September 18, 2020, Friday evening, we learned that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87. It was one of those news stories where you remember exactly what you were doing when you heard it.

For this episode, hosts Juan and Afra are joined by our guests Danmiao and Santu. Santu is in law school right now juggling between schoolwork and being a dad of two. Danmiao is a lawyer in New York City. Together we celebrate Notorious R.B.G’s life, legacy and her journey to pop culture icon. It’s actually a surprisingly uplifting episode, somehow.

*In this episode, you’ll hear:*

-How we learned of RBG’s death and how we processed the news

-What RBG means to each of us personally

-Ginsburg’s greatest contributions to women’s rights

-Why the soft-spoken justice became an unlikely pop culture icon in her last years

-How did the 2018 documentary R.B.G and the 2019 film “On the Basis of Sex” tell her story?

-Why is her death politically significant? What does it mean for our future in the U.S.

Links：

2019 “On the Basis of Sex”

https://www.focusfeatures.com/on-the-basis-of-sex

2018 documentary: R.B.G

https://www.rbgmovie.com/

Notorious R.B.G:

https://notoriousrbg.tumblr.com/

Nina Totenberg on the death of RBG:

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/100306972/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-champion-of-gender-equality-dies-at-87

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S3 E18 Not my Mulan — How Disney’s 2020 remake disappoints just about everyone Sep 17, 2020

This is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. Let us save you the time of reading 10,000 think pieces on why the movie is bad, by telling you exactly why the movie is bad.

Together with our beloved guests Tony Lin and Rui Zhong, hosts Ina, Juan and Afra spend an hour talking about why we are thoroughly unimpressed by Disney’s 2020 live action remake of “Mulan.”

In this episode you’ll hear our thoughts on:

What we love and miss the most about Disney’s 1998 classic, the original animated version of “Mulan”
How the concept of “Qi” and Gong Li’s character undermine the storyline
What the 2020 film got wrong about aesthetics and “Chinese” cultural elements (Disney doesn’t deserve Zheng Peipei)
Who is Mulan? Warrior, daughter, the emperor’s perfect subject? How the 2020 film robbed Mulan of her agency, desires, and charisma
What Disney sacrificed in order to appease the Chinese censors
Disney decided to make this film in 2015, what changed (what hasn’t changed?!) in the five years since?

About our guest:

Tony Lin - Award-winning journalist, writer based in New York City. He’s on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/tony_zy

Rui Zhong - Program associate at the Wilson Center. She’s on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/rzhongnotes

The Politics of a New Mulan

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/politics-new-mulan

The Mulan Debacle

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/chinatalk/the-mulan-debacle-X-omly59GO2/

加速脫鉤時代的《花木蘭》：如何做到一次過得罪全世界

https://theinitium.com/article/20200915-culture-mulan-disney-media-observation/

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S3 E17: What is it like to watch "Hamilton" in 2020? Aug 15, 2020

When the musical “Hamilton” first came out, all four of us were in our early 20s, trying to find our own place in a new country. We found hope and inspiration in the story of Alexander Hamilton as told by the musical—the story of a young, ambitious immigrant who became a hero of the American revolution.

This past July 4th weekend, a original Broadway production of “Hamilton'' streamed on Disney+ for the first time ever. Also on the same weekend, President Trump gave a speech in front of Mt. Rushmore, claiming "a left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution."

What is it like to watch “Hamilton” in 2020, when a celebration of “American progress” seems unfit for the time we are living in?

For this episode, we invited our friend Yangyang Cheng, particle physicist and writer, to talk about the musical and what changed between then and now.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why do we think “Hamilton” is a product of the Obama era and “an embodiment of its triumph and aspiration, as well as its limits and deception”
How have our own beliefs in meritocracy and the American dream changed in Trump’s America?
The limit of representation and diversity--why we must move beyond celebrating diversity
Rethinking American history: the 1619 project vs. Hamilton
Why do we say that “Hamilton” is a cultural product of the pre-MeToo era?

About our guest:

Yangyang Cheng is a particle physicist and a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University. She also writes the “Science and China” column at SupChina.

She has previously been on Loud Murmurs to talk about HBO’s drama “Chernobyl.” Listen to that episode here.

links：

Yangyang’s July column: Watching Hamilton at the End of the World

https://supchina.com/2020/07/29/watching-hamilton-at-the-end-of-the-world/

The “1619 Project”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html

Ishmael Reed’s criticism of “Hamilton” when it first came out

https://www.counterpunch.org/author/q7dru/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/28/tom-cotton-1619-project-cancel-culture

When a weasel shut down the world’s most powerful particle collider

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/29/476154494/weasel-shuts-down-world-s-most-powerful-particle-collider

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S3 E16 "LA 92" & "Do the Right Thing": Violence and solidarity in the age of BLM Aug 03, 2020

Violence is unsettling; violence in a civil demonstration is, for many, somehow more unsettling than violence sponsored by the state.
This is the last episode in our three-part conversation about Black Lives Matter. Hosts Afra, Diaodiao and guests talk about the idea of “rioting” as presented in two movies: the National Geography’s documentary LA92, and Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing.
We discuss the history of tension between the Asian American immigrant community and the black community, and why this tension is still more than relevant today.

Extra readings：

Catching Hell in the City of Angels https://vimeo.com/ondemand/catchinghell

LA92 -- full documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaotkHlHJwo

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S3 E15: “Green Book” and “Black Panther” in China, why storytelling matters Jul 24, 2020

This is a very special episode and the second of our 3-part conversation about Black Lives Matter. Longtime listeners of Loud Murmurs know that we have talked about “Black Panther” and “Green Book” when they first came out—about white savior complex in “Green Book” and the significance of Black futurism in “Black Panther.”

But we want to bring back the two movies that are familiar to our listeners, and use them as an opportunity to have a conversation about race and racism in China, with the help of our guests.

In this episode, Juan and Diaodiao invited Esham and Joshua to join us. Esham (Twitter: @eshammacauley) is a first-gen African immigrant raised in the U.S. but has roots in West Africa, the Middle East, and Scandinavia. Joshua (Instagram: @joshytaughtyou) grew up on the south side of Chicago and currently works at a tech company in Shenzhen. Both of them have studied in China.

In this episode, they talk candidly about racist encounters they’ve had being Black men in China and how they make sense of Hollywood’s reckoning with its decades of racism as part of the ongoing BLM movement in the U.S.

A common argument is that “racism doesn’t exist in China because most Chinese people have never met a Black person.” In reality, hundreds of thousands of Black people currently live and work in China. Their experience decidedly differs from that of white expats. One doesn’t have to look so hard to find blatantly racist and hateful speech on Weibo today. Sooner or later, we need to have a tough conversation about anti-Black racism in China.

In this episode:

What do our guests think about “Green Book” and “Black Panther” and their different reception in China?
What similarities did Joshua find between “The Wandering Earth” and “Black Panther”?
How has “respectability politics'' shaped our two guests' lives growing up? What does “respectability politics” look like in China?
What is their experience with racism in China and can we categorize those encounters as “innocent ignorance”?
Why are American movies and TV shows we grew up watching in China so white?
The importance of letting people tell their own stories about racism.

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S3 E14 "Gone with the wind" — how a classic American film denies the horrors of slavery Jul 19, 2020

The Hollywood classic "Gone With The Wind" has recently been removed from HBO Max, and returned to its cinematic library a mere two weeks later with additional content: an optional intro that gives “frank assessment of both the film’s own racist content and the racism of the times and environment into which it was released” and another hour-long recording of a panel discussion on the complicated legacy of "Gone With The Wind."

In this episode, our hosts Afra and Ina, joined by an old friend @Flyingpku, look into the film’s complicated legacy, the whitewashing, and romanticizing of the horrors of slavery. We discuss the following:

How the movie differs from the book and a deeper dive into several characters
The iconography of the “Southern Belle” and the long-lasting effects of glamourizing the Southern Antebellum (why plantation weddings are still a thing)
The problematic portrayal of slave characters, especially female slaves, in the movie, and how those stereotypes still perpetuate today’s pop culture (e.g. Aunt Jemima)
The romanticization of slavery and the inaccurate depiction of the Civil War
The “iconic” status of Gone With The Wind in Hollywood history and its unique reception in China (Greenlit by Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin)

Links of articles we reference in the show：

How I Bought Into Gone with the Wind’s Mythology of Whiteness https://electricliterature.com/how-i-bought-into-gone-with-the-winds-mythology-of-whiteness/
The Southern Belle: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/removing-the-southern-belle-from-her-inglorious-perch/2015/08/14/ea929b2a-3f96-11e5-9561-4b3dc93e3b9a_story.html
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
《飘到哪里去》by Lin Fang, Jan 20, 1980, Liberation Daily

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S3 E13 “Avatar: the Last Airbender” — A secret tunnel to the end of 2020 Jul 14, 2020

This is one of the most anticipated episodes on Loud Murmurs for Afra, Juan, and Ina, who share a (un)healthy obsession with the Nickelodeon cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” We’ve also invited a special guest, Eris Qian (Zhuoyang), New York-based director and playwright, to talk about why we love the show so much.

It’s not just us. The 15-year-old cartoon is having a moment, a “stunning second life” as a recent New Yorker article put it. In May, “Avatar the Last Airbender” became the most-watched show on Netflix.

The show’s adventures, friendships, failures, redemptions, and the characters’ struggle for morality in a chaotic world feel more real than real life in 2020.

If you haven’t watched the show, go watch it before listening to this episode because lots of ~spoilers~ and simping a certain character whose name starts with “z.”

May ATLA be your secret tunnel through 2020.

In this episode, we talked about:

Avatar’s world-building: Pan-Asian culture
Cultural appropriation vs. appreciation
Our favorite characters and scenes
What we love and don’t love about ATLA’s portrayal of women (the “ideal woman” trap)
Why does ATLA remind us of Wuxia （武侠） novels and “Journey to the West” and 明清章回小说
Explanatory comma or no explanatory comma? Eris Qian talks about what it’s like to tell an intimate, personal story when your audience finds it “foreign”

Links：

The Stunning Second Life of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-stunning-second-life-of-avatar-the-last-airbender

Official timeline of ATLA and comic books:

https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309404470397344022728?_wb_client_=1&object_id=1022%3A2309404470397344022728&extparam=lmid--4470397346939216&luicode=10000011&lfid=231522type%3D1%26t%3D10%26q%3D%23%E9%99%8D%E4%B8%96%E7%A5%9E%E9%80%9A%EF%BC%9A%E6%9C%80%E5%90%8E%E7%9A%84%E6%B0%94%E5%AE%97%23&featurecode=10000084

Zuzu’s rap debut (no)

https://www.weibo.com/u/5525387911

Promo：

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S3 E12 The story of becoming Michelle Obama Jun 18, 2020

Michelle Obama is one of the most iconic women of our time and one of the most beloved First Lady in U.S. history. Her memoir “Becoming” has been a book that is giving us life in a year filled with crises.

For this episode, hosts Ina and Afra invited Dr. Guo Ting at the University of Hong Kong to talk about Michell Obama’s memoir—the lessons we can and cannot learn from her journey.

We talked about:

What’s Michelle’s source of power and faith that allowed her to defy societal expectations every step of the way?
Financial wealth vs. wealth in human capital in Black families
What’s the role of lifelong female friendships? Why is female friendship almost absent in so much of our cultural conversation and collective consciousness?
What does the role of First Lady mean in American politics, society? How has that role changed over the decades?
How did the Obamas manage to push the society’s understanding of race? How have they adjusted their goals throughout the eight years?
Has the book fallen short of addressing systemic, societal problems that affect individual accomplishments?

This episode is edited by: Joshua Ogden-Davis
Links：

The Social Sex: History of Female Friendship by Marilyn Yalom

郭婷︱闺蜜史：友情是磅礴的革命

田安（Anna Shields）：《知我者：中唐的文人友谊与文学文化》（One Who Knows Me: Friendship and Literary Culture in Mid-Tang）

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
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Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S3 E11 Never have I ever tried to avoid grieving by sleeping with the hottest guy in Socal Jun 15, 2020

Hosts Diaodiao, Afra, and Juan talk about Mindy Kailing’s new Netflix series “Never Have I Ever,” a coming-of-age comedy about Devi, a second-generation Indian American girl in California.

We talk about our own past as overachieving high school nerds (more than one of us were also in Model UN ahem), the feeling of othering when you move to a new country, why the show only manages to tell one specific story from Devi’s perspective, and last but not least, the show’s unabashed female gaze. (Afra actually sought out Paxton’s fan page.)

We also included an interview segment with our special guest: Saisha, who grew up in India, studied and worked in China, and currently lives in New York City.

