Hello, hello, hello, Moguls! Pull up to this opulent episode of the Mahoganies podcast and get into why the Oscars snubbed Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, and the Barbie movie ... and what Nicki Minaj might have to do with it.

Support Dr. Hayes's forthcoming film "Love for Liberation," which follows a Southern diplomat's daughter as she falls in love with an ex-inmate, transforms into a leader of the Black Panther Party, then goes on the run -- where she becomes entangled in hijacking and adultery. https://www.filmindependent.org/programs/fiscal-sponsorship/love-for-liberation/

Check out Dr. Hayes's documentary "Black and Cuba" on Tubi, which follows street-smart students on adventures through Havana and Santiago. https://tubitv.com/movies/514182/black-and-cuba

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The next series of episodes will dive into the cinematic opus of Prince -- the icon of style, music, and artistic integrity. Although many 80s and 90s babies are familiar with the classic Academy Award-winner Purple Rain, fewer know the camp classic Under the Cherry Moon or the visual album filmed on Prince's at-home Paisley Parkc soundstage, Graffiti Bridge. Follow this podcast on Apple or Spotify and on TikTok or Instagram, so you don't miss these episodes when they drop!

Films Mentioned

Purple Rain

Under The Cherry Moon

Graffiti Bridge

Relevant Books

The Beautiful Ones by Prince

Hello hello hello moguls! In this thrilling conclusion of the saga “Gerwig’s Barbie Gworls, the Bait-and-Switch of White Feminism, and Pink Dollar Power,” writer and narrator Dr. Robin J. Hayes spills all the tea about Barbie, the top-grossing comedy ever. Might the film have missed out on another billion dollars at the box office due to its lukewarm reception among women and LGBTQ folk from the global majority? Were the characters artfully portrayed by Latine icon America Ferrera and Black icon Issa Rae what their massive worldwide followings want to see? Dr. Hayes takes a deep dive into these questions and offers two money-making takeaways from this film’s controversial reception. She also explores the film’s biggest supporting Mahogany, or Black woman character, President Barbie — portrayed by Issa Rae.

Barbie is a Warner Bros film directed by Greta Gerwig, starring and produced by Margot Robbie, and featuring Ryan Gosling (The Notebook, The Place Beyond the Pines). It was written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. Based on the doll invented by first-gen American and Jewish woman entrepreneur Ruth Handler. 

Additional episode notes, including research sources, are available here. Suggestions of films to discuss on future episodes of Mahoganies: a Robin J. Hayes podcast are welcome in the comments. 

FILMS MENTIONED

Barbie

Black Panther

Jennifer’s Body

Real Women Have Curves (produced by Effie Brown)

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Dr. Hayes is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America. If you’re an entertainment industry worker impacted by the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, click here for a list of available resources or call the WIF Help Line at 1-855-WIF-LINE.

"Gerwig’s Barbie Gworls, the Bait-and-Switch of White Feminism, and Pink Dollar Power" is a two-part saga that uncovers this effervescent billion-dollar blockbuster's creation and controversial reception. It dives into critiques that the film courts yet fails to serve the Black, Latine, Asian, blue-collar, and LGBTQ audiences (or Gworls) that have passionately stanned for the Barbiecore aesthetic movement since the 2000s. In this episode, Part I, writer/narrator Dr. Robin J. Hayes illuminates Barbie’s journey from idea to screen and explores whether the film is truly Queer-inclusive or simply Queer-coded. She also questions whether White Feminism is the answer to how the “Male Gaze” sees the bodies and aspirations of Black women and LGBTQ folk.

FILMS MENTIONED

Featuring Mahoganies (Black Women Characters)

Barbie

Black Panther

Hidden Figures

Showgirls

The Wiz

With Nuanced Woman Leads

Frances Ha

I, Tanya

LadyBird

Little Women

Promising Young Woman

Sunset Boulevard

Additional episode notes, including research sources, are available at ⁠roofmedia.co/mahoganies-episodes⁠. Suggestions of films and topics to discuss on future episodes of Mahoganies: a Robin J. Hayes podcast are welcome in the comments. 

In this very special episode of Mahoganies, Dr. Robin J. Hayes dives into Hot Labor Summer. For the first time in over six decades, Hollywood actors in the SAG-AFTRA union and screenwriters in the Writers Guild of America have joined the picket line simultaneously. By going on strike, they're squaring off against major film studios over living wages, the use of their likenesses in generative AI (artificial intelligence), and reasonable residuals for their work on streaming services. Dr. Hayes offers two critical takeaways from this historic labor action. She also discusses the impact that the unregulated use of AI could have on the representation of Mahoganies, or Black women characters, in film.

FILMS FEATURING MAHOGANIES MENTIONED

• Barbie
• The Little Mermaid
• M3gan (written by African American woman Akela Cooper)
• Wakanda Forever
• The Woman King (directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood)

For information about resources available to strike-affected entertainment industry workers:

• https://womeninfilm.org/updates/resources-for-strike-affected-workers/
• Women in Film Help Line 1-855-WIF-LINE (open Thursdays 9:30a - 4:30p PT)

The multi-billion dollar streak of the legendary franchise, which was innovated by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, seems to have halted with its fifth installment Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. We'll gather money making takeaways by analyzing the film's journey from idea to screen, as well as its efforts to bank on nostalgia while forging Gen Z's attachment to the Indiana Jones brand. We'll also take a deep dive into Indy 5's Mahogany, or Black woman character, Mason. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Simon Emmanuel, directed by James Mangold, and written by Jez & John-Henry Butterworth and John Mangold and David Koepp.