Today we’d like to introduce you to Melina, Marina, and Alyssa. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Marina and Melina are sisters, and Alyssa is our second cousin (but feels like an adopted sister to us). Now being on opposite coasts, we wanted an excuse to hang out regularly. Alyssa was the one who mentioned starting a podcast. We felt like it had to be movie-based because of our love for movies – we’d sit on the floor with pillows, blankets, and popcorn watching them together growing up. While we were throwing around ideas for the podcast, Alyssa mentioned watching the 1992 Aladdin and how there was a disclaimer, in the beginning, saying, “This program has negative depictions… we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it, and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together”. We realized we’d love to be a part of that conversation in a specific way. We wanted to revisit these movies and see how we feel about them now because these movies stay the same, but we as people (and a society) have grown. How do we reconcile with these complicated feelings? We aren’t experts in movies or social issues, but we think that it’s still important that people learn how to talk about these complicated issues, even if they don’t do it perfectly, like us. Alyssa is a social worker in Boston, Marina works in Brand Management in Connecticut, and Melina is an actor in LA. We bring different things to the table but still are just like everyone else who loves a movie but now find it hard to because of its issues.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Coordinating with our personal lives and different time zones has been tough. We struggled to find times to meet. We are also doing all the work ourselves and so we’ve had to figure out how to manage the workload along with our normal jobs. We did a practice episode to see how we would do, and have been getting better and better as we go along. We love to say “I was just gonna say…” a lot, and that was an issue when editing, but we’ve really reeled that in. The way we talk for the podcast has to be slightly different from our normal speech because of editing, and that’s been the hardest part.
It’s also a bit scary because we are trying to be honest while not offending anyone, but that’s impossible when talking about sensitive issues. We try to do it responsibly, but we do encourage feedback because we are learning. We are flawed. We come from certain environments that maybe make us not able to see a certain issue properly. Saying words that might not be politically correct anymore, for example. We still want to have these conversations, though. We try to be clear that we are coming from a good place, but sometimes it’s an ignorant place, and we need insight from people listening. We want to encourage conversation not just between others but also with us on the podcast. We may not always agree with each other or the feedback we get, but as long as it’s well intended, we will always consider and discuss it. We are open to our minds changing. That can be a tough thing to balance, so that’s been an obstacle as we’ve aired episodes.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We dig into the issues more, ask questions, try to do research behind the movies. We aren’t experts, and that’s sort of the point. We want people who don’t necessarily know about these issues to still be able to talk about them like we do. We want to open up this conversation so it’s not so black and white – there are complicated feelings around these movies we love, and that’s okay. We want to recognize the issues but remove the shame. Create a healthy relationship with them. We view the movies as people because they are made by people, so we talk about them as if they are old crushes, and we now have to reevaluate our relationship with them. Cause we have grown, but they haven’t. Do we want to stay with it unapologetically, leave it, or stay with it knowing it’s a toxic relationship that has a lot of issues, but we just can’t let it go? Or, as we like to say, brainwashed. We surprise ourselves a lot with how our minds change after watching the movies again and even after discussing them with each other. What makes this podcast unique is that it’s exploring movies in a more human way because we see them as beloved people from our past that we have to contend with. We aren’t just criticizing or evaluating the quality of these movies. These movies made up who we are as people since we watched them growing up, and it’s not so easy to shake stuff off if it’s shaped you. We don’t just do movies we’ve loved; we also try to do movies we know that other people really love and explore that.
We are most proud of our ability to surprise ourselves with each movie and each discussion. We’ve known each other our whole lives, and yet we can’t anticipate what the other person will ultimately decide about the movie. I think we went into it thinking, “Oh, this is gonna be obvious” cause we’d know our opinions, but we are really learning more about each other, and it’s been fun not knowing how each movie is going to sit with us ultimately. We’ve surprised each other and that’s what makes us proud because we aren’t just preaching to the choir or reiterating stuff we already know. We are really growing with each episode.
Any big plans?
We really love the feedback, and the more we get, the better. We hope to open up the conversation even more. For example, having guests. We want people to come on with movies that they care deeply about (even if we’ve already done the movie on the podcast) because it’s not just about the movie, it’s about someone’s relationship with the movie, and that’s different for every person. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, so guests would be an important and welcoming element down the road. We hope that all the while, it stays entertaining and fun and that people can have a good time listening. If the podcast loses that aspect, we think things get too serious and critical, and that’s not what we are aiming for. But we aren’t sure where this podcast could go, especially as we incorporate feedback. We plan on changes occurring, and it’s exciting not to know what those changes could be right now. They are based on how we feel as we go along and our listeners’ contributions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-cant-like-this-anymore/id1733747380
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wecantlikethisanymore/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/6lVtOgCLnRcZ2H3X4hxklb?si=6fde5395f8bf436b
Image Credits
Drew Santini