Saisha talks about what she loves about the show and why she finds the show to be more like India in the 90s. She feels nervous about some of the ways the show portrays Indian Americans’ attitude towards marriage and religion: “There’s a war over identity going on in India right now. You want to show that story very carefully in India and America. To Indian Americans, it might just be nostalgic, but that has implications back home. If you are telling people you will still be struggling with this whether you’re in India or America, that’s problematic.”

links：https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/arts/television/mindy-kaling-never-have-I-ever-netflix.html

Promo：

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S3 E10 The Half of It: All that barely repressed longing May 31, 2020

This episode is dedicated to one of our quarantine favorites -- Netflix’s The Half of it, a quirky coming-of-age romantic comedy written and directed by Asian American director, Alice Wu. We unpacked the literary references of the film, and discussed why the references perfectly captured the mindset of a teenager literature reader. We also talked about the four key characters in the film -- Ellie, Astor, Paul and Dr. Chu -- what they represent and what they mean for us in our own coming-of-age experiences.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S3 E9 Westworld Season 3: The Digital Leviathan might not look like a big metal ball May 17, 2020

In this episode, our hosts Afra and Diaodiao are joined by a group of AI practitioners to unpack the new season of HBO’s Westworld. They talked about the show’s fuzzy rendition of the role of engineering in AI technology, explained how the real-world versions of Incite create your user profile, and shared stories and researches that illustrate the disturbing reality we live in -- the dual Leviathan of surveillance capitalism and surveillance state. Meanwhile, as COVID created a new reality where every citizen can be a security threat to the collective, they shared their thoughts, worries and observations on how surveillance can ride the tide, and why it is particularly important to be okay with being “radical”.

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: https://shoshanazuboff.com/book/about/

Suji’s Anti-996 License: https://github.com/kattgu7/Anti-996-License

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S3 E8 Schitt’s Creek--the show giving us life during quarantine May 05, 2020

This episode is basically an hour-long of us singing the praises of sitcom “Schitt’s Creek,” written and produced by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy. Its season finale aired in April so now is the perfect time to talk about this show, which went from a little-known series when it first aired in Canada 5 years ago to a breakout success with a ferocious fan base (us included.)

The show tells the story of a rich family who lost all of their wealth overnight and had to move to a small town called “Schitt’s Creek,” which they bought originally as a joke. It’s a classic “fish out of water” story but infused with authenticity, warm and funny dialogues and characters who are so specific yet so relatable.

Juan and Ina invited a new friend, Walton, to talk about what this show means to him. Having yet to come out to his parents, Walton said the wedding scene in the finale where two male characters celebrated their love in front of their parents gave him hope that he never knew he needed.

Unlike some of our more dense episodes, this one doesn’t deviate from the show much. This is an entire hour of unadulterated joy where we talk about how much we love the wonderful world Dan Levy created. We also talk about TV representation of pansexuality and comedy as a collective creative format.

Wherever you are, we hope you stay well, physically and mentally. Enjoy the show!

Links：

https://ew.com/tv/2019/03/20/schitts-creek-dan-levy-interview-david-pansexual-patrick-coming-out/?amp=true

https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/4/2/21203985/mike-schur-dwight-schrute-michael-scott-ron-swanson-leslie-knope

https://people.com/tv/catherine-ohara-reveals-where-schitts-creek-character-moria-accent-comes-from/

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S3 E7 Looking for “the good place” in time of Covid-19 Apr 19, 2020

Dear listeners, we hope you’re doing well wherever you may be. The hosts of Loud Murmurs have all been staying at home to help curb the epidemic and we thought what better way to retain our sanity than to talk about death, the meaning of life and ethics?

In this episode, we invited our old friend Santu to talk about NBC’s comedy “The Good Place.” The comedy explores the above-mentioned large themes but still manages to be smart, moving and funny through its four seasons. We can’t talk about this show without spoiling it so consider yourself warned.

Some stuff we talked about:

How did writers of the show incorporate philosophical concepts and make jokes about them?
Is Chidi a true Kantian? Or is the character’s understanding of Kant’s categorical imperative a flawed one?
What’s up with people’s obsession with Janet? Santu thinks we see similar characters in wuxia stories.
Is Jason reinforcing or combating the Asian male stereotype on American TV?

Last but not least, we recommend some books we mentioned in the show for y’all. Spend your time in solidarity to ponder important questions such as “what we owe to each other” and “death.”

links：

1. What we owe to each other by T.M Scanlon

2. Death by Todd May

3. This article by Vox https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/future-perfect/2019/9/26/20874217/the-good-place-series-finale-season-4-moral-philosophy

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
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Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S3 E6 Motherless Brooklyn: NYC in the shadow of power brokers Apr 04, 2020

This week hosts Afra and Juan nerd out about Edward Norton’s 2019 film “Motherless Brooklyn” with our special first-time guest, DK-an architect based in New York.

The neo-noir film touches on a lot of topics we love to talk about: the fight for racial equality in the U.S., the urban plan3ning history of NYC, housing rights in the past and at present. The movie may not be the most famous one coming out of the last award season, but it’s a lovingly crafted story with a lot of ambition and heart. Please find it and watch it if possible.

In this episode, you will hear about:

Why noir films have a gender problem, and how Motherless Brooklyn approaches that
Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses, death and life of great American cities
What happened to Penn Station?
Housing rights then and now (this sounds like a one-semester course, oops)
What’s lost in China’s frenzy of housing development/urbanization?
Is Edward Norton living by his principles? A rhetorical question.
The impossible choice between Ed Norton and Brad Pitt, both at the height of their beauty. (Afra and Juan disagree.)

Links：

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Broker-Robert-Moses-Fall/dp/0394720245

DK: Book Recommendations

Stemen, Sara. Projects and Their Consequences. Princeton Architectural Press, 2019.
Miles, Mike E., et al. Real Estate Development: Principles and Process. Urban Land Institute, 2015.
Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. 1980.
JACOBS, JANE. DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES. THE BODLEY HEAD LTD, 2020.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S3 E5 Queer Eye, Chinese “Queer Eye” and the Modern Makeover Show Mar 21, 2020

This is a very special episode. It’s a celebration of the second anniversary of Loud Murmurs. We’re very excited to share this with you all.

Hosts Afra, Juan, Ina and Diaodiao talk about Queer Eye, the popular Netflix makeover show. We discuss how its tagline “more than a makeover” manifests itself over this season; the structural inequality and cultural conflicts revealed and then brushed off by the show; Fab 5’s celebrity status and how that plays into the dynamics.

We also, for research purposes, watched a Chinese makeover show that has been accused of copying the format of Queer Eye, called “You are so beautiful.” We talk in depth about the show’s reinforcement of stringent gender roles, the lack of diversity in all aspects and how that ties into the culture of censorship in China.

Enjoy.
Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

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S3 E4 The “Weinstein” bombshell — is “MeToo” going too far? Mar 07, 2020

In this episode, we talk about the 2019 movie “Bombshell” and two books that started the global “MeToo” movement—Ronan Farrow’s “Catch and Kill” and “She Said” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.

It’s been almost 4 years since Trump’s “Pussygate” and his election, three years since the bombshell news story of Weinstein broke, two years since the Kavanaugh hearing. Is “MeToo” going too far? (Spoiler alert: nooooo.)

The week we recorded this episode, the verdict of the Weinstein trial had just come out and some say it is ushering in a new legal era in how we treat sexual harassment cases. We want to use “Bombshell” as a way into talking about what has changed, what hasn’t and what we can do to empower each other and push back against the logic (and normalization) of sexual harassment in career settings.

Links：

RSS Link for Surplus Value:
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/surplusvalue-918834/episodes/051-53769331

Promo：

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S3 E3 Revisiting Chernobyl: Truth and Bureaucracy in the Time of Disasters Feb 27, 2020

2020 has been a rough year for us -- with the Coronavirus spreading from central China to all across the globe, we realized how small we are as humans in the face of a global health epidemic, yet also how grand humanity can be in the time of disasters. As we grow weary of shedding tears, we try to make sense of it all, discussing with peers and looking at this from all angles. Everything will be different from this moment on. We will not forget what has happened as we take it upon ourselves to be the witnesses of history, to take this all in, to record it, to critically discuss it.

In this episode, we revisit the show Chernobyl and discuss how the seemingly well-oiled machine of the Chinese bureaucracy that we know so well managed everything that has been happening since December, how extreme situations led to even more extreme results.

As always, thank you for your continued support -- it means the world to us, especially during times of turmoil. Stay strong, stay healthy, be well.

Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S3 E2 Little Women: not all 'sweetness and light' Feb 16, 2020

Title：S3E2: Little Women: not all 'sweetness and light'

Today, your four hosts gather together to discuss a literary-turned-big-screen phenomenon that’s been sweeping the world and the awards ceremonies. We absolutely adore this modern-day adaptation by Greta Gerwig (who directed Lady Bird) and together, we explore the various themes within the movie. Many of us have read the novel at a younger age, so join us on this journey as we attempt to reconcile the world we knew back then, the world in which the story happens, and the world we live in today: many things have changed for the better, while others, not so much.

A snapshot of some of the things we discuss in this episode:

Louisa Alcott’s life and personality; broader socio-economic and historical background; and how these factors influenced the book
The role of the female storyteller (both Alcott and Gerwig) and the stories they tell (and society’s reception of it)
The coming of age story: women’s self actualization and its conflict with the construct of marriage
Greta Gerwig’s career progression from actress to director, and her own evolved film style

Links：

As always, thank you for your support! Please consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs

You can find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S3 E1 Marriage Story: a story of love, loss, and social contract Feb 04, 2020

Welcome back to Loud Murmurs Season 3 and happy New Year to our listeners!

We start the year strong with a deep dive into the timeless theme of the “unhappily-ever-after battle of the sexes” -- divorce. Your hosts, Afra, Ina, along with our guest Mr. You, discuss Noah Baumbach’s frontrunner in the Oscar horse race, Marriage Story. Beautifully acted by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johanson, Marriage Story offers a snapshot of a husband and wife navigating the emotionally and physically draining process of divorce.

Here are a couple of things we discuss:

The dismantling of an American middle-class family, a common theme of Baumbach’s movies, and how this core demographic impacts the movies that he’s made
Women’s role as a mother, a wife, and how it’s viewed by society
What’s divorce really like (a personal experience)?

Links to movies we discuss：

As always, thank you for your support! Please consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs

You can find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
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Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E24 Holiday Special: byeee 2019 Dec 22, 2019

Loud Murmurs has had a very! eventful! year!

We interviewed some amazing guests, did a really awesome episode (if we may say so ourselves) about “One Child Nation” (nominated for an Oscars, go Nanfu & Lynn!!), got on the radar of censors cuz we blew up yay, started a whack-a-mole game with Chinese podcasting platforms and eventually ran out of f*cks to give so we packed all of our shit together in a neat little backpack and carried it with us to a cool new website HERE.

We got a lot of support and love from y’all and used the $$ you guys sent to pay for a great editor. As we speak, we’re already planning cool new episodes for y’all to listen to next year!

In the meantime, here’s a special episode where Juan (not easy), Ina, Diaodiao (aka laoyang) and Afra sat down and raised a glass (or two, or three) to the year that is almost over. We answered some listener questions, told our origin story, listed our fav episodes from this past year, and recommended some of the music/videos/movies that are giving us LYFE.

Enjoy and happy holidays!

Stuff we recommended:

Ina:

schitt's creek 富家穷路

Marriage Story 婚姻故事

the squid and the whale 鱿鱼与鲸鱼

Afra:
老四的快乐生活， shanghaiobserved

Juan：
Twoset Violin 双琴侠

老杨：
江湖儿女

As always, thank you for your support! Please consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs
You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ
Support the show

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E23: Hustlers and sex workers on the big screen Dec 16, 2019

“Climb into my fur,” JLo’s character said, and Constance Wu’s character happily obliged. This was our favorite scene from the recent movie directed by Lorene Scafaria ——“Hustlers.”
In addition to all wanting to climb into JLo’s fur and stay there till the new decade, we also want to take this opportunity to share our thoughts on the movie that features “triple threat” JLo and Constance Wu, the first Asian woman to be nominated for “Best Actress” in Golden Globes’ forty-five-year history (seriously).
Some stuff we talked about:
What we love about "Hustlers, why is 2019 the year of JLo?
What does JLo mean to us growing up consuming American pop culture in China?
Did the Hustlers do a good job portraying the sex work industry?
Juan takes issue with the way the movie portrays sex workers’ finances and spending habits. We talk about what it means to be poor in American in our day and age. What is the difference between having a lot of money and having a lot of wealth?
Our special interview segment with DAPHNE from RED CANARY SONG, a grassroots collective of Asian and migrant sex workers and allies.
Daphne talks about where the movie falls short in its portrayal of sex workers’ life, sex workers’ real experience with law enforcement, the trap of model minority.
Stuff we mentioned/ links to click on:
Constance Wu's real-life 'Hustlers' inspiration and the problem with model minority redemption narratives - NBC Opinion
How Red Canary Song Is Advocating for Migrant Sex Workers - Paper Mag
华人按摩女之死（上）：她们的美国梦 - NYT中文
Song Yang之死 - Kink Out
Constance Wu’s Hollywood Destiny - New Yorker
莲，漂泊在中国城市里的性工作者 - NYT中文
法律对女性性工作者的影响 - NSWP
As always, thank you for your support! Please consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs
You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw
RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ
Support the show

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E22: Joker and the Politicization of Loneliness Nov 23, 2019

For this episode our hosts Diaodiao and Ina and our guests discussed why, despite being thoroughly entertaining, Joker missed the punch. We pondered on what being lonely means in a political system driven by recognition, and how the incel phenomenon is reflective of this. Us four New Yorkers on the episode also took a jab at ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg’s infamous soda tax, drawing a parallel with the detached elites in Joker.

