The Middle Geeks

Mar 11 2024 34
The Middle Geeks Podcast artwork

Mae and Swara are two writers and geeks of West Asian (IE Middle Eastern) descent who discuss and review all things Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA, ie "MENA") representation each month, along with other entertainment topics. Come join us as we highlight positive depictions of SWANA people in popular media, review the latest popular releases, and just have a fun time nerding out. Follow us @TheMiddleGeeks, @MaeAbdu, @spiderswarz

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Episode 64: LIVE at Awesome Con (Washington D.C.)!

Mar 11 2024 48 mins  
Joined by our friends Darya Bajestani, Roxana Hadadi, Ali Nasser, and Zaina Ujayli (while sadly missing Mae!), we're live at D.C.'s premier comic-con, Awesome Con! In this panel of SWANA writers, scholars, artists, and actors, we will discuss how we grew up feeling or not feeling represented, how Hollywood has constantly Orientalized our peoples, excluded us, and appropriated our

Episode 63: 'Dune: Part Two' Review

Mar 07 2024 81 mins  
Roxana Hadadi joins us once again to review the Dune franchise, now with Dune: Part Two in theaters. In a franchise that appropriates so much from SWANA and Muslim cultures, does the second installment improve on that regard, or does it continue to appropriate and Orientalize? But even beyond that, does Denis Villeneuve effectively convey the meaning of Frank Herbert's original te

Episode 62: 'Assassin's Creed Mirage' Review and Updates on Gaza

Feb 12 2024 96 mins  
We welcome back our friends Jasmin and Isa to discuss Assassin's Creed Mirage, a sprawling action-adventure game from Ubisoft set in 9th Century Abbasid Baghdad, that tells the story of Basim Ibn Ishaq (Lee Majdoub) and his mentor Roshan (Shohreh Aghdashloo). We go into detail on why this game is the the best Iraqi, Arab, Persian, Muslim, and SWANA representation we've ever seen i

Episode 61: ‘The Persian Version’ Review on the Eve of Yalda

Dec 21 2023 67 mins  
On the eve of Yalda, the Iranian Winter-Solstice, we review writer-director Maryam Keshavarz's The Persian Version with our friends Arezou and Samira. How well does Keshavarz do at portraying a unique yet universal experience through Leila (Layla Mohammadi) and her mother Shireen (Niousha Noor)? How does intergenerational trauma shape our familial relationships, and what can we do

Episode 60: "Squire" Through the lens of Palestine with Nadia Shammas

Nov 20 2023 80 mins  
We welcome back Palestinian-American Harvey award winning comic and video games writer, Nadia Shammas, to discuss their critically acclaimed graphic novel Squire, which takes place in an a SWANA/MENA fantasy setting, through the lens of Palestine in the midst of the IDF's ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We discuss Nadia's upbringing in both Palestine and the US, how the

Episode 59: "The Marvels" Review

Nov 10 2023 69 mins  
The Marvels is here, bringing our favorite superhero Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), AKA Ms. Marvel, into the cinematic spotlight! But how well does it do her journey as a character, and how do the other leads of Carol (Brie Larson) and Monica (Teyonah Parris) fare? Our friends Isa and Maryam join us once again on the podcast to review the film, analyzing what how it did and didn't

Episode 58: Free Palestine, with Hannah Moushabeck

Nov 03 2023 65 mins  
In the midst of Israel's ongoing bombardment and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, with currently over 9,000 dead and over 30,000 more more injured, under the pretense of taking out Hamas leadership since their attack on Israel on October 7th, we have on Palestinian-American kidlit author and activist Hannah Moushabeck to discuss the ongoing crisis and her career. Hannah is the

Episode 57: Maryam Keshavarz on Telling "The Persian Version"

Oct 28 2023 20 mins  
Before anything else, we would like listeners to know we have an episode on Palestine coming soon. In the meantime we're sharing donation links as we have done before. As writer-director Maryam Keshavarz's The Persian Version has finally made its way to wide release in US theaters, we sit down with Keshavarz to discuss her semi-autobiographical dramedy film. Indeed it is the "Persi

Episode 56: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Review, Tragic News in Morocco, Libya, and Artsakh, and One Year of Iran Protests

Sep 15 2023 68 mins  
It's a week of heavy and tragic news across the SWANA region, from a 6.8 earthquake in Morocco, devastating floods in Libya, another Armenian genocide underway in Artsakh, and the commemoration of Jina Amini's murder and its sparking of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in Iran and Kurdistan and the diasporas. We discuss all of these topics and what you can do to help, and follo

Episode 55: Indiana Jones Dials Up the CGI and Orientalism

Jul 03 2023 90 mins  
With Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny's release, and taking place in Morocco, we simply have to review it. Our friends Nadia Osman and Zaina Ujayli join us once again to discuss Dial of Destiny, and whether it does better by North African peoples than it did in the past (spoiler alert: not so much.) Why does this keep happening, and why did director James Mangold dive into O