Historical Friction

By Alice Procter, Abigail Fine, Helen Victoria MurrayHistory

Historical Friction episodes

October 13, 2021 The Seventh Seal (1957)
This week's show is the first in a double feature of plague movies - Sara and I watched The Seventh Seal, and talked about how it represents religion, art and mortality. This is a fairly serious episode, but next week's is unhinged.
Partway through you might notice Sara's audio change - we had some slight tech problems and had to use our backup recording, so please be gentle with us like we're a bowl full of fresh milk.
The music at the end is 'The Seventh Seal' by Scott Walker, because I promised my dad I'd mention it.

Find Sara on Twitter @tinyredbook
Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
50 min
October 06, 2021 Lizzie (2018)
Hi! We're back! Kicking off a spooky Autumn/Winter season, today's episode features Helen Victoria Murray to discuss Lizzie (2018), a fictionalisation of the real-life Borden family murders. We talked about crime and gender in fiction, the representation of class and power, and trying to make true crime sexy.

This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, abuse and murder.

Find Helen on twitter @helenvmurray
Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 19 min
April 26, 2021 The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels and Demons (2009)
It's hard when the Pope is your dad, and your actual dad is the Pope. Melissa came back to reclaim her title of "Worst Film Watched For The Podcast". These films are terrible but they're also cultural landmarks, responsible for a lot of art historians and a key part of modern conspiracy culture. We discussed holy grails, the Vatican "Secret" Archives, what symbologists even do, and cancelling the Papacy.
Find Melissa on Twitter @hosmeriana, and follow Lads On Grand Tour
Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 30 min
April 12, 2021 Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Dangerous Beauty (1998), also released as A Destiny Of Her Own or The Honest Courtesan, is a fun and frothy romance about Veronica Franco, a poet and sex worker in 16th century Venice. Yes, we talked about the banana scene, but we also discussed the history of sex and religion in Venice, the Inquisition, and how far the film industry has come (and still has to go) in representing diversity in the past. It was a delight to have Professor Catherine Fletcher on to talk about this film with me, and put it in its proper context.
Find Catherine on Twitter @cath_fletcher
Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 5 min
March 22, 2021 La Révolution (2020)
Look, this show is absurd. It's the French Revolution with zombies and literally nothing makes sense. It was cancelled after one season and that's definitely for the best, but it was still kind of fun to watch. Claire and I talked about royalty, fantasy and weird nationalism in a show that has absolutely no subtlety.
We discussed the "Magical Negro" trope, which is explained further here
Claire mentioned Lady Oscar, and I recommended A Place of Greater Safety
Find Claire on Twitter @carmineclaire
Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 5 min
March 08, 2021 Lost in Austen (2009)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that you know the drill. This week Lizzie Rogers and I watched Lost in Austen (2009) and talked about lipgloss, Mr Darcy, and the Austen Romance Industry. We also dug into what happens when historic houses become fictional sites, and tried to understand just what it is about Pride and Prejudice that people can't get enough of.
We mentioned:
Colonial Countryside, and the work of the National Trust to unravel connections to colonialism at its properties - specifically the amazing work of Professor Corrine Fowler
They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, and some of the other recent examinations of gender and slave ownership.
and some modern versions of Pride and Prejudice, including Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Find Lizzie on Twitter @historylizzie
Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 19 min
February 22, 2021 Ever After (1998)
For this episode, we're doing something a little different and discussing the heavily fictionalised past as represented through fairytales. Focusing on Ever After (1998), Abigail Fine and I talked about 90s Hollywood girl power, gender roles, and some of the nastier tropes these films use.
We mentioned:
A chapter by Christy Williams, called The Shoe Still Fits: Ever After and the Pursuit of a Feminist Cinderella
Marina Warner's work, specifically From The Beast To The Blonde
and some modern versions of Cinderella, including Megan Morrison's Disenchanted and Ash by Malinda Lo
Find Abigail on Twitter @onceuponafine

Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 14 min
February 08, 2021 The Dig (2021)
WE'RE BACK, BABY.
After accidentally plugging The Dig twice last season, I finally watched it! It's fine! In this episode, Hannah Taylor and I discussed the representation of women in archaeology, why "Anglo-Saxon" is nonsense, and trying to make digging cool.
A couple of suggested readings on the use of "Anglo-Saxon" and "dark ages":
this New York Times article from 2019 about Medieval studies and racists
M. Rambaran-Olm's excellent three part primer, including a bibliography
Erik Wade's twitter threads
Dr Eleanor Janega's blog, Going Medieval, especially this one about imperialism
Follow Hannah on twitter @hannatale

Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Get bonus episodes if you support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 12 min
November 30, 2020 A Timeless Christmas (2020)
For the last episode of 2020*, we watched A Timeless Christmas, one of this year's Hallmark holiday films. The film is about a museum director who is somehow simultaneously a docent falling in love with the man she wrote her PhD on, a 1900s industrialist accidentally time travelling to the present day. It was irredeemably bad. Madeline and I got angry about collections handling, romance tropes, museum budgets, and secret drawers.
*I'm taking December off to research and record, so the show will be back in January. See you then!
Find Madeline on Twitter @oldenoughtosay

Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
56 min
November 23, 2020 The Mummy (1932, 1999, 2017)
Continuing an accidental series of episodes about archaeology, this week's episode covers three films - The Mummy, originally made in 1932, and its 1999 and 2017 remakes. Dr Nicole Cochrane and I talked about pith helmets, the racialization of Egypt, "lost world" fiction, and colonial nostalgia.
Find Nicole on Twitter @tinyhistorian
How Academics, Egyptologists, and Even Melania Trump Benefit From Colonialist Cosplay (Hyperallergic)
"Who owns Egyptian heritage?" with Heba Gawad (Manchester Museum podcast)
Basically anything Christina Riggs has written is so important but this is the best and most savage takedown of romanticising Egyptology and this article about imperial amnesia is really great too.
Dr Angela Stienne's work is at Mummy Stories

Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.
Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/historicalfriction
Follow the show on Twitter @historyfriction
Follow Alice on Twitter @aaprocter
1 hr 21 min

About Historical Friction

From the publisher's feed

Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it. Also sometimes bad wigs. Created by Alice Procter with Abigail Fine and Helen Victoria Murray.