As always, thank you for your support! Please consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs
You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z

Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB

Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss

Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid

Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E21: Part 2 of Rick and Morty––the heroes we don’t need Nov 07, 2019

The four of us at Loud Murmurs are beyond excited to welcome back Season Four of Rick and Morty (Nov. 10 airdate) with our very own two-part special.

In Part 2, Afra and Ina sit down with our old friend Li Erke, as well as our very own sci-fi writer Su Min. We take a deep dive into two episodes -- Vindicator 3: The Return of Worldender, and the ultimate R&M episode, greatest of all time: the The Ricklantis Mixup!

We cover off on some of the following themes:

How does Rick and Morty twist the superhero stereotypical narrative?
The set up of a multiverse is inherently nihilism
Why the Ricklantis Mixup the G.O.A.T.
How did R&M inspire and inform a sci-fi writer?

As always, thank you for your support! Please consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs

You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z

Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB

Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss

Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid

Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E20: The Uplifting Nihilism of Rick and Morty Oct 28, 2019

The four of us at Loud Murmurs are beyond excited to welcome back Season Four of Rick and Morty (Nov. 10 airdate) with our very own two-part special. We take a deep dive into the world of R&M with four guests through five episodes

In Part 1, Juan and Diaodiao sits down with physicist Zhichen Zhao, and another physicist philosopher Chentong Lu, to discuss three of our favorite episodes: A Rickle in Time, Auto Erotic Assimilation, and, (drumroll please), Picke Rick!

We cover off on some of the following themes:

Our physicists attempt to convince the hosts not to take the science shown in R&M too seriously, then proceeds to explain concepts such as alternative universes and Schrodinger’s cat
We analyze how ‘Auto Erotic Assimilation’ employs the concept of freedom in political philosophy, and how R&M constantly brings up philosophical concepts and dismisses them within a five minute span
Nihilism! (How fun!)
If everything means nothing, all cakes are just atoms in the end, why do we still live our lives, love our loved ones, and do good deeds? What’s the point of it all?

As always, thank you for your support and stay tuned for Rick and Morty Part 2!

If you want to support us, consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs or https://afdian.net/@loudmurmurs

You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z

Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB

Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss

Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid

Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

喜马拉雅：https://bit.ly/2TrxJpZ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E19: Parasite: Up and Down the Class Divide Chasm Oct 14, 2019

If you want to support us, consider donating monthly to our Patreon project or Aifadian (爱发电):
_________________________________________________________________________

In this episode, hosts Ina and Afra are joined by guest Youfei to talk about Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, the first Korean film to win the top prize, the Palme d’Or, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The story, contrary to what its title might suggest, is essentially about how a lower-class unemployed family, the Kims, managed to infiltrate an upper-class family, the Parks. It’s a ‘tragicomedy’ that zones in the ever-growing chasm of class divide that we’re witnessing in today’s society -- exemplified here in Korea but its impact and lessons are truly universal, reaching beyond the country where the movie takes place.

Here’s what we talked (nerded out) about:

What we liked and disliked the most about the movie
Compared it to ‘Burning’, another critically-acclaimed film by a South Korean director that painted a picture of class divide -- how are they different, and in what ways?
The all things American are being worshipped in the movie
Why is the movie widely received in China and why are people resonating with it?
How does the doc portray the two classes in the movie? Is there an issue of overly-stereotyping and portraying characters as caricatures?
What are the complicated economic and political drivers behind the societal problem illustrated in this movie?

We hope you enjoy our discussion and tell us what you think of the show and the doc.

If you want to support us, consider donating monthly to our Patreon project: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs

You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw
RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ
喜马拉雅：https://bit.ly/2TrxJpZ
网易云音乐电台：https://music.163.com/#/djradio?id=793846386

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E18: Not your typical Feminist TV shows: "Russian Dolls" and "The Expanse" Oct 07, 2019

If you want to support us, consider donating monthly to our Patreon project:
_________________________________________________________________________
This is a special crossover episode between Loud Murmurs and a Chinese feminist podcast called “The F Word.” (https://www.ximalaya.com/renwen/21068572/）Juan and Ina discussed two shows they love, Russian Dolls and The Expanse, with the hosts of the F word. They also discussed Chinese actress Haiqing’s controversial speech at an award ceremony calling for greater gender equality in the Chinese film industry.
We hope you enjoy our discussion and tell us what you think of the show. You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw
RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ
喜马拉雅：https://bit.ly/2TrxJpZ

Support the show

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E17: American Factory: When Two Worlds Collide Sep 22, 2019

If you want to support us, consider donating monthly to our Patreon project:
_________________________________________________________________________

The much requested episode on “American Factory” is finally here!

In this episode, hosts Diaoiao, Juan and Afra are joined by guests Master Zhu and Zhang Zhe to talk about the critically-acclaimed documentary produced by Michelle and Barack Obama’s “Higher Ground Productions.”

“American Factory” is a documentary that touches on multiple grand themes of our time: globalization, manufacturing, automation and inevitable tensions between a rising China and a perceived “formerly great” United States.

Here’s what we talked (nerded out) about:

How is the doc received in China and in the States?
How does the doc portray American and Chinese company cultures respectively? Accurate?
What are the complicated economic and political drivers behind Fuyao’s investment in Dayton, Ohio? Why does it make sense for Fuyao to extend its supply chain in the U.S.?
What’s the difference between FDI in advanced economies vs. FDI in developing economies? We talked about Chinese companies experience in Africa.
Why are the Obamas interested in this particular topic? What does Higher Group Productions want to achieve?
What role does the union play in the U.S.? What is the history behind its influence?
What are the most surreal scenes in this doc to us.
From “MAGA” to “MATH,” what do the messages of Donald Trump and Andrew Yang have in common? We talk about automation and the future of work.

The articles we mentioned in this episode:

“Chinese boss, American factory” by Master Zhu for Initium

“Beyond controversy—China’s real presence in Zambia” by Zhang Zhe

So, this is quite a dense one! But we are so excited to share this with you. All five people in this episode have split our lives living in China and the U.S. and we share the feeling of “code-switching every other second” while watching this documentary.

We hope you enjoy our discussion and tell us what you think of the show. You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw
RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E16: Growing up as the only daughter in "One Child Nation" Sep 08, 2019

In this episode, Loud Murmur’s three hosts, Juan, @CaptainIna0328 (Ina), and @Diaodiaoyang (Diaodiao) discussed the critically acclaimed film that technically does not exist in China -- "One Child Nation" by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang. We got very personal in this episode. Join us for an intimate, informative, and in-depth discussion on:

Our experience growing up as an only child -- more specifically, daughters, and our complex and evolving perception of the policy.
The under-covered, underestimated impact of the One Child policy on an entire generation of Chinese women -- including our own mothers.
The groundbreaking investigative journalism piece 邵氏弃儿 (“The Orphan of Shao”), and how the absence of independent investigative journalism transformed the mandarin public discourse in mainland China.

Last but not least:

Follow us on Twitter at @loudmurmurs

Find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and drop us a note or leave us a review. We’d love to know what you think of our show!

If you want to support Loud Murmurs, please join our Patreon project, donating $1-$5 per month to help us keep doing what we do!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E15: #NotMyMulan, cultural and racial representation in Hollywood Aug 25, 2019

This week's episode is all about the "R" word: R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N.
The casting of Chinese actress Liu Yifei (Crystal Liu) as Mulan in the upcoming Disney live-action movie and the trailer have drawn lots of criticisms in both the U.S. and in
China (for obviously different reasons.) Some criticized it for historical inaccuracies, some take issue with the casting of Crystal, who has since voiced her support for Hong Kong police and the crack down on protesters by the government.
It's not just Mulan, the entire Hollywood-centric American movie industry is engulfed in a debate over cultural, racial and political representation.

In today’s episode, our hosts Afra and Diaodiao are joined by our guest, cinema studies Assistant Professor Ling Zhang from SUNY Purchase College to discuss the recent controversies around the casting for the Little Mermaid, the James Bond series, and Marvel’s Shang Qi. The trio use these current events as a springboard for in-depth analysis on how cultural representation is treated in films:

Highlights:

Hollywood has finally realized that representation can be good for business. Is this an inherently good thing or bad thing? At its core, is this tokenism disguised as representation, or truly a change for the better? How can moviegoers push for the latter?
The point of view of the movie (via cinematography) is often structured strategically so the audience can resonate with the characters -- but this sense of empathy, or identifying with a certain character, can often be a dissonant experience for minorities, why is that?
What role does colonialism play in Hollywood films?
How should we interpret tokenism within the context of film? Why are Shang Qi, Fu Manchu (characters in the original film), products of tokenism?

Thanks for listening! Find us on the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.
Donate to our Patreon page here! https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E14: Once Upon A Time in The Blatantly Masculine Hollywood Aug 13, 2019

When the trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s penultimate film, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, was first released, the Loud Murmurs team was incredibly excited and vowed to see it as soon as it hit theaters—and we did. Tarantino's latest hit, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, has generated a lot of buzz, both for its lengthy depiction of Hollywood in the 60s, as well as criticism for Taratino’s treatment of women characters in his movies and his past misdeeds.

In today’s episode, our three hosts, Afra, Diaodiao, and Ina, along with our guest Li Erke, dive into what we love and hate about the movie.

Highlights:

Why this is an incredibly personal movie for Tarantino? What are the references to Hollywood filmography that inspired Tarantino as a director?
Tarantino’s cinematic universe: from hippies to heroes of Westerns
His treatment of women characters and the blatant theme of masculinity
The controversy around Bruce Lee’s character

Thanks for listening! Find us on the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E13: HBO’s Chernobyl -- Science and conscience Jul 18, 2019

HBO’s mini-series “Chernobyl” has been a smashing success—nominated for 19 Emmys and boasted a whopping audience of 8 million views. The 5-episode series dramatizes the story of the April 1986 nuclear plant explosion in Soviet Ukraine.

In this episode, Loud Murmur’s three hosts, Juan , @afrazhaowang (Afra), and @Diaodiaoyang (Diaodiao), talk about why we find the series so compelling and germane to political themes of our present time.

We are very honored to have Yangyang Cheng (@Yangyang_Cheng) as a guest on this week’s show. Born and raised in China, Yangyang is a particle physicist and postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University. She writes the “Science and China” column for SupChina. Her words have also appeared in Foreign Policy, MIT Tech Review and more.

In the first half of the show, we talk about the show’s obsession with recreating the material culture of the Soviet Union; why the show resonates with our current debate over the global “war on truth” and the threat of a nuclear war. Yangyang shares her thoughts on the trend of scientists “fact-checking” fictional works and what she thinks of the made-up character “Ulana Khomyuk.” We discuss questions including whether the story was told from a Western perspective using Soviet Union as a backdrop, or does it reflect a deep understanding of the Soviet system?

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Loud Murmurs episode if we didn’t go beyond the pop culture work to fully nerd out on bigger themes.

In this episode we also took a deep dive into:

The two highly symbolic female character -- Ulama Khomyuk and Lyudmilla Ignatenko
Nation brand-building through scientific advancement
How to properly commemorate Chernobyl

Here are some references we made in the show:

Svetlana Alexievich’s book “Voices from Chernobyl”
Yangyang’s column “Science and China” for SupChina

Last but not least:

Follow us on Twitter at @loudmurmurs

Find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and drop us a note or leave us a review. We’d love to know what you think of our show!

If you want to support Loud Murmurs, please join our Patreon project, donating $1-$5 per month to help us keep doing what we do!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E12: Asian American movies that are giving us ALL THE FEELS- The Farewell & Always Be My Maybe Jul 07, 2019

In this episode, the three hosts (Ina, Juan, Diaodiao) talk about two films starring Asian Americans as lead actors: The Farewell and Always Be My Maybe.
The Farewell is director Lulu Wang (Wang Ziyi)'s second feature film. It is based on her family's story and stars our favorite Asian American rapper Awkwafina. The three of us went to watch "Farewell" together and walked out with equally prominent puffy eyes. We were impressed to see how accurately this film portrayed the tension, unspoken rules and emotions in a Chinese family gathering setting.
There are very uniquely Chinese elements: 80% of the lines in the movie are spoken in fluent Mandarin; the hilarious tomb visiting scene and the cousin's grand wedding scene. But the film also touches on universal themes, like what it means to be a stranger in your own hometown; the emotional baggage that comes with immigrant life and the cultural differences between Western culture and Chinese culture.
We dove into what made us laugh and cry, the absence of "explanatory commas" in movies depicting immigrant culture, brilliant and reserved acting, and more.
In the second half of this episode, we talked about the romantic comedy "Always Be My Maybe", what we love and not love about the film and why there nonetheless need to be more movies like it. Be aware of 5-10 minutes of collective fan-girling over Keanu Reeves' cameo.
Please let us know what you think of these two films. You can email us at Loudmurmursfm@gmail.com or follow us on Weibo.
Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.
Last but not least: If you want to show your support, head over to our Patreon page! We would really appreciate your help!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E11: Killing Eve—Finding love in unexpected crime scenes Jun 25, 2019

This week's episode is about "Killing Eve"——one of TV's most glorious cat-and-mouse thriller that subverts all the usual trope of this genre.
Forget about the Bechdel test, this show is 99% about three badass women (Eve, Villanelle, Carolyn) and full of brimming sexual tension between our two female protagonists.
We are joined by Xiao Meili, a badass her self, (yes, she has her own wikipedia page.) She's a women's rights activist in China and a big fan of 1. spy thrillers in general and 2. love stories between women.
In this episode, we dive into why Killing Eve is so different from everything else we've seen on TV, performances and scenes that we love, and more.
THIS EPISODE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH SEASONS! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
P.S. You can still donate to us through Patreon. Patrons can join our WeChat listeners group.
Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw
RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ
喜马拉雅：https://bit.ly/2TrxJpZ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E10: Back In The '90s Dashan Was In A Very Famous TV Show Jun 18, 2019

This is a very special episode we think you’ll really enjoy. Instead of talking about one particular work of pop culture, we sit down with Dashan, the most famous non-Chinese comedian in China, a pop culture symbol himself.

