The Steves continue their celebration of Pride Month with a deep dive into the 2005 classic, Kinky Boots, along with on what's keeping us happy and filled with pride in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Kinky Boots
And more!
Thanks for listening! You can always reach us at happylifepod@gmail.com and engage with us on all the socials @happylifepod
Stay Happy!
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves continue their celebration of Pride Month with a deep dive into the 2005 classic, Kinky Boots, along with on what's keeping us happy and filled with pride in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Kinky Boots
And more!
Thanks for listening! You can always reach us at happylifepod@gmail.com and engage with us on all the socials @happylifepod
Stay Happy!
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin,
Stephen:and this is Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of Happiness. The podcast
Steve:where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile or two to your face along the way.
Stephen:And today we're continuing pride month with a celebration of the art of drag and kinky boots. Yes. But before
Steve:we get into it and I love what's been making you
Stephen:happy. Well, so back in the late nineties, early two thousands, I watched the show called queer as folk on.
Steve:And I would watch it scrambled on my key basic cable plan, trying to see the naughty bad.
Stephen:And you know, it was a big part of my coming out development and things. And it has a brand new life as a reboot, not associated with the original or the British originally. At all. This one is set in new Orleans and unlike the first two, this one isn't completely whitewashed and has a very diverse cast including disabled people of color, trans people excepted fam and drag Queens. And. It's got something for everybody.
Steve:Yes, it certainly does. I've been really enjoying it. It's certainly a good reboot. They didn't hold anything back just because it was on like a basic cables streaming services.
Stephen:Yes. Yeah. It's definitely for adults. So. This is not one to share, but the kiddies, no, it's not.
Steve:But if you're an adult who likes watching sexy people be sexy, go for it. Yes.
Stephen:Enjoy now, what are you is making you happy? My darling, well,
Steve:the car parade yesterday was very fun. Yes, it was. In Sarasota, we have project pride doing a month full of pride activities and we had the car parade. Yesterday and we have the pet parade next weekend. Some ex I'm excited to celebrate pride in Sarasota. Yes. We decked out the Jeep in a. Rainbow unicorn fantasy. Yes, it was fabulous. And of course, I can't go into him talking about a movie about a drag queen without mentioning how much just Ru Paul's drag race, all stars, season seven is going all winners. And gosh, I don't need, like, I normally at this point I'm like, oh, I can't wait to see who leaves next two leaves next. Who makes it to the end? I'm like, I don't even want to know who's at the end. I just want them to keep on playing every single week together in their giant sandbox of fun track. Oh, oh, I
Stephen:know. And I love that this season people aren't getting kicked off. You, you win points for winning the week and whoever the top four people that have the most points at the end of the season, get to come. For the win and you know, that's different. And so this time people are getting to take more of a chance. But one of my all time favorites from all the seasons is doing quite well this season. I love me some jinx monsoon. Yeah.
Steve:And I love getting to know Jinx much better. Cause I barely remember her first season, but I also am just team Trinity all the way as well. So those two together and the top two, that would
Stephen:be fantastic. Yes. Now about this movie. Yes
Steve:I am. DB says it's about addressing. Who comes to the rescue of a man who after inheriting his father's shoe factory, he needs to diversify his product if he wants to keep the business afloat.
Stephen:And honestly, I think that's pretty good. I approve, I am DB. Good job. I
Steve:know it would have been like cute if they answered there, but like, but they ended up helping each other
Stephen:and, and then there's this whole B plot with his horrible fiance. Yeah.
Steve:I see plot.
Stephen:I see what you
Steve:did there now. Why do we love kinky
Stephen:boots? You know, I love rooting for the underdog, but I love nothing more than movies that highlight scenes of everyone working together. And we have a few of those in this and it just hits my heart strings.
Steve:Yeah, it certainly does. I know that I also love like a good unlikely duo. You know, the, to just make Charlie and Simon slash Lola makes such a great friendship that it's like a love story without being a romance story. But it's about like the love that they developed towards each other, as friends. And it's really cool.
Stephen:It really, really, really is. It's one that I don't know, it just gets me that's my second or third time seeing it now. It's very good.
Steve:Yes. Now, for those not in the know kinky boots is a British American movie distributed by Miramax films with an undisclosed budget, but a box office of 9.950 million, which is a lot of money for something that costs like$0. It looks like.
