The Plot: Conversations on Writing Sean Douglass

For this episode of The Plot I am joined by my friend Adam Segal. Adam is active with social justice work in Portland; his background is in creative writing, but he is also a cook and food distributor, and he currently facilitates small groups of fellow white people working to address white supremacy on behalf of Portland's chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice. Most relevant to this episode, however, is that he is also the founder of New Masculinities Group, a four-year-old project to engage men and people of all genders in difficult, yet necessary conversations about masculinity, gender, and sexuality, work he has begun to do professionally as a men’s accountability consultant.
In our discussion today, Adam examines how cultural narratives shape our understanding of gender—often without us even being aware of it—and the dangerous ways they can impact our concept of masculinity or expectations of what men are and how they should act. We’ll look at several examples from pop culture, from The Sandlot to Star Wars, to analyze their messages about boyhood and manhood. Then we’ll turn to how notions of masculinity intersect with social and political issues, like consent, food, and even prison abolition. These can be heavy subjects, but Adam expertly breaks them down in words that are clear, approachable, and encouraging. While we’ll acknowledge a variety of dangerous stereotypes, this is not a show about criticizing men, but rather a much more positive message, as Adam invites us to ask who we would be if there were no one telling us who to be. And while we’ll focus on the ways men confront that question, it’s also a question all of us, whether we are men or another gender, can learn to ask ourselves.
To Learn more about New Masculinities Group, you can follow it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewMasculinitiesGroupPDX
You can also follow this podcast on Twitter at @_SeanDouglass_ and @ThePlotPodcast
For more on the issues raised in this podcast, Adam has also provided a reading list:
"Books for men who want to get started in working against patriarchal masculinity:The Will to Change, by bell hooksI Don't Want to Talk About It, by Terrence RealWomen, Race, and Class by Angela DavisMen Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca SolnitAmateur by Thomas Page McBee
Articles and Resources for a Healthier Conversation about Consent and Sexual Communication: From #MeToo to #WeConsented, and The Pleasure Dome: Use Your Words by Adrienne Maree Brownhttps://www.bitchmedia.org/article/the-pleasure-dome/me-too-reclaiming-consent
https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/the-pleasure-dome/use-your-words
Sex Toys Will Never Be Able to Do the Hardest Work For You, by Fancy Feasthttps://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/fancyfeast/sex-toys-education-consent-positivity-gender
In The No, by Radiolab and Kaitlyn Presthttps://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/projects/no
Articles for learning about Abolition Feminism:Against Carceral Feminism by Victoria Lawhttps://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/10/against-carceral-feminism/
Aching for Abolition by Camonghne Felixhttps://www.thecut.com/2020/10/aching-for-abolition.html
Who Wins When We Incarcerate Brock Turner? by Erika Lynn and Lily Zhenghttps://stanfordpolitics.org/2016/06/10/who-wins-when-we-incarcerate-brock-turner/?fbclid=IwAR0X9NkQiTaRr3a7oCd4L3jYDnwJQV9NSYBqbgjzr-6Uy6Go9X7GQp7FzEw

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Brian James Polak is a playwright, teacher, and host of American Theatre Magazine's podcast The Subtext. I've known Brian on social media for several years, but I'd never sat down for a conversation with him in person (or at least in this case, over the phone). So as one podcaster to another, in this episode I interview him about, well, interviewing, and how he creates his signature show. We also discuss what success means to him, how an ill-fated major in Philosophy led him to theater, and how to navigate the tension between wanting to promote other artists while still developing one's own career. Like many playwrights, Brian also had a production, Welcome to Keene, NH, cancelled due to COVID-19, so he gives us an update on that (hopefully still upcoming!) play and what else he's been working on during the pandemic.
As an homage to Brian's monologues at the start of each episode of The Subtext, this episode also begins with some reflections from me on success, and the interview starts at 11:00.
To read (or maybe produce) Brian's work, find his plays at https://newplayexchange.org/users/724/brian-james-polak Listen to The Subtext on major podcast platforms, or at www.americantheatre.org/category/audio/the-subtext/
Follow Us--Brian James Polak @bejaypeaThe Subtext @SubtextPodcast
Sean Douglass @_SeanDouglass_The Plot @ThePlotPodcast