For the longest time, when you mention the word“老外” (lao wai, foreigner) in China, Dashan is the first name that came to mind. He became a household name after debuting on Chinese television in the '90s, when 500 million people tuned in to watch his comedic skit. Dashan’s career in the spotlight spans three decades, during which China went under drastic socio-economic changes and became the world’s latest superpower.

While he’s Canadian born and bred, the expressions he uses off-hand, his way of thinking, and the euphemistic rhetoric he deploys in this interview are remarkably “Chinese.” Through this unique personal lens, Dashan offers rich insights into contemporary Chinese society and culture. “I am a foreigner. But I am not an outsider.”

Dashan starts this conversation by comparing himself to Bojack Horseman — the protagonist of the popular eponymous Netflix show that was “very famous back in the 90s.” In the show, Bojack is depressingly and destructively obsessed with his past glory. Dashan joked that they share many similarities, but Dashan’s trajectory is actually quite the opposite. He talks to us candidly about his journey, both personal and professional, from “Dashan 1.0” to “Dashan 3.0.”

Dashan is currently in Canada preparing for his show “大山侃大山,” which you can watch parts of online here.

Who’s Dashan today and how does he reflect on his fascinating career in China over the past three decades? Tune in to this special episode and find out.

(There’s also a hilarious anecdote of Dashan’s awkward encounter with a former Chinese President, known for being accidentally comedic.)
Please enjoy and find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.
Find Loud Murmurs in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Soundcloud:https://bit.ly/2FqToIw
RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E9: The Handmaids Tale and Alabama's Human Life Protection Act Jun 03, 2019

In anticipation of the third season of The Handmaid's Tale premiering June 5 on Hulu, this episode dives into the dystopian and misogynistic regime — as well as how recent news from Alabama remind us of how we’re not that far from these horrors.

On May 15, the Human Life Protection Act, also known as House Bill 314 and the Alabama abortion ban was enacted, which imposes a near-total ban on abortion in the state starting in November 2019.

The first two seasons of the show gathered a global following and is especially popular in China for its realistic portrayal of the national policing of women’s bodies. As the news from Alabama started trending on Weibo (Chinese Twitter), people became enraged — netizens were angry, because they didn’t understand how and why the allegedly “beacon nation” that usually puts humanism and individual freedom first has made this regression against abortion rights.

We invited our dear friend (and a regular guest on the show) Santu (Yale JD candidate) and Feminist/Activist Lv Pin to join us in a discussion on the abortion ban through the lens of pop culture. We discuss both fictional and realistic dystopianism on both sides of the Pacific ocean. Please enjoy and find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E8: Game of Thrones - The Night Is Dark And Full Of Strong Female Characters May 21, 2019

Today marks the conclusion of a show that ¾ of the Loud Murmurs team have followed for eight entire years: Game of Thrones. (The very first episode aired in 2011, when we were still wee freshmen in college!)

It’s no exaggeration to ascribe such significance to a single show -- GOT has dominated our screens (big or small) as well as the public discourse on pop culture for the better of a decade. In today’s episode, we invited a good friend, Danmiao, to join our two hosts Diaodiao and Ina to pay tribute to this fantasy-historical-drama.

We discuss the show up to S8E4, and dive deep into our favorite characters and their journey in the seven kingdoms -- both the physical journey they undertake as well as the character development arc that the writers constructed for them. Of course, we also discuss our thoughts on the current season and our thoughts on the writing (it’s not great).

Highlights:

Why the Night King is the most environmentally-friendly global leader in all of the seven kingdoms
How’s the political arena in Westeros treating our women politicians: Dany, Sansa, and Cersei?
How effective is Jon Snow’s “Winter is Coming” campaign slogan?

As always, thanks for listening! Find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E7: Being Chinese, Female, and Funny: A Conversation with Three Stand-up Comedians May 11, 2019

In this episode, we invited three talented ladies to talk about their experience of being Chinese women that tell jokes, and being paid to get on a stage to do it. We had so much fun creating this episode, we hope you enjoy it too!

Listen to find out:

Why are puns funny and why one of the guests was almost kicked out the chat
How do comedians cope with bombing and heckling during live shows
What do journalism and stand-up comedy have in common
Which part of this episode we will edit out to launch on Chinese platforms
What are their favorite jokes

Find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

S2 E6: "Love, Death & Robots" and Chinese Sci-fi's Golden Age Apr 15, 2019

In the past few years, science fiction as a genre has entered the Chinese mainstream in an unprecedented way, thanks to sci-fi writers from China and from the Chinese diaspora. If “The Three Body Problem” introduced the world to Chinese sci-fi, then the 2019 blockbuster “The Wandering Earth” (acquired by Netflix) certainly kept the momentum going. This is the context under which we are having this discussion about Netflix’s high-profile sci-fi animation anthology “Love, Death & Robots."
The series was received extremely positively by the Chinese audience (according to Douban ratings.) But Loud Murmurs being Loud Murmurs, we will not only talk about the stories themselves but also how gender and sex play a role in them.

We are honored to be joined by acclaimed Chinese sci-fi author Chen Qiufan, whose works have won three Galaxy Awards for Chinese Science Fiction. To Chinese sci-fi fans, Qiufan needs no introduction.

Highlights:

In the episode “Beyond the Aquila Rift”, there’s a long CGI sex scene in space. Does the scene serve the plot or does it merely serve a trite male fantasy? Would this story still make sense if the genders of the two main characters are reversed? Is there a subtle religious theme to this story?
We really like the 8th episode, “Good Hunting,” which combines elements of “silk punk” and “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” (Liaozhaozhiyi by Qing Dynasty author Pu Songling). This is written by Chinese American science fiction author Ken Liu, a friend of our guest Chen Qiufan and translator of the “Three Body Problem.” There’s a difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation. We think this story is doing it the right way.
Why are so many episodes in “Love, Death and Robots” accused of sexualizing the female body and glorifying violence towards women? Is this a bigger problem with the sci-fi genre in general?
As a science fiction writer, Chen Qiufan’s works often concern the theme of “justice.” How does Chen explore this theme in the Chinese context and challenge the social status quo?
How can male sci-fi writers better include the perspective of women, create fully developed female characters with agency, and challenge the -isms of our real world when building new, imaginative worlds?

The English version of Chen Qiufan’s book “The Waste Tide” has just come out. Please check it out here!

Thanks for listening! Find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.
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S2 E5: How Bohemian Rhapsody Rocked China in the 2000s Mar 26, 2019

First of all, a big thank you for everyone who supported us during our International Women’s Day campaign on Patreon -- we really appreciate each and every one of you, and hope that you’ll continue to listen, subscribe, and share our podcast. If you’re able, here’s a link to supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs

In today’s episode, we dive into the biopic that won Rami Malek an Oscar for best actor -- Bohemian Rhapsody. For our Chinese audience, especially those at home, our first encounter with Queen was likely through ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions', the memorizable rhythms that accompanied the Chinese National Team as they participated in the 2002 World Cup and 2004 Athens Olympics. But not many are familiar with the backstory behind the band, so we’ve invited scholar Chong Mu to join our hosts Diaodiao and Afra to discuss the behind-the-scenes of our favorite rock band.

Highlights:

How were Queen’s songs assimilated into the Chinese popular culture context in the early 2000’s?
How is Bohemian Rhapsody’s LGBT representation tailored towards the mainstream, and why is that problematic?
What parts of the historical LGBT context did the movie omit and what does that mean? What does the additional censoring in China mean?
Let’s talk about AIDS -- What was the AIDS epidemic like in the 90s?

Thanks for listening! Find us in the iTunes podcast store, Google Play, Spotify, 喜马拉雅 for our fans in China, and wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g. Pocket Casts, Overcast)! Please subscribe, enjoy, and feel free to drop us a note and leave us a review.

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S2 E4: Gender Stereotypes in Wandering Earth, the best Chinese Sci-fi movie Mar 07, 2019

To celebrate 2019's International Women's Day, we recorded a special episode to discuss the problematic gender representation in "Wandering Earth" -- a movie that's been heralded as the most successful sci-fi movie in China. Our hosts Diaodiao and Afra sat down with our guest Ran Liu, PhD candidate in sociology at University of Pennsylvania, and dove into the genre of 'Chinese Sci-Fi.'

这部彻底改变中国科幻格局的贺岁电影《流浪地球》是部对女性不友好的电影？在三月八日国际妇女节的时候，这期小声喧哗用了另外一个特别的维度来讨论它。

在《流浪地球》中，哪些角色被“它者化”了？这部电影中，电影中女性承担了怎样的角色？这些角色反映出了创作者对女性根深蒂固的偏见吗？

本期节目的主播刁刁和Afra邀请了宾夕法尼亚大学社会学博士刘冉，三位女性坐下来，一起谈谈“中国科幻”这个男性爱好者和创作者都居多的类型。

本期，我们不但聊了聊刘慈欣和郭帆的硬核工业观，及他们作品风格对于科幻黄金时代和苏联美学的致敬，我们还主要分析了电影中男性、女性分别被赋予的性别角色——

• 在三代中国英雄中，”姥爷、爸爸、儿子“是主线，为什么电影中，女性并没有被纳入英雄叙事中？

• 在剧里的设定中，人体外骨骼系统可以实现人体与机器的完美结合，增强人体力量，所以，男性和女性的体能差别可以被科技弥合，但为什么韩朵朵和周倩这仅有的两位女性角色只能被拯救？只能在关键时刻掉链子？

• 为什么周倩是个医疗队的救援兵？这个角色反映出了哪些性别限制？

• 而为什么韩朵朵只能在合适的时间、合适的地点、掉下几颗“合适的眼泪”，在世界的中心”呼唤爱“？这体现了怎样的偏见？

• 缺失的母亲角色意味着什么？为什么女性角色总是在故事的背景中被轻描淡写一笔，且总是“被病死”、“被怀念”？

• 一提起姥姥，就一定要提到厨艺吗？”阳春面“里，折射了人们对女性角色的哪些偏见？为什么女性被值得纪念的地方永远在厨房里、在病床上？

• 韩朵朵是一位人们想象中的完美“小圣母”吗？

• 如果李一一或是老何的角色是女性，故事会有怎样的升华？对观众——尤其是银幕前并不满足于只“被拯救”的中国女孩们——有怎样的影响？

欢迎点击链接收听本期节目，iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox等各大平台也能找到我们。我们期待你的留言！

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S2 E3: Oscar in 2019, transition, embarrassment, and highlights Mar 01, 2019

Again, the Academy Award has come at this time of year. Loud Murmurs reflects this year's Oscar ceremony: what has changed? What hasn't? Despite the embarrassing "Best Picture," we also would love to appreciate the highlight moments of Spike Lee, Ruth E. Carter, and many others.
奥斯卡已经过去好几天了，但是对于最佳影片的《绿皮书》及很多颁奖典礼的瞬间的争议，依然如火如荼（热点还没凉！）。小声喧哗的”深夜版本“就要带着你点评一遍这届奥斯卡在度过了争议缠身的数年以后，如何在人口构成、种族构成都有了极大转变娱乐业找到一个合适的定位？以及这个代表着业界最高荣誉的奖项，如何在举步维艰中，强化了银幕上的矛盾，以及弱化了对于种种社会议题的现实和争议？这期节目由Juan, 刁刁和Ina主持。她们聊了…… 为啥《绿皮书》被誉为史上最烂的最佳影片？它的问题出在哪？奥斯卡能否跟上年轻人的脚步？在流媒体和娱乐业迅速改变的时代，如何找到定位？都9102年了，我们为何还要关注奥斯卡？最佳导演Spike Lee在拿奖时说了什么让奥斯卡计时器乖乖安静下来？Mahershala Ali在拿最佳男配时，为什么没有感谢某人？《黑豹》的服装设计师Ruth E. Carter手里的小金人迟了二十年才到她手里，是否该让整个行业都为之反思？这些刚刚提到的奥斯卡的高光瞬间为什么值得关注？

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S2 E2: Roma, a masterpiece of microhistory Feb 27, 2019