Stephen:Yeah, the film was directed by Julian, Gerald and written by Jeff Dean. And Tim Firth, Gerald went on to direct becoming Jane and four episodes of the crown. Meanwhile, Dean wrote, it's a boy, girl thing, and Firth wrote confessions of a shopaholic.
Steve:And out of all of those other works, confessions of a shopaholic was my favorite of them. Yes, very fun. And the movie stars, Joel Edgerton is Charlie price.
Stephen:And it also stars Chatel edgier for as Lola and.
Steve:Yes. Edgerton is known for roles like Gordo in the gift. Tom Buchanan in 2013 is the great Gatsby and Richard and
Stephen:loving is known today is Mordo in doctor strange movies. And we talked about him and our Dr. Strange episode two months ago. So go back and check out that episode. If you haven't listened to.
Steve:Yes. And like all of our episodes, this will be spoiler filled. So if you haven't watched kinky boots, go watch it now and then come back to us to finish the discussion. Yes. But it is inspired by the true story of a traditional English. Englishman's. But where company in north Hampton Shire. Yep. Which is a hell of a name. And it's turns its production of kinky boots for drag Queens in order to save the alien family's business and safeguard the jobs of the local community. So it's like really based on a true story, just like loosely
Stephen:based. And it happened before. Drag was mainstream and more people were buying these types of shoes and things. So he really was finding a niche market back in the
Steve:day. Oh yeah. And we open up with a young black boy Simon sitting alone in a boardwalk then discovering the joy of heels and dancing up and down the boardwalk. And I mean, it's just a great scene that goes from sad and melancholy or pure.
Stephen:Yeah. Did you ever try on your mom's shoes or clothes?
Steve:I think, I don't think I've ever tried on her clothes, but I think that when I was little, I was just more like I would try on my dad's shoes and my mom's shoes to see, like when I would get feet that were bigger than theirs. I never really had like the pleasure of like dancing around and pretty shoes until I was much older. So, no, I would just say though that I remember trying them on, but it was more of like a, are my feet bigger than my mom's yet more than it was like, I went to where my mother shoe. Yeah,
Stephen:I never had the, I want to wear their clothes for a certain reason. There was one time when we were cleaning out their closet and we came upon mom's wedding dress and I was like six or seven, something like that. And so mom and dad thought it was hysterical to put the wedding dress on me and have me walk into my brother's room. He was not amused by it. So it's kind of fun. That you know, mom and dad thought it was hysterical and Barry was all like, no, I don't care
Steve:for this.
Stephen:Yeah. And and the movie Simon's father also shuts it down. Did you ever have any things with your parents being embarrassed about you being a little extra?
Steve:Yes. Quite often, mostly in public. It was very rare. Like if I was like being extra at home or even like in a family gathering, whether my parents would like correct me or tell me that to calm it down or tone it down, or like not here type of thing. But there were times out in public where I would get like dramatic or just a little extra, maybe a little more flamboyant. Be more with the girls than the guys. And they would charge like, you know, even as like a preteen, my, my parents would be like, go play with the other boys. Like you don't always have to be with the girls, like man up, blah, blah, blah. So I do remember like having to tone it down. Occasionally. What about
Stephen:you? I know from a young age with dad's business and things and having to go to. Dinners and functions and stuff. I was taught how to behave properly in public and that stuck.
Steve:So it's not even just about behaving poorly. Like it wasn't when I was causing trouble. It was just the fact when I was being what people would perceive as gay.
Stephen:Oh no. And still mine. I learned more from, you know, like. Oh, the show on Fox directed development, where they w with all the boys went to the school where children shouldn't be neither seen nor heard. That's how I learned how to behave at public functions. Yes.
Steve:Well, that's also sad now. Meanwhile, a young Charlie is learning all about shoes from. And did you ever get pressure from mom or dad to follow in either of their footsteps?
Stephen:Not at all. Like the, it mom, wasn't like, oh, you should go into medicine or dad, wasn't all like, you should go into banking. It was be whatever you want to be. Just not trying to be a professional actor. There's no money in it for you. Yeah.
