Loud Murmurs 小声喧哗 artwork

Loud Murmurs 小声喧哗

113 episodes - Chinese - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 155 ratings

Loud Murmurs is a Mandarin-Chinese podcast about American pop culture, brought to you by four bilingual and bi-cultural women in the U.S. and their friends. We discuss movies, TV, documentaries, and the social, political issues reflected on by a piece of pop culture work. Too often, race, gender and other political and cultural issues are the subtext in pop culture. We seek to make the subtext explicit, question it and challenge it. The show is now in its third season, updated biweekly. We have interviewed guests ranging from science fiction writers, comedians, to scholars and journalists. Our goal is to make the most thought-provoking Chinese podcast about American pop culture. 小声喧哗是一档以女性视角来观察和批判影视文本如何塑造世界的播客。《小声喧哗》Loud Murmurs, 是一档以女性视角来观察和批判影视文本如何塑造世界的播客。文化和审美的自觉认同从来都是隐含在创造者对世界的想象中,而这样的想象催生出许多充满偏见的创造动机。这样的创造动机渗透在我们日复一日热爱的欧美电影中,美剧里,渗透在我们对于事物的认知中。今天,我们想要去挑战它。紧跟影视热点和时事的同时,保持了双周频率的持续输出。在制作节目时,小声喧哗经常邀请学者和影评人参与我们的节目,使节目的观点更加多元化和专业。小声喧哗致力在中文世界,做最好的流行文化播客。

TV & Film Arts chinese entertainment movie pop culture millennials
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Episodes

Last Episode of Loud Murmurs

January 28, 2022 16:00 - 1 minute - 884 KB

Hello Everyone, We will no longer be updating Loud Murmurs. Due to some very personal changes that happened recently, we decided to pull the plug on Loud Murmurs and sincerely hope that everyone can respect our decision.  Given the sudden nature of this announcement, we will keep our RSS feed up for another week. If you like a certain episode, feel free to download it onto your own devices within this timeframe. We ask that you respect our decision to shut down the podcast and not repost o...

S4 E28 Bye Bye 2021

December 30, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 46 MB

In our annual holiday special, our four hosts (minus Diaodiao) and our editor Joshua look back on our favorite LMM episodes, as well as TV shows and movies that made us laugh, made us think, and got us through the year.  2:47 Afra’s favorite: time travel trilogy (part I, II, III) 4:07 Ina’s favorite: ‘Sound of Metal’ (part I and II) and a window into the deaf and hard of hearing community (and their representation in pop culture, e.g. The Bachelor)  8:20 Joshua’s favorite: ’Shang Chi’ (ep...

S4 E27 Dune: Ecology, Hallucinogens, and White Savior Complex

November 23, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 45.7 MB

[Episode theme] Loud Murmurs is finally boarding the Dune train. We invited interpreter William White and our listener and ecology PhD Luojun Yang to join the four hosts.  We dive into a couple of themes, like the significance of imagining a feudalistic society in the far far future, the technological developments of a post-Butlerian Jihad world, the socio-historical background of Frank Hubert’s novel, spice harvesting and our relationship with natural resources, the white savior complex a...

S4 E26 “The Bad Art Friend” saga and our zeitgeist

November 02, 2021 03:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MB

[Episode theme] Who's the real bad art friend? Well, it depends on who you ask. Our hosts each share their own perspectives on the hottest Internet discourse and dive into a myriad of related topics.  [Timecode] 2:57 what is the NYT Magazine’s “Who is the Bad Art Friend” really about 6:30 Diaodiao’s perspective: it’s about the power dynamics behind an act of kindness 11:00 Afra’s perspective: the story highlights the gap between the societal impact and the literary nature of a work of f...

S4 E25 The self-awakening of Harley Quinn and Black Widow

October 13, 2021 16:00 - 55 minutes - 38 MB

This episode is brought to you by 7or9 heels — an innovative brand that’s dedicated to making more comfortable high heels for women. Our podcast was invited to participate in their brand campaign with the theme “from pain to joy.” In this episode, we discuss the feminist awakening of female protagonists — specifically Harley Quinn and Black Widow. In the context of Hollywood’s movie-making industrial complex, paired with the awakening of the female consciousness, these two have evolved and b...