Joined by our friend and a Roma-hater Lierke, Loud Murmurs unveils the reception of this Oscar-winning masterpiece Roma in China and beyond. What is the resemblance between 70s Mexico and China, and why should we pay attention to its unique production model? How streaming economy is pushing a reform of the entertainment industry and the prestigious awards? Why do we care about underrepresented people/regions? 这届奥斯卡典礼上，最让人动容的是年轻的墨西哥女演员、1993年出生的耶莉莎·阿帕里西奥(Yalitza Aparicio)牵着自己母亲的手，走上了奥斯卡的红毯。奥斯卡一直被看做是一个一个难以冲破的权力、名望、金钱、文化霸权的象征。耶莉莎在出演《罗马》这部电影之前，在墨西哥一个偏远的城市做教师，从未接触过表演，她的母亲是一个家务工人，她们距离举世关注的红毯，不仅是阶级之遥。这次，她们两位在奥斯卡的现身，是比任何奖项都值得记下的瞬间，也是拉丁裔在主流电影届的高光时刻。耶莉莎在《罗马》中扮演了一名墨西哥原住民的家佣Cleo，因她出色的表演获得第91届奥斯卡金像奖的最佳女主角提名。《罗马》这部电影也因为众多标签，在颁奖季显得格外出众：本片的导演阿方索·卡隆是好莱坞”墨西哥三杰“的一员，他导演的《地心引力》（2013年）和《人类之子》（2006年）都得到了极高的赞誉。在刚刚过去的奥斯卡上，卡隆也一举因为这部电影获得了最佳导演小金人。此外，这部电影由美国流媒体巨头Netflix制作发行，和“传统”好莱坞电影的轨迹有所不同。《罗马》基于故事发生在墨西哥城的一个中产阶级社区“罗马”，讲述年轻女佣克里奥（耶莉莎·阿帕里西奥饰）在雇主索菲亚（玛丽娜·德·塔维拉饰）家中工作，故事以Cleo为中心，讲述了这一家子人的个人命运在时代背景下从1970年一直到1971年的故事。在这集播客里，小声喧哗请来了我们的朋友李尔克（这是真名无误）来和我们聊聊《罗马》这部电影的突破和局限。李尔克作为一个罕见的《罗马》黑，认为这部电影在人物塑造上有许多问题。除了和李尔克（克制地）争论之外，这期小声喧哗的节目还聊了：流媒体Netflix如何颠覆了电影产业，也在慢慢被传统奖项接受。《罗马》讲了怎样一个“小视角的史诗巨作”故事？为什么通过“阶级”“雇主”等解读仍然无法概况《罗马》的视角？《罗马》中采取了哪些震撼的美学技巧？欢迎收听本期节目，喜马拉雅，Castbox, Spotify等各大平台也能找到我们。

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S2 E1: Vice, a reconstruction of history that trolls you Feb 20, 2019

As the award season is coming, Loud Murmurs will start to discuss a series of Oscar-nominated movie. Equipped with background knowledge about Bush's administration, we, in this episode, discussed the legacy of Dick Cheney and George W Bush. Other than telling the audience what they have done, we recalled our memories about Iraq War as a young person growing up in China in the early 2000s.
马上要到来的这个周日，第91届奥斯卡金像奖颁奖典礼会如期举办。虽然已经身处在9102年的我们听到”奥斯卡”这三个字可能会忍不出翻白眼，但是它之于流行文化和电影行业的地位依然高高在上，它不断地引导、调整、施压于新的文化trend和每个人都梦想分羹的“主流性"。这次奥斯卡最佳影片的提名除了有《一个明星的诞生》,《波西米亚狂想曲》，《绿皮书》这样呼声很高且像是“奥斯卡订做电影”般的候选者，还有一部与众不同的电影被提名了，这部电影叫做《为副不仁》（英语：Vice)。这部传记喜剧片，由亚当·麦凯执导和编剧，他也是《大空头》的导演。由克里斯蒂安·贝尔饰演美国副总统也就是主人公迪克·切尼——恩没错，贝尔又在此片中大变活人了。制片是包括布拉德·皮特的制作公司B计划。如果你了解这帮人就知道，这是一帮能把人黑到旋转跳跃380度的讽刺&喜剧天才。正好@小声喧哗Loud_Murmurs 的主播们或多或少都有N年学习美国政治的背景，所以要当仁不让聊这部电影。首先，那啥，迪克·切尼是谁？？？ ––––迪克·切尼是外号为“Darth Vader”, 被骂做是《星战》里邪恶的黑武士。他是小布什任内的美国副总统，也被广泛认为是美国历史上最有实权的副总统之一。在小布什和他的任期结束后，无论来自左翼还是右翼，对于他的评价都很负面。在对一个几乎是政治生涯活跃在2000之前和2000年初期的副总统来说，“盖棺定论"似乎早就被完成。而近些年来，布什政府和其他共和党总统及其同僚，似乎都在现任二逼政府的对比中，反倒显得温情且睿智起来了。发动了伊战的小布什成为了一个有趣可爱的角色（记得他偷偷给Michelle Obama手心里塞糖吃然后被媒体温情报道吗？）；但是实际上，布什和切尼在位时期的中东政策对中东局势基本是毁灭性的。《为副不仁》这部电影，就是对这种修正性叙事的回击。它说白了，这部电影就是向大家再解释一遍: 小布什和迪克·切尼是真的很坏很坏哦，比如说，balabalabala…… 小声喧哗在这期节目中，结合了大量的历史回顾，通过不同的角度，解释、回顾了这部电影所描绘的那些情节和背后的事实。除去以上内容，我们还聊了：伊拉克战争是一场师出无名的石油战争吗？当年的美国国务卿鲍威尔臭名昭著的（赶鸭子上架的）联合国演讲是如何发生的？扎卡维和ISIS的崛起在电影中是怎么被呈现的？这部电影的"死白左”视角携带了多少偏见？能否被正名？对于行为上有明显问题的政治家，我们是否应该枭雄化？节目在这里： https://www.ximalaya.com/thirdparty/player/sound/player.html?id=161972264&type=red 可以从第一张图扫码在喜马拉雅上收听本期节目，iTunes, Spotify等各大平台也能找到我们。

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S1 E22: holiday round-up: who are we? why do we care? Feb 05, 2019

This episode is about……us! Loud Murmurs has produced more than 20 episodes, and this episode introduces the creators behind the podcast. We also discussed why Disney princesses' impact on us is problematic, and how to unlearn the subtle gender implications from the pop cultural products we've been watching growing up. We also would like to thank you for all the support. In the year of the pig, we aspire to produce more and be louder. 小声喧哗先祝大家新年快乐~猪年猪事顺利！这期是一期（拖了很久的）节日特辑，在这期里，我们聊了迪士尼的《无敌破坏王2》筑造的IP宇宙——和这个宇宙中所能发生的超越想象的人物互动——想想《星球大战》里的Stormtroopers在迪士尼公主们的门外巡逻是不是碉堡了。另外，我们还聊了一部Netflix上的超暖心的英国美食节目：The Great British Bake Off. 在新年这个时刻，怀旧显得恰如其分。于是，从谈迪士尼的公主们开始，我们讲了许多小时候的故事：为什么动画中的迪士尼公主们是我们的启蒙者？她们的representations为我们对“女性”的理解和在这个世界的自处，营造了怎样的典范？这样的典范为什么会被文化批评者反思、抨击？“女人有野心”就会即刻被归入“邪恶后母”这一类形象？为什么90年代前的迪士尼中的女性角色如此糟糕，对当代小女孩们塑造和维护自己的agency（能动性）没有好处？同时，这期是对2018年做的整整20期节目的一个总结。小声喧哗已经诞生快要一年了，没想到一个标榜着“女性声音”的节目能够得到这么多人的喜爱，四位当代女性感谢大家耐心听我们的正经闲聊。猪年会有更多喧哗的好节目，来自最会聊的四位当代女性。这期小声喧哗能在喜马拉雅, iTunes和Spotify里找到。如果想在喜马拉雅收听，请扫图中的二维码

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S1 E21: invention and tradition, see Christmas through the lens of pop culture Dec 24, 2018

In this Christmas, Loud Murmurs’ holiday special talks about the history and origin of this worldwide celebration of consumerism and gift exchanging. Joined by talich, a famous writer and US politic watcher, we are going to breakdown the intertwined story of history, tradition, modernity, and religion. How religion shaped this modern holiday? Why Christmas is so family-orientated? Why this holiday matters to Chinese society? What are the new “traditional” holidays are being invented in China to increase consuming behavior? 这期的小声喧哗，听我们聊聊圣诞节。圣诞树、圣诞狂欢、圣诞老人、圣诞购物––这一切看似古老悠久的习俗，其实都是近几百年的发明？小声喧哗请来了《虹膜》杂志”娱乐的逻辑“栏目主笔和选美播客的主持人talich. 他在出版了《天堂在上，美国在这儿》之后，又在这个圣诞节推出了一本全新的知乎电子书，《从文化禁忌到消费盛宴：圣诞节在美国》。如果有兴趣，可以在这里浏览更多信息：https://www.zhihu.com/pub/book/119591860 每当我们聊起来”美国流行文化“这六个个字，我们总会想到好莱坞，卡戴珊，Ellen, 脱口秀，迪士尼等等，最早可能也只会追溯到二战后的流行文化。而talich的这本书，从一个更加广义的角度重新定义了圣诞节背后的大众文化。美国人在用了一个世纪的时间，将圣诞节变成了“美国化”以家庭为主导的购物季？从历史的角度谈，宗教的制约、经济的腾飞和大众传媒的兴起，这三股力量相互交织，在美国土地上，新旧移民共同创造出了新的「古老传统」。在这期小声喧哗中，我们让talich讲了许多关于美国历史和大众文化的故事，他也回答了一些关于这本电子书的问题。比方说，为什么你研究美国的流行文化要从清教徒们居住的美国东北部讲起？美国的流行文化从最初，就打着“反对旧世界” “反对旧欧洲”的旗号。那么这一百多年的流行文化的发展对于塑造美利坚的民族主义有怎样的影响？怎么看”美国人“和“美国流行文化”这两个动态的相互塑造的概念？在你的书和文章里，有个很显著的主题就是说圣诞节是个被发掘出来并商业化的现代节日，你能简单介绍下这个过程吗？这个节日如何被“发明出来的”？圣诞老人是如何被构建成了一个典型的“传统符号”？为什么在流行文化中，这个节日的意象这么家庭主导？和美国的社会结构有关吗？和工业化有关系吗？广义的流行文化是什么？这根数如何解构消费节日和消费行为以及他们和现代性的关系？美国有“圣诞档期”和“感恩节档期”，这都是商业电影界非常重视的两个档期，就像我们的贺岁片一样，每年我们都能在院线看到很多以圣诞为主题的电影。好莱坞在初期的时候就有这样的传统了吗？

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S1 E20: dystopian movie Gattaca and Chinese experiment with gene-edited babies Dec 04, 2018

With the shocking news of Chinese researcher He Jiankui using CRISPR to edit human genes, a debate rose on the internet (in China and around the world) and paranoia around the gene-editing technology ensued. This episode of Loud Murmurs centers around a 1997 sci-fi film, "Gattaca" -- a movie that depicts a dystopian society driven by eugenics, where potential children are conceived through genetic selection to have their parents' best hereditary traits. Along with our guests SanTu and Kong Kong, we use this film as a starting point to discuss the current controversy in China. Thank you for the listening, as always, and please follow us on Twitter and Weibo at @Loudmurmurs @小声喧哗loudmurmurs. Feedback and suggestions are appreciated. 前几天，南方科技大学的科学家贺建奎宣称，世界上第一对基因编辑婴儿在中国诞生，他说，试验通过基因编辑CRISPR技术，修改了这对胎儿的基因，这对双胞胎可以抵抗爱滋病的侵犯。这则新闻一出现就引起了轩然大波。基因编辑、克隆等等话题，是90年代末21世纪初的热点话题，1997的一部美国电影《Gattaca》——《千钧一发》，讲述的就是这样一个唯”基因决定论“的未来世界。在很多科幻迷眼里，这部电影有不可逾越的地位，它没有让人眼花缭乱的炫酷特效，却用极有说服力的细节，描述了一个发生在未来世界的反乌托邦——在这个世界中，对于肤色和人种的歧视荡然无存，取而代之的是更残酷的”基因歧视“——而非基因决定的人性则成了片中要探讨的深刻命题。《Gattaca》中，”基因选择“、”优生优育“、”受害者“等关键词无疑也是这次南方科技大学基因试验丑闻中激起舆论风暴的话题。于是，小声喧哗决定以借聊《Gattaca》为契机，讨论关于基因实验的风险及伦理问题。我们请来了@反吃瓜联盟的生物博士后孔孔以及我们的老朋友林三土老师。在这期节目中，我们聊到了： 1. 为什么贺建奎被业界的科学家们口诛笔伐？为什么说贺建奎是个大人渣？为什么说贺建奎在基因编辑峰会上对于同行的质疑，做出的回答显得非常鸡贼？ 2. 《Gattaca》中，优质基因所塑造的精英们和携带”劣等基因“的普通人这样的科幻主题，如何在真实世界的等级制度中被反映了出来？这样超越了国家肤色的”超级种族“是否多多少少并非空穴来风，而是在现实中有迹可循？ 3. 电影中，未来世界是基于meritocracy（英才制度）高效运转，但是这种社会制度为什么令人细思极恐？这种未来社会的福利制度会是怎样的？在英才控制的社会下，普通人的命运是怎样的？ 4. 为什么说电影中的未来世界可能是美国当代保守派想象中的美好世界？ 5. 基因和环境如何影响一个人的行为？其中基因占多大比重？基因是如何通过复杂的机制影响一个人和ta日后的人生？ 6. 在看到裘·德洛和伊桑·霍克的神颜以后，主播嗷的一声是多少分贝？