Steve:Yeah. My dad was very insistent. Like not to follow him into insurance. He's like, it's a life of misery. Don't follow my footsteps. Duly noted. And even when I was like briefly interested in going after education as a career and my mom and my, her side of the family come from that, and they didn't like encouraged me or discouraged me. They were like, if you do it cool, like it has its pros and cons, but you know, follow your heart. But no, they, they never like pressured me
Stephen:and the Charlie's dad says that the first thing you notice about his man. Is that something you notice,
Steve:not the first thing typically checking out whether they're acuity or not. But after that, I would say that the shoes don't really register, like something draws me to their feet. Like I don't like go out of my way to look at people's feet.
Stephen:I had a friend in school and she would always say that the first thing she looked at, a guy, she looked at his hair and then his shoes. And based on those, she would decide if it was worth continuing.
Steve:Yeah. I definitely would look at the hair before I look at the shoes, I would think. Yeah,
Stephen:because I don't know, like shoes or shoes.
Steve:Yes. Ah, but it was a different time back then maybe. Yeah. But. Charlie and SIS instead follows his fiance to London because she got a huge promotion and he goes into marketing. He's there all of five months, just in time for him to be called back home after his father's
Stephen:death, it actually wasn't even that long. It was more like five minutes, five minutes,
Steve:five minutes, five months, whatever,
Stephen:and feeling an obligation to his father's company. He steps in and attempts to save the family shoe factory. Which he learns has been floundering since his father's in the past, you know, your couple of years and all he can say as a go get'em type of thing to the people on his first day is let's make shoes at. Do you think he has an obligation to his father, the company or its employees? I
Steve:feel like he has an obligation to take care of the problem. I don't know whether he needs to take care of it personally. I mean, I get that they're also short on money, so they can't just like, hire like a third-party person to come in and clean it up. But like, there's a difference between like selling it to turn it into condos. Like we see later on in the movie and selling it to like someone who wants to like, invest in like a shoe company. Right. And save it that way. Like, I don't think at that point asking for help or turning it into a franchise, like franchise something, but just do something. You know, save it without having to be the one to single-handedly save it. You know what I mean?
Stephen:I do. I see it from a different thing that it's his family's name and everything. And if it were me, I would feel an obligation to fix it, make it better and make sure that everybody's taken care of. Just because it's his name on the door, you know it, yeah. If it wasn't a family company. No, but like it's his and his father had been running it for years and years and years and a small town. And I, I guess maybe coming from a small town. Yeah.
Steve:You know, a little bit better what that's like. Yeah. Yes. And Charlie finds out that there's a warehouse full of unsold shoes because of a contract that fell through. You have to wonder why his father kept producing shoes when they had so many in reserves. Was it a denial? Was it dementia? What do you think?
Stephen:You know, I, I think it's you know, a little bit of denial and hoping that things would turn around, but I think the father also wanted to provide jobs for the people in town. So if the people were there still making shoes, then he was providing for those people, whether he was going through his own family, Or not, he was trying to do the right thing. I think, I don't think it was, I think he was probably too proud to ask for help and he didn't know how to let all of these people down. That's what I think.
Steve:Well, while on a business trip to London to sell the company's extra shoe stock, Charlotte and counter is a woman being harassed by drunken husbands and intervene. He got to shoot his face as a thank you for
Stephen:it. Would you have stepped in if you had seen people harassing a woman on the street?
Steve:I would've stepped in, but I couldn't have handled it any better than Charlie. That poor chap who the second, like I am all bluster. So the moment that they like turned on me and like my little, like one or two, like snide comments, didn't get them to go running away with their tails between their legs and be like, oh fuck. I'm about to be knocked
Stephen:out. Yeah. Yeah. I, 100% the same totally would have stopped. I do not have the skills to have made it any better. No. Now on his shit, it the shoe stores that he's talking to, when he's trying to sell the extra stock, they're talking about how they prefer poorly made shoes from other countries compared to the quality of the price in stone shoes. Because with average shoes, the customer will need to buy a new pair every year, thus bringing in more money for the store. And I think we see that. In every day, things like I remember when I was growing up our stove and refrigerator and things never needed to be repaired. Like that's not a thing. And now you hear all the time, oh, my washer and dryer went out or my refrigerator is not working and, or even you know, people buying X boxes and the red ring of.
Steve:Or like how, the longer that you have your phones, the worst the battery gets until you're forced to buy a new phone, like every five to six years or live on a charger.
Stephen:Exactly. And you think back to like those Motorola brick phones and the Nokia,
Steve:it's still running at like 24 hours plus without
Stephen:a charge. Exactly. You know, but like, and then we see like companies like Nintendo still make products that hold up. You can drop them down the stairs.
Steve:Yeah. Yeah. Or Remy can just run through the court and throw it across the room this morning and
Stephen:it's still working just fine. Still works. Just fine. Yes. So it is interesting that we went from an economy that appreciated quality made things heal to last to where it companies are making things that. Fail on purpose?
Steve:Yes. Well, I've learned through work actually that there was like a huge demand or like huge profit margin on. Tools, especially like made from like before a certain date. They're like you know, if they're like, oh, that's like a, an original hammer from like, like one of my seniors, grandfathers. So like at this point, like over a hundred years old, they're like that, that is worth like a good amount of money today to like tool collectors because they work so much better.
Stephen:Interesting. That's fast. Well,
Steve:and then things
Stephen:back to Charlie who wakes up backstage in the dressing room of Lola, a drag queen and performer, who happens to be the alter ego of Simon, the grownup version of the boy from the beginning of the movie, Charlie's intrigued when he sees the drag Queens high heels snap easily, and he wishes to create high heels that can support a greater range of foot sizes and body types.
Steve:Yes. And I mean, like I mentioned earlier, I mean, talk about a purely petard platonic, but magical chemistry between a pair. I mean, right off the bat, you know, you're, you're rooting for them to find their similarities rather than their differences.
Stephen:Yeah. You're like, oh, you can immediately see that these two are going to be best friends and you want that for them. And like, I don't know if it's just good acting or good casting or a combination. But the two leads are fantastic.
Steve:They have more chemistry together than a lot of like romantic pairings and movies. I would say. That's true for sure. Yeah. Now back in north Hampton, while in the process of laying off employees one worker Lauren gives Charlie the idea of looking for a niche market product to save the business. Hmm. What would be more nice than drag queen heels? So Charlie then recruits learned to assist. In designing high heeled boots for drag performers after bringing her to attract show, to see Lola perform whatever the,
Stephen:no one's low get,
Steve:get it because her name's Lola, just in case we would forget.
Stephen:Now, have you ever
Steve:had to fire somebody? Yes. And I totally hated it and shouldn't have been the one doing the firing. Anyway, I was, when I was working at Windsor, it was like, Three or four weeks in like barely at a training, the executive director that hired me, like quit or had put in his notice and like left two weeks earlier. So I had like no boss to report to and one depart and I'm in like the business office manager and one of the department heads was like, Steve, I need you to sit down. And I write up and I was like, okay, I just have to sit there. Right. Like I can sit there. And he was like, yeah. And then as soon as we get in there, he's makes me do all the coaching about this problem that I don't know about for this girl that I don't know. And it just got it escalated from her, like getting defensive and me just trying to get her to S like, you know, I was like, you can sign it or you can not sign it, but she just got so upset. The fact that I was like, acknowledging and making the, being the one deleted, she was outraged, probably rightfully so. But yeah she, I didn't fire her, but she ended up quitting and it was just, it's still, like, I think they had to process it as a firing because it just was done so sloppy.
Stephen:I have had to fire a lot of people cause I worked in staffing and, but the worst was at lake house where I had to fire somebody who had been drinking before they came to work like a lot and then would be throwing up at work and claiming that it was, you know, stomach issues and it wasn't and like like we did all the right things, got all the. Employ other people in the department to write a little something and brought the person in to do the thing, the person would not sign the form. And I felt really bad because the employee was a good person and it just was something that had to happen.
Steve:Yes. Do you feel worse for that one than the stupid bitch you got. Assaulted quote unquote,
Stephen:no, I didn't have to fire her, but you know, like about being assaulted at work is just a whole thing. Charlie and his tells his girlfriend Nicola that they have to cut back on their wedding expenses. And she's quite horrible. Yes.
Steve:She's quite the snob, as they would say over the overseas.
Stephen:After the drag performance, Lola provides them some education on how important verbiage is. And then what was pitched the idea of testing out a pair of custom designed shoes.
Steve:Who wouldn't though. I would take custom made shoes. Great. If I could wear them every day. Yeah. But if they have to be drag heels, like give me drag heels, like, I would love just the whole, like custom-made appeal of having a shoe made just for me. Oh, of course. And she makes sure she's like, and I get to keep it right.
