Summary
If you're enjoying the Parker Posey-aissance, then Party Girl is the film for you. This little freak of a movie, about a Manhattan club-goer who experiences an existential crisis after reading the Myth of Sisyphus (yes, that's the plot) was, believe it or not, the first feature film to premiere both in theatres and online. And thus it occupies a very odd space in popular culture. Predicting many things to come: the streaming era, Brat, downtown edgelords. And remaining an artifact of a time where weirdo, shoestring budget flicks still had an audience. In this episode, Hannah and Maia chat about the history of Party Girl and what it says about our world today. Tangents include: Trump getting shot, Hannah becoming Shakespeare, and the tyranny of niche meme accounts that come for literally everyone… even those who read Camus and drink black coffee.
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic
SOURCES
Taylor Ghrist, “The secret history of Party Girl” Dazed (2015) https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/24991/1/the-secret-history-of-party-girl
Soraya Roberts, “How 1995’s ‘Party Girl’ Became The First Movie To Premiere Online” Defector (2023) https://defector.com/how-1995s-party-girl-became-the-first-movie-to-premier-online
The Deuce Film Series, “The Deuce Notebook: ‘Party Girl’ Is Back in Town!” Mubi Notebook (2023) https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/the-deuce-notebook-party-girl-is-back-in-town
Ari Saperstein, “How the First Popular Movie Ever to Stream Online Was Made” WSJ Magazine (2020) https://archive.ph/20200608135245/https://www.wsj.com/articles/party-girl-oral-history-parker-posey-11591621366
Gemma Gracewood, “Reading is Sexy: Party Girl’s filmmakers share production memories while reading Letterboxd reviews.” Letterboxd (2023) https://letterboxd.com/journal/party-girl-letterboxd-reviews-Daisy-von-Scherler-Mayer/
Rich Juzwiak, “The Everlasting Appeal of ‘Party Girl’” Jezebel (2023) https://www.jezebel.com/party-girl-rerelease-1850382585
Victoria Wiet, “The Library is Open: On Party Girl, Budget Cuts, and the Future of Women’s Work” Literary Hub (2023) https://lithub.com/the-library-is-open-on-party-girl-budget-cuts-and-the-future-of-womens-work/
“Party Girl: Groove is in the Heart” The Frida Cinema (2023) https://thefridacinema.org/film-criticism/party-girl-groove-is-in-the-heart
Peter Rainer, “This ‘Party Girl’ Knows How to Have Fun” The LA Times (1995) https://web.archive.org/web/20160306062736/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-09/entertainment/ca-11122_1_party-girl
Judy Berman, “The Streaming Void” The Baffler, no. 38 (March 2018) https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-streaming-void-berman
Alissa Wilkinson, “Netflix vs. Cannes: why they’re fighting, what it means for cinema, and who really loses” Vox (2018) https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17229476/netflix-versus-cannes-ted-sarandos-thierry-fremaux-okja-meyerowitz-orson-welles-streaming-theater
Meaghan Garvey, “Brat” Pitchfork (2024) https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/charli-xcx-brat/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Guys, this is our first ever attempt at recording a remote full-length episode. Wow. And it's so weird. It's so weird because when I was preparing for this day, I was still picturing it with our regular setup. I was like, my yellow will be across from me at the desk and we'll do all the things we do. And then I was like, just kidding. She's very far away. We're not going to have a gorgeous in-person banter. Hannah and I are love. We keep FaceTiming like every day. It's really ridiculous and stupid, but awesome. I think this is maybe going to improve the banter. We'll have more things to say to one another. So sometimes I'm like, should I call Hannah and then like, well, I called her earlier today. So there'll be nothing new to say to her. And I should probably save all of my goals for like in a few days. I just had COVID guys. So my and I were FaceTiming a lot because I actually needed the emotional support. So it's very lonely being in quarantine. It really sucks being in quarantine. This is an insane week in general. |
| 0:56.3 | Hannah had COVID. You guys are going to be getting this late, but Trump got fucking shot, |
| 1:00.5 | which was insane. And it's always insane to be in the U.S. when that happens. People are saying |
| 1:05.9 | it was staged. I haven't my friends in one of my group chats. I think I'm like their political |
| 1:10.4 | correspondent or something, because one of them was like, Maya, do you think it was staged? Like they tagged me. I was like, oh, I don't mean? That's so funny. When it happened, I think someone had mentioned it in our group chat. I've been just like out of the world. I just, I was quarant quarantining staying out of the loop and someone mentioned it |
| 1:29.3 | in our group chat and I was like you know what it's bedtime gonna put the phone away I'll read about |
| 1:36.3 | this later I just let's shut the world off yeah people keep coming out with articles being like |
| 1:41.5 | finding out the motive behind this guy who |
| 1:44.8 | shot Trump. And it's like, well, yeah, we'd probably know his fucking motive if he didn't blow him |
| 1:48.5 | to smothering's, like, 0.5 seconds after all that happened. So I'm curious to find out. The only |
| 1:54.5 | thing is he's dead. So no one will really get the full answer, probably. It's also like, it |
| 2:00.8 | doesn't sound like he's part of some, like, grand organized scheme. |
| 2:05.9 | He's sounded like a 21-year-old child. |
| 2:08.9 | I don't know. |
| 2:09.3 | Yeah, 20, I think, even, which is wild. |
| 2:13.4 | I mean, I totally understand why Americans are buying into these conspiracies because, like, I wouldn't trust anything either. But who knows? Too early to tell everyone. Well, maybe when this episode comes out, we'll find out whether or not. Yeah, we'll have to be like, actually, guys, update. Just like we did with Love Island, an equally important news event. I was hyping up UK, but like, actually, I've just been, well, I've, little do people |
| 2:37.4 | know. |
| 2:37.6 | I've actually been watching US, like, in the weeks since then, and I completely jumped ship |
| 2:41.2 | on UK. |
| 2:42.1 | And US did indeed deliver. |
| 2:44.9 | Yeah. |
| 2:45.4 | I'm actually devastated. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Rehash, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Rehash and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

