The Bend

The Bend

By Elinor LewySociety & Culture
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The Bend episodes

  • Episode 34: Sandra

    Sandra published her debut novel "Der Himmel Muss Warten" (trans. Heaven Must Wait) in late 2022. We spoke about the path that led her to publish her book, the tricky media landscape for new writers, making the decision to pursue her dream, and more! Hope you enjoy!


    You can purchase Sandra's novel here (in German): https://www.muerysalzmann.com/neuerscheinungen/der-himmel-muss-warten


    Sandra's website


    1 hr 4 min
  • Episode 33: Harley

    Harley is a curator, researcher, and the kind of person who could make any topic interesting. We settled on talking about the ups and downs of friendship. Harley is a New Yorker and she came to Berlin with her best friend from college, but things started changing between them after the big move. We talk about adolescent anger, what we need from our friendships, and becoming more settled  than you ever thought you‘d be. This was my first in-person chat in a while and it was a windy day, so some of the audio might sound off at times! 


    Harley's art collective COVEN

    Instagram

    1 hr 12 min
  • Episode 32: Male Nudity in Cinema w/ Alexandra Heller-Nicholas & Peter Lehman

    And now for something completely different. I sat down with film professor Prof. Peter Lehman and horror scholar Dr. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas to discuss male nudity in cinema. We discuss our connections with the topic, the phallus vs the penis, rape revenge, the pitfalls of “respectable cinema,” the prosthetic penis and a lot more. I’m so glad and grateful that I had a chance to talk to these bona fide experts about a topic that I have been wondering about for a very long time. I hope you take something away from this unusual film exploration. 


    A Selection of Peter Lehman’s Work: 

    Running Scared: Masculinity and the Representation of the Male Body 

    Masculinity: Bodies, Movies, Culture 

    Pornography: Film and Culture 

    Peter Lehman’s Arizona State University Profile

    A Selection of Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ Work:

    Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study 

    1000 Women In Horror, 1895-2018 

    The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema 

    Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ Website 


    Watching Rape, the book Alexandra mentions 

    Wesley Morris’ NY Times article on Black male sexuality 

    Films mentioned: 

    • The Virgin Spring (1960)
    • Drive, He Said (1971) 
    • Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
    • Last House on the Left (1972)
    • I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
    • Sweet Savage (1979) 
    • A Room With A View (1985)
    • Drifting Into Chaos (1989)
    • The Pillow Book (1996)
    • Traps (1998) 
    • Baise Moi (2000)
    • Irreversibel (2002)
    • Django Unchained (2012)
    • Promising Young Woman (2020) 
    • PVT Chat (2020) 
    • Zola (2020) 
    • Minx (2022-) 

      • Kevin Bacon’s penis PSA 

      Lastly, thank you to Karolin Schnoor for all the support and for making the brilliant illustration!

      1 hr 17 min
    • Episode 31: Freyia
      Freyia is a trainee wellness practitioner, podcaster and aspiring lingerie
      designer who reached out to me on social media. Freyia experienced a
      psychotic break a few years ago and we talk about what that was like for
      her as well as what changed in her life afterwards and what didn‘t. I want
      to thank Freyia for giving her first-person account and being so open with
      me, a stranger. My side of the chat sounds a bit off at times, apologies in
      advance!
      1 hr 12 min
    • Episode 30: Grace
      Grace, a student of psychology is interested in decision-making and
      therefore pretty perfect for the podcast. Grace, previous podcast guest
      Jess and I have been virtually movie watching for a year now, but this was
      the first non-movie related conversation Grace and I ever had. We talk
      about overthinking, some decision rules of thumb, inexplicable decision
      moves, and more. I was trying to go for a bit of a Hidden Brain ambience in
      this one. Hope you enjoy and take something away from this one!
      1 hr 9 min
    • Episode 29: Dyan
      During the pandemic I joined a book club filled with great, admirable
      women. One of these women is Dyan, my guest this episode. Dyan is a
      multi-instrumentalist and singer currently working on her first solo album
      after almost two decades of working in bands. We talk about what led to her
      producing a solo album, what rising in the indie ranks with bands The Blood
      Arm and Mexican Radio was like, the catharsis that can come from music, and
      more. Dyan’s debut single “Fade Away” will be released this fall and her
      debut album “Stand” is coming out in early 2022! Be sure to follow her on
      social media for updates!
      1 hr 2 min
    • Episode 28: Robby Hoffman
      The Bend is back with a light and hopefully fun episode! I chatted with
      Robby Hoffman, a Canadian stand-up comedian. I first saw Robby on The Chris
      Gethard Show where she was working as a writer. A year or so later, I found
      her comedy/advice show Dykevice on YouTube. Robby’s brand of comedy is
      really refreshing because she is clearly being herself the whole time,
      which is unfortunately rare to see! Robby actually started off as an
      accountant. We talk about her transition from accounting to comedy, her
      healthy amount of self-confidence, what winning a Daytime Emmy is like, and
      the art of advice giving.
      49 min
    • Episode 27: Tony (The Up Series)
      One film project that has had a huge impact on me is the Up Series. The Up
      Series is an ongoing British series of documentary films that began in 1964
      and followed 14 children from different socio-economic backgrounds in
      England. Every 7 years director Michael Apted meets up with the kids, who
      are now 64 years old, and talks about what has happened in their careers,
      mindsets, families and so on. The project packs an emotional wallop, and
      the longer it continues, the more compellingly humanist it becomes. The
      latest episode, 63Up, came out in 2019. I started to watch the series in my
      early teens and I’m now 35, so these individuals have accompanied me in
      some way for more than half my life. With all this in mind, you can imagine
      how happy I was when I got the chance to speak to Tony, the very
      charismatic London cabbie and former jockey, the “cheeky chappie” as he
      calls himself, who is one of the protagonists of the film series. We talk
      about his life, his priorities, and of course, we talk about the Up Series.
      50 min
    • Episode 26: Sophia
      Sophia is is the owner of the charming English-language bookstore Another
      Country in Kreuzberg and is quite a known entity in some Berlin circles
      because of it. She spent most of her life in England and moved to Berlin
      more than two decades ago. Trans coming out stories are very diverse, of
      course, and Sophia‘s experience is no exception. What started off as one of
      the effects of a health issue went on to change her life and led to her
      transition. Sophia was diagnosed with liver cancer a year ago and we
      discuss that as well as her many insights into the transitioning process.
      We did this interview over the phone and the sound isn’t optimal, I
      apologize in advance!
      1 hr 2 min
    • Episode 25: Lizzie Borden
      Lizzie Borden is the director of the influential sci-fi/agitprop cult film
      BORN IN FLAMES (1983) and Sundance award winner WORKING GIRLS (1986). We
      showed BORN IN FLAMES as part of Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s special
      sci-fi event in 2019 and I decided to reach out to Lizzie Borden during
      these Corona times and ask if I could interview her for the podcast.
      Luckily, she agreed! We spoke about her background, her films, what it was
      like to work with Harvey Weinstein, her current projects, and quite a lot
      more.
      1 hr 2 min

    About The Bend

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    A podcast about our choices and what compels us to make them