Weird Science: Deep Thoughts on Pygmalion, Women's Agency, and Why 1980s Movies Thought Computers Were Magic

Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Podcast

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So, what would you little maniacs like to do first?

This week, Tracie takes a deep dive into Weird Science: yet another of the John Hughes movies that helped to define Gen X pop culture. This 1985 teen comedy is a modern retelling of Pygmalion, the Greek myth that finds a sculptor falling in love with his artwork that comes to life. Except in this version, Anthony Michael Hall's Gary and Ilan Mitchell-Smith's Wyatt create Lisa (played by Kelly LeBrock) via Memotech MTX 512 microcomputer, because 1980s movies taught us computers are magic.

While Tracie was pleased to find the raunchy comedy isn't as bad as she expected—Lisa, as a benevolent agent of chaos, has more agency than anyone else, which is a definite improvement over Galatea in the original Greek myth and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady—the movie struggles to universally apply the message that you don't have to change to be worthy of love. And like many movies continue to do in 2025, Weird Science treats Gary and Wyatt's teenage love interests as prizes to be won.

On the bright side, now we know that computers can't magic Kelly LeBrock from the ether.

No need to wear a bra on your head. Just some headphones will do.

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.

Chapters

1. Introducing Weird Science and Pygmalion (00:00:00)

2. The Computer Magic Fantasy Premise (00:07:43)

3. Creating Lisa and Her Chaotic Agency (00:15:40)

4. Race, Class, and Hughes' Social Commentary (00:22:37)

5. The Bikers, Bullies, and Problematic Elements (00:32:26)

6. Feminist Analysis and Cultural Impact (00:42:56)

7. Closing Thoughts and Next Episode (00:50:33)