The ClearOut Logo

sexism

Staying with the Female Experience of Violence and the Power Imbalance – From Looking for Mr. Goodbar to Woman of the Hour – Episode 179

In this episode, Dara considers violence against women and the recent clear-eyed responses to it by Hollywood regulars Anna Kendrick and Saoirse Ronan, as seen in Kendrick’s impressive directorial debut ‘Woman of the Hour’, and as heard in Ronan’s bulletproof interjection on the Graham Norton show. After reviewing Kendrick’s chilling movie and contextualising Ronan’s comments, he recalls a key moment of Rachel McAdams’ character in the second season of True Detective which laid out with absolute clarity the power differential between men and women.

Staying with the Female Experience of Violence and the Power Imbalance – From Looking for Mr. Goodbar to Woman of the Hour – Episode 179 Read More »

What the Hell Is That! The Audacious Grotesquerie of ‘The Substance’ – Episode 177

In this episode, Dara is still reeling after watching Coralie Fargeat’s astonishing film ‘The Substance’, a scarifyingly vicious body-horror satire on the pressure that results from the extreme demands of celebrity and the beauty expectations inflicted on women. The film is centred around a TV fitness personality whose middle-age renders her undesirable in the eyes of the network. In a ferocious performance by Demi Moore we bear witness to the lengths a woman will go to to preserve her looks and corresponding status.

What the Hell Is That! The Audacious Grotesquerie of ‘The Substance’ – Episode 177 Read More »

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152

Dara begins this episode by sharing his go-to recipe for making cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake, specifically. Don’t ask why – it just felt like the right thing to do. Perhaps he was trying to flaunt his ‘new man’ credentials in advance of discussing male attitudes to high-profile, successful women in the not-so-distant past.

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152 Read More »

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

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.

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

Fractured Faith and Religion as Instrument of Terror – Episode 71

In this episode, Dara doesn’t think he’s going to talk about Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish woman who was killed in police custody in Iran in recent weeks, but that’s what he does end up doing. He questions the strength of a faith that feels it has to police itself so viciously. He argues that when religious teaching becomes dogma, it weaponises itself and betrays an inherent insecurity.

Fractured Faith and Religion as Instrument of Terror – Episode 71 Read More »

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

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.

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