Tupperware Parties x Cruel Optimism

Jul 9, 2024

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Have you ever been to a Tupperware party? Or perhaps a Pure Romance party? Avon? Then you may be familiar with pyramid schemes! In this episode, Marcelle guides Hannah through the history of Tupperware parties and their rising popularity post WWII. She then offers some Lauren Berlant theory (which always makes for a good episode!!); specifically, their concept of "cruel optimism." If that sounds familiar, it's because we first visited this theory in our Queer Eye episode. Enjoy the episode and become a Patreon supporter today to attend our LIVE episode recording on July 12th at 5 pm EST!

You can learn more about Material Girls at ohwitchplease.ca and on our instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Want more from us? Check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a bonus episode, but until then, we mean it — go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is HOW WE PAY OUR TEAM! We need your support to make the show. Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us on Patreon.

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Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.

*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment.

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