Stephen:That's what it is the correct answer. And Charlie insists on that. He'll come back to London to give Lola. After she suggests coming up to north Hampton and picking them up and it gets a little awkward and Lola knows exactly why he wants to bring them back.
Steve:Oh yeah. Yeah. She, she sees through it right away. I mean, have you been in a similar situation where you felt like you were left out or judged for being different? Oh,
Stephen:Like I could list them off the top of my head or an alphabetical order. It's a lot. Yeah. It's just something that people in the LGBTQ plus community, and I'm sure the BiPAP community have dealt with every year of their lives.
Steve:I agree
Stephen:now Lauren tries on the boots and there's more chemistry between Lauren and Charlie. Then he and Nicola, cause she's actually nice to him. There's that? And he of course says, you know, I need you to come back to work. You're going to be my research assistant. You're going to be looking at. All of this stuff about drag Queens and shoes and styles and stuff like that.
Steve:Yes. And then Lola surprises, Charlie, by coming to him to pick up the shoes, knowing she'd make an impression.
Stephen:I have a habit of doing the exact opposite of what people want me to do.
Steve:And she owns the room like that real diva. She is she's scorned by the boots, being burgundy, having a clunky unsexy, small heel, and in a fit of rage. She turns on the office a sound system just in time to school them on the definition of the color red, which is
Stephen:getting D please. God, tell me I have not inspired. Burgundy red, red, red, red, Charlie boy, rad. It's the color of sex. Burgundy is the color of hot water bottles. Red is the color of sex, fear and danger and signs that say do not into all my favorite things in life. These are not boots. These are two and a half feet of tubular sex.
Steve:Yes. And that is amazing. As are you my life Lola then gets rightly upset after some transphobia from Don. Of course it's a down. And I, I just, you know, I understand that of the time. It definitely is a storyline that needed, needed to be told because it was a real thing there. And then it's a real thing now, but I would love like them to like, twist it on its head in like a modern iteration where he was like, totally down from the start, like just like. What's the second he's like, cause I'm a bloke him to be like, okay, I'm good. I'm good. Let's get this going.
Stephen:Yeah. Now she complains that the heel is chunky and too small. Is it all about the heel?
Steve:That's what I hear from, from people that like heels.
Stephen:From what they say in the movie and what I've heard, you know, the higher, the heel, it makes your leg muscles stand out. It makes your butt look better. Okay.
Steve:And also here at burlesque shows that the higher, the heel, the closer to God, or.
Stephen:The these heels aren't made for walking, they're made for pointing to Jesus. So same
Steve:thing.
Stephen:And we love how the old guy solves the problem of how to support the weight of a grown man in a, such a tiny heel by using Findlay cut steel shanks,
Steve:you know, and it like, he's just like down for it, like out of more than almost like anyone other than Lauren, I would say he's like the one in place. And he's the one you would expect to be like the most against it because of like values or old timers
Stephen:stuff. And he's also the one that goes to Milan with them too.
Steve:He's just like, okay, sure. I'm down for the ride. And I find that kind of funny that even when I was like in the process of coming out, that my parents sent. My family were like, so worried about how my Grammy would react when I came out to her and she was like the least faced, like anyone in the family by far. She's like, how do you, I know I've met you. Like, I mean, meanwhile, it's some shock to my parents, but, and like everyone else somehow, but no, she was just like totally cool for it. So I love it when. Like working with seniors so much, we often see that, you know, there are many that defy that stereotype or you're just down for whatever, just you be. You let your freak flag fly and love every second of
Stephen:it. Exactly. So the end game is immediately established that they'll either find new contracts that the Milan fashion show in five weeks or they'll go out of business. And so the road is initially bumpy. Many of the male employees are uncomfortable with Lola's presence and the new director. Which caused this Charlie and Simon, Lola to bond over daddy issues in the process.
