Pop Culture Happy Hour – “Hedda” (November 4, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this lively, insightful episode, host Aisha Harris is joined by guest culture commentator Ryan Mitchell and critic Soraya Nadia McDonald to dig into Hedda, the vibrant new film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, directed by Nia DaCosta and starring Tessa Thompson. The panel explores the film’s bold changes from the original play, its lush production and costume design, the complexity of its characters, and its contemporary resonance—particularly its queer themes and the nuances of race and gender. The conversation is dynamic, mixing critical analysis with enthusiastic admiration and a sense of fun.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: “Hedda” as an Adaptation

• Hedda shifts Ibsen’s play to 1950s England, centering the action around a single, decadent party.
• Tessa Thompson stars as Hedda, a general’s mixed-race daughter bored with her academic husband (Tom Bateman).
• A key adaptation: Eilert from the original play has been reimagined as Eileen (Nina Hoss), intensifying the film’s queer dynamics.
• Director Nia DaCosta’s approach is described as “sexy, chaotic, and messy as hell,” departing from traditional, staid takes on the material.

  “While the intoxicating new film Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson is not your grandmother's Hedda, it's sexy, chaotic and above all, messy as hell.” – Aisha Harris (02:21)

2. Director/Actor Collaboration and Performances

• The panel praises the creative synergy between Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson, noting a visible joy and inventiveness in their collaboration.
• Hedda exhibits a playful yet precise aesthetic reminiscent of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s partnership.

  “You know that moment where you can just tell when a director loves working with an actor? You know, Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson really just speak the same language, and I think it's really, really noticeable.” – Ryan Mitchell (04:31)

• The director and actress’ earlier work, Little Woods, is referenced as a marked tonal departure from this film. This versatility is highlighted as a strength.
• Harris singles out Tessa Thompson’s affinity for period pieces and “understanding that Hedda herself is a performance.”

3. Queerness, Iconography, and Gender Flipping

• The film is positioned as a major queer text, especially through the gender-swapping of Eilert to Eileen and the romantic tension between Hedda and Eileen.

  “I have two words, and it's queer icon … Y'all thought y'all liked Megan. Nah. This is the girl that we should be celebrating. I need Hedda all over the billboard. Hedda for Pride 2026.” – Ryan Mitchell (04:26)

• Mitchell discusses how the film’s unapologetic queerness grounds it in history, reinforcing that “queer people are always here and we simply existed throughout history and time.” (14:44)
• The dynamic between Hedda and Eileen is considered “toxic” yet “magnetic,” heightened in the powerful dance and confrontation scenes.
• The gender flip is lauded for deepening the story’s emotional complexity.

4. Race and Social Outsider Status

• The panel delves into the film’s racial themes, particularly Hedda’s status as a Black, mixed-race woman and how that intersects with her social exclusion and performativity.

  “What I did feel like was lacking, what I wish was painted more in the dialogue was how this 1950 world … allowed that to happen. Because it's not like she's passing. You know, this is a black woman.” – Ryan Mitchell (09:19)

• While some found the racial dynamics subtle to a fault, others appreciated the nuance, especially as it intersects with gender and sexuality.
• The relationship between Hedda and Judge Brack (Nicholas Pinnock), another Black character, receives attention for its resonance and undercurrent of shared understanding.

  “He knows her the best, in part because he's the other black person with some sort of power in that room. To me, that subtlety is what I liked about it. I loved that relationship. It's so twisted.” – Aisha Harris (13:51)

5. Performance, Camp, and Style

• The film’s mixture of heightened style, period camp, and performance artifice is celebrated.
• The group discusses “accent work” (notably Thompson’s transatlantic/posh delivery), production and costume design, and the score as integral to the film’s atmosphere.

  “There's a lot about this film that is so. I mean, I hate to use this buzzword, but it's so camp.” – Ryan Mitchell (11:17)

• Soraya points out how the film draws from various influences—“The Favourite,” “A Doll’s House,” “Mrs. Dalloway,” “Belle,” and even “Saltburn”—while still feeling original.

6. Hedda’s Character: Survival, Chaos, and Alienation

• Hedda is painted as both villain and victim—a woman lashing out after years of being infantilized, manipulated, and boxed in by a patriarchal (and at times, racially blind) society.
• The ongoing tension is whether Hedda is orchestrating chaos as a coping mechanism for survival, or whether she is “addicted to the chaos” itself.

  “I do feel like she's ultimately making the choices that she's making out of survival. And at some point, I think she got addicted to the chaos and quickly became bored and resentful of the life that she actually wants.” – Ryan Mitchell (17:10)

7. Canon, Representation, and “Hedda” in Context

• The significance of recasting British period dramas with Black and queer leads is explored, with the hosts reflecting on how this “splits the difference” between realism and the more fantastical “Bridgerton” approach.

  “When we think about sort of period dramas and British period dramas in particular, there's a way that we sort of either think that black folks are just supposed to be absent from those canonical stories or that you have to notch it up to such a degree that it's Bridgerton. And I think this is a little more mature.” – Soraya Nadia McDonald (19:34)

• Hedda is recognized as a major role in the theatrical canon, with Tessa Thompson’s portrayal seen as a bold, worthy new chapter.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• (04:26) Ryan Mitchell: “I have two words, and it's queer icon.”
• (04:31) Ryan Mitchell: “[Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson] really just speak the same language, and I think it's really, really noticeable.”
• (05:42) Soraya Nadia McDonald: “It is, I think, impossible to watch this film and not think of the partnership between Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos… stylistically kind of evokes that vibe that people love so much about The Favourite.”
• (14:44) Ryan Mitchell: “Queer people are always here and we simply existed throughout history and time. And I think that's really important now more than ever…”
• (17:10) Ryan Mitchell: “I was like. I literally screamed and said, Hedda, you are dead wrong for sending her into that room like that. Like, Hedda is. She's quite selfish. She's devious. She's always choosing chaos.”
• (19:34) Soraya Nadia McDonald: “When we think about sort of period dramas… there's a way that we sort of either think that black folks are just supposed to be absent from those canonical stories or… notch it up… Bridgerton. This is a little more mature.”

Important Timestamps

• 03:03 – Film setup: plot, setting, and bold stylistic changes
• 04:26 – Queer iconography and initial panel reactions
• 05:42 – Comparison to “The Favourite,” themes of female constraint
• 08:44 – Challenges in following the details and accent/dialogue analysis
• 09:19–10:49 – Discussion on race, passing, and subtlety
• 14:44–16:19 – Queerness, toxic relationships, and the Hedda/Eileen dynamic
• 17:09–18:33 – Hedda’s choices, survival strategies, and emotional fallout
• 19:34–21:04 – Importance of Black representation in period drama, the canonical status of “Hedda”

Tone, Style, and Takeaway

The conversation is both critical and celebratory—smart, irreverent, and deeply aware of the histories at play in both the canon and contemporary filmmaking. There’s a focus on the joy of seeing artists like Tessa Thompson and Nia DaCosta expand the tradition with wit and style, while also acknowledging areas the film provokes or complicates. Listeners are left with a strong sense of why Hedda matters in 2025—both as raucous entertainment and as a work of cultural progression.

Closing Thoughts

“Tessa deserves all the things.” – Ryan Mitchell (21:02)
“The costume design, production design, the score. Everyone was just working together symbiotically. And I love it here.” – Aisha Harris (21:17)

Hedda is recommended enthusiastically by all the panelists—for the performances, the aesthetics, and the way it reinvigorates a classic with new relevance.

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