12.51: Celluloid Solidarity: Exploring Labor Issues On and Off Screen

Geek Girl Soup

We’re celebrating Labor Day at Geek Girl Soup with a few movies and a TV show that explore various working conditions.

We start with the HBO limited series “Telemarketers,” which looks at the horrors both of how telemarketing companies treat their workers, and also how these companies deal with consumers and the “nonprofits” they allegedly raise money for. This is a scrappy little series that had almost no budget. It has original footage from inside one of the earliest scummy telemarketing companies.

We move on to Sally Field in “Norma Rae.” You’ve probably seen this Oscar-winning film in which Norma Rae helps unionize the textile factory where pretty much the entire town works.

We also watched “Up in the Air,” in which George Clooney spends nine months of the years traveling the country firing people.

For fun, we watched “Working Girl” and “9 to 5.” We were disappointed that “Working Girl” pits woman against women. You know, “there can be only one” women in the boys club. Sigh. But yay for the glorious sisterhood of Lily, Dolly, and Jane!

You’ll hear an excerpt of a discussion Susan and Kelly had with Erik C. Andersen, Hollywood editor. We talk all about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. If you want to listen to our full interview with Erik, it will be out later this week.

Next week: We’re celebrating the start of Hispanic Heritage Month!

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Original music by Garrett Thompson

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