sex Archives - The ClearOut

Innocence, Sex, and Sophistication: Who Do We Connect With and Why? – Episode 141

In this episode, Dara responds to a music podcast he found surprisingly moving by exploring the idea of connection. Why do certain things or people connect with us more powerfully than others? What is it that speaks to us about a particular individual, or their work? And what is it about music and musicians and movies and actors that can so enrapture us?

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Billy Budd, Russell Brand, and the Dark Corners of Male Desire – Episode 122

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In this episode, Dara goes on a deep dive into Peter Ustinov’s 1962 film of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd. He recalls being struck by Terence Stamp’s remarkable performance and beauty when he first saw it over 25 years ago. A naval setting provides the battleground for innocence vs evil, but what was most memorable to Dara was the gay subtext and the grim denouement that it provoked.

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Stop Laughing, This Is Meant To Be Good For You! – Episode 117

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In this episode, Dara is perplexed by the moral ending of Jennifer Lawrence’s new comedy, No Hard Feelings. What is the purpose of such moralising? Does the audience benefit from the character’s personal edification? Should we care about a dissolute character’s redemptive arc? He compares the sexual politics of that movie to Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot.

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Stirring the Masculinity Pot and Countering Dubious Male Voices – Episode 89

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In this episode, Dara is all stirred up as a result of the theatre production he is currently working on. The subject of the work is masculinity and the nurturing and shaping of boys into men. Dara admits that the process of examining this subject closely is leaving him exhausted but also inspired and full of almost uncontrollable thought processes and emotional impulses around what masculinity means to him

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Going Down in Flames – The Fall and Fall of Marilyn Monroe – Episode 73

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In this episode Dara assesses the recently-released Marilyn Monroe biopic, ‘Blonde’. Written and directed by Andew Dominik, and based on the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates book of the same name, the film has been widely panned by critics and Marilyn fans, but Dara found a lot to recommend in the performance as Marilyn of Ana de Armas. He argues that de Armas imbues her characterisation with such sympathy and emotional honesty that she effectively insulates herself from many of the less subtle aspects of the film’s storytelling.

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Wiggly Bits, Jiggly Bits, and The Dangers of Penetration! – Episode 61

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In this episode, Dara discusses some hot potatoes that are being passed from hand to hand in Hashtag Blessed. Beyonce’s new album art raises some concern, as does Marilyn Monroe’s appearance on the screen on Dara and his daughter’s scheduled movie night. Are these icons of female beauty and performance actually problematic? Is there a radically different experience in how they are perceived by men and women?

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Two Twisted Love Stories and Dismantling Man-made Erections – Episode 60

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In this episode, Dara takes a deep dive into two very different on-screen depictions of what the French call ‘amour fou’, or ‘mad love’. 1986’s Betty Blue (37.2 Le Matin) and Hitchcock’s 1958 classic ‘Vertigo’ are the two texts in question.

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Girls in Love, Sex on Screen, and the Female Gaze – Episode 37

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In this episode, Dara starts off by looking at our need for light and also our desire for novelty. These ideas are both connected to how we are visual creatures and how the internet has capitalised immeasurably on this aspect of human behaviour.

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If I can’t get love, I’ll take acceptance – Episode 17

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In this episode, Dara reflects on body image and the objectification and commodification of female beauty and sexuality. He discusses the sexist rhetoric and dynamics that he has always found pervasive among many of the men he has known. Along the way, he revisits his own introduction back in the day to the sexualised female iconography of Playboy magazine.

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Beauty, mate!

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The photograph above was taken seven years ago during an acting workshop I took part in in the southwest of France. The workshop consisted of a week of methodical theatrical experimentation with the text of Cervantes’ Don Quixote and it was one of the best acting experiences I’d ever had. The French director, seated, was

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sex

Innocence, Sex, and Sophistication: Who Do We Connect With and Why? – Episode 141

Billy Budd, Russell Brand, and the Dark Corners of Male Desire – Episode 122

Stop Laughing, This Is Meant To Be Good For You! – Episode 117

Stirring the Masculinity Pot and Countering Dubious Male Voices – Episode 89

Going Down in Flames – The Fall and Fall of Marilyn Monroe – Episode 73

Wiggly Bits, Jiggly Bits, and The Dangers of Penetration! – Episode 61

Two Twisted Love Stories and Dismantling Man-made Erections – Episode 60

Girls in Love, Sex on Screen, and the Female Gaze – Episode 37

If I can’t get love, I’ll take acceptance – Episode 17

Beauty, mate!

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