Sapphic Culture Club

We loved Rose Glass's chaotic queer thriller, Love Lies Bleeding, starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian, so join us as we clean up the bloody mess it left of our hearts.

*Note: if you're confused about how Laurel introduces the show in this episode, she's saying "Sapphic Murder Club" but with, like, a Curly from the Three Stooges accent.

In light of Natasha Lyonne's recent acknowledgement of her undeniable should-be-gayness and in celebration of Women's History Month we're talking about some of our favorite should-be's.

Surrealist artist Amie Pascal brings a queer lens to portraying and challenging representations of the body, blurring lines between reality and imagination while juxtaposing abject body horror with beauty. Her work expresses a universal rawness from a queer woman’s disabled embodiment in her new series ‘A Body Apart.’

Some of the things we discussed

• 00:10:11 - How the pandemic and long COVID changed her art
• 00:18:21 - The use of vintage anatomical illustrations as reference material and the reclamation of marginalized bodies
• 00:20:56 - Inspiration from filmmakers and women surrealists
• 00:27:03 - The "real world" as a liminal and surreal space
• 00:33:07 - Music pairings for each painting

Today we're processing our thoughts about Aftersun, a quietly stunning debut film, written and directed by Charlotte Wells.

Some of the things we talk about include...

• Memory and distance
• Reflection and recording
• Aging and growing up
• Atypical tension
• The dance scenes
• Wells' short films
• ...and more!

For this episode we have time-jumped once again! We're disguising ourselves as screenwriters and going into the near future to work with AI on some ✨BRAND NEW SAPPHIC FILMS✨. The future of lesbian cinema is here! And it is...still dealing with its identity and societal prejudices. Whomp whomp.

We originally started this podcast whilst in the throes of a dizzying cinematic crush on Portrait of a Lady on Fire, so those early episodes are a time capsule of what that was like for us and others in Portrait Nation. (#womans #bathtube!) Today we're traveling back in time to revisit our former selves and see how we feel about those 2020 feels now, centuries later, in 2024.

We watched the new lesbian Christmas movie.

Something we hear a lot (we never hear this) is that everyone's lives were too calm in 2023, so we thought we'd share some of the ways we (mostly accidentally) added a whole bunch of lesbian chaos to our lives this year in case you'd like to spice things up next year.

These strategies include:

• Change work teams, then jobs, and move out of the city
• Talk to queer strangers
• Be a queer Snow White
• Set up camp in a new place in the dark
• Accumulate international bugs
• Put on a queer talent show
• Say yes to all queer art events

*According to Amie and the two of us! Send us your recommendations!

Welcome to a little episode that's kind of like lying on the floor in your BFF's bedroom and listening to records together. Our friend and Resident Lesbian™ Amie gave us six of her picks for the most sapphic music videos of the year. Then we used a random number generator to decide which three to watch along with you! Watch and listen along with us!

The theme for this season is LESBIAN CHAOSSS, and what better way to kick things off than a deep, dark dive into horror. We're joined by our beloved Dr. Horror Dyke (a.k.a. Heather Petrocelli) to talk about their brand new book Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator.

Highlights include:

😌 Queers currently have the crown for the largest empirical study in horror studies

❤️‍🔥 How the book came to be

💥 Horror is queer

🔥 FILM IS QUEER

🚀 Why writing an academic book was important

⛰️ Discussing some of the great (and not so great) research that came before it

💞 The importance of queer community

🍿 The live cinema experience

💅🏽 Horror and camp

For our final episode, we're talking to the folks who created Portrait of a Survey on Fire: Amie, Baby, and Heather.

We ask them what they thought about the survey's final list of lesbian films, and how it differs from their personal ones. We also collaborate on an alternate top 10 list(!) with some of our faves that didn't make it.

