The Waves: Power of the Dog's Sneaky Feminism

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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s episode of The Waves, we’re saddling up and taking the reins to talk Westerns. Film critic and host of the podcast Watch With Jen, Jen Johans is joined by Washington Post TV critic and host of the All About Almodóvar & All About Campion podcasts, Inkoo Kang. First they dive into the history of the genre: What makes something a Western, and how the genre has challenged stereotypes when it comes to the sexes. Then they explore Jane Campion’s Oscar-nominated film, and the latest big Western, Power of the Dog. In Slate Plus, Jen and Inkoo talk about whether pianos are feminist. Recommendations: Jen: The films of Terrence Malick and Wim Wenders Inkoo: Jane Campion’s 1999 film, Holy Smoke Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus and June Thomas. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves.
0:12.9	Welcome to the waves. Slates podcast about gender, feminism, cowboys, and campion.
0:19.3	Every episode you get a new pair of women to talk about the thing we can't get off our minds and
0:24.2	today you've got me, Jen Johans, a critic and three-time national award-winning writer at filmintuition.com
0:31.2	and host of the podcast, Watch With Jen. And you've got me, Ingo Kink, the TV critic at the
0:37.3	Washington Post, and the creator and host of the podcasts all about Amadobar and Amadobar
0:43.7	Campion, about the films of directors Pedro Amadobar and our director du jour, Jane Campion.
0:50.9	When you hear the term movie western, the first images that likely spring to mind are of John Wayne,
0:56.8	Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper, or Sam Elliott, and shit kickers and Stetson sitting tall in the
1:02.7	saddle in the middle of the southwestern desert. It's a distinctly macho genre on the surface
1:08.8	that some say deals uncomfortably with the racism of quote unquote cowboys and Indians plotlines
1:15.2	where vengeance and male pride rules the day. However, when you look further,
1:20.2	you just might be surprised by the complexities of the characters and themes you'll discover
1:24.6	happen there all along, since this early days has one of Hollywood's most profitable genres.
1:30.9	It's also the one most reflective of the history, politics, and methods of America,
1:35.9	and its place in the world. From high new into the power of the dog, today we are taking the reins.
1:42.0	While my relatives were big fans of westerns, besides the movie Tombstone, which is a family
1:47.3	favorite, as a feminist and liberal, it really wasn't a genre I appreciated. Until I devoted
1:53.2	a course to it in my self-designed film studies back laureate program and began to see just how
1:58.6	subversive, diverse, and richly seductive it was overall, particularly for someone who loves
2:05.1	analyzing sex, gender, psychology, and subtext. I'm also fascinated by the way it's evolved over
2:11.8	the years, which we'll get into with the power of the dog. But how about you, Ingo, why did you
	...

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