Seconal Days: Valley of the Dolls (1966)
Censored27 Loka 2022

Seconal Days: Valley of the Dolls (1966)

Hailed as ‘Dirty Book of the Month’ by Time in 1966, this novel was an instant bestseller. But not in Ireland, where it was illegal to sell it between 1967 and 1979. What does this classic of women’s fiction have to say about feminism, sex and medicine? With Dr Cara Rodway.

  • I think one of the reasons it was so successful is that it has a wonderful curtain twitching element: who are the real celebrities that it’s based on? Cara Rodway
  • The first film has been somewhat resurrected in later years as a sort of camp classic. Cara Rodway
  • I think cultural phenomena like ‘Sex in the City’ owe a lot to this novel and the narrative it created around women, friendship and work. Aoife Bhreatnach
  • The image through the 70s and particularly in the 80s of the female bunk buster author - that definitely owes a lot to Jacqueline Susann and her success. Cara Rodway

Films adaptations of the novel:

Valley of the Dolls (1967, dir. Mark Robson)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970, dir. Russ Meyer)


Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod

Evil Literature stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(119)

Interview With A Censor feat. John Kelleher

Interview With A Censor feat. John Kelleher

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...

26 Kesä 202444min

Transparent Classification

Transparent Classification

Censors have been replaced by classifiers, opaque silence by annual reports.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...

6 Kesä 202439min

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

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

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 autho...

23 Touko 202449min

Staging violence: The Wild Bunch (1969)

Staging violence: The Wild Bunch (1969)

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 ver...

2 Touko 202441min

A Celluloid Nasty: Peeping Tom (1960)

A Celluloid Nasty: Peeping Tom (1960)

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...

18 Huhti 202437min

Anti-natal: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Anti-natal: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

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 (...

4 Huhti 202438min

The Full Gere: American Gigolo (1980)

The Full Gere: American Gigolo (1980)

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) s...

21 Maalis 202438min

Video Nasties (Part Two)

Video Nasties (Part Two)

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 classi...

7 Maalis 202431min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
i-dont-like-mondays
uutiscast
joku-tietaa-jotain-2
antin-palautepalvelu
poks
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
aikalisa
sita
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-nikotellen
meidan-pitais-puhua
lahko
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
loukussa