S4 E24 Becoming Shang-Chi: An Asian Superhero Origin Story

October 02, 2021 04:00 - 1 hour - 44.9 MB

[Episode theme] In this episode, we talk about the latest Marvel blockbuster, “Shang-Chi: legend of the ten rings.” At the time of publishing, Shang-Chi has become the first pandemic film to gross over $200M at the box office. We dive deep into what we love and appreciate about this film — the various styles of fight scenes, Tony Leung, care paid to language and dialect. And where we find the movie to be falling short — the ambiguity of Taluo, the tired narratives when it comes to womanhood...

S4 E23 Time Travel Part III: The Tender Relativity of Interstellar

September 20, 2021 04:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MB

In this ambitious three-part series, we want to talk about time travel through some of our favorites ---- Tenet, Loki, and Interstellar. As viewers, we experience movies frame by frame; as human beings, we experience time through the relentless one-way time arrow. Through subverting our familiar narrative structures and disrupting causality, time travel can raise important questions about the universe we live in and its physical rules. Time Code 2:07 A cool anecdote about Chien-Shiung Wu, ...

S4 E22 Time Travel Part II: Schrödinger's Loki

September 20, 2021 04:00 - 42 minutes - 29.6 MB

In this ambitious three-part series, we want to talk about time travel through some of our favorites ---- Tenet, Loki, and Interstellar. As viewers, we experience movies frame by frame; as human beings, we experience time through the relentless one-way time arrow. Through subverting our familiar narrative structures and disrupting causality, time travel can raise important questions about the universe we live in and its physical rules. Time Code 1:45 Our second category of time travel stor...

S4 E21 Time Travel Part I: Tenet’s Unhinged Arrow of Time

September 20, 2021 03:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MB

In this ambitious three-part series, we want to talk about time travel through some of our favorites ---- Tenet, Loki, and Interstellar. As viewers, we experience movies frame by frame; as human beings, we experience time through the relentless one-way time arrow. Through subverting our familiar narrative structures and disrupting causality, time travel can raise important questions about the universe we live in and its physical rules. Time Code 1:43 So what is “philosophy of physics”? 4:...

S4 E20 The Chair: More broke than woke

September 14, 2021 07:00 - 1 hour - 47.9 MB

[Episode theme] We talk about Netflix’s “The Chair” with two female professors, about the show’s portrayal of female allyship, discrimination against faculty of color, the debate over free speech on the American campus, and why we think the show missed the mark.  [Timecode] 2:00 Our first impression of the show 3:40 What is it like to be a mother and a college professor in the show vs IRL 6:20 In just six episodes, this show attempts to capture the complexity of contemporary U.S. campus...

[Revist] S3 E19 We lost RBG last year, and this year her legacy is in jeopardy

September 03, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 45.9 MB

[Episode theme] RGB has left us for a year. At this moment, when the Texas abortion law diminishes her political legacy, we re-upload this episode we recorded the second day she passed away.  In this episode, we looked back at Ginsberg’s life, as well as the many landmark cases she participated in. We know history is composed of light and shade, the future is blur and fragile. But people like Ginsburg paddled through the countercurrent. And we want to make her struggle more visible.  [Con...

S4 E19 In the self-repeating season 5 of Rick and Morty, predictable tropes overload

August 22, 2021 02:00 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MB

[Episode theme] This episode is a part of “RM conquers the podcast universe series”, a series by ten Chinese podcasts, each taking one episode from the latest season of Rick and Morty.  In this episode, we discussed the 8th episode of Season 5 of “Rick and Morty.” This episode reveals the history between Rick and his dear friend Birdperson. In this “Inception” parody, Rick dives into Birdperson’s memory to rescue his consciousness. We talked about the epitome of the characters, and why we ...

