Share

cover art for Teasing: Mae West 'She Done Him Wrong' (1932)

Censored

Teasing: Mae West 'She Done Him Wrong' (1932)

Season 9, Ep. 7
•

Mae West is remembered for her cracking one-liners but she was a helluva writer too. Guest: Dr Muireann O’Cinnéide.

 

  • Her sexual persona that she creates in the film She Done Him Wrong means the Irish censors interpret this book as essentially indecent. Aoife Bhreatnach
  • One of the things West seems to thinking about in the novel is: how do you replace that immediate kind of visual vivid iconography with a kind of a linguistic equivalent? Dr Muireann O’Cinnéide
  • It’s really quite a vivid rendering of a particularly ugly, corrupt world in which both crime, politics, money, and sex and alcohol are all very deeply intertwined. Dr Muireann O’Cinnéide

 

Muireann’s previous censored appearance

 

Support the show

Buy stickers!

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 10. Interview With A Censor feat. John Kelleher

    44:35||Season 11, Ep. 10
    In our last (for now) episode, we chat to John Kelleher who was appointed Irish film censor in 2003. When he left in 2009, the Irish Film Censor's Office had been renamed the Irish Film Classification Office, a reform that reflected how it had become, as John says 'more guide dog than guard dog'. Until the pod returns, thanks to everyone for listening!A & LM xx

  • 9. Transparent Classification

    39:55||Season 11, Ep. 9
    Censors have been replaced by classifiers, opaque silence by annual reports. We read recent annual reports from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) to see how those offices work in a digital media age, and to see what the (complaining) public thinks of their role. Films mentionedMinions: the Rise of GruGhostbustersWatership DownBambiStar Trek the Motion PictureNutcracker (by Matthew Bourne)The BatmanBatman ReturnsA Man Called OttoThe Banshees of InisherinSaltburnCocaine BearBenedettaBBFC 2022 Annual ReportIFCO published reports

  • 8. Abject Grace: Bad Lieutenant (1992) feat. Rob Doyle

    49:03||Season 11, Ep. 8
    This remarkable neo-noir, directed by Abel Ferrara, has never been certified by the Irish Film Classification Office (the new name for the censor’s office). Aoife and Lloyd Meadhbh are joined by author Rob Doyle to discuss how Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund, with backgrounds in porno sleaze, made a sincere film about redemption, and forgiveness.Bad Lieutenant dir. Abel Ferrara, starring Harvey KeitelRob Doyle

  • 7. Staging violence: The Wild Bunch (1969)

    41:15||Season 11, Ep. 7
    In Sam Peckinpah’s film, standard Western tropes – outlaws, heroes, beautiful landscape – are used to interrogate an exhausted genre. He knows spectacular gunfights are problematic but did the cut version shown in Ireland convey Peckinpah’s intent?The Wild Bunch, dir Sam Peckinpah, starring William Holden, Ernest BorgnineSupport us and Merch!

  • 6. A Celluloid Nasty: Peeping Tom (1960)

    37:23||Season 11, Ep. 6
    One of Martin Scorsese’s favourite films and guess what? We agree, it’s brilliant. Contemporary audiences detested it, preferring to ignore why they derived pleasure from realistic, filmed torture and terror. This film has everything from Freudianism to a Hitchcock doppelganger. Cuts made by censors might be lost forever but it still shocks and gives us a perfect amount of ick.Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell, starring Karlheinz Boehm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh.  The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Powell and Pressburger, starring Anton Walbrook, Moira Shearer. Support us!And, Merch

  • 5. Anti-natal: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

    38:45||Season 11, Ep. 5
    A horror fan (Lloyd Meadhbh) and not-a-horror fan (Aoife) agree that this unexpectedly feminist film did not deserve to be banned twice in Ireland. Caveat: Roman Polanski directed it.Rosemary’s Baby (dir. Roman Polanski) starring Mia Farrow and John CassavetesMerch!Support us on Patreon

  • 4. The Full Gere: American Gigolo (1980)

    38:47||Season 11, Ep. 4
    Ties, suits and sex - Paul Schrader's exploration of consumerism and Richard Gere's hotness was pruned of bad language and "sex scenes" by the Irish censor.American Gigolo (1980, dir. Paul Schrader) starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Bill Duke, Hector ElizondoYou Must Remember This on American Gigolo More on Aoife's Gere-athon for Patreon supportersMerch!

  • 3. Video Nasties (Part Two)

    31:59||Season 11, Ep. 3
    What’s the worst celluloid crime committed in The Evil Dead: excessive violence or Bruce Campbell’s fringe? Lloyd Meadhbh (a fan) tries to persuade Aoife (a sceptic) to embrace this video-nasty classic. Also, listener correspondence on The Rocky Road to Dublin.The Evil Dead (dir. Sam Rami, 1981) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520deadEvil Dead II (dir. Sam Rami, 1987) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092991/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520dead%2520Weird Studies Podcast on ‘Evil Dead II’ https://www.weirdstudies.com/136Support us, if you can

  • 2. Video Nasties (Part One)

    35:23||Season 11, Ep. 2
    Lloyd Meadhbh rewinds the tape back to the 1980s, when a new film medium caused a new (ish) moral panic. Support usMerch
Copyright Aoife Bhreatnach
Hosted with ❤️ by Acast