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S1 E19: The tragedy of a beautiful boy Nov 15, 2018

Beautiful Boy is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Felix Van Groeningen, starring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet. Your hosts Afra, Juan, Diaodiao, and Ina brings you the latest episode of Loud Murmurs on 'Beautiful Boy,' where we share our experiences on the exhausting emotional rollercoaster that is this movie. We also dive deep into the opioid epidemic around us, the 'white innocence' hanging over the film, and the father-son relationship. 甜茶Timothee Chalamet今年的新片Beautiful Boy（漂亮男孩）已经登录了影院。小声喧哗的各位甜茶亲姐粉们决定聊聊这部以父子情和毒瘾为主题的电影。这部片子讲了一个十分压抑的故事——男孩开始吸毒，行为不受控制，父亲前去帮助。男孩进入戒毒所戒掉毒瘾，但是过一阵子又旧态萌发——这个闭环仿佛在两小时的电影中上演了无数次。前半部充满了希望的“戒掉毒瘾”回归生活被剧情无情地拉扯回了破灭中。我们好像眼睁睁地看着主角在不断重复“走了一小步，退了一大步”。漂亮男孩的堕落和无助，以及父亲面对儿子困境的无奈，并非是这个电影要强行彰显的博人同情的主题，而是，这个电影用一次又一次”旧态萌发”，给与观众与电影中的父亲相同的“疲惫”，从而激发观众更多的同理心。在感受到疲惫的一次又一次过程中，我们被电影的故事和两位主角的演技深深打动。然而，除去探讨对剧情和电影，小声喧哗对于这部电影的切入点还有毒瘾成因以及背后瘾君子的种族区分对待。在这期的节目中，我们想要抽离开甜茶营造的“纯真感”，去探究支撑这场悲剧的隐含观念：这样的悲剧好像不该发生在这个家族所代表的那种善良的白人身上。而这样的预设，其实携带了许多社会不公偏见。本期，我们聊了：海洛因的成因机制是怎样的？别的毒品呢？冰毒呢？毒品成瘾究竟是怎样一个可怕的闭环过程？会对人脑造成哪种程度的影响？真的无法通过外界干预吗？影片是否在寻求观众的同情和宽容？是否片中的瘾君子甜茶的身份豁免了他对自身行为的失责？当片中瘾君子的肤色一换，故事会立马就不一样吗？我们如何评价两位主演的表现？片中主人公“中上阶层”的设定对这个电影的叙事内容有什么影响？为什么“毒瘾”、“忏悔”这样的故事，也只有少数与特权的瘾君子有叙事的权利？

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S1 E18: Searching - the thriller film in this age Nov 01, 2018

Searching is a thriller film directed by American director Aneesh Chaganty. Set entirely on smartphones and computer screens, this film gained fame through its unique storytelling. Hosted by Afra, Juan, and Ina, this episode of Loud Murmurs focuses on the significance (or insignificance) of Asian cast and the reflection on technology-saturated life. 有一个关于这部电影的影评说的很精准：它彻底改变科技产品在电影中的参与方式。这部电影的导演叫做Aneesh Chaganty，是一位1991年出生的曾为Google拍摄过广告的美国九零后。在他的眼里，一个悬疑故事的剧情，能够通过充斥着“光标从左移到右”这样语句的剧本来表达出来。这部完全用电脑桌面和手机屏幕组合而成的电影，对于我们来说，是一门全新的语言。从前我们并没有反思过我们队这门语言掌握的熟练程度，而现在，看完这部电影以后，我们意识到了自己早已经浸入了这种被电脑屏幕、搜索引擎、社交媒体架构起来的世界。因此在这样一个世界中发生的悬疑故事，是一样的震撼，一样的让人起鸡皮疙瘩。这是一个父亲通过追踪女儿留在电脑和网络上的电子足迹，而最终寻找到答案的故事。只不过它的载体太让人难忘。小声喧哗决定聊这部电影，是想和大家在探讨当关于生死、亲情这些永恒主题在被电子世界承载的时候，我们最本质的东西是否也发生了变化。这期播客是Juan, Afra和Ina三个主播一起主持的，在这期播客里，我们聊到了：对于这部很超前的电影来说，里面的”亚裔做主角“这件事情被淡化了，并没有在宣传时用”亚裔”这个噱头，那么，亚裔身份在电影中的分量是怎样的？这部电影对于母亲的角色刻画为什么特别出彩？社交网络时代成长起来的美国少年们的友谊是怎样的？蹭热度和点击量的直觉根植在我们这一代人的行为中吗？当人命关天的时候，他们会怎样表现？这部电影是一部典型的对”反乌托邦“般无处不在的网络这个现象的反思吗？这部电影对表现真实的美国社会的多元化有什么用的意义？

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S1 E17: BoJack Horseman and existential nihilism in Chinese context Oct 26, 2018

This episode is joined by our old friend, Santu, who earned his philosophy Ph.D. at Columbia University and now a J.D candidate at Yale University, and our new friend, Mr. Qian, who's also pursuing his degree at Yale University. In this episode, we recap the previous seasons of BoJack Horseman and raise questions such as why this Netflix show resonates with so many Chinese viewers, and to what extent, it reflects the exhausting reality in urban China? Aside from "Philosophy 101" content, the host Diaodiao mentioned "sang culture," a trendy lifestyle in China celebrating the acceptance of bleak perspectives. Why is that? Are we the Sisyphus who are trapped by the repeating norms that have no meanings? What is BoJack Horseman trying to tell us? ”BoJack Horseman“——「马男波杰克」, 一个红遍微博的存在虚无主义动画片。因为他的“丧”戳中了我们当代生活最无奈的软肋，于是，很多个带着马男波杰克对话的截图成了我们戏谑生活的表达途径。BoJack Horseman这部动画里常常出现一种毫无解决方式的”惨“和毫不犹豫的对生活的反抗，然而，Todd, Mr. Peanutbutter和Princess Carolyn等人，又把更多和”生存“这件痛苦的事实相处的不同的模式，抽象成了丰满的虚拟人物，我们每个人身边都能找出来对应这几个人物的朋友，不是吗？自从听说「马男波杰克」第五季要在九月中旬在Netflix上映后，小声喧哗制作组就决定要聊一聊这部充满了无限哲学意味的Netflix动画”BoJack Horseman“。在这集史上最长的”存在主义动画播客“里，有我们熟悉的主持人刁刁，和新朋友——来自耶鲁大学经济系博士，钱老师，我们还请来了老朋友——哥伦比亚大学的哲学博士，现耶鲁法学院法学博士在读的林三土老师。这集播客的野心，不仅要穿透”波杰克爆红”的现象和动画的剧情，还涉及到了许多非常本质的议题，比方说：家庭、婚姻、事业的成就是终极目标，还是无意义的排遣？BoJack眼中的奥斯卡，是否就是消解”终极成就“的化身？朝九晚五的我们，是法国哲学家加缪口中，推着石头日复一日上山的西西福斯吗？为什么这部成人动画用动物，去携带如此沉重的人物形象，动画本身又对这些人物形象有哪些调侃，埋伏了哪些双关？为什么这样一个存在虚无主义动画片在中国可以这么红？和国内的所谓“丧文化”有什么关系？它跟其他内核类似的丧剧有什么不同？ Todd的“失败者”人物形象有什么突破？他的种种意外成就和他的asexuality，代表了BoJack背后这帮牛逼天才编剧们，对传统强势白人男性形象的怎样的讽刺？

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S1 E16: Crazy Rich Asians - A Tale of Two Generations of Immigrants Sep 16, 2018

Today we are joined by Tony (weibo: @没有羊先生) and Xiaozi (weibo: @少年字) for a discussion on the all-Asian cast blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians. The movie received stellar ratings amongst critics and audiences alike, and is acclaimed as a major step towards screen representation for the Asian American community. The success, however, confused many Chinese movie-goers, as they saw only a rom-com not far from the traditional formula. What do you think about this movie? Swoon-worthy? Razzle-dazzling? Empowering or misrepresented? Tell us what you think by leaving comments on Weibo, Twitter, WeChat, iTunes, and Soundcloud. And yes we read all of them. 今天我们请到了Tony（微博@没有羊先生）和小字（微博@少年字）来聊一聊最近大热的Crazy Rich Asians。这部电影在美国，尤其是亚裔群体里被评为里程碑式的电影，亚裔的《黑豹》；却被国内观众认为乏善可陈，不过是一个普通的霸道总裁灰姑娘爱情剧。这部华裔拍给世界的浪漫爱情喜剧和中国观众有哪些错位？电影里强烈的“宫斗感”从哪里来？杨紫琼和Constance Wu的麻将对手戏有什么深意？这可以算是一部有进步意义的电影吗？

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S1 E15: Incredibles 2 and New Gender Norms Aug 19, 2018

Today, hosts Ina and Afra are joined by our guest Lin Santu, scholar and real-life dad, to talk about Pixar's action animation Incredibles 2. It's been 14 years since the first Incredibles, what has changed in how the movie portrays family dynamics, gender norms and heroism? Tell us what you think by leaving comments on Weibo, Twitter, WeChat, iTunes, and Soundcloud. We read all of them. 《超人总动员2》在相隔十四年以后回归。在第一部“合家欢”的结尾之后，第二部的剧情几乎无缝衔接了第一部，重燃了观众的怀旧之情，有观众说，“就好像中间十四年的时光，只不过是插播了一个广告”。这部皮克斯动画在2018年面对的，已经是女性主义普及、与相对自觉的现代媒体熏陶下的观众，因而，它的剧情和结构也随之进化。在第二部，妈妈“弹力女侠”成了正面抗击坏人的英雄，而爸爸鲍勃则承担起了照顾孩子们情绪、辅导作业、给Jack Jack换尿布喂奶粉的居家工作。这样的性别角色调换是如何在电影中被呈现出来的呢？这部儿童电影，在家庭对社会角色和责任的教育中，传递了怎样的信息？我们邀请了哥伦比亚大学政治学博士、知名学者林三土老师加入这期节目。同时，三土老师也是两个孩子的父亲。在这个电影中，我们聊了：这两部相隔14年的电影对于manhood（男子气概）的定义有怎样的进化？爸爸鲍勃在应对家庭责任时候非常笨拙吃力、屡屡失败的原因是什么？在电影的世界观下，超人们的超能力对现代的政治政体有怎样的挑战？反派“screenslaver”如何批判了对现代人“被屏幕所控制”的现象、当代青年真的被屏幕控制了吗? 《超人总动员2》的贴片《包宝宝》是一部不超过八分钟的短篇动画，讲了一个另外一个家庭（移民华裔家庭）的形态，为什么这个短片这么催泪？为什么有一些非华裔观众get不到这个短片的点？

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S1 E14: Pop Culture In the Age of #MeToo Aug 13, 2018

Today, the four hosts of Loud Murmurs discuss a rather serious subject: pop culture in the age of the #MeToo movement. We start with the anti-sexual harassment movement in Hollywood, to how #MeToo has spread from the west to the east and how it takes form on China's social media. We look at the movies and TV shows we've consumed and re-examined bits and pieces of our pop culture that no longer fits in with how gender powers are defined across the world. Last but not least -- Chuck Bass looks like a young Khrushchev? 今天小声喧哗的四位主播聊了一个沉重的话题：性侵。我们从好莱坞的反性侵运动开始，聊到了中国最近网络上风起云涌的me too运动。我们少年时代摄入的文化产品里，关于爱情的片段既是我们对爱情向往的投射，也在塑造着我们与异性交往的范式和预期。没有人怀疑过强暴是应当被谴责的；但是下面这些片段构成了我们对于爱情的幻象的很大一个部分，把性骚扰、性侵当做“浪漫”也是流行文化中屡见不鲜的元素：《流星花园》里道明寺甩了女主满身的盒饭，并且把她按在墙角撕掉她的衣服强吻（编者案：我们小时候都看了些啥……）。《海贼王》里的娜美出场总会被袭胸，袭胸的对象包括老人和小男孩。《绯闻女孩》里Chuck Bass在天台上强吻高一的女孩被撞破。《BJ日记》里作为上司的Huge Grant给员工Bridget在工作时间发邮件，评论她的短裙和上衣。《银翼杀手》里Rick Deckard将闪避他的索吻的Rachael按到窗上说：“说‘吻我’”。《007金手指》里James Bond将邦女郎用蛮力掀翻在谷仓里，并与她发生关系。我们重新审视了当代文化产品中不再符合新的性别观的片段，并借此讨论了me too国内外一些关注度很高的案例以及流行文化造成的虚假期待。女性被男性渴望，就是女性的成功吗？我站在那里漂漂亮亮什么都不用干，被人搭讪，被人爱，这就是我们想象中的浪漫爱情吗？到底什么是性侵？性侵会对受害者带来怎么样的伤害？将性侵公布到网上只会带来无差别的网络暴力吗？以及最后一个关键问题，绯闻女孩里的Chuck Bass长得究竟有多像某前苏联领导人？！

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S1 E13: Westworld Season Finale Jul 22, 2018

In Episode 13, we welcome back your host Diao Diao and our good old friend Dongze (Steven) to discuss the end of the fantastic show that is Westworld. Our dynamic duo covers the human v. host consciousness, biblical references throughout the season, as well as dive deep into plot twists and mind puzzlers -- enjoy!