Steve:Yes. And during the Steve talk, the entire crew is listening by the door. Do you have any stories of getting caught or getting away with listening in, on
Stephen:someone? So at work we had two coworkers that like to argue a lot behind closed doors. And one of the oldest employees, their name was LD. When my first couple of months there, she came into my office and she goes, do you mind? And I said, no, what? And she had a glass and held it against my office wall to listen in on the people arguing. And so I was like, oh God, that really
Steve:works. That's funny. Yeah. What about you? I would say, I think have I definitely. Typically, we don't go out of my way to like, listen in on other people's conversations. Normally it's when the conversations are happening and you're stuck and you're stuck listening in on a conversation like neighbors fighting and yelling someone's name. But you think that it's oh,
Stephen:like we had this girl that was screaming her boyfriend's name. But it sounded like she was screaming,
Steve:rape, rape. It was just like, so terrifying. You want to like run outside and you're like, oh, she's just yelling her boyfriend's name and making it sound like something. Cause she's sobbing. And it was just, it was very uncomfortable. Yeah.
Stephen:Now, have you ever had any experiences with having to tone it down or as they say code switch as an adult, you know, to reel it in and act straight,
Steve:I've had companies that encourage. Even like my Mo in my most recent batch of interviews for a new position, I had one that was like, well, if you came to work with us, you'd have to tone it down. You'd have to not wear nail Polish ever, because it would make people feel uncomfortable and like tone it down.
Stephen:Yeah. When I was working in staffing, it was all about, you know, whenever you go out to these businesses, you're going to be dealing with the old boys club. So, and. Old boys club is my least favorite club. So yeah, that's not one of my favorite things of, you know, not being authentic.
Steve:Yes. And when Lola first comes to work, she comes without address and assignment. And immediately like seems like lack all that confidence that we saw that first time she came in, breaking down almost immediately.
Stephen:And that's really interesting as well that you see. The trauma and the bigotry that she's gone through that Lola is the armor that Simon can wear to get through life and be able to say and do what he needs to.
Steve:Yeah. And then Simon is tells and shares with Charlie about his dad dying after disowning him for being a drag queen.
Stephen:He died of lung cancer, I guess, fags got him in the end. Yeah, which is funny because it's in British. Yeah. And that's like the first time I was reading Bridget Jones diary and she's at her parents' house and for Christmas and she's like, you know, I quickly had a fag out the window and it was. Girl, I geo what you just did, but like, cause she has a male friend that's gay and I was like, did she have him climb in? Or was he outside? I didn't get it
Steve:at all. The more, you know, yes.
Stephen:Now neither Charlie nor Simon are sure of what they're going to do, but decide they need to act like they do now putting the whole fake it till you make it into practice.
Steve:Yes, Lola designs, Charlie and crew make it happen. Lola is working as hard as anyone else
Stephen:and the first shoe it's tall, red snakeskin and fabulous, but you can see that these north Hampton workers are kind of unsure of what they just made.
Steve:And there's a great scene where Lola is renting a room from an old lady. And I think she works on the line. It doesn't, she, I don't
Stephen:know. She seems like no, cause. That she was coming into clean LO's room one morning. And she was like, I thought you were going off to work. Oh yeah. And Lola is only presenting as Lola to the woman and not Simon.
Steve:Yeah. And then the old lady finally asked if Lola's a man and when Lula says, yes, the lady couldn't care less. It just helps to see that like change Lola's perception of the people in north Hampton. She was just, she was like, just want to know whether I need to leave the toilet seat up or down,
Stephen:but then I love that. It's like you were saying that the P some of the seniors that we run into, or just like, whatever. Yeah.
Steve:Charlie's relationship with his fiance. Nicola begins to deteriorate as she encourages him to sell the factory, building to a real estate developer and use the money to buy her dream. And her not approving of his venture with Lola when she finds out about it. Yup.
Stephen:And then Lola answers or juices herself to Nicola and Nicola completely ignores Lola and Bola stands there for a minute. And she's like, ah, there is a chill in the air today. Yes.
Steve:Yeah. And you know, as much as Nicola is like the villain or villainous or whatever she is in this, this movie. And You know, the one thing that I can side with her on is that he should have told her about like completely switching the new designs. Like even if he wasn't like, he didn't need to ask for permission, but he should have at least included her in the conversation. Absolutely. The same way later on when he you know, puts a second mortgage on the house or whatever, like, those are two times where like, communication does need to go both ways.
Stephen:100% that, that is an area where he is in the wrong. And if he felt that he couldn't tell. Then he shouldn't have been in a relationship with her. Yeah.
