Period

The 2005 Ridley Scott epic Kingdom of Heaven is really a Kingdom of Hell for anybody who is not a straight white rich man played by Orlando Bloom. Once the only female character appears an hour in, we'll discuss the fetishisation of Middle Eastern women in cinema. We speak with Natasha Hodgson, who is an Associate Professor in Medieval History at Nottingham Trent University. She knows pretty much everything there is to know about the real queens of Jerusalem, who were way cooler than the character Eva Green is stuck with playing in this film. We also pick our favourite medieval queens, because despite what Hollywood tells you, women did actually do stuff before the 1500s.

Before Taylor Swift ignored Joe Alwyn's whining in The Tortured Poets Department, Emma Stone ignored Joe Alwyn's whining in The Favourite (except with even more corsets and ballgowns). We look at what The Favourite (2018) tells us about 18th century lesbians, who, despite what your school history textbook told you, funnily enough did exist. Heather Rose Jones from the Lesbian Historic Motif Project tells us how likely it is that Queen Anne slept with her ladies in waiting (hint: very). We get to the bottom of why there are so many less films and Doctor Who cameos with Queen Anne than there are other English queens, including the total personality vacuum that is Queen Victoria.

Reader, we look at the film Jane Eyre (2011). Kate Walker from the Brontë Parsonage Museum tells us all about how the author Charlotte Brontë's siblings influenced the original novel. We discuss what the hell is going on with that wife in the attic, and why Jane Eyre is studied so much in schools. Charlotte Brontë's true calling was as a BookTok dark romantasy writer and we will die on this hill (or moor?) We plot our escape plan from Mr Rochester while wearing our swishiest skirts.The Brontë Parsonage Museum is open over the summer from Wednesday to Monday, 10am to 5pm. You can witness where the Brontës lived and get the full Jane Eyre experience!

Extraordinary people, extraordinary news! Dearest gentle reader, the next season (of Bridgerton) is almost upon us, so it it only fitting that these authors revise how the women of the ton have been portrayed in the last two seasons. The most esteemed literary professor, Valerie Estelle Frankel, called upon us this week to share her thoughts. Does our love of the ton perchance cloud our understanding of what Regency England was really like? All’s fair in love… and academically influenced intersectional feminist critiques. These authors discussed these most riveting matters whilst wearing matching blue outfits in a display worthy of the Bridgertons themselves.

Unfortunately, Oppenheimer has more atomic energy than Kenergy. We analyse the role of women in Oppenheimer (or lack thereof). The head of the Atomic Heritage Foundation, Cindy Kelly, tells us about all the real women who worked on the Manhattan project but aren’t in the film. Why does a film about atomic bombs show Florence Pugh’s boobs but not Japan? Does Barbie deserve a Nobel Prize for her contribution to revitalising international interest in the history of quantum physics research? We discuss this in a logical chronological order that will make sense to people other than Christopher Nolan.  

On the pilot episode of Period, we look at how women are portrayed in Pride & Prejudice (2005). We interview the director of the Jane Austen House Museum, Lizzie Dunford, about which Pride and Prejudice adaptation Jane Austen would have liked the best. Does this film accurately represent the lives of Regency era women? (Sort of.) Is everything Mr Bennet's fault? (Probably.) Should Matthew Macfadyen have walked out a lake in a drenched shirt? (Absolutely.) We discuss at length while wearing our flounciest floral dresses.