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S1 E12: Ocean's 8's Lady Gang Jul 12, 2018

The ladies of Loud Murmurs watched Oceans 8 and we could not be more enthusiastic to talk about this movie with badass women leads! Hope you enjoy! 我们在这集播客里除了吹捧各位女主角之外，也反思了我们建立这个播客的源问题。电影，乃至整个娱乐业，都长期是被男性话语权主宰。电影中的女性角色往往是为亚当创造的夏娃，作为被观察、欣赏、投射价值判断的客体存在。女性观众在欣赏这些电影的时候，很难获得同样的“代入感”，和男性观众获得同样的娱乐。《瞒天过海》打破了这个局面。这部电影是一个完全从女性视角出发的爆米花片。这些女人们是‘为了坏而坏、为了钱而抢劫’。没有报复男人、歇斯底里的老套情节，没有把女性角色放入受害者的框框里，她们才不是因为感情失意或是被人抛弃才犯罪，她们就是想做货真价值badass的女人。她们要钱、爱钱，那她们就惊天动地抢了一场。坏的不留余地，理直气壮。希望大家听的和我们观影一样愉快！

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S1 E11: Westworld: Shogun World, The Turing Test, and Ducks Jun 18, 2018

Your favorite Westworld recap/deep dive is back! This is our 11th episode and we are more excited than ever to talk about new plot twists in Season Two of this show. Your host Diao Diao and our good old friend Dongze (Steven) discuss their take on artificial intelligence in Westworld, Shogun World, and beyond. Hope you enjoy! 西部世界：图灵测试、老丈人与鸭子《西部世界》的坑可以不用挖了，因为坑直接被炸出来了。在剧情走向越来越激动人心、越来越炸裂的时候，小声喧哗制作了关于讨论剧情及背后科技、哲理的第二期。这期的常驻主持人(HOST)是从业于科技咨询的刁刁，嘉宾是参与了《西部世界》第一期讨论的在湾区科技行业工作的东泽。当《西部世界》的层理越来越深的时候，更多的世界设定被整合了进去，人物的“进化”也愈发超出想象。这部剧对于宗教、人工智能、和科技的隐喻和探讨被拉到了一个新的维度。有观众说，每看一集四五十分钟的《西部世界》，就起码要花两三个小时读剧情解读和相关的文献。这期的小声喧哗，我们探讨解析了以下的内容：人类对生老病死总是充满恐惧，我们能通过生物科技技术和认知科学技术超越生老病死吗？威廉的老丈人的命运是体现了地狱是人类的最终归属吗？ Hosts们在探索和挑战西部世界里的Mesh Network（网状结构）时，除了能像Maeve开挂般讲一种新语言，还能实现怎样的进化和突破？西部世界里的“江户幕府世界”，内嵌着剧集创作者对这个时代怎样的想象？幕府时代的杀戮、暴力、和道德观，与“西部世界”相比，有哪些异同？突出了哪些文化符号？我们在Westworld里看到了多少个现有的技术？除了3D打印以外，自然语言识别（NLP）这个领域的原理是什么？我们还差多远？现今的图像识别发展到了哪里？Siri能听懂我们说话是为什么？ Westworld里人工智能是怎么实现的？一只假的鸭子，做了一切真的鸭子能做的事情，那么假鸭子一瞬间就成为了真鸭子吗？人和鸭子之间的关系依旧是人和工具之间的关系。但是人类和另一种智能之间的关系注定不会是人和工具之间的关系吗？最后的人工智能会是Westworld这样吗？推荐阅读： https://futurism.com/westworld-and-ai-experts-discuss-the-future-of-intelligent-machines/ http://www.vulture.com/2016/10/westworld-ask-a-futurist.html https://www.inverse.com/article/22181-ai-westworld http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/free-will-ai-and-vibrating-vests-investigating-science-westworld 推荐电影: 刁刁：Wild Wild Country 东泽：美国众神

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S1 E10: Remembering Anthony Bourdain, food, culture and home Jun 13, 2018

This is a special episode by Loud Murmurs, where we remember the legacy of chef, author and TV host Anthony Bourdain. Host Juan, Ina and our guest, food blogger Duan Wangye, talk about what food means to them and why it has everything to do with cultural identity and a sense of belongingness.
在这一期《小声喧哗》的特别节目中，主播Juan，Ina和美食作家段王爷一起缅怀了刚刚过世的大厨、作家，电视节目主持人波登，也讨论了食物与文化归属感之间无法切断的关系。
节目链接： 1. 段王爷的微信公众号：段王爷在纽约 @gh_8b6daa91beec 2. 波登 1999年为《纽约客》写的文章：《在吃饭之前不要读这个》 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-before-reading-this 3. 《纽约客》2017年关于波登的长篇专访：《Anthony Bourdain的流动盛筵》https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/13/anthony-bourdains-moveable-feast 4. 纽约 Momofuku 主厨 David Chang在Netflix上的美食纪录片：《美食不美》https://www.netflix.com/title/80170368

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S1 E9: The Death of Stalin (amongst other things) May 31, 2018

In this week's episode, your hosts Diao Diao and Afra are joined by their dear friend (and fellow comrade)Mr. Zhu to discuss the hilarious political satire comedy, Death of Stalin. We dive deep into the political history of the former U.S.S.R. and how close the script sticks to history. 《斯大林之死》：辱苏片里的黑色幽默这期的小声喧哗聊了聊一部漠河以北不存在的电影《斯大林之死》。这部由苏格兰导演阿曼多·兰努奇指导的电影讲述了前苏联领导人斯大林意外身亡后，因选择他的接班人而引发的种种故事。这部黑色喜剧中的种种荒唐情节，绝大多数都取材于前苏联的真实事件——斯大林在自己的尿泊里暴毙，却没有下属敢敲门营救他；莫斯科的好医生一半被杀，一半被送去了古拉格的集中营——这一系列细思恐极的笑点，点出了极权主义政治下，戏剧性与血腥会面时，现实体现出的残酷和幽默。这期小声喧哗的主持人是刁刁和Afra，本期我们还邀请了精通苏联政治的老朋友朱大师。本期政治历史知识密度很高，前苏联历史和对当下美国和俄罗斯政治的评论贯穿始末，小声喧哗聊了如下内容： 1.《斯大林之死》里，有哪些情节属实，这些充满黑色幽默的血腥情节在政治喜剧中意味着什么？朱可夫、赫鲁晓夫和贝利亚的竞争是怎样的？斯大林死后的政治角逐是怎样的的情形？强人政治的稳定性有哪些优势和劣势？ 2. 为何导演在这个以前苏联为背景的电影中保留了演员们的“布鲁克林美音”和“伦敦英音”？ 3. 政治讽刺剧作为一种类型，为什么在独裁社会中无法存活？ 4. 俄罗斯的当下——间谍、强人政治——继承了前苏联的哪些遗产？“克林姆林宫学”是什么？电影中哪些情节体现了“克林姆林宫学”？推荐阅读 Recommended reading： https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/19/the-death-of-stalin-dares-to-make-evil-funny https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-the-death-of-stalin.html http://view.news.qq.com/original/legacyintouch/d337.html https://www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk/languages-creativity/exploring-multilingualism/yorkshire-cockney-new-york-accents-death-stalin

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S1 E8: Plunging into Westworld May 11, 2018

For our 8th episode, we shift our attention to the ever-so-popular TV show Westworld, and really take a deep plunge into the multiple worlds (we hope you know this already) of Delos' theme park, the complicated plot, and how the show touches on philosophy, human vs. AI, the bicameral mind, etc., etc., all the exciting things! This week in addition to your usual hosts, we've invited our friend Dongze (Steven) to share his thoughts too. Hope you enjoy!
本期的小声喧哗开始了一个新的尝试，我们打算同HBO剧《西部世界》一起，挖一个深坑。《西部世界》这部剧不仅仅整合了许多文化和影视中的经典元素（西部片、爱情片、科幻片等等），而且以极大的野心，探讨了当下最热门的人工智能，以及在人工智能这个科技分支下，一切关于伦理、哲学、自我意识、对人类的威胁、与人类的关系的讨论。在未来，小声喧哗将会不定期讨论与《西部世界》有关的话题。
除了四位常驻主播Juan, Ina, Afra, 和刁刁之外，在旧金山科技领域工作的东泽也加入第一期关于《西部世界》的讨论。
这期小声喧哗的信息量很密集，我们聊了如下话题： 1. 如果AI的自我意识想象为一个金字塔，那么《西部世界》中的hosts们已经站到了金字塔的第几层？ 2. 《西部世界》如何挑衅了观众对于Dolores和Teddy这样从伊甸园般走出的完美男女的想象？ Dolores是一个杀死上帝的尼采吗？她脑海中指向觉醒的声音是在隐喻撒旦吗？ 3. 片头隐含了怎样的信息？钢琴自动演奏的各种音乐有哪些，摇滚史上的经典反应了hosts们的哪种生活状态？机器”演奏音乐“是怎样的一个象征？ 4. 《西部世界》如何处理“西部片”这一经典题材？ 5. 剧中女性角色为什么这么有颠覆性？除了以上内容的讨论，我们还触及了意识上传和科技公司监视客户、盗取个人信息这种现实感和未来感都很强的话题。第一个坑已经很深了，希望大家见证我们挖下去……希望你喜欢这期的小声喧哗！

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S1 E7: Isle of Dogs and how much does Wes Anderson really love Japan? Apr 27, 2018

In our latest episode, five dog lovers chat enthusiastically about Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs." Your usual hosts and their friend Daniel dives deep into the world of Wes Anderson and share our thoughts on how his latest film can be seen as problematic to the Japanese culture.
第七期：汪汪汪汪汪汪汪韦斯·安德森的《犬之岛》小声喧哗的这期节目是关于4月20日在中国上映的定格动画电影《犬之岛》。这部电影由极具个人风格的美国导演韦斯·安德森(Wes Anderson)执导。大家可能对韦斯·安德森的强迫症般的摄影风格并不陌生，这部电影和他之前的作品类似：画面华丽浓郁、镜头对称、并且细节出彩。除了讨论韦斯·安德森的美学教条主义（Daniel不小心瞎编了Anderson Doctrine这个术语），我们还非常努力地（过度）解读了很多情节。
从批评韦斯·安德森的西方视角入手，我们聊了聊电影中的日本元素的展现，以及这个被重构的日本的可商榷之处。当然了，性别与种族在电影中的呈现一直是小声喧哗最关心的元素。我们也聊了电影里面，女性角色的薄弱及种族问题。本期除了四位常驻主播Juan, Ina, Afra, 和刁刁之外，好基友Daniel也加入了讨论。
Juan批评了电影中日本元素的呈现，当“日本”化身成了太鼓、寿司、俳句，我们不难看出来导演日本的理解以及呈现过于粗浅。Ina还提到了安德森雇了一位非常捉急的寿司大师做咨询，Juan提到了主角“Atari”这个听起来很日本但却没有任何含义的名字所传达出来的西方人对日本似是而非的理解——反映出了在后殖民主义的框架下，即使在学界对此进行了多年反思，导演可能依旧缺乏文化敏感性。在韦斯·安德森的世界里，日本是一个政治寓言的发生地。
Afra认为，电影的结尾是以寓言故事的方式处理。另外，电影中的语言障碍是一个人为的文化隔阂，即使是导演故意为之，但它剥夺了观众去了解讲日语的人物向观众传达心理的权利，因此他们在某种程度上并没有真正完整的人格。 Ina则认为，即使电影的文化元素不那么让人满意，但是这仍旧是一部温情的如同小王子般的童话电影。它继承了导演的一贯风格，在探险元素和温情主题中，这不失是一部能让人好好在大银幕前被感动的电影。刁刁提到了电影里的文化挪用，她认为文化本身就应该被反刍。不是因为韦斯安德森是白人就不能反刍东方文化。
同时，刁刁引出了电影中很值得吐槽的性别问题，在几个不多的女性角色中，对女性角色的呈现是突出她们的软弱和性感：女研究员是个无法承受打击的弱鸡，小（母）狗豆蔻是个有大胸并且声音迷人的花瓶角色。至于交换Tracy，她是个当仁不让，一心拯救直世界的white savior——每次这样的角色都落在白人头上，不烦吗？除此之外，我们还（过度）解读了犬之岛的后人类场景以及Megasaki (对应长崎Nagasaki) 这个城市的名字，是否在隐喻核战、海啸、核辐射后的日本。
Daniel聊到了昭和时代晚期的日本精神，电影里“未来的Magasaki”是还原经济腾飞、创造科技神话的昭和晚期吗？以及“昭和”印象是日本的商品化的文化输出。Juan认为日本昭和晚期的文化灿烂是不争的事实，一大批艺术家、思想家和文化人士塑造了一个独特的具有现代性的日本文化，那个时代对西方世界的文化反输出是他们努力的结果。另外，我们还聊了：日本人看这个电影啥感受？美籍日本人看这个电影啥感受？电影对美国的少数族裔的文化认同和身份认同上有啥影响？电影对哪些日本导演致敬？最后，最后，我们分别推荐了五部逼格有高有低的小众电影。快来听本期播客find out吧！