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In this episode I'm joined by journalist Alex Mohajer, and we’ll be talking about how art should represent and engage with the Trump Administration. How do we feel about the film and TV that has been produced in response to the last four years? And what should be the best approaches going forward to document this uniquely turbulent and corrupt White House across future comedies, dramas, and other genres of art? In particular we’re going to look at The Comey Rule, Showtime’s new miniseries about former FBI Director James Comey’s impact on the 2016 election. The show, written and directed by Billy Ray and starring Jeff Daniels as Comey, is, we both felt, very good, and we’ll look at how its strategies for dramatizing recent current events could serve as a guide for future work looking to retell the myriad stories and controversies of Trump’s presidency.
For those not familiar with Mohajer’s work, he is a political writer, commentator, and activist whose coverage of the 2016 election and its aftermath made him one of the most shared contributors at HuffPost. He has been interviewed for or featured on The Fox News Channel, PolitiFact, Washington Post, LA and NY Times, Yahoo News, New York Public Radio, and many other outlets, and in 2018 he received the Excellence in Journalism Award for Excellence in Feature Writing from the National Association of LGBTQ Journalists. He is currently the Public and Media Relations Director of the Stonewall Democratic Club, and he hosts the livestreaming news show The AM Report for Happs. He’s been on the frontlines of covering the events depicted in the The Comey Rule, so after watching it for myself, I knew I wanted to hear his take, too. In addition to that show we’ll also discuss what other Trump-era film and TV has resonated with us, what other events we want to see get dramatized, and how comedies can approach an administration that often seems beyond parody.
Watch The AM Report and follow Alex at:Happs.tv/@alexmohajer
Twitter.com/alexmohajer
https://www.stonewalldems.org/rbg
And follow this show:@ThePlotPodcast@_SeanDouglass_www.seandouglass.com

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Welcome to season 2! Today we’re talking about international film and television, and how the pandemic could be permanently changing peoples’ streaming habits in a way that benefits foreign artists. I’m joined once again by my good friend Lauren McCrimmon, a frequent co-producer on this show, and in particular we wanted to talk about The Prey, the first Cambodian film to receive distribution on Netflix.
The Prey, which has been described as Cambodia’s first action blockbuster, is directed by Jimmy Henderson, an Italian-born filmmaker formerly based in London. Henderson’s other work includes RUN!, Hanuman, The Forest Whisperers, and the award-winning Jailbreak, films that helped develop the action, horror, and martial arts genres for Cambodia’s growing film industry. While we don’t officially “review” The Prey with our conversation, and as a pulpy action film there’s not too much to analyze in the plot itself, we’ll still share our thoughts on it, and consider what Netflix’s promotion of it means for the future U.S. presence of films from lesser-known global markets. We’ll also look back on our country’s history of both embracing and ignoring foreign films, other international content we’ve been enjoying lately, and how anime may have been responsible for a generational shift in people’s willingness to watch subtitled content from other countries. This isn’t the heaviest episode we’ve ever done, but it was a fun one, and I hope it offers a look at how our new pandemic lifestyles may be influencing film and television in a way you hadn’t considered.
Movies and TV mentioned in this episode:The PreyShutter#AliveWould I Lie to You?
Follow the Show--@ThePlotPodcast@_SeanDouglass_www.seandouglass.com