Steve:And Simon proposes to Don that they challenge one another to do a list of things that would make someone, a man during the competition, there was a point with the arm wrestling where something could have won, but let's Don when to save face and they both know it. And it's fun. Yeah. Now what would be on your list of what makes a man, a man or this point where you just be trying to fight that. Th there there's no such thing as masculine or feminine.
Stephen:And I think that's exactly what I would be doing is, you know, if I, if I had to say, you know, what makes a man, a man, I would say, you know, get in touch with your feelings and your emotions and quit bottling them up inside and harming other people by holding onto your trauma. Yes. What about you? Do you have anything?
Steve:No, like I said, I would probably eat more, just like, you know, throw out everything that you think you know about, like gender norms and throw it out the window. Yeah. Yeah.
Stephen:Now would you have let Dawn win or would you have gone for the win? I would have gone
Steve:for the way too,
Stephen:but I, I'm not as good as a person as Lowell is because she like, and you see it whenever she's looking at his eyes and he has this fear in his eyes when she's about to win. He knows. And he knows because he comes up to her and says, why'd you quit? And she goes, I let you win because I wouldn't want you to walk into the factory and have people not respect you. I wouldn't want anyone to feel that digging the knife and saying like you have
Steve:done to me. Yes, exactly. Now leading up to Paris, the pressure of making 15 styles of heels and the strain Charlie puts on his employees, because most of them twice. While taking a break from the tyrant that is Charlie, Laura, Lauren, and Simon run into Nicola. And Lauren lets it slip that Charlie's remortgaged the house because she assumed that you would tell your wife fiance or fiance or whatever, but yes, furious. He took out the mortgage without telling her yeah, she insists that he sell the company and Charlie's determined to save it. And the jobs of his employees.
Stephen:And Nicholas says, he's just making porn where for a mat for diets, which actually
Steve:is not correct.
Stephen:And Lola tries to say that, but it's not the time.
Steve:No, but instead she tells him that he owes his father nothing, and he's free to walk that he should give up and do what she wants. He says how important the employees are to him and once the factory succeed and how she doesn't get in, she probably never will. Also, while this is going on, it's broadcasting on the factories PA thanks to Lola and on here's it all, including how his father was going to sell it. Oh yeah. And that was like the big revelation there is that like he's saving it when his father wouldn't have. Yeah.
Stephen:And. You know, and while this is a good plot point. Yeah. We only have Nicholas word that his father was going to sell the factory. Yes.
Steve:But I mean, I can see it. Maybe I'll take it for truth. Yeah. Okay. And there's a couple of things where he just said, assume it, and like you just go on for the plot. But at the same time, it also made me realize like, I mean, again, it's a deeply personal fight. That gets publicized. And while it worked out for the better, in this situation, like, do you have any experiences of like when you were the Don who got stuck listening into a couple's like breaking up or fragile moments or periods of trauma? Yeah.
Stephen:Like somehow it always happened for a while that I had people in my friend circle that didn't. Have boundaries that like things that you guys need to handle this on your own, instead of doing it in front of all of us at game night or something, and yeah, it's never a good
Steve:time. I was normally the one doing that to other people cause I made toxic and unhealthy choices.
Stephen:Well, good thing. You've grown from that. Yes self-reflection. Yeah. Cause I definitely would not. Called the you that I know as someone that had done that. Yes.
Steve:Well, similarly, just like how I turned over a new leaf. So did Don and he rallies the factory workers to make the boots in time for Charlie and Lauren to get to Milan.
Stephen:And Charlie catches Nicola with another man. And he unfortunately then angrily takes his frustrations out on woah. Like you're just a man and address looking down. And lots of other hurtful and evil things causing Lola to quit the night before they're supposed to go to Milan.
Steve:Yes. And I mean, this just goes to show how hurt people, hurt people.
Stephen:Yup. I love that phrase hurt people, hurt people.
Steve:Yeah. And they're all getting geared up for the shoe fair in Milan and the shoe fair does actually exist. It's called Mike him. But it's not situated in the center of Malone. Obviously it's in the exhibition complex in the outskirts of the city, but it looks
Stephen:so much cooler when they're there than walking through all the old historic architecture.
Steve:Yes, it certainly
Stephen:is. Now the day of the travel. Charlie, isn't admitting what he said to Lola and is pretending to Lauren that Lola is traveling separate. He done knew he messed up and he doesn't know how he's going to fix it.
