Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Problematic Fave podcast!
In each episode of Problematic Fave, host Dino-Ray Ramos will welcome a filmmaker, actor, creator or cultural figure to discuss a film or TV episode from the past of the guest’s choosing that is acclaimed, celebrated and considered a classic. We will discuss why the like the project but then do a deep dive and unpack how the film/series was enjoyable in the past, but upon revisiting there are details that are racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and wildly cringeworthy when it comes to representation of marginalized voices…but for some reason it remains a “problematic fave”.
In the first episode we welcome Sujata Day, director, writer and star of the film Definition Please (currently on Netflix) as well as an alum of Insecure and an original cast member of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.
She chose to discuss Steven Spielberg’s 1984 adventure classic Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and we found a lot of problems with it when it came to representation of Indian and South Asian culture. At the same time, there were some bright spots in it, surprisingly. If we could use one sentence to describe our feelings about this movie it would be, “Well, they tried.”
Listen to the episode below.
