The Take

From real life Horse Girls like Bella Hadid and TikTok #HorseGirls to book and tv icons like The Saddle Club, Horse Girls are everywhere. It's long been a trope both on screen and in real life – you probably knew a Horse Girl growing up, or maybe you were the Horse Girl. The trope often splits in two directions: the bratty rich-girl equestrian and the tough and free spirited outcast true horse girl. Both types usually end up getting mocked, though for different reasons. And they both have important lessons to teach all of us, even if we don’t know the first thing about horses. So saddle up and let’s jump into this trope! Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Mar 202410min

Bradley Cooper spent years perfecting his performance (plus writing and directing) in hopes of securing an Oscar for Maestro, but instead, his performance was seemingly overshadowed by his "desperation" to win, and the Oscar for Best Actor instead went to quiet frontrunner Cillian Murphy. Cooper’s Oscar’s journey actually highlights an interesting conundrum for Hollywood actors: it is very much a part of their job to go out on the awards trail and try to convince everyone that their film – and they specifically – deserve to be rewarded. But, if they get a little too overzealous, it can lead to some pretty intense backlash. (There’s also the flipside that if they don’t promote themselves enough they can essentially get forgotten, passed over again and again even though everyone knows they’re incredibly talented.) Let's take a look at *why* Bradley got hit with so much backlash, plus take a deeper look at the overall mystery of what it really takes to run an Oscars campaign (and why it’s kind of started turning people off of the Oscars all together...) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Mar 202411min

'Poor Little Rich Kids' like Succession's Kendall, Shiv, and Roman and Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf seem to have everything, and yet… they’re still miserable. Hearing the old adage “money can’t buy happiness” can be grating, especially in financial times like these – but there is a kernel of truth in it. So to get a better understanding of this trope and why it keeps popping up on screen, let’s take a closer look at the Poor Little Rich Kid in film and television: the important truths the trope can expose, the places it falls flat, and why (no matter how much we might love the characters) it’s still often hard for us to sympathize with them. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Mar 202413min

Film and TV love to show partly-relatable, partly-aspirational lifestyles that… actually don’t make a whole lot of sense when you really think about them. Of course, we’re not always watching movies and shows just to see real life, and it can sometimes work well when media choses to let go of realism a little bit to have more fun. But this can also lead to some pretty unrealistic ideas about life and money… So let’s take a look at some of the most nonsensical finances in media, from Friends to Sex and the City to Emily in Paris and beyond, why we’re influenced by them, and how we can enjoy our favorite shows without comparing ourselves to the fantastical examples on screen. Plus, we'll explore some shows like Broad City that are much more realistic in their portrayals of personal finances. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Mar 202412min

Go to https://www.expressvpn.com/thetake and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free! Feud: Capote vs The Swans follows the downfall of arguably the most famous American mid-century writer, Truman Capote. His best seller In Cold Blood catapulted him to stardom, and with his natural magnetism and inclination for spectacle catapulted him into the closest inner circles of New York City’s elite, where he befriended a number of very powerful society women, who he referred to as his Swans. However, everything changed for Capote after he published a scathing excerpt about his friends in Esquire Magazine – which got him exiled from high society and sent him spiraling. While these women were very much real, how much does Feud rely on facts and where does the show, and Capote, bend the truth for dramatic effect? Let’s take a look at how the show has portrayed the Swans so far in the first half of the season compared to their real stories to figure out how much fact is woven into the show’s fiction. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Mar 202420min

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off. Dune: Part 2, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and a host of other stars, has become a huge hit – crossing $80 million in only its first weekend at the box office. It’s no surprise that people love the second installment in Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel given how much we all loved the first one. But Paul Atreides’ story is a lot darker than most Chosen One characters we see get the big screen treatment. So how has Paul changed in part two, and what does that mean for what’s to come in his story? (And how might audience reactions cause a bit of a problem?) Let’s dive in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Mar 202411min

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today. The Office is a beautifully crafted comedy that manages to bring the laughs, tug on our heart strings, and make us appreciate the magic of or everyday, ordinary lives. Over it's 9 seasons, we watched the characters stumble and grow, rooting for them all the way (well, most of them...) So join us in taking an extended look back at every season to highlight all of the things that made the show so great, and that have catapulted it to comfort show classic status! To watch the video version of this episode, click here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Feb 202449min

30 Rock’s Jenna Maroney still managed to stand out in a sea of hilarious characters. She was unbelievably vain, shallow, manipulative, unstable, thin-skinned… but instead of being annoying and unlikable, she became one of the most entertaining, iconic characters of modern television. So, how did Jenna manage to capture that ‘beloved star’ status that she was so desperate for on the show in real life? Let’s take a deeper look at Jenna’s character arc, the way she perfectly embodied all of the wild pressures that the industry puts on aging actresses, and how such an outlandish character managed to be so oddly relatable. Click here to watch the video version of this Take! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Feb 202411min