S4 E18 Framing and Freeing Britney Spears

August 16, 2021 02:00 - 1 hour - 43.4 MB

On August 13, 2021, Britney Spears' father, Jamie Spears, announced that he is stepping aside as Britney Spears’ conservator. This news comes after a social media movement known under the hashtag #FreeBritney.  According to her testimony to a Los Angeles judge, Britney Spears has been drugged, compelled to work against her will, and prevented from removing her birth control device under the conservatorship. In the meantime, she was able to release four albums, hold a global tour, and run a ...

S4 E17 Mare of Easttown: A Small-town Nightmare beyond the Murder

August 11, 2021 03:00 - 44 minutes - 30.3 MB

In this episode, our hosts Juan, Diaodiao and Ina, joined by our guest Alex Lawyer, dive into HBO’s new limited series, “Mare of Easttown.” We dissect character arcs and plot points to dig deeper into the real story: the story of a blue-collar mostly-white community that’s plagued by the opioid crisis.    What we discussed 2:27 First impressions, potential spoiler warning  05:30 What makes this show a good thriller? Entertaining plot points, can spur in-depth discussions around social is...

S4E16: Loud Murmurs x UrbanCan: “In the Heights” — Glossy Dreams In A Disappearing Community

July 23, 2021 03:00 - 1 hour - 42.3 MB

In this episode, we talk about film "In the Heights" — a film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2008 Tony Award-winning musical — with our friends from podcast 城市罐头. We mused on a few galactic questions: What exactly is gentrification? Why should we care, and how do we understand it in a Chinese context? Is commercializing the culture of a community the way to protect it? Why does this film feel lacking in 2021?  02:53 Introduction to the film  07:21 What is gentrification, and why should...

[Revisit] S3 E4: The “Weinstein” bombshell — is “MeToo” going too far?

July 20, 2021 17:00 - 56 minutes - 39 MB

Chinese pop star Kris Wu is facing a #MeToo storm, after 18-year-old Du Meizhu accused him of pressuring young women into having sex. Wu has denied the accusations but he the accusations have triggered widespread public outcry. In light of this news, we want to re-share our earlier episode about the 2019 movie “Bombshell” and two books that started the “MeToo movement” around the world. The week we recorded this episode, the verdict of the Weinstein trial had just come out and some say it i...

S4 E15 Audio postcards from the Shanghai International Film Festival

July 01, 2021 23:00 - 59 minutes - 41 MB

[Episode theme] This is a special episode. Afra went to the two-week-long Shanghai International Film Festival and talks to our friends Xiaoran and Yaqin about their experiences. In 2021, the success of this event alone feels like a rare victory for Chinese cinephiles. [Timecode] 2:28 Why did we go to the Shanghai International Film Festival?  7:50 The cinephile community in Shanghai  16:10 How do hardcore movie lovers make the most out of these festivals?  27:25 Why do we still need f...

S4 E14 Rewatching “Lord of the Rings”: To die just a little

June 25, 2021 00:00 - 59 minutes - 41.1 MB

In light of the recent re-screening of Lord of the Rings, we chatted with physicist Cheng Yangyang and LOTR superfan Wenjin about this classic work that we had the privilege to grow up with. We talked about the exiled human king, re-examined the orcs, and mused on the revenge of the ents. We also talked about how the work inspired us, and how we, as diasporas, see ourselves in the wandering steps of Aragorn’s self-inflicted exile -- the act of “dying just a little”. 2:44 Our first experienc...

S4 E13 “I’m a helpless believer in love” — A conversation with “Word of Honor” screenwriter Xiaochu

June 16, 2021 06:00 - 50 minutes - 35.2 MB

[Episode theme] This episode is the edited version of Afra and Juan’s interview with Xiaochu, screenwriter of the popular Chinese wuxia fantasy “Word of Honor.” We talked about why the show is well-received outside China, her experience studying and trying to make it as a producer in the movie industry in LA, and her understanding of the characters Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing. There’s also a Q&A with three fans of the show at the end and Xiaochu’s special English message to fans overseas. Lis...

