MOVIE SPECIAL: ‘Strike! (1998)’

Leftist Teen Drama

Welcome back to our new series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by Kelly Diaz to break down all the political themes of the movie of many names: THE HAIRY BIRD/ALL I WANNA DO/STRIKE! (1998). (We went with the most thematically appropriate title for our podcast episode title, as you can see!) We discuss the solidarity and friendship between the main teen girl characters at Miss Godard’s Prep and their various actions to make change on campus, culminating in an epic student occupation of the dorms until their demand for a vote on coeducation is met.

For this episode, we’d usually recommend you first watch or have familiarity with STRIKE! (1998), but it’s incredibly hard to find so we mostly just wish you luck in trying to watch it. Here’s hoping it gets picked up by a streaming service soon!

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ABOUT US:

MARIA DIPASQUALE (she/her; host/editor) is a Brooklyn-based union communicator and writer who watches too much TV. She splits her free time between devouring teen dramas, creating this podcast, and writing and reading fanfiction. Follow Maria on Twitter @Maria_DiP26, IG @mdzip, and tiktok @marialovesunions.

KELLY DIAZ (she/her; recurring guest) is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility at Swarthmore College and an adjunct instructor of media studies at City College New York. She has a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania where she wrote her dissertation on depictions of youth activism on television. She loves to analyze and discuss the intersection of pop culture and politics and is passionate about the role entertainment plays in social justice movements. She has a dog, Matilda "Tillie," who is named after the magical, brilliant, and justice-serving character!

JEFF MCHALE (he/him; producer) is an extremely online guy who plays games, streams sometimes, and loves talking old TV.

CHARLES S. O’LEARY (they/them; art) is a “writer,” “designer,” and “content strategist” based in Brooklyn, NY. A survivor of the 2010s Tumblr wars, leftist media criticism is all they know. To learn about them professionally, visit charles-oleary.biz. To learn about them personally, visit their Instagram at @c.s.0.l.

Maria and Jeff’s good union cats CLARENCE and VINNY may make an appearance and/or be mentioned.

intro song: Stomping the Room by Delicate Beats

All opinions shared on this show are that of individuals and do not represent the views of any organization we may be affiliated with.

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SOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Business Insider, December 17, 2019, A female director says Harvey Weinstein buried her film debut more than 20 years ago. Now she wonders about other women filmmakers 'whose careers he totally destroyed.' by Kelly McLaughlin

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RESOURCES ON THE CURRENT STUDENT MOVEMENT FOR PALESTINE:

• Al Jazeera, Mapping pro-Palestine college campus protests around the world, updated May 2, 2024 as of this posting
• It Could Happen Here podcast episode: What's Really Going On At the Columbia Palestine Encampment
• It Could Happen Here podcast episode: The Humboldt State Occupation and Portland State University Library Occupations
• The Real News Podcast episode: 'The university fears us because of how little we fear them': Michigan Gaza encampment organizers demand university divest from Israel
• Instagram round up post: How To Help Student Encampments Around the United States
• I will try to continue updating this as I find more resources!