Ep. 84 - Whiskey & Watching: "Passing" (2021) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James & Pearl Quick

BrownTown again shares space with Sophie Elizabeth James,
sociologist and Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast host, and
Pearl Quick, farmer, pastor, and poet
extraordinaire, in the sophomore episode of our recurring
"Whiskey & Watching" series. BrownTown and guests
deconstruct, recontextualize, and, dare we say, decolonize
popular films, TV shows, books, and more! This time the gang
unpacks Passing (2021), the Rebecca Hall directorial debut
(for better or worse) and film-adaptation of the Nella Larsen
novel of the same name. In 1920s New York City, a light-skinned
Black woman finds her world up-ended when her life becomes
intertwined with a former childhood friend who is living as a
white woman. The gang compares and contrasts the book to the
movie, interpolates pivotal moments in the story and extrapolates
what they communicate about survival, proximity to whiteness,
navigating Blackness, and even the passivity of the very term
"passing".


 


Full Transcription Here!


 


GUESTS
Sophie Elizabeth James is a political
sociologist, project manager in the anti-human trafficking
sector, and creator of the Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast. With a
masters in sociology AND pop culture, she aims to provide nuance
and levity to topics taken for granted. 


 


Pearl Quick, hailing from the South
Bronx, is an educator in soil science, disease ecology,
genetics, and faith formation from Sarah Lawrence & Princeton
University. Pearl created ‘Many Soils,’ a farming space where
Black and brown youth come to learn how to decolonize their
palates, look at the physical world, and grow food for
themselves, their families, and their communities outside of the
white gaze.


 


CREDITS: Intro soundbite and episode photo from
Passing. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Originally
recorded June 2022.


 


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