This episode: PASSING DOUBLE BILL! 🎞️ 📖
Snubbed at the Oscars (but not by us!! 😆) this episode we’re discussing Rebecca Hall’s magnificent directorial debut “Passing” (2021) alongside Nella Larson's acclaimed 1929 novel of the same name! 👒 👩🏽❤️👩🏼 🎺
Today’s episode goes in-depth on adaptation theory, as we try to understand how our different interactions with the original and adapted text shaped our interpretations of the story. We also discuss: adapting problematic tropes, ambiguous endings and “Little Women” (2019), how to translate a narrator’s voice into film (spoiler alert: don’t use a voice over), how academic theory influences adaptation and public perception, and why Irene, Clare, and Brian would have been the best Harlem Renaissance throuple.
Also shout-out to Lili’s feminist literature reading group convenor Roxanne Douglas for introducing her to the book, and for the phrase “the fanfiction writes itself” (see shownotes “Putting the ‘Bro’”)
CWs: discussions of racism, suicide, brief mention of domestic abuse, racist hate speech, the n-word, alcohol
📝 Shownotes: 📝
📼 Preread text (Rowan Ellis, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMFll3aIbmo)
🎞️ “Passing” (2021) by Rebecca Hall (Screenplay and Direction) (www.imdb.com/title/tt8893974/)
📖 “Passing” (1929) by Nella Larsen (“Seitenwechsel” in German doerlemann.com/6642)
🎧 “Passing” (2010) (Librivox Audio Book) (librivox.org/passing-by-nella-larsen/)
📃 “Passing” Screenplay by Rebecca Hall (deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Passing-Read-The-Screenplay.pdf)
🎺 “Passing” Score by Devonté Hynes (music.apple.com/us/album/passing-music-from-and-inspired-by-the-original/1592777552)
📰 Bien-Kahn, Joseph (2021) ”How to Get a Black-Led Indie Film Funded in Hollywood” (www.vulture.com/2021/11/passing-movie-significant-productions.html)
📰 Chappet, Marie-Claire (2022) “Tessa Thompson: "There are all kinds of Black women that we don't get to see on screen." (www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a38571073/tessa-thompson-passing-interview/)
📖 Edelmann, Lee (2004) “No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive” (www.dukeupress.edu/no-future)
📖 Hobbs, Allyson (2014) “A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life”
📰 Phillips, Carmen (2021) “I’ve Been Thinking About The Way Tessa Thompson Looks at Ruth Negga in “Passing” A Lot” (www.autostraddle.com/passing-lesbian-subtext-tessa-thompson-ruth-negga/#comments)
📖 Sanders, Julie (2016) ‘What is Adaptation?’ in Adaptation and Appropriation, Routledge, pp. 21-34. (0-www.tandfebooks.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/isbn/9781315737942)
📼 “Behind the Scenes of Passing with Director Rebecca Hall | Dolby Institute”
(youtu.be/Pr8B90K5zow)
📼“T Book Club: A Discussion on Nella Larsen's "Passing" ”(https://youtu.be/rtbK8Nufxd4)
📼 ”Tessa Thompson & Rebecca Hall Break Down the Dance Scene from 'Passing' | Vanity Fair” (youtu.be/G-gYowNiPyE)
🎧 “Putting the ‘Bro’ in ‘Bromance’: Discussing The Left Hand of Darkness” | queer/disrupt (open.spotify.com/episode/0gAFCI4tPlLJ16Tu79A807)
Recommendations:
🎮 “Pokemon Go” (2016) by Nintendo
📖 “The Vanishing Half” (2020) by Brit Bennett
🎹 “She Used to Be Mine” (Jessie Mueller as Jenna Waitress: Musical)
🎹 “When He Sees Me” (Kimiko Glenn as Dawn in Waitress: Musical (2015))
🎹 “When She Sees Me” (Bo Mercer Cover) (www.tiktok.com/@ljmercer_/video/6942990092596235525?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1)
📱Social Media Handles📱:
IG: www.instagram.com/liliannapod/
Twitter: twitter.com/liliannapod
Email: [email protected]
Tumblr:www.tumblr.com/blog/liliannasprereadmediathek
🎹Intromusic🎹:
"Wall" by Jahzaar, licenced under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🎹Outro Music🎹:
“Waterbeat” by DJ Lengua, licenced under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
🎹Transition Music🎹:
Off to Osaka by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
The song is clipped for transition purposes, volume is changed