S4 E12 Cruella: The Rebooted Disney Villain is Dressed to Kill

June 13, 2021 19:00 - 38 minutes - 26.7 MB

“Cruella” is Disney’s latest live-action release where a beloved old movie gets a brand new life, starring two crowd-favorite Emmas: Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. Juan and Diaodiao saw the movie together in the theater, and they dive into the themes of the movie, the complicated history of Disney villains, and the problematic elements in the movie that made us cringe (queerbaiting alert!) 【Timecodes】 3:52 “Cruella” is way more awesome when watched in theaters and with friends  7:39 Disne...

S4 E11 ‘Sound of Metal’ — A Window Into Deaf Culture (Part Two)

June 10, 2021 03:00 - 50 minutes - 35.3 MB

In this episode, we continue our conversation on ‘Sound of Metal’, a movie about a drummer whose sudden loss of hearing puts him on an unlikely journey of growth and self-discovery. We also discuss how little we know about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.  The conversation is so good and so long that we split it into two parts.  See full transcript in Chinese for part 2 here.  【Timecodes】 3:37 Xinke share her thoughts on the errors in ‘Sound of Metal’  8:33 the overly complicated U...

S4 E10 ‘Sound of Metal’ — A Window Into Deaf Culture (Part One)

May 30, 2021 19:00 - 49 minutes - 34.6 MB

This week, we talk about the movie ‘Sound of Metal,’ a story about a drummer (played by Riz Ahmed) whose sudden loss of hearing puts him on an unlikely journey of growth and self-discovery. We also discuss how little we know about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, about sign language and Deaf culture.  The conversation is so good and so long that we split it into two parts. See full transcript in Chinese for part 1 here. 【Timecodes】 3:15 Brief introduction to Sound of Metal 8:56 Ou...

S4 E9 We talked to a therapist about “WandaVision”

May 21, 2021 00:00 - 45 minutes - 31 MB

“WandaVision” takes place after Thanos snapped his fingers and eliminated half of the people in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. The show departs from the usual superhero Marvel movies in a number of significant ways: it’s a TV show, the main character is a woman, the heart of the story is about grieving, trauma and intimacy.  Like people in the Marvel universe, we all collectively lived through a traumatic event on a global scale and are still far from being completely free from the...

S4 E8 The Underwhelming Yet Controversial 2021 Oscars

May 03, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 39.4 MB

This episode, we unpacked our reactions to the 93rd Academy Awards that honored films created in 2020 with our dear friend Eileen Chow. Despite being a particularly underwhelming viewing experience, the Oscars created cultural moments that sparked heated discussion across China, the US, and all diaspora in between. We talked about: 1:20 The “Diet Oscars” of 2021 7:50 Chole Zhao’s Nomadland acceptance speech is a phenomenal cross-cultural pop-culture moment 15:00 The controversy of quoting...

S4 E9 The Underwhelming Yet Controversial 2021 Oscars

May 03, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 39.4 MB

This episode, we unpacked our reactions to the 93rd Academy Awards that honored films created in 2020 with our dear friend Eileen Chow. Despite being a particularly underwhelming viewing experience, the Oscars created cultural moments that sparked heated discussion across China, the US, and all diaspora in between. We talked about: 1:20 The “Diet Oscars” of 2021 7:50 Chole Zhao’s Nomadland acceptance speech is a phenomenal cross-cultural pop-culture moment 15:00 The controversy of quoting...

S4 E7 “Word of Honor” — A beautiful queer fantasy for straight eyes

April 30, 2021 15:00 - 54 minutes - 37.7 MB

In this episode, host Afra talks to Viola Zhou and A-Liang about the hit Chinese fantasy period series Word of Honor. It’s your classic wuxia story but with a delicious twist — it centers around two incredibly handsome men who find soul mates in each other, but never quite fall in love.  “Word of Honor” became an internet sensation and cultural phenomenon in China and Southeast Asia. The show’s international fans write long critical essays and guides explaining terms and references specific...