Thanks for joining and watching these films along with us! See y'all again after the break.🌴

Watched Prime Video's A League of Their Own? Think you know a lot about the show? Then play along at home with our Portrait of a Survey on Fire pals Amie, Baby, Heather, and Jamie as we ask them trivia questions from all eight of ALOTO's sporty sapphic episodes!

WHAT A TREAT! In this episode we get to talk about so many sapphic things with one of our favorite authors: MALINDA LO! Join us as we cover Malinda's award winning Last Night at the Telegraph Club, her thoughts on the new Prime Video series A League of Their Own (spoiler: she loved it), and Malinda's newest book A Scatter of Light. So prepare yourselves for...ahhh we can't help it...MALINDALOTO!!!

We get into...

• Butches and femmes
• Social norms
• Shirleys!
• Lesbian bars and bar raids
• Non-traditional happy endings
• World-building with food
• Always buying any book you want even if you don't know why you want it

2-4-6-8! Who do we appreciate?! Honestly, a lot of people. But this week we're specifically appreciating Jamie Babbit and everyone else involved in 1999's extraordinarily campy But I'm a Cheerleader, a movie that literally changed the life of our guest this week: Dor Dotson.  

Let's talk about:

• THE COLORS
• The soundtrack!
• How well it holds up even after over 20 years!
• Great dialogue
• Gender roles and stereotypes
• And more!

Do you believe in love at first meetcute? Are you ready to run through a gauntlet of gay panic and heteronormativity to finally find true love? Want to see how Cersei was employed before she cast her sights on the Iron Throne? Want to talk about all of this and more while we watch a mid-aughts lesbian rom-com along with our friend Grace who will be watching it for the first time??? Well, you're in luck! Now you can imagine us and you watching Imagine Me & You as we discuss...

• Lena Headey and Piper Perabo (come on, we all know why we're here)
• Wow, Coop is horrible
• Is this movie actually about Heck and not lesbians?
• Mid-00s fashion!
• Is Dance Dance Revolution actually Dyke Dyke Revolution?
• Lena Headey and Piper Perabo

Pull on your most delicate gloves and get ready for a sapphic triple-cross! We're gonna talk about Park Chan-wook's 2016 adaptation of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith and...

• Wow, ok, scissoring (and the sex scenes in general)
• The comedy!
• How the score sounds...familiar
• Differences between the film and the book
• Plot twists!
• The romance!
• ...and more

Grab your gym bag of wooden stakes and meet us after math class...it's time to enjoy Netflix's campy YA teen lesbian vampire drama First Kill. Joining us on this field trip is film critic, writer, and honorary co-host, Valerie Complex! We're gonna talk about... 

• this new vampire mythology
• murderous teen hormones 
• THE CHEMISTRY 🫠
• predictions for season 2
• and more!

Bonus: we also discuss what's available for queer film in 2022!

Are you ready for some sexy, beige and grey Rachel on Rachel action?? In this episode we're dissecting director Sebastián Lelio's AND author Naomi Alderman's Disobedience(s?). So, let's follow Ronit back to her Orthodox Jewish hometown where, at least in the film version, she will [spoiler] in Esti's [spoiler]. Also other things happen.

We'll talk about...

• The CHEMISTRY 🫠
• The differences between the book and the film
• Rachel Weisz as the perfect Ronit
• Rachel McAdams as the perfect Esti
• 💦💦💦
• The character's and the author's(!) religious evolution
• And more!

Hold the elevator! 😎 We're talking about the Wachowski sisters' glorious 1996 neo-noir Bound with special guests Baby Djojonegoro and Heather Petrocelli from Portrait of a Survey on Fire (a.k.a. the folks whose Top 10 Lesbian Films list is what this season of our podcast is based on! 👀).

We talk about...

🏆 How great Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon are in this 

🫠 How great Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon are together

⛏ That labrys tattoo!

👏 Showing actual lesbians in a lesbian bar!

🎬 The Wachowski's cinematic innovations

✨ Queer and trans allegory

😘 How extremely wonderful it is to have a neo-noir film where the protagonists are lesbians AND they win

...and much more!

