(Un)Box the Soap Podcast

(Un)Box the Soap Podcast
(Un)Box the Soap Podcast

(Un)Box The Soap is a place where we slip from topic to topic, navigate and invade all the nooks and crannies and (un)box knowledges that are hidden. Here you will find conversations, sounds and voices from different backgrounds and in different forms: interviews, readings, sound pieces and other media. As a part of Soapbox Journal, we take a step further and explore how cultural analysis seeps through our lives and shapes us in ways that are often left unexplored. We are excited to welcome you on this journey! Website: https://www.soapboxjournal.net/ Instagram: @soapboxjournal

Episodes

  1. MAR 5

    Ep. 4: The Wicked Witch of the East(ern Europe): Witches in film

    In this episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we voyage into the obscure territories of the Eastern European folk horror genre. We discuss three films from countries that no longer exist: the Soviet Viy (1967), the Yugoslavian Leptirica (1973), and the Czechoslovak Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970). Continuing our witchy fascinations from the last episode, we explore how feminine representation lies at the core of these films, analyzing how witchcraft and vampirism are used to either punish women for their sexuality or liberate them from patriarchal constraints. We also examine themes of rurality, spirituality, and propaganda, questioning how they shape our reading of these stories. Finally, we tackle the ethics of filmmaking and how to engage with older films that may now seem problematic. So, hop on your broom and join us in these enchanted explorations! Trigger Warning: This episode discusses scenes from the films that depict rape and pedophilia. Call for poems: If you’re interested in contributing to our next episode, focused on poetry/texts created in the surroundings of Flixbuses, email us at soapboxpodcast2024@gmail.com. Films discussed in this episode: Leptirica (1973), dir. Đorđe Kadijević Morgiana (1972), dir. Juraj Herz Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), dir. Jaromil Jireš Viy (1967), dir. Konstantin Yershov, Georgi Kropachyov Other sources: Edgar, Robert, and Wayne Johnson. The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Routledge, 2023. Scovell, Adam. Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange. Liverpool University Press, 2017.  Cinema Infernal - Folk Horror: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18JMJLDAjZ/.

    31 min
  2. 09/24/2024

    Ep. 2: Cultural manifestations of the swamp

    In our second episode of (Un)box the Soap Podcast, we continue our journey through the swamps and examine how this porous ecosystem manifests in culture.  Whether it's through watching the film La Ciénaga, listening to swamp-pop, walking through the streets of London, or examining the history of the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, we explore the swamp’s potentiality of creating new meanings, seeing ordinary things anew, and reclaiming one’s independence. Why do we associate swamps with something negative and why is it Shrek that helps us free ourselves from these presuppositions?  Join us in our boggy ruminations and let’s submerge in the swampy realms! Works we referenced and cited in this episode: Avidad, Andrea. “Deadly Barks: Acousmaticity and Post-Animality in Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga.” Film-Philosophy, vol. 24, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 222–40, https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2020.0140. Bernard, Shane. “State of the Genre: Swamp Pop Music in the 21st Century.” Bayou Teche Dispatches, 2022, http://bayoutechedispatches.blogspot.com/2022/05/state-of-genre-swamp-pop-in-21st-century.html. Błoto. “Błoto - Szlam (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Astigmatic Records, 26 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LFxsaq_0g.  Giblett, Rod. “Introduction: Looking Back, Looking Forward.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 3–14.  Giblett, Rod. “London: The “Nether World” of “the City of Dreadful Night.” Cities and Wetlands. The Return of the Repressed in Nature and Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 69–91 Greene, Liz. “Swamped in Sound: The Sound Image in Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga/the  Swamp.” Printed Project – Physical Stuff Made Strange, no. 15, 2012, pp. 52–60. Martell, Lucrecia, director. La Ciénaga. Lider Films, 2001. Long, Jake. “Ideological Rubble.” City Swamp, New Soil, 2024. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/5W1NctXJprxy4oc99q0AEI?si=cc81d1ea5ac24a34.  “Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp.” YouTube, uploaded by Southern Gothic The Podcast, 19 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBs8ITobjW4. Stewart, Katy. “Establishing the Female Gaze: Narrative Subversion in Lucrecia Martel’s ‘La Niña Santa’ (2004) and ‘La Ciénaga’ (2001).” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 205–19, https://doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2015.1179850. Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. University Press of Mississippi, 1996. “Twisting at the Fais Do-Do: Swamp Pop in South Louisiana.” Folklife in Louisiana, https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_swamp_pop.html. “USA: The Great Dismal Swamp - BBC Travel Show.” YouTube, uploaded by BBC Travel Show, 1 Feb. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zaVMNsD7c.  Youssef, Sharif. “The Great Dismal Swamp.” 99% Invisible, 15 May 2017, 99percentinvisible.org/episode/great-dismal-swamp/.

    52 min

    About

    (Un)Box The Soap is a place where we slip from topic to topic, navigate and invade all the nooks and crannies and (un)box knowledges that are hidden. Here you will find conversations, sounds and voices from different backgrounds and in different forms: interviews, readings, sound pieces and other media. As a part of Soapbox Journal, we take a step further and explore how cultural analysis seeps through our lives and shapes us in ways that are often left unexplored. We are excited to welcome you on this journey! Website: https://www.soapboxjournal.net/ Instagram: @soapboxjournal

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