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For this final episode of season one, I am joined by playwright Christopher Shinn for a conversation on how writers can use Patreon. Shinn has a long list of plays and accomplishments, including a Pulitzer nomination, an Obie Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and some of plays include Dying City, Where Do We Live, Now or Later, Teddy Ferrara, Against, and an adaptation of Hedda Gabler that appeared on Broadway in 2009. 
While Shinn used to be on Twitter, he became frustrated with the platform and has since instead begun putting his personal reflections on Patreon, the subscription-based crowdfunding site. I was curious how this experiment was going; there are, of course, other blogging subscription services out there, like Substack, and I don’t normally think of Patreon as a blogging platform. But could this be the answer to an issue many writers have? The desire to put their writing online, but in a way that can still be monetized, away from the free Wild West of social media? 
I was also curious about his thoughts on social media more generally. Shinn has written about how he feels these platforms are drawing us into a less loving and intimate society, and while I feel social media has both benefits and harms, I do wonder, too, how it is affecting our personal relationships and our national discourse. Why is it these sites, that on one hand offer such a convenient way for us to keep in touch with one another, are also yet incapable of fulfilling our most seemingly basic expectations, like suppressing toxic and hateful speech or protecting their users’ data. And what impact does this constant interconnectivity have on our attention spans, mental health, and capacity for introspection? While we don’t reach any clear conclusions, I think the questions Shinn raises here are essential for anyone who uses social media, and I hope they will inspire you to think critically about your own online habits.
Follow Us:Christopher Shinn's Patreonwww.christophershinn.co
This Show--@ThePlotPodcast@_SeanDouglass_www.seandouglass.com

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Today I am joined by medievalist Kelly Williams for a conversation on medieval literature. Kelly is a PhD candidate in Medieval English Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and she’s also a close friend whom I’ve known for many years. So when I thought about doing a show on medieval lit, I knew she’d be the perfect person to go to.
One thing that has been a goal of this show since the beginning has been to talk about writing and art in a way that takes people beyond the most dominant or readily accessible popular culture. Or, at other times, to find connections between popular culture and less mainstream work. With medieval lit, we can do both of those things. While I’m sure my audience knows the legends of King Arthur or The Canterbury Tales, how well do you know The Vinland Sagas or Irish epic The Tain? And since “medieval” can be a vague and often Eurocentric term, what about what the rest of the world was writing in that very long period that loosely spans the middle of the first millennium to the middle of the second? To help us all expand our awareness of the world’s great epics, romances, poetry, and more, Kelly is here with a huge list of recommendations, and whether you’re used to reading older writing or not, chances are you’ll hear something that piques your interest. 
We also spend a little time discussing some of the current issues in the medieval studies world, one of which is the work to make it more inclusive. For example, one of the largest scholarly associations in the field, the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, recently voted to change its name in an effort to thwart internal racism and sexism. (For more information on that, you can listen to this episode of Remixing the Humanities.) This conversation also comes at a time when white supremacists are increasingly adopting symbols from the Middle Ages as signs of a supposed (and historically-inaccurate) "white" heritage. In this kind of climate, what is the role of a medieval scholar when it comes to helping the public stay informed and combating those who try to twist history to promote narratives of hate and violence? We didn’t get a chance to go in depth on this subject, but it’s worth noting that part of the reason reading older texts is so important is for how they keep us culturally literate and undo both stereotypes and more malicious rewritings of the past. 
Oh, and we also talk about Spider-Man and his connection to medieval stories, too. How so? Well, you’ll have to listen to find out, but be warned that there are some spoilers for the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when we get to that point.
---And here's a list of all the texts recommended in this episode:
JulianaAndreasVis and RaminThe MabinogianThe TainThe Vinland SagasIbn Fadlan and the Land of DarknessThe Travels of Marco PoloShahnamehThe Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by WomenThe Arabian NightsSunjata
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan African
Poems of the MastersThe Tale of GenjiThe Confessions of Lady NijoPopol VuhThe Secret of Kells
Follow:Kelly Williams@MediaevalMuseThe Vault of CultureBlog: Shield Maidens
The Plot@ThePlotPodcast@_SeanDouglass_

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