Party Girl

If you're enjoying the Parker Posey-aissance, then Party Girl is the film for you. This little freak of a movie, about a Manhattan club-goer who experiences an existential crisis after reading the Myth of Sisyphus (yes, that's the plot) was, believe it or not, the first feature film to premiere both in theatres and online. And thus it occupies a very odd space in popular culture. Predicting many things to come: the streaming era, Brat, downtown edgelords. And remaining an artifact of a time where weirdo, shoestring budget flicks still had an audience. In this episode, Hannah and Maia chat about the history of Party Girl and what it says about our world today. Tangents include: Trump getting shot, Hannah becoming Shakespeare, and the tyranny of niche meme accounts that come for literally everyone… even those who read Camus and drink black coffee.

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Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:

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SOURCES

Taylor Ghrist, “The secret history of Party Girl” Dazed (2015) https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/24991/1/the-secret-history-of-party-girl 

Soraya Roberts, “How 1995’s ‘Party Girl’ Became The First Movie To Premiere Online” Defector (2023) https://defector.com/how-1995s-party-girl-became-the-first-movie-to-premier-online 

The Deuce Film Series, “The Deuce Notebook: ‘Party Girl’ Is Back in Town!” Mubi Notebook (2023) https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/the-deuce-notebook-party-girl-is-back-in-town 

Ari Saperstein, “How the First Popular Movie Ever to Stream Online Was Made” WSJ Magazine (2020) https://archive.ph/20200608135245/https://www.wsj.com/articles/party-girl-oral-history-parker-posey-11591621366 

Gemma Gracewood, “Reading is Sexy: Party Girl’s filmmakers share production memories while reading Letterboxd reviews.” Letterboxd (2023) https://letterboxd.com/journal/party-girl-letterboxd-reviews-Daisy-von-Scherler-Mayer/

Rich Juzwiak, “The Everlasting Appeal of ‘Party Girl’” Jezebel (2023) https://www.jezebel.com/party-girl-rerelease-1850382585 

Victoria Wiet, “The Library is Open: On Party Girl, Budget Cuts, and the Future of Women’s Work” Literary Hub (2023) https://lithub.com/the-library-is-open-on-party-girl-budget-cuts-and-the-future-of-womens-work/

“Party Girl: Groove is in the Heart” The Frida Cinema (2023) https://thefridacinema.org/film-criticism/party-girl-groove-is-in-the-heart

Peter Rainer, “This ‘Party Girl’ Knows How to Have Fun” The LA Times (1995) https://web.archive.org/web/20160306062736/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-09/entertainment/ca-11122_1_party-girl

Judy Berman, “The Streaming Void” The Baffler, no. 38 (March 2018) https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-streaming-void-berman

Alissa Wilkinson, “Netflix vs. Cannes: why they’re fighting, what it means for cinema, and who really loses” Vox (2018) https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17229476/netflix-versus-cannes-ted-sarandos-thierry-fremaux-okja-meyerowitz-orson-welles-streaming-theater

Meaghan Garvey, “Brat” Pitchfork (2024) https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/charli-xcx-brat/