S4 E6 Why we’re obsessed with K-Drama

April 13, 2021 04:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MB

Today, our hosts Afra and Ina are joined by friends and guests of the show, Professor Eileen Chow and journalist Muyi Xiao in our discussion of K-Drama. While some of us jumped into the K-Drama obsession early on, for others, it was a new hobby from the pandemic days. We dive into fan culture and its influence on TV shows, South Korea’s TV and Film industry, how we each got into K-Drama and why we continued watching, how TV shows have been historically in the U.S. and other countries, and ...

S4 E5: Sippin Tea - Meghan and Harry's Tell-all Interview

March 21, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 47.6 MB

The pandemic quarantine has fueled new hobbies, and one of ours is the British Monarchy related content: THE Oprah interview, all four seasons of The Crown, and way too many biographies, documentaries and diaries (from the people who experienced it first hand). This episode, we are joined by a fellow unofficial “scholar” of the British Monarchy and related tea, stage director Mo Zhou. We start by unpacking the interview, then shining a light on the outmoded rules and values of the family and...

S4 E4: We Are All “Minari”

March 15, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 50 MB

Korean American director Lee Issac Chung’s semi-autobiographical film “Minari” is one of those films that make you think back to it days after watching. The film tells the story about a Korean-American family seeking the American dream in rural Arkansas in the 1980s.  "Minari" is a tender and nuanced film that leaves you feeling nostalgic and reflective. And although it’s a highly specific story about a Korean American family, hosts Juan, Ina and Afra talk about finding lots of parallels in...

S4 E3: Loud Murmurs X The Weirdo Podcast: What Female Characters Do We Want More Of On Screen (Part 2)

March 07, 2021 04:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MB

This is our Part Two of our two-part International Women’s Day Special Programming, in collaboration with our friends over at The Weirdo Podcast. Listen to Part One here.  Our two-part special centers around the six categories of female characters that we’d like to see on screen. We combed through our Clubhouse discussion notes, our own experiences as pop culture consumers, and compiled this “wishlist” from the viewpoint of an average audience (rather than that of a TV/film industry insider...

S4 E2: Loud Murmurs X The Weirdo Podcast: What Female Characters Do We Want More Of On Screen (part 1)

March 06, 2021 13:00 - 54 minutes - 37.5 MB

This is our Part One of our two-part International Women’s Day Special Programming, in collaboration with our friends over at The Weirdo Podcast.  In February, we teamed up with our friends at the Weirdo Podcast and hosted a discussion on Clubhouse, inviting our listeners to share what their ideal female character on screen would be like. The two-hour long initial conversation ballooned into over three hours, with 50+ listeners from across the world sharing their thoughts. We jotted them al...

S4 E2: The Weirdo Podcast x Loud Murmurs: What Female Characters Do We Want More Of On Screen (part 1)

March 06, 2021 13:00 - 54 minutes - 37.5 MB

This is our Part One of our two-part International Women’s Day Special Programming, in collaboration with our friends over at The Weirdo Podcast.  In February, we teamed up with our friends at the Weirdo Podcast and hosted a discussion on Clubhouse, inviting our listeners to share what their ideal female character on screen would be like. The two-hour long initial conversation ballooned into over three hours, with 50+ listeners from across the world sharing their thoughts. We jotted them al...

[Revisit] S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Open Road

March 02, 2021 02:00 - 1 hour - 42.9 MB

In celebration of Chole Zhao becoming the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Director, we are revisiting this episode we recorded last year. Our three hosts Izzy, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland,’ a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival).  We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we li...

[REVISIT] S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Open Road

March 02, 2021 02:00 - 39 minutes - 27 MB

In celebration of Chole Zhao becoming the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Director, we are revisiting this episode we recorded last year. Our three hosts Juan, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland,’ a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival). We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we li...

S4 E1 Pixar’s “Soul” was heartwarming -- but only for 5 seconds

February 13, 2021 07:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MB

“Soul” is a movie about death, about jazz, about longing and limitation. Since its premiere, many people in the U.S. and in China praise the movie for warming their hearts and nourishing their souls. As we immerse ourselves in the positivity the movie brings, we realize that this heartwarming feeling is temporary and its existence is closely tied to the vacuum of the movie’s unrealistic world. Life isn’t as black and white or as easy as the movie depicts it to be.  So how do we navigate the...