A film within a film within a film, The Watermelon Woman is a brilliant example of New Queer Cinema. Lightheartedly combining camcorder, 16mm, and self-made "found" footage, Cheryl Dunye gives voice and life to lost history 23 years before we see something similar come to life with Marianne in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. "What??" you say. "YES." we respond. Let's talk about it! 

And...

• The 90s vibes! 🔥

• The (RIDICULOUS) controversy that followed 📰

• The humor!! 🎯

• How the "found" footage is a whole *additional* incredible work of art on its own 😭

• The C enter for L esbian I nformation and T echnology 📸 (I'm afraid to write out the acronym because of content filters)

• SO MANY LESBIANS 💕 [There are more lesbians depicted in The Watermelon Woman than in ANY OF THE OTHER MOVIES WE'RE COVERING THIS SEASON.]

BONUS: we reveal the 5 E C R E T  L E 5 8 I A N  C 0 D E  🤫

Are you wearing an intricately patterned sweater? Great. Do you already have a glass of wine? Perfect, have some more! 'Cause today we're talking about the 2011 Swedish lesbian movie Kyss Mig (A.K.A. Kiss Me or With Every Heartbeat). 

We're gonna talk about...

• Character arcs! 🌈
• THE CHEMISTRY! 💘
• Why are the men so horrible?? 🤦‍♂
• Running or swimming away from your problems! 😥
• How easy it is to find one person in Barcelona! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Show notes:

Put on your gayest cowboy duds and throw your vintage convertible into reverse because we're kicking off our season of the Portrait survey's top 10 lesbian or queer films with the 80s sapphic classic, Desert Hearts. Some of the things we cover:

• CAY'S ENTRANCE! 😍
• Questionable sexual dynamics 😬
• Desert Vibes!🌵
• The ending! 🚂 👀
• Differences between the book and the movie!👩‍👧
• And more!

We're back! And this season we'll be watching each of the top 10 films from Portrait of a Survey on Fire's favorite lesbian and queer films. First up: Desert Hearts!🌵💕 

For our season finale, we're joined by Portrait of a Survey on Fire's Baby Djojonegoro and Heather Petrocelli to talk about their process, preliminary findings, and some of the incredible responses their survey has received.

It's time we talked about the most sapphic content SNL has ever aired: the Totino Pizza Roll trilogy, written by and starring Vanessa Bayer, co-written by Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly with a key guest appearance by Kristen Stewart. We'll also discuss Act III's uncanny parallels with Portrait of a Lady on Fire. What are you hungry for?

Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ozuSOBPHwzWXVUCmcyXaxV6ba7AG8FU8taB5MqbMu8/edit?usp=sharing

Links from the show

Now that 2021 is officially behind us, we asked you to take a look back and tell us what media carried you through the year. We also talk about how almost 1 out of 4 of us are "not a fan" of Carol(!) and whether our sapphic hopes for Tár will eventually be dashed by reality.

Joyous 🎄Carol🧤 Season, y'all! Welcome to Carol episode 1 of 2. A lot of you had a lot of things to say about this 2015 masterpiece, so this episode's all about the things you loved, liked, and didn't like. Big thank you to everyone who wrote in and contributed your thoughts and opinions!

Transcription (Coming soon!)

Links from the show:

We've got 10 films and TV shows (plus some honorable mentions) we're anticipating with, um, varying degrees of excitement. Join us as we discuss Tampa Baes, Passing, Dickinson, Kristen Stewart's gay ghost hunting show(???), and much more. And of course, as always, please let us know anything on your radar / from outside the US that we missed!

Links for the shows and movies we mentioned

We noticed that the last episode put us over 70k plays! WHAT. Wow! To celebrate this milestone, we're gonna talk about the podcast itself and answer your questions about it. "But I thought this was a podcast about lesbian themes in films, TV, books, music, and anywhere else sapphics roam!" you say? Well, it's sapphic because we're sapphic. So, please enjoy this inherently sapphic conversation about podcasting! 

