November 2025

Flipping the Script and Messing with Expectations – Episode 230

In this episode, Dara considers the power of defying expectations. Partly prompted by a conversation with his dementia-affected father, his thoughts are also informed by a New York psychologist who worked with first responders to World Trade Center attacks. Role-reversal can be both destabilising and disarming, but it rarely goes unnoticed, and it often provokes both consternation and resentment.

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Can Women Love Monsters? Guillermo del Toro says ‘YES’! – Episode 228

After watching Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Dara finds himself wondering about the director’s world view, and specifically his perspective on beautiful, sincere women and their superficially unattractive love interests. The Mexican director has an established sympathy with those considered ugly and monstrous by society – could a Freudian reading be applicable?

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You Silly Girl! Gender Roles from 1940s Hollywood – Episode 227

A week under the weather had Dara running for the comfort of old Hollywood classics. In this episode, he reports his findings.

Influenced by the spooky season, he reached for a couple of Hitchcock staples of the older variety – 1940’s Rebecca and 1941’s Suspicion. Two very different but no less complicated love stories, one featuring espionage and seduction, the other – gulp! – murder!

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