The Rosie the Reviewer Podcast

Welcome to Rosie the Reviewer, a Dutch-Canadian female-led WW2 media podcast. A new episode airs every Friday!

Back to all episodes

Ep 51 – South Pacific: A Musical About WWII? A Deep Dive into Rodgers & Hammerstein’s WWII Classic

Subscribe:

Apple PodcastsCastBoxPocketCastsSpotifyRSSAmazon MusicYouTube

Share

Support the podcast

Rosie the Reviewer is a passion project, built episode by episode. If you’d like to support what we do, you can help keep us on the air or pick up some Rosie merch. We’re working on more ways for you to get involved in the future.

merch

Description

In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we head to the South Pacific to explore Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic World War II musical. Maartje and Sam discuss whether war is a suitable backdrop for a musical, and dive into the show’s complicated relationship with racism — from its progressive anthem “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” to its undeniably stereotypical portrayals. Plus, a detour into the CB’s (Maartje’s obsessed!) and cultural memory.

Part of our WW2 in the Pacific series: Explore more films and series on the Pacific theatre →

South Pacific trailer

Discover more from the Rosie the Reviewer Podcast

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More episodes

Ep 89 – Beast of War – Episode Art

Ep 89 – Beast of War – Shipwreck, Mateship, and One Musical Shark

In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we continue our accidental monster-movie streak with Beast of War (2025), written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. Loosely inspired by the real sinking of the Australian ship HMAS Armidale in the Timor Sea on 1 December 1942, the film follows a group of soldiers stranded on a rapidly failing raft, hunted by a great white shark.

Joined by our favourite returning, usually SAS Rogue Heroes, but now creature-feature correspondent George, we talk about why this is not just a horror movie, but a survival story with real themes: isolation, fear, trauma, and the brittle veneer of civilisation when the ocean is doing its absolute worst. Merry Christmas, see you in 2026.

Go to episode »
Rosie the reviewer the pacific episode 77

Ep 77 – The Pacific – Closing Out the Best War Show of All Time (Part Three)

In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we wrap up our three-part discussion of The Pacific (2010) with episodes 7-10. Brace yourself for the brutal fighting on Peleliu and Okinawa to John and Lena Basilone, his final chapter and the long road home for Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie. Alongside our returning guest George, we talk about leadership, disillusionment, the role of civilians, and the way grief and memory follow these men long after the war ends.

Go to episode »
From Here to Eternity - Episode Art

Ep 114 – From Here to Eternity – Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, and the Peacetime Army

In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss From Here to Eternity (1953), based on James Jones’s novel about the peacetime US Army stationed in Hawaii in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor.
We also dig into the women of wartime Hawaii who were doing a lot more than waiting around, from the Women’s Air Raid Defense tracking aircraft around the clock to OSS recruit Elizabeth McIntosh, who taught herself Japanese and ended up producing propaganda in India.

Go to episode »

Support the podcast

Rosie the Reviewer is a passion project, built episode by episode. If you’d like to support what we do, you can help keep us on the air or pick up some Rosie merch. We’re working on more ways for you to get involved in the future.

Shop rosie merch