*Episode Transcript coming soon!*

Stuff from the show:

A live, in-person (masked!) discussion about Céline Sciamma's most recent feature film Petite Maman, which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on Oct. 9. Try to catch it in a theater if you can! Here are the upcoming show dates to the best of our knowledge (some of which are virtual!):

• USA: 15 October (Chicago International Film Festival)
• USA: 23 October (Montclair Film Festival)
• USA: 26 October (Austin Film Festival)
• UK/Ireland: 19 Nov
• Sweden: 17 Dec
• Streaming on MUBI: 4 Feb 2022

Please let us know if there are any other dates we missed or if any of these are wrong! 

It's the month that contains Halloween at the end of it, so OF COURSE we must fill the entire preceeding 30 days with creepy stuff. We kick things off by talking about our fave LESBIAN GHOSTS in their many manifestations. Our haaaaunting discussion will cover Rebecca (1940), The Uninvited (1944), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (you may have heard of it), The Haunting of Bly Manor, and "San Junipero".

Also, big shout out to our fave queer horror consultant, Heather Petrocelli (@queerforfear on IG) for her support on this episode. (Don't forget to take her Portrait of a Lady on Fire survey!! http://onlinesurveys.ac.uk/on-fire)

Heather's lesbian ghost / ghosts of lesbianism list

• Rebecca (1940)
• The Uninvited (1944)
• The Curse of the Cat People (1944) Sequel to Cat People (1942)
• The Haunting (1963)
• Ghost (1990)
• Mulholland Drive (2001)
• Hex (2004-2005)
• Gekijōban Zero / Fatal Frame: The Movie (2014)
• Alena (2015)
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
• The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
• Fear Street (particularly Part 3: 1666) (2021)

Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wtFl2mkFmGGDhWbI7zPpjokhpuF4IT01hPkUgYxMu3A/edit?usp=sharing

Spoiler timestamps:

• Rebecca: 00:20:12 to 00:26:27
• The Uninvited: 00:26:37 to 00:29:45
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire: 00:33:07 to 00:36:41
• Bly Manor: 00:37:07 to 00:45:11
• "San Junipero": 00:49:10 to 00:51:01

Links from the show:

We're excited to finally interview Rose Dela Cruz, whose art ranges from doodles to comics to delicate watercolor paintings. As Portrait fans, we're lucky to have her fan art as part of the Portraitverse. Her imaginary scenes and character antics are funny and sweet and keep the POALOF fire burning. In the interview she shares the journal entry she wrote after she first watched Portrait, the weirdest job she's had, what inspired her to get into art in the first place, and more.

Want to catch up on the first season of The L Word: Generation Q *very* quickly before Season 2 starts?? We're gonna untangle ALL THE PLOTS from Season 1 and talk about what might happen in Season 2.

💎 Bette and Tina?

👯 Sophie and...Dani? 

🚲 Finley?

💇🏻‍♀️ Shane and...??

📺 Alice and Nat...and Gigi?

🎨 Micah and Jose?

💕 Angie and Jordi!

Also ghosts.

Our resident historian Laura is back to answer some of your questions about nuns and #conventlife! Did women choose to go into convents? Were convents really places of female equality? Were women allowed out of the convent? In Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Héloïse says it's a life that has advantages. What were those "advantages" like? What else did they do for fun? WAS there fun?? OMG. SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Plus, a special convent-esque GAYSMR.

In this episode, we attempt to answer some listener questions about Portrait of a Lady on Fire!

• Is the minimalism in costume and set design because it's mostly a memory?
• Are Marianne and Héloïse's fathers both dead?
• Is to be free to be alone?
• Why do Héloïse and Marianne hide in the cave to kiss?

And a bonus question!

• If you could only have one for the rest of your life - fries or chips? (Includes all varieties.)

✨Queer media recommendations✨