#24 - ‘We’ll Stay Here Until We Get That Pill’: The ‘Felicity’ Sit-In Episode

Leftist Teen Drama

TW: discussion of rape

Maria welcomes Kelly Diaz back to the podcast to cover one of the plotlines featured in Kelly's dissertation about youth activism on television. In the second season of FELICITY (1999-2002), a student named Leila comes to the health center where Felicity Porter volunteers looking for Plan B. Felicity is dismayed to find out that the Board of Trustees recently created a policy forbidding the student health center from administering post-coital contraception. Felicity’s outrage over this injustice leads to her launching a two-day sit-in, with the help of Leila and her other friends, as they call on the administration to reverse their policy. We discuss everything from parental consequences and arrestable actions to the timeless nature of the plotline and the pivotal role that Felicity’s friend Julie, who had obtained Plan B from the health center after her rape, plays in bringing an end to the successful sit-in.

For this episode, we recommend you first watch or have familiarity with FELICITY, but especially Season 2, Episode 16, “Revolutions,” streaming on Hulu.

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ABOUT US:

MARIA DIPASQUALE (she/her; host/editor) is a Brooklyn-based union communicator and writer who watches too much TV. She splits her free time between devouring teen dramas, creating this podcast, and writing and reading fanfiction. Follow Maria on Twitter @Maria_DiP26, IG @mdzip, and tiktok @marialovesunions.

KELLY DIAZ (she/her; recurring guest) is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility at Swarthmore College and an adjunct instructor of media studies at City College New York. She has a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania where she wrote her dissertation on depictions of youth activism on television. She loves to analyze and discuss the intersection of pop culture and politics and is passionate about the role entertainment plays in social justice movements. She has a dog, Matilda "Tillie," who is named after the magical, brilliant, and justice-serving character!

JEFF MCHALE (he/him; producer) is an extremely online guy who plays games, streams sometimes, and loves talking old TV.

CHARLES S. O’LEARY (they/them; art) is a “writer,” “designer,” and “content strategist” based in Brooklyn, NY. A survivor of the 2010s Tumblr wars, leftist media criticism is all they know. To learn about them professionally, visit charles-oleary.biz. To learn about them personally, visit their Instagram at @c.s.0.l.

Maria and Jeff’s good union cats CLARENCE and VINNY may make an appearance and/or be mentioned.

intro song: Stomping the Room by Delicate Beats

All opinions shared on this show are that of individuals and do not represent the views of any organization we may be affiliated with.

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SOURCES DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

• Kelsea Stahler, Bustle, The 'Felicity' Episode About Julie's Rape Shows Exactly Why Victims Don't Come Forward, Sept 25, 2018
• Secrets of a Successful Organizer, Labor Notes
• Cooper, E. (2015). “Teens win”: Purveying fantasies of effortless economic mobility and social attainment on rich teen soaps. Popular Culture, 48(4), 731-746.
• Gordon, H. (2009). We fight to win: Inequality and the politics of youth activism. Ithaca, NY: Rutgers University Press.
• Screenshots of Felicity's 2000-era internet search on student protest movements

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Gordon, H. R. (2008). Gendered paths to teenage political participation: parental power, civic mobility, and youth activism. Gender & Society, 22(1), 31-55.
• Clay, K. & Turner, D. C. (2021) “Maybe you should try it this way instead”: Youth activism and managerialist subterfuge. American Educational Research Journal, 58(2), 386–419. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831221993476
• Hoewe, L. & Sherrill, A. (2019). The influence of female lead characters in political TV shows: Links to political engagement. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59-76.
• Klein, B. (2011). Entertaining ideas: Social issues in entertainment television. Media, Culture & Society, 33 (2), 905-921.