Fetch the Smelling Salts

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Get your special jingle bells ready because this week Kim and Alice are covering the Korean historical thriller, The Handmaiden. We’re discussing colonial dynamics, erotic furniture and how too much real estate inevitably leads to murder basements.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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This week we’re setting sail on a kinda slutty immigrant adventure, with the beautifully understated Brooklyn. Kim and Alice enjoy all the messy drama whilst also uncovering the history of Irish immigration and why you should always go drinking with your priest.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Article: National Parks Service 'Post-peak Immigration Years'
• Article: Irish Times, 'Making Brooklyn in Enniscorthy: 'Saoirse Ronan was lovely. She had a cup of tea in my kitchen'.
• Article: Irish America Magazine, 'Shades of Brooklyn'
• Article: Brownstoner, '5 Gone-but-Not-Forgotten Brooklyn Shopping Emporium's
• Article: Baxter St. 'Day in Ellis Island, 1951: Erika Stone Portfolio'

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We’re getting spooky this week as Kim and Alice get increasingly frustrated by gothic horror ‘Crimson Peak’. Whilst the characters are ignoring both the red flags and red ghosts, our hosts discuss gothic literature and Guillermo del Toro’s hatred of faces.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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This week we’re joined by Em, host of Verbal Diorama, to discuss quite possibly the perfect movie: the 90s adventure, horror fun-time classic, The Mummy. Em explains how the film came to be (thank-you Babe: Pig in the City) whilst Kim and Alice find out that love makes you do some crazy things, like unhinge your jaw and cover Egyptians in boils.

For more fascinating film history, you can find Em at:
Verbal Diorama Podcast


Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Blog post: Egypt at the Manchester Museum, “Representation and Reality in ‘The Mummy’ (1999)” by Matt Szafran    AND “The Cult of Imhotep” 
• Screenrant article: “How much of The Mummy 1999 is actually real?” 
• Egypt Exploration Society website
• Egypt Exploration Society 1926 Annual Report
• BBC podcast The Forum episode: “Imhotep, the man behind The Mummy” 
• Blog post: Clare College, University of Cambridge, “Egyptomania” by Toby Wilkinson 
• Article from Enterprise: The State of the Nation (Egypt): “A look back at Egypt’s roaring ‘20s” 
• Sky History article: “The curse of Tutankhamun and the mummy’s tomb” 

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Come on law boys, grab your wigs and let’s hang as we enjoy the beautiful historical drama, Belle. Alice and Kim discuss what they want from a period drama, and how a glossy romantic story can be the starting point for learning about the worst parts of human history.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Website: All Things Georgian
• Article: Kate Kellaway; 'Amma Asante: "I'm bi-cultural, I walk the division that Belle walked every day", The Observer, 18th May 2014 
• Article: English Heritage; 'The Somerset v Stewart Case', Accessed 25th Sept 2024
• Podcast: The English Heritage Podcast; 'Episode 168 - Somerset v Stewart: the landmark trial that helped to end slavery', 16th June 2022
• Article: Wikipedia; 'Zong Massacre', Accessed 25th Sept 2024

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We’re back! Season 2 of Fetch the Smelling Salts kicks off in style with historian Clara Chamberlain helping us make sense of dictator-funded epic dude-in-a-desert film, El Cid. We’re talking about the creation of national myths, fist-fights at a funeral and the most insane final 15 minutes of any film, ever.

Find more from Clara on:
Instagram: @clarabchamberlain
Substack: Once Upon a Time, Long Ago

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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We’re throwing our heads back, flailing our arms and running off for a summer break, but there’s still time for Kim and Alice to discuss the classic ‘Chariots of Fire’. We have Olympic trivia, separate the fact from fiction and discuss all manner of dongs.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Documentary: Dir. Adrian Sibley; 'The Real Chariots of Fire'; ITV (2012)
• Article: Nathalie Morris; 'The book that inspired Chariots of Fire'; bfi.org; July 2012
• Article: Rose Staveley-Wadham; 'Exploring the Real 'Chariots of Fire' - As Reported in Our Newspapers'; britishnewspaperarchive.com; July 2021
• Article: Jeffrey Richards; 'Chariots of Fire'; historytoday.com; August 2012
• Article: Philip Barker; '40 Years of Chariots of Fire'; International Society of Olympic Historians (isoh,org); 2021

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Period dramas are for dudes too! And this week we have Tan and Keon from the awesome Pastmaster podcast to help us navigate the dudiest dudefest around: Gladiator. We’re thinking about the Roman Empire an exactly normal amount and discussing tickle-snake surprises, extremely extra Emperors and historically-accurate product endorsement.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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In this week’s special Fainting Couch episode, Kim and Alice are smooching their undergardeners and celebrating queer representation in TV and cinema. We’re looking at the history, the controversy and depiction of LGBTQ+ people on screen, and demanding more queer joy please!

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Article: Jack King; '10 great films about queer history'; BFI.org.uk; February 2021
• Article: Isabelle Grimshaw; 'A Short History of LGBTQ+ Cinema'; freesat.co.uk; June 2023
• Documentary: 'Queerama' (2017); Dir. Daisy Asquith

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It’s Pride season, and Kim and Alice are celebrating by discussing the queeriest 2020 Mexican drama, ‘Dance of the 41’. There’s cigar innuendo, bathtub math and honeymoon-related fainting, as well as the real history of the LGBTQ+ community in 1900s Mexico.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Article: Brendan O'Boyle; '"Los 41": The Queer Dance Party That Changed Mexico'; Americas Quarterly, June 2020
• Article: Thaddeus Morgan; '41 Has a Secret Meaning in Mexico Thanks to a Queer Underground Ball'; History.com; June 2018
• Article: Kittredge Cherry; 'Dance of the 41 Queers: Police Raid Mexican Drag Ball in 1901'; qspirit.net; Jan 2024
• Article: Heib, L. (2023). El Baile de Los 41: Sexuality in 1900’s Mexico. The Toro Historical Review, 14(2), 55-62. 
• Article: Roger Moore; 'Netflixable? Gay Mexican history plays out in 'Dance of the 41''; rogersmovienation.com; 2021
• Article: Manuel Betancourt; ''Dance of the 41' Review: Netflix Drama Spotlights a 19th-Century Queer Scandal'; Variety.com; 2021
• Book: R. Irwin (Editor), E. McCaughan (Editor), M. Nasser (Editor)(2003) 'The Famous 41: sexuality and social control in Mexico, c.1901' ; Palgrave/MacMillan
• Biography: 'Amada Díaz Quiñones'; findagrave.com
• Biography: 'Ignacio de la Torre y Mier'; findagrave.com

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This week we’re having our hearts broken by a bad case of British butler-itis, as Kim and Alice sob through The Remains of the Day. We’re learning about the politics of the aristocracy, strict servant etiquette and why you shouldn’t learn the facts of life from Anthony Hopkins.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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Move over Elizabeth and Victoria, there’s a new Queen in town. This week Kim and Alice tackle ‘The Favourite’, the darkly comic / just plain dark Queen Anne biopic. Why aren’t more period dramas set in the Stuart period? Who won the duck race? And where can we hire a naked Tory for our next party?

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• Podcast: Vulgar History; 'Anne, Queen of Great Britain'
• Article: Wilder Davies; 'The True Story Behind the Favourite'; Time Magazine, Dec 2018
• Article: James Anderson Wynn; 'Your Guide to Queen Anne, Last of the Stuart Monarchs'; History Extra, July 2020
• Article: Dr Hannah Grieg; 'Queen Anne's Feuding Favourites'; History Extra, Feb 2019
• Article: Alice Newbold; 'Sandy Powell On Taking a Rock and Roll Approach to Period Dress in The Favourite'; Vogue, Jan 2019

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You better get to shirtless sword practice because these elephants only respect hot people! This week Kim and Alice are covering Indian epic, Jodhaa Akbar.  It’s a historical romance with all the jewellery and political intrigue you can handle, along with Kim’s favourite kind of montage… a montage of LOVE.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Helen Hamilton / Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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Ain’t no party like a cloud moon party; this week Kim and Alice are discussing the gorgeous Japanese animation, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. We reveal our preferred method of baby-making (it’s Bamboo-based), discuss some fierce Heian period fashion and congratulate Mt Fuji on sticking to her New Year’s resolutions.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle / Helen Hamilton
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources

• 'Sei Shonagon and the Heian Court'; Stuff You Missed in History Class 
• 'Princess Kaguya'; Zusetsu.com
• 'Slow on the draw: Takahata Isao's long road to the Tale of the Princess Kaguya'; Sight&Sound April 2015
• 'Isao Takahata: Inspiring Visual Styles of Japanese Film & Anime Aesthetics'; Dahlan Bin Abdul Ghani, Nur Athirah Bt. Ahmad Azizi, Luqman Zulhilmi Bin Abdul 'Alim'; International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, Volume 8, Issue 11S2'

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We’re jumping on our 1850s waterbed with excitement, as this week Kim and Alice are joined by Laurel from Hightailing Through History to discuss the BBC miniseries, North & South. The industrial North is in her strike era and the men are blaming women for their feelings again, but exactly how many red flags will we ignore if someone’s hot?

Check out Hightailing Through History on Spotify,  Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

Sources:
Lancashire Textile Strikes; Encyclopedia.com
"You Have Made Him What He Is": Irish Labourers and the Preston Strike in Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South" by Susanne S. Cammack; New Hibernia Review Vol 20, No.4

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This week Kim and Alice cover their first African-set period drama - the historical action-adventure, ‘The Woman King’. We discuss the real Agojie tribe, the sheer joy of watching some badass women kick some butts and pledge our undying allegiance to Izogie.

Sound Recordist: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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There are rigid thrombi all round this week, as Kim and Alice discuss the massively unsubtle 2011 movie, Hysteria.  We’re talking about the true history of the invention of the vibrator (spoiler: this isn’t it), the ongoing misdiagnosis of women’s health issues and keeping musk oil far away from our intimate areas.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle / Helen Hamilton
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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It’s chicken-blood time girls! While Kim’s off witching it up in another country, Alice is joined by Kirstyn and Ben from There’s Not Always a Twist. In this episode, they’re turning their attention to The Crucible; the witch-trial thriller based on Arthur Miller’s play. We’re talking about hysteria, how the play links to McCarthyism and comparing the film with the Inside No.9 episode, ‘The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge’. Plus Alice’s horrifying theatre camp experience, and Daniel Day-Lewis’ construction skills.

Check out There’s Not Always a Twist on Spotify.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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Knock, knock, it’s definitely not Salieri. This week Kim and Alice are taking a look at Pitch Perfect for the Classical era: Amadeus. Why did the film clean up at the Oscars that year? Where does the line between historical truth and allegory begin? And was Mozart the bad-boy version of Hans Zimmer or a divinely talented little nerd?

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle / Helen Hamilton
Producer: Helen Hamilton

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We’re back lounging on the fainting couch and discussing Disney’s contribution to the period drama world. Choose your fighter: Encanto, the well-researched and sensitive celebration of culture, or Mulan, a film with a dragon named after an American take-away dish.

Sound Engineer: Keith Nagle
Editor: Keith Nagle / Helen Hamilton
Producer: Helen Hamilton