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S1 E6: Shape Of Water Apr 12, 2018

In our latest episode, we finally chat about "The Shape of Water." Your hosts Afra, Diaodiao, and Ina talk about what they like and don't like about the Oscar-winning film. 这期的小声喧哗是姗姗来迟的对今年奥斯卡最佳电影《水形物语》的讨论。这部电影拿奖之后，几位主播们的朋友圈都一片哗然。然而这部电影在国内的评价似乎都很正面，于是我们就着“水形物语到底烂在哪、好在哪？”这个问题开始讨论。刁刁将《水形物语》边缘人的命运和对这种命运的妥协，比作是当代的《雾都孤儿》和《巴黎圣母院》类的经典叙事。这样的故事通过暴露视觉上的丑恶，去寻找人性美的文学和电影，仿佛在今天格外强调边缘人自我赋权的时代已经不再是主流。因而刁刁认为，《水形物语》的这种关注”脆弱“的叙事，虽然不是当下热门的鸡汤，也很有意义。 Afra则讲了这部电影设置的背景——冷战时期——下的种种历史事实。比如说，为什么反派如此急切地想要争取上司将军的支持？一触即发的核战争和古巴导弹危机，以及苏联当时领先的太空科技为这部电影的剧情起到了怎样的推动作用？60年代开始萌发的现代广告业如何在电影中呈现了出来？肯尼迪时代的美国对与苏联”邪恶帝国“的恐慌和我们现在对冷战的认识有哪些出入？除去电影的背景知识，我们还剖析了《水形物语》故事线和人物的单薄。主持人Ina认为，这部电影中很多人物和情节莫名其妙开始，又莫名其妙淡出，于是我们不遗余力地把许多能黑的弱点都晒了出来。除去节目中的电影讨论，我们决定在每个节目的结尾，加上一小段我们对某些小众电影和纪录片的评价。这次，Afra黑了一把刚刚上映的讲述中国空壳公司在美国股市诈骗的网飞纪录片《中国喧嚣》（The China Hustle)。另外，下一期，我们将会讨论“舌尖上的中国”的美国翻版，《中看不中吃》（Ugly Delicious)。最后，我们很想知道你对这部口碑看似爆表的《水形物语》究竟是喜欢还是嫌弃？ -资瓷！ -烂片，负分 -看睡着了 -感动、温情的怪兽电影 -没太大感觉 -看着倒胃口

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S1 E5: 'Queer Eye' in a New Age Apr 04, 2018

In our latest episode, we chat about Netflix's new hot (in every aspect) show: 'Queer Eye.' Your hosts Afra, Juan, and Ina chat with our friends Bing and Lena (our very own 'Fab 5') about our favorite people and moments from the show, the history of LGBTQ on screen, and what this all means in today's day and age.
这一期播客我们请来了两位身处LGBTQ群体的嘉宾Bing和黎娜一起剖析最近大热的真人秀《粉雄救兵》（Queer Eye）。 2003年的老版《粉雄救兵》在许多维度上都可以认为是历史性的。同性恋群体——尤其是男性同性恋群体——在历史上长期背负着诸多恶意的标签，从“娘娘腔”到“恋童癖”不一而足。
2003年Fab 5的横空出世让同性恋群体以一个新的形象出现在大众视野里：精致，会生活，毒舌而善于沟通，心怀善意帮助其他的群体发现更好的自己。 15年之后，LGBTQ群体走过了许多历史性事件，既迎来了世界多个国家和地区同性婚姻的合法化，也遇到了2017年的右翼保守主义抬头。
新时代的LGBTQ群体是会欢迎同性恋男性的“精致男孩”标签，还是把这种标签视为刻板印象的另一种形态？来自不同背景的观众如何看待同性恋群体在大众媒体越来越多的表现？Bing从自己一个已经出柜的同性恋男性和纪录片制作人的双重视角剖析了这一点。此外，新版《粉雄救兵》将Fab 5来到美国南方的乔治亚州，几乎跨越了整个美国政治光谱，把几个传统意义上的自由派青年空降到了美国最保守也最贫穷的南方腹地。
Afra指出了《粉雄救兵》差强人意的一点——让几位“沿海城市精英”对农民和警察的生活方式指指点点，让人觉得制作人对改造者和被改造者阶级差异的处理未免显得欠考虑。

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S1 E4: Black Panther: Marvel's new superhero, Afrofuturism, and what this all means in China Mar 19, 2018

In this episode, Juan and Diao Diao chat with our dear friend Luke about Black Panther. Aside from fangirling over Michael B. Jordan, we discuss the theme of Afrofuturism in the movie and dive into how the Chinese audience interpret Marvel's newest hit, Your hosts Juan, Diao Diao, and our guest Luke.
小声喧哗的第四期，你们的主持人Juan, 刁刁以及嘉宾Luke聊了聊最近大热的漫威超级英雄电影《黑豹》。《黑豹》讲了一个发生在想象中的国家瓦坎达国的故事。和之前我们看过的漫威超级英雄电影不同，这部电影的从创作人员到主演，都是黑人。
除了帅到炸裂的男配角和男主角以外，这部电影在哪些方面冲击了哪些我们对非洲局限的想象力？Juan讲解了“非洲未来主义”(Afrofuturism)以及这个艺术流派的意义：谁才有资格想象未来？为什么给与一部分”想象未来“的权利也是赋权的重要部分？
刁刁在节目里聊了“政治正确”在中国语境下的负面含义，《黑豹》这部电影真的是为了迎合美国“政治正确”而被好莱坞制造出来的一步爆米花电影吗？或者说，“政治正确”只不过是一个居高临下的政治话术？另外，女性角色是讨论的重要部分。
在电影里面，看起来最炫酷的、武力值、科技值最强的都是女性，Luke回答了这种形象塑造颠覆的偏见背后的社会意义。在吹了《黑豹》很久以后，我们聊了聊这部让人血脉喷张的大片的局限之处。
刁刁给我们梳理了她认为电影中挥之不去的”白人视角“。这部电影和真正的非洲以及活跃在非洲的独裁者重合之处有多少？哪些情节是抓取于现实？哪些情节只是好莱坞一厢情愿的想象呢？《黑豹》在中国的现象级票房和春晚的”种族歧视“小品折射出了中国人对非洲、黑人的怎样的观念呢？”政治正确“是评价艺术的标准之一吗？你怎么看？

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S1 E2: Finding Love In A Hopeless Place Mar 09, 2018

Today we continue our discussion of the Oscars nominees for Best Picture: Phantom Thread and Call Me By Your Name. These are two vastly different films in how they interpret and portray love and intimate relationships. Hope you enjoy!
Your Hosts: Afra, Ina, and Juan
Our Guest: Daniel
Music: Bensound.com
1:05 -- Phantom Thread 33:12 -- Call Me By Your Name 51:54 -- The Post, Darkest Hour 1:04:00 -- Our predictions
这一期节目我们继续聊（撕）了奥斯卡的其他几个提名电影：《霓裳魅影》(Phantom Thread),《请以你的名字呼唤我》(Call Me By Your Name )以及《华盛顿邮报》(The Post). 这期我们在纽约的妇女之友/闺蜜Daneil加入了讨论。
《霓裳魅影》讲了一个伦敦的高定裁缝和他情人之间的纠缠。Daniel梳理了导演汤玛斯·保罗·安德森(Thomas Paul Anderson)和非常开挂的三届影帝得主丹尼尔·戴·路易斯(Daniel Day Lewis)的风格和往期作品。我们还从电影主人公病态的人格入手，撕了撕这种”偏执天才“系类型片，也讨论了主人公到底是不是一个妈宝男，以及他和女主的共生且病态的恋情。
《请以你的名字呼唤我》讲了一段发生在1980年代北意大利小镇的同性恋情。两个男主角甜茶Timothee Chalamet和阿米·汗莫(Armie Hammer)都因为这部电影吸粉不少。亲姐粉Afra在激动之余讲了这部电影的去政治化特质。Ina和Juan分别从原著改编和其他角度讲了这部电影的独特之处。
最后，我们聊了聊好莱坞的良心电影，《华盛顿邮报》。这部依时而制的政治电影究竟是让人觉得眼前一亮，还是其实是梅姨和汤姆汉克斯等人的”旧瓶装旧酒“呢？
Juan认为，这部电影的“伟光正”让人审美疲劳，故事情节也很无力，Afra认为这是一部大咖们用“交税般”的心态制作出的一部“责任电影”。这部电影回击了现下政府的无能和对媒体宣战的丑态，把尼克松时期的“五角大楼文件”事件梳理出来之后，让观众意识到了媒体的职责和报纸铅字背后的心血与挣扎。谢谢大家收听我们这期的节目，下一期，我们会聊聊漫威的热门电影《黑豹》(Black Panther)！

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S1 E3: The Best and Worst of the 90th Oscars Mar 05, 2018

In this episode, Juan and our dear friend Vincent chat about the 90th Oscars ceremony that took place on Sunday, March 4th. For better or for worse, we look at some of the most memorable moments of the 3-hours-and-50-minute long show, from Frances Mcdormand's speech, to addressing the state of the industry and the big elephant in the room.
这是一场被“政治正确”带偏的奥斯卡颁奖典礼吗？性侵的乌云还在横亘好莱坞的头顶，但是主持人吉米鸡毛为何在这个场合“怂了”，没有冲着这个中心议题一直讲段子？几部得奖电影斩获奥斯卡是真的服众吗？《水形物语》的亮点除了人和人鱼啪啪啪以外还有啥？加里·奥德曼(Gary Oldman)等了几十年的影帝真的是很多人嘴里的”精神参与奖”吗？今年的影后弗朗西丝·麦克多曼德(Frances McDormand)上台领奖时，嘴里嘟囔的话是什么意思？这期我们请来了在纽约做媒体的朋友朱大师，他也是前电台主持人。
这期节目，主播Juan和朱大师会探讨”政治正确“因素到底对奥斯卡花落谁家影响有多大，以及，这种影响真的像很多人认为的一样，绑架了投票人吗？他们俩在本期小声喧哗梳理了几个重要奖项，撕了他们认为对奥斯卡不爽的种种问题，也反思了”政治正确“和它在舆论中的尴尬地位。

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S1 E1: The Oscars Nominees - Coming of Age, Tension, and Revenge Mar 03, 2018

In our first episode, we chat about the upcoming 90th Academy Awards (aka the Oscars), offer our take on the award and why it matters (or not really), and dive into discussion on three films: Ladybird, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Get Out. Hope you enjoy! Your hosts: Afra, Diao Diao, Ina, and Juan Music: Bensound.com 1:55 -- Oscars nominees 7:20 -- Ladybird 22:12 -- Three Billboards 34:25 -- Get Out
本期是小声喧哗的首期节目，我们边聊边撕了三部奥斯卡热门电影，《伯德小姐》(Lady Brid),《三块广告牌》(Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), 以及《逃出绝命镇》(Get Out)。
《伯德小姐》是由女性导演格雷塔 · 格维希 (Greeta Gerwig)撰写和指导的，这个电影讲了一个加利福尼亚州萨克拉门托一位高中女生想要逃离家乡、在反叛中和父母的关系碰撞的故事。尽管故事的背景设定在美国，但是片子中主人公“步入成年礼”时的自负、赌气、和母亲的口角直至最后的自我认同和每个经历过青春期、远离家乡的人都能产生”这演的简直就是我和我妈“般的共鸣。
《三块广告牌》则是一部题材更加沉重的电影，种族问题、经济凋敝的中西部和警察的暴力执法一直是美国的伤疤，《三块广告牌》就讲述了一个包裹了这些内核的故事：愤怒的母亲海耶斯因奸杀自己女儿的凶手迟迟没有被逮捕，而竖起了三块质问的广告牌催促当地警方，而小镇的警局却是一个暴力和正义共生的矛盾的地方，问题重重。
英国导演马丁·麦克多纳(Martin McDonagh)对种族。暴力等话题的触碰很大胆，但是这部故事讲的究竟是底层们”狗“（划重点）一般的命运和求生能力，还是要给这些话题一个回应呢？刁刁和Afra对此有截然不同的答案。
我们聊的最后一部电影是乔丹·皮尔(Jordan Peele)口碑爆表的大银幕处女作《逃出绝命镇》(Get Out). 这部意味深长的惊悚片（科幻片？喜剧片？）不仅打脸了奥巴马当选之后的”后种族时代“这样的幻象，更是从”黑人的身体“入手，用隐喻的方式，详谈了黑人对身体的自主权被长期剥夺，以及美国长久以来白人中产们在政治台面上对黑人的虚情假意和根治在内心的歧视。这部电影的各种情节反转和精彩的叙事功力，让作为乔丹·皮尔（真的不是皮尔卡丹）的粉丝Ina和Juan对他从YouTuber到导演的转变很震惊（手动加粗）。
我们下一期将会聊聊其他几部被提名的电影，感谢收听！

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