logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2024
47m 13s

Hollywood’s New Lesbian Plot

The Nation Company LLC
About this episode

In the last few weeks, Hollywood has given us Drive-Away Dolls (directed by Ethan Coen, who also co-wrote it in collaboration with Tricia Cooke) and Live Lies Bleeding (directed by Rose Glass who co-wrote it with Weronika Tofilska). Although very different in tone, the two movies have some striking commonalities, both are set in the late 20th century and take familiