Welcome to season 2 of The Pop Cult Podcast! Thanks so much to those of you who’ve been with us from the beginning, and welcome to any new listeners out there. We have big plans for the second year of the podcast, including doubling down on talk about diversity, feminism, and story in all of the pop culture we love. The first episode of this season is a nice showcase of those things that we really do love speaking about. We’re talking about Hidden Figures and Moonlight, two Oscar-nominated films that we think you should seek out. The spoilers for this episode are minimal, as neither of these films has a spoiler-able plot, but we do talk in detail about both, so keep that in mind if you are a purist.

Hidden Figures is up for discussion first, and both Jeffrey Bryan and I loved it. This movie was kind of perfectly designed to make me love it. It’s a period piece about black lady scientists who break through racist systems and institutions while eating barbecue and drinking homemade hooch (and wearing 60s business clothing and HATS). This is everything I love in the world. It’s based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterly about three of the women who made huge contributions to the NASA space program that (white, male) history has not acknowledged in a significant way (until recently).
The story around the three main characters, Katherine G. Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), Mrs. Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) is very much based in fact, which helps the film pack a real narrative punch. You should check out interviews with the real Katherine Johnson, because she is smart and funny and inspiring.

We talk a little about the main cast in the movie, and found each of the women pretty darn delightful in the roles. We both hadn’t been exposed to Taraji P. Henson’s work before this, and she impressed us with her range. Jeff commented off-air how impressed he was at the many facets she is playing here (nerd, wife, genius, mother, scientist, black person, black woman), and it’s a great point. That is all contained in a confident performance, and her lack of an Oscar nomination is a little infuriating.

Janelle Monáe is having quite the year, and we were both here for her performance, and particularly the stand she takes in a courtroom. Trailblazing is an understatement here, and Monáe captures the magnitude of her character’s win with grace and joy. I’m stumping for Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis on a buddy cop show. Hollywood, you have my number if you need more super ideas.   
We talk further about the dangerous territory of “white man saves the world” that Hidden Figures flirts with, and the film’s joyous tone that lifts spirits in the new world we’re living in (#darkesttimeline). I could watch Monáe and Spencer flirt on behalf of their friend for hours on end, and the tone of this film struck a great chord with both me and Jeff.