(Un)Box the Soap Podcast

In this episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we voyage into the obscure territories of the Eastern European folk horror genre. We discuss three films from countries that no longer exist: the Soviet Viy (1967), the Yugoslavian Leptirica (1973), and the Czechoslovak Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970).Continuing our witchy fascinations from the last episode, we explore how feminine representation lies at the core of these films, analyzing how witchcraft and vampirism are used to either punish women for their sexuality or liberate them from patriarchal constraints. We also examine themes of rurality, spirituality, and propaganda, questioning how they shape our reading of these stories. Finally, we tackle the ethics of filmmaking and how to engage with older films that may now seem problematic.So, hop on your broom and join us in these enchanted explorations!Trigger Warning: This episode discusses scenes from the films that depict rape and pedophilia.Call for poems: If you’re interested in contributing to our next episode, focused on poetry/texts created in the surroundings of Flixbuses, email us at soapboxpodcast2024@gmail.com.Films discussed in this episode:Leptirica (1973), dir. Đorđe KadijevićMorgiana (1972), dir. Juraj HerzValerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), dir. Jaromil JirešViy (1967), dir. Konstantin Yershov, Georgi KropachyovOther sources:Edgar, Robert, and Wayne Johnson. The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Routledge, 2023.Scovell, Adam. Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange. Liverpool University Press, 2017. Cinema Infernal - Folk Horror: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18JMJLDAjZ/. 

In this episode of (Un)Box the Soap Podcast we will take you on a journey through magic, herbal medicine, tarot cards, and other witchy things! We had the pleasure to talk with Lara Senske (@cosmia.absurd), a professional tarot card reader and a drag performer, and Fedora Boonaert, art historian and designer who specializes in herbs and scents. Witches have been, and still are, everywhere, but for this episode we wanted to look at their practice in Amsterdam - how did they get enchanted by witchcraft? Are they part of a bigger community? What are their areas of interest and expertise? And how does a witch navigate the modern world?  Fedora will discuss her research on herbal medicine, witch hunts, women's knowledge, institutions, modern healthcare, while Lara will share her insight into the history of tarot cards, their designs, and how they circulate within modern cultures. We invite you to get immersed in this fascinating conversation, and delve deeper into the world of witches and magic! You can find our guests on Instagram: Lara Senske: @cosmia.absurd Fedora Boonaert: @fedorabonaert  And read Fedora’s amazing article which we discuss in the episode: https://thecouch.hethem.nl/are-tiktok-healers-contemporary-quacks-or-re-risen-witches/. 

In our second episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we continue our journey through the swamps and examine how this porous ecosystem manifests in culture.  Whether it's through watching the film La Ciénaga, listening to swamp-pop, walking through the streets of London, or examining the history of the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, we explore the swamp’s potentiality of creating new meanings, seeing ordinary things anew, and reclaiming one’s independence. Why do we associate swamps with something negative and why is it Shrek that helps us free ourselves from these presuppositions?  Join us in our boggy ruminations and let’s submerge in the swampy realms! Works we referenced and cited in this episode: Avidad, Andrea. “Deadly Barks: Acousmaticity and Post-Animality in Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga.” Film-Philosophy, vol. 24, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 222–40, https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2020.0140. Bernard, Shane. “State of the Genre: Swamp Pop Music in the 21st Century.” Bayou Teche Dispatches, 2022, http://bayoutechedispatches.blogspot.com/2022/05/state-of-genre-swamp-pop-in-21st-century.html. Błoto. “Błoto - Szlam (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Astigmatic Records, 26 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LFxsaq_0g.  Giblett, Rod. “Introduction: Looking Back, Looking Forward.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 3–14.  Giblett, Rod. “London: The “Nether World” of “the City of Dreadful Night.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 69–91 Greene, Liz. “Swamped in Sound: The Sound Image in Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga/the  Swamp.” Printed Project – Physical Stuff Made Strange, no. 15, 2012, pp. 52–60. Martell, Lucrecia, director. La Ciénaga. Lider Films, 2001. Long, Jake. “Ideological Rubble.” City Swamp, New Soil, 2024. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/5W1NctXJprxy4oc99q0AEI?si=cc81d1ea5ac24a34.  “Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp.” YouTube, uploaded by Southern Gothic The Podcast, 19 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBs8ITobjW4. Stewart, Katy. “Establishing the Female Gaze: Narrative Subversion in Lucrecia Martel’s ‘La Niña Santa’ (2004) and ‘La Ciénaga’ (2001).” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 205–19, https://doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2015.1179850. Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. University Press of Mississippi, 1996. “Twisting at the Fais Do-Do: Swamp Pop in South Louisiana.” Folklife in Louisiana, https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_swamp_pop.html. “USA: The Great Dismal Swamp - BBC Travel Show.” YouTube, uploaded by BBC Travel Show, 1 Feb. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zaVMNsD7c.  Youssef, Sharif. “The Great Dismal Swamp.” 99% Invisible, 15 May 2017, 99percentinvisible.org/episode/great-dismal-swamp/. 

Hello and welcome to the first episode of the (Un)Box the Soap Podcast! Anticipating the release of the fifth edition of our journal, we would like to invite you to the realm of swamps. How does the swamp speak? What can we hear when we tune in to its sounds? What are the things we can learn about and from the swamp, and how can it inform ourselves, as well as the world we inhabit? Can our engagement with the often-neglected wetlands provide an alternative to the city spatio-temporalities and offer an antidote to our own sense of feeling ‘swamped’? These and many more questions we explore in an interview with Dominika and Iulia, who are the founders of the fieldfictions collective. Accompanied by their soundpiece project “ecotonal tones; eventually everything is swamp”, we hope to take you on the journey through the zones of transition: the world-making processes of forested wetlands.