Yes.
Steve:Meanwhile, Lola is out on the boardwalk, recreating her childhood dance and still hears the angry sound of her father against the window. You
Stephen:know, it's one of those things where she's trying to go back to a moment in time, and then also realizing that she's never been able to move past the hurt from her father and she's reliving. Again right now with somebody else that she put down the walls to let the man yes. And after arriving in Milan with no one to model the boots, Charlie's depressed and Lauren calls him. He finally admits the argument and what he said to Lola, and Lauren's pissed that Charlie's feelings about the Nicholas situation have caused him to feel as useless as a man. And that in turn him hurting, Lola is going to destroy all their hard work. That once again, he's saying, what am I to do while throwing his hands in the air?
Steve:Yes. And you know, just that quick bat of anger, just not only affected his relationship with Lola, but all the workers in the economy of the.
Stephen:Yeah, it's interesting how two minutes can destroy so many
Steve:lives. Oh yeah. And this all finally resonates and Charlie was seen,
Stephen:you know, he's the person that we've seen him developing into. Yes. He comes to the forefront.
Steve:Yes. And we don't find out at the time, but he calls Lola to give an apology. Meanwhile, he prepares to go on stage and model the boots himself. Whew. The only thing is he does know how to walk in
Stephen:heels and George, the heel designer asked Lauren if Charlie looked sexy for the runway walk and Lauren says he does to me.
Steve:And later they bang lolly. Where's the boots of course.
Stephen:And you know, on the
Steve:runway. Yes, Charlie, just trips, stumbles, and ultimately falls flat on his face. Pretty much the same way that I likely would. And then you on the floor, he sees the heel Lola and her posse with drag Queens arrive and put on a spectacular runway show and save the day performing these boots are made for walking.
Stephen:And there are so many great. I bet I know your
Steve:favorite one, the leopard print. I had a feeling it was, and so.
Stephen:We're just left, assuming that they won, that they got all kinds of business and contracts. I know, but there was
Steve:just like, I know it wasn't a contest, so they couldn't be like, you're a winner.
Stephen:Yeah, it feels like they should have warned us. Like they should've done
Steve:something to acknowledge the fact that it worked like, cause like we hear in the monologue later more of like that they're still in business, but then they've changed the name of the factory, but they don't even be like, thanks to all of those contracts of business that we want in the alone. You know, just a simple, extra, with little bit of clarification of how, cause we're just left assuming that that they went in the
Stephen:business. Yeah. Do you think Charlynn it, Charlie and Lauren live happily ever after in north Hampton, co-running the shoe factory.
Steve:They're co-running it with Lola. Cause they all live happily ever after together. Yes. Not romantically with throttle, but they ended up just, yeah, they ended up having their lives and their little small town that doesn't feel as small as it was before with Lola in it.
Stephen:Yup. Cause, and the day new mall, Lola headlines, her final drag show saying that she's giving up drag and moving out of line. To move to north Hampton to be a shoe designer. And she sings a song in honor of the kinky boots, factory of north Hampton. And you know, all the key workers from the movie are in attendance and enjoying themselves and all wearing a pair of kinky
Steve:boots. Yes. And yeah, it's just a very fun ending to the movie. And why did you love that movie?
Stephen:It just makes you feel good. I love also situations where people that normally wouldn't have been friends realize they have a lot more in common than they have different and Charlie and Lola needed each other to grow into the people that they needed to become. Yeah. I
Steve:agree. You know, who also loved it?
Stephen:I
Steve:don't doubt Daryl Roth loved the film so much that they helped turn it into a Broadway musical.
Stephen:Ah, you mean the one that was adapted by Harvey Firestein with music by Cindy
Steve:lopper. Yes. The show premiered in the U S in 2012. And unless London's west end in 2018. It got
Stephen:six Tony awards in 2013, including best musical best original score for Cindy lopper and best actor, Billy Porter, who we featured in our episode of broken hearts club last week. Yep. And we got to see kinky boots when it came to Sarasota.
Steve:Yes we did. And it was fun. Yes, it was. And you know who also fun our listeners? Yeah. We would love to hear what you thought of this episode. You can always email us@happylifepodatgmail.com.
Stephen:Or you can get in touch with us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or tick talk at happy life pod. And until
Steve:next time everyone stay
Stephen:happy and kinky.