SX E1 Trailer - “Xianzi and her friends”

February 01, 2021 22:00 - 3 minutes - 2.21 MB

What you are about to hear is the trailer of our special episode - "Xianzi and her friends". You can find the full episode by searching "唠得默默” in your favorite podcast app, or add through the rss feed provided below - https://loudermurmurs.typlog.io/episodes/feed.xml On December 2, 2020, the trial for one of China’s most high-profile #MeToo case began. The trial came 6 years after Zhu Jun, the famous TV anchor and household name in China, allegedly sexually harassed Xianzi while she was an...

S3 E26: A look back at Loud Murmurs in 2020

December 31, 2020 03:00 - 1 hour - 50.7 MB

With a sigh of relief, we’re proud to say that this year has finally come to an end. And what a year it has been! There are not enough words to accurately capture all that has happened this year, and as much we want to forget what this year has brought to us as both individuals and as societies, we shouldn’t. The most important thing to happen this year is the fact that it happened, and we owe it to the past, the present, and the future to remember it for what it was.  In this episode, we i...

Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7: Very Naaiiice 2020 Political Moviefilms

December 26, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 51.3 MB

In this episode, hosts Izzy, Afra and Diaodiao talk to our old friend Lin Santu and new friend, standup comedian Huey (TikTok @drhueyli), about two recent political films starring Sacha Baron Cohen. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a dramatized reenactment of the 1969 trial of seven activists charged by the federal government with conspiracy, for their roles in organizing the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  We talk about the film’s various limit...

S3 E25: Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7: Very Naaiiice 2020 Political Moviefilms

December 26, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 51.3 MB

In this episode, hosts Juan, Afra and Diaodiao talk to our old friend Lin Santu and new friend, standup comedian Huey (TikTok @drhueyli), about two recent political films starring Sacha Baron Cohen. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a dramatized reenactment of the 1969 trial of seven activists charged by the federal government with conspiracy, for their roles in organizing the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  We talk about the film’s various limit...

S3 E24: The Queen’s Gambit: the refreshing fairy tale we need in 2020

November 28, 2020 16:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MB

The “Queen’s Gambit,” the new Netflix show about chess genius Beth Harmon, has managed to give us some joy amid this long period of listless pandemic-induced depression.  Hosts Ina, Juan and Diaodiao bring you this free-form, overly enthusiastic discussion filled with feminist (and other types of) rage where we try to get to the bottom of why this show is so damn satisfying to watch even with all its limitations. If you are expecting an intellectual, philosophical conversation about the mos...

S3 E23: “Social Dilemma” Part Two: Long Road Ahead of Undoing the Damage

November 21, 2020 00:00 - 56 minutes - 38.8 MB

In this episode, our two hosts and two guests continued our discussion on Netflix’s “Social Dilemma”. We talked about how the industry shaped us as practitioners (0:47)  -- how it encouraged our uninhibited curiosity and restricted our imagination of what the Internet could have been(5:40). We also debated whether users should also be considered “laborers” in this new form of capitalism, and if they should get a share of the profit (15:20). We talked about what we did not like about the docu...

S3 E22: “Social Dilemma” Part One: Oh Turing, what have we done?

November 09, 2020 23:00 - 49 minutes - 34.1 MB

This is the first section of our two-part discussion of Netflix’s “Social Dilemma.” Brace yourself as our two hosts and two guests dive into a collective mental breakdown while breaking down the complex set of problems the documentary shed light on -- surveillance capitalism, attention economy, and social media addiction. We discussed our reaction to the documentary, how it forced us to reconsider our day-to-day jobs as practitioners, our personal relationship with the attention and addictio...

S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Open Road

October 20, 2020 03:00 - 39 minutes - 27 MB

In this episode, our three hosts Juan, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland,’ a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival). We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we live, and we dive into the thorny social issue of caring for elderly laborers in both the U.S. and China. In this episode, you’ll hear:  00...

S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Road

October 20, 2020 03:00 - 39 minutes - 27 MB

In this episode, our three hosts Izzy, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland’, a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival). We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we live, and we dive into the thorny social issue of caring for elderly laborers in both the U.S. and China. In this episode, you’ll hear:  00:0...

S3 E20: The Street Dance of China & Legendary: Celebration and Subversion

October 04, 2020 04:00 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MB

In this episode, Diaodiao and Afra talk about their latest obsessions — dance competitions!  We are talking about Youku’s electrifying reality dance show "The Street Dance of China", and HBO Max's vogue ballroom dance competition "Legendary" with a special guest: Bazi, who is the father of House of Kawakubo, the first vogue ballroom family in China.  Bazi talks us through the dance genre known as voguing and why it's as much of a community as an art form. We compare the representations of ...

S3 E19 Remembering RBG — Feminist fighter, role model and cultural icon

September 21, 2020 22:00 - 1 hour - 43.4 MB

This is a very special episode we put together in 3 days. On September 18, 2020, Friday evening, we learned that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87. It was one of those news stories where you remember exactly what you were doing when you heard it.  For this episode, hosts Juan and Afra are joined by our guests Danmiao and Santu. Santu is in law school right now juggling between schoolwork and being a dad of two. Danmiao is a lawyer in New York City.  Toge...

S3 E18 Not my Mulan — How Disney’s 2020 remake disappoints just about everyone

September 17, 2020 08:00 - 46 minutes - 31.6 MB

This is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. Let us save you the time of reading 10,000 think pieces on why the movie is bad, by telling you exactly why the movie is bad.  Together with our beloved guests Tony Lin and Rui Zhong, hosts Ina, Juan and Afra spend an hour talking about why we are thoroughly unimpressed by Disney’s 2020 live action remake of “Mulan.”   In this episode you’ll hear our thoughts on: What we love and miss the most about Disney’s 1998 classic, the original anima...

S3 E17: What is it like to watch "Hamilton" in 2020?

August 15, 2020 22:00 - 1 hour - 43 MB

When the musical “Hamilton” first came out, all four of us were in our early 20s, trying to find our own place in a new country. We found hope and inspiration in the story of Alexander Hamilton as told by the musical—the story of a young, ambitious immigrant who became a hero of the American revolution.  This past July 4th weekend, a original Broadway production of “Hamilton'' streamed on Disney+ for the first time ever. Also on the same weekend, President Trump gave a speech in front of Mt...

S3 E16 "LA 92" & "Do the Right Thing": Violence and solidarity in the age of BLM

August 03, 2020 20:00 - 1 hour - 50.9 MB

Violence is unsettling; violence in a civil demonstration is, for many, somehow more unsettling than violence sponsored by the state. This is the last episode in our three-part conversation about Black Lives Matter. Hosts Afra, Diaodiao and guests talk about the idea of “rioting” as presented in two movies: the National Geography’s documentary LA92, and Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing. We discuss the history of tension between the Asian American immigrant community and the black c...

S3 E15: “Green Book” and “Black Panther” in China, why storytelling matters

July 25, 2020 02:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MB

This is a very special episode and the second of our 3-part conversation about Black Lives Matter. Longtime listeners of Loud Murmurs know that we have talked about “Black Panther” and “Green Book” when they first came out—about white savior complex in “Green Book” and the significance of Black futurism in “Black Panther.”  But we want to bring back the two movies that are familiar to our listeners, and use them as an opportunity to have a conversation about race and racism in China, with t...

Twitter Mentions

@wronglanguage 7 Episodes
@afrazhaowang 4 Episodes
@captainina0328 4 Episodes
@diaodiao_yang 4 Episodes
@weirdopodcast 3 Episodes
@izzy_niu 3 Episodes
@loudmurmurs 2 Episodes
@muge_niu 2 Episodes
@yangyang_cheng 2 Episodes
@eshammacauley 1 Episode
@tony_zy 1 Episode
@chowleen 1 Episode
@qingww 1 Episode
@rzhongnotes 1 Episode
@flyingpku 1 Episode
@echoruohan 1 Episode