Rod and Karen are joined by Jamie Broadnax of Black Girl Nerds to discuss BGN and all that comes along with running it, growing up a black nerd, Facebook is tracking you watching porn, Nerd War breaks out of Ghostbusters, woman blames crime spree on Chick-Fil-A, woman spray paints National Parks, vigilantes caught going to NJ and sword ratchetness.
Twitter: @rodimusprime @SayDatAgain @TBGWT @BlackGirlNerds
Email: theblackguywhotips@gmail.com
Blog: www.theblackguywhotips.com
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Jamie’s Site: www.blackgirlnerds.com
BGN T-shirts: www.blackgirlnerds.com/tshirts.
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Code: TBGWT
Podcast (archive): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:10:15 — 29.8MB)
It was so great to hear Jamie on the show. I love following Black Girl Nerds on Twitter.
I’m definitely excited to see the new Ghostbusters movie because I find all those actresses funny and i love the idea of women Ghostbusters. The backlash against this reboot in particular is fishy, ridiculous and I do think it stems from misogyny in part. I just don’t see how those stupid guys who attacked Patton Oswalt would have been AS riled up if it were just another male cast.
I’ve become a big fan of Leslie Jones slowly over the last year. When I first saw her on SNL I was worried that she was portraying a negative stereotype. But that would only be true if I centered the white gaze, like EvieE said, so it was really my issue. I watched her stand-up special, Problem Child, on Netflix because it was listed as something that was going to be leaving Netflix. (Well it’s back now) I loved it and I fell in love with her. She was so real and honest and just fucking funny. I rewatched it last week and loved it just as much.
I’m definitely rooting for Leslie in this movie, can’t wait to see it.
Much love,
Monica
I used to have a problem with Lesley Jones and I had to do a lot of soul searching to figure out why. I believed that she was a walking talking stereotype and I was concerned with how she was viewed through the white gaze. But on further reflection, I realized that racist people will see us a certain way no matter how we act, you only have to look to Obama to see that’s the case. Besides, I have so many family members like her, I don’t ever want them to change. You and Karen brought up some great points about her which helped me see a different perspective. I don’t even mind that she’s not a scientist in the Ghostbusters. Sure it would have been nice to have a black female scientist in the movie as well but she actually seemed to be the funniest part in all the trailers. I plan on going to see it because of the people protesting. I had no interest before, but I got the time now.
Really enjoyed Jamie on the show btw.
Rod and Karen! Thanks for another great show, and it was cool to have Jamie from BGN on.
I enjoyed your conversation regarding Leslie Jones, the Ghostbusters movie, and black women being overlooked in casting and writing roles. I think that it is very important for black women of all ages to see themselves in all forms in creative media. It also irritates me that there are only certain types of black woman allowed in Tv and Movies, although I don’t think this is the fault of actors and people chosen to represent characters in a script.
I see myself as a book nerd. I love to read fantasy and sci-fi, but I am so tired of seeing minimalist descriptions of white characters with a standard description of “beautiful” being blond hair and blue eyes, or pale with dark hair, or pale with red hair. I feel that the erasure of blackness is something that writers and directors should be called out for. Why must these characters that embody our fantasies and imagination be white?
I have since found fantasy and sci-fi stories written by African and African-American authors with characters whose beauty does not fit into the white boilerplate mold. But I have also read blog posts by Black writers who say they find it easier to make their characters white, and some that say its harder to publish their stories with black characters. The assumption of whiteness is a toxic and a more subtle form of oppression for black imagination and creativity. Most of the time, we are forced accept that characters capable of awesomeness must fit a white vessel. Of course, this is slowly changing now, but writers and creative people still need to be called out when they erase diversity and blackness from stories.
This episode was so GOOOOD!!!! Thanks Rod and Karen