Historical Friction

It's time! We finally surrendered! Here is a giant episode about Bridgerton! Alice, Abigail, Helen and Sara got together to try and understand the world's straightest show. We discussed teen girl friendships, bees, sibling dynamics, and how Shonda Rhimes invented human cloning.  Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction

This week, Alice and returning guest Nicole Cochrane watched That Hamilton Woman, a weird Second World War propaganda film dressed up as romantic biography of Emma Hamilton. We talked about trying to make Nelson sexy, Stalin (?!), and the Maligned Women of the (17)90s. Vivien Leigh is so pretty. Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Find Nicole on Twitter @tinyhistorian Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

This week Helen and Abigail watched Sophia Coppola's biopic, Marie Antoinette (2006) starring Kirsten Dunst as the ill-fated queen of France. This is the first episode in what will hopefully become a mini-series of examining media that portrays historical queens or princesses, often -- and sometimes problematically -- through the lens of twenty-first century feminism. In today's episode we discuss costuming, the soundtrack, and anachronism, the zeitgeist of 2006, our contemporary so-called cancel culture, Instagram influencers, and the ethics of humanizing absolute monarchs.  Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction. Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction, and follow Helen at @HelenVMurray and Abigail at @onceuponafine. You can also email us at historicalfrictionpodcast@gmail.com. 

This week Alice, Helen, Sara and Abigail all got together for our second Ripper Watch episode, a recurring feature discussing the representation of the Whitechapel Murders and "Jack the Ripper" in pop culture. We watched From Hell (2001), and also discussed the (much better) graphic novel it's based on. Topics include Freemasons, the history of lobotomies, laudanum, grapes, and the 1701 Act of Settlement. This episode discusses murder, sexual assault, drug use and violence against women. Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction, and us @aaprocter, @HelenVMurray, @tinyredbook and @onceuponafine

We're kicking off 2022 with a discussion of Apple TV+'s musical comedy pastiche, Schmigadoon! If you've ever enjoyed the sweet technicolor candyfloss of a classic Hollywood musical, then Schmigadoon is the show for you. This week Abigail sits down with musical theatre scholar Dr. Lisa Duffy to talk about women and race in mid-century musicals, and what Schmigadoon does right (and wrong) in their loving send-up of the genre. Lisa can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @_lisawithans or @memoryofallthat.  Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.  Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Email us at historicalfrictionpodcast@gmail.com Follow Abigail on Twitter or Instagram @onceuponafine

It's December, which means we are once again subjecting you to a time travel Christmas romance. It's a tradition now! Sara was joined by Dr Eleanor Janega to watch The Knight Before Christmas. What is hawking? What is mead? Can knights drive? What is Ohio?  This is our last episode of 2021! Thanks for listening, we'll see you in a few weeks. Follow Eleanor on Twitter @GoingMedieval, and listen to her podcast We're Not So Different Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction

This week Alice was joined by Dan Hanks, author of Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire, a historical fantasy about a very tired woman getting forced to do archaeology. We talked about Egypt, treasure hunting, pulp, repatriation, punching nazis, and why it's more fun to be creatively anachronistic. Dan's latest book, Swashbucklers, is out now via Angry Robot. You can find him on twitter @dan_hanks or on his website. Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

We read a book! Alice and Sara discussed Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer, queen of historical romance. We talked about enemies to lovers, Spanish roads, English tourists and whatever the hell 'stocks broidered with gold quirks about the ankles' are. Special thanks this week to George Procter for providing voice acting!  Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Sara on Twitter @tinyredbook Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

Something different! This week Alice, Helen, Sara and Abigail all got together. This episode is an introduction to a recurring feature discussing the representation of the Whitechapel Murders and "Jack the Ripper" in pop culture, through puns, commemorative coins, horrible street art and weird cross stitch. We also watched Patricia Cornwell's 2002 Stalking The Ripper documentary, and talked about the idea of "Ripperology".  This episode discusses murder, and violence against women. Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction, and us @aaprocter, @HelenVMurray, @tinyredbook and @onceuponafine

Once again we are drowning in Robert Eggers' vibes - for this episode Helen Victoria Murray discussed The Lighthouse with Celine Brossillon, covering masculine madness, Victorian novels, and tentacles. Find Celine on twitter @broceline17 Find Helen on twitter @helenvmurray And thank you also to the Haunted Shores Research Network for all their help! Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction

Another spooky, vibes-heavy film to see us out of October! Eleanor Affleck and I watched The Witch, or the V V Itch, and loved it. Topics include the representation of witch hunting, colonial panic, wood chopping as a coping mechanism, the taste of butter, and 33% inaccurate windows. This is an extremely detailed film that's extremely in love with its source material, but we also discussed the absence of Wampanoag communities and the problem of drawing heavily on white settler colonial anxiety as a historical source.  This film contains violence, including against children, and we mention it in the episode. Find Eleanor on Twitter @elaffleck Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

This week's show is the second in our double feature of plague movies! Sara and I watched Black Death, a bad film about torture and misogyny that is very much Not Bergman. We talked about funeral rites, fourteenth century timekeeping, and why it's a bad idea to give your trashy dude movie a specific date and location. Find Sara on Twitter @tinyredbook Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

This week's show is the first in a double feature of plague movies - Sara and I watched The Seventh Seal, and talked about how it represents religion, art and mortality. This is a fairly serious episode, but next week's is unhinged.  Partway through you might notice Sara's audio change - we had some slight tech problems and had to use our backup recording, so please be gentle with us like we're a bowl full of fresh milk. The music at the end is 'The Seventh Seal' by Scott Walker, because I promised my dad I'd mention it. Find Sara on Twitter @tinyredbook Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

Hi! We're back! Kicking off a spooky Autumn/Winter season, today's episode features Helen Victoria Murray to discuss Lizzie (2018), a fictionalisation of the real-life Borden family murders. We talked about crime and gender in fiction, the representation of class and power, and trying to make true crime sexy. This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, abuse and murder. Find Helen on twitter @helenvmurray Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.  Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

For the last episode of 2020*, we watched A Timeless Christmas, one of this year's Hallmark holiday films. The film is about a museum director who is somehow simultaneously a docent falling in love with the man she wrote her PhD on, a 1900s industrialist accidentally time travelling to the present day. It was irredeemably bad. Madeline and I got angry about collections handling, romance tropes,  museum budgets, and secret drawers.  *I'm taking December off to research and record, so the show will be back in January. See you then! Find Madeline on Twitter @oldenoughtosay Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

Continuing an accidental series of episodes about archaeology, this week's episode covers three films - The Mummy, originally made in 1932, and its 1999 and 2017 remakes. Dr Nicole Cochrane and I talked about pith helmets, the racialization of Egypt, "lost world" fiction, and colonial nostalgia. Find Nicole on Twitter @tinyhistorian How Academics, Egyptologists, and Even Melania Trump Benefit From Colonialist Cosplay (Hyperallergic) "Who owns Egyptian heritage?" with Heba Gawad (Manchester Museum podcast) Basically anything Christina Riggs has written is so important but this is the best and most savage takedown of romanticising Egyptology and this article about imperial amnesia is really great too. Dr Angela Stienne's work is at Mummy Stories Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.  Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

Explosions! Swords! Horse girls! Melissa made me watch Pompeii (2014). We talked about the swords-and-sandals genre, the specific place of Pompeii in popular imagination, volcanos and Kit Harrington's hair. I do not recommend this movie. Please make more sexy trashy films about archaeologists. Find Melissa on Twitter @hosmeriana Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

For this episode, Helen Victoria Murray and I revisited Desperate Romantics (2009), the show that made a generation of teens (or maybe just us) fall in love with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. We discussed the differences between Victorian fame and 2000s celebrity, the relationship between aesthetics and accuracy in artists' biographies, and all the ways in which William Morris deserves better.  Find Helen on twitter @helenvmurray Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

In this episode, we talked about gender and sexuality in three recent stage productions of Twelfth Night, and what happens when you look for queer history in a play from the 1600s.  We discussed the 2012 Globe production, the 2017 Globe production, and the 2017 National Theatre production, as well as the 1996 film directed by Trevor Nunn. Find Eleanor on Twitter @elaffleck The Brutus/Cassius Beauty and the Beast fanvid Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter

Hi! It's a trailer! Welcome! Episodes release weekly on Mondays, so the first real episode is up on 2 November. Support the show on Patreon Follow the show on Twitter Follow Alice on Twitter