This week on Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit, Emily enjoys analyzing film tropes in the 1987 Steve Martin comedy Roxanne, based on the Edmond Rostand play Cyrano de Bergerac. As a romance loving child, Emily adored the updated storytelling of the remarkable man with a big nose who falls in love with a beautiful woman and helps his handsome but shy lieutenant woo her in his stead.
While much of the comedy from the original French play translates remarkably well into 1980s era Washington state, writer and star Steve Martin wanted the humorous tale to be a true comedy rather than the tragic tale of missed opportunities and self-loathing (and lack of agency for women) that Rostand originally wrote. Which is why Roxanne and CD get to have their (slightly awkward) kiss and happily ever after at the end, and Chris gets to live on in Tahoe with Sandy the cocktail waitress instead of dying nobly.
Throw on your headphones, pour yourself a glass of wine to snork, and take a listen!
We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.
We both have super-serious personas in our "day jobs." No, really. Emily is a Finance writer who used to be a classroom teacher. Tracie writes and consults on social justice and mindfulness and works as a copywriter and project manager for non-profits. If you really need to see the bona fides, please visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com
For our work together, what you need to know is that Tracie is older (3 years), Emily is funnier (by at least 3 percent), and we're both hella smart, often over-literal, and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction and murder mysteries, good storytelling with liberal amounts of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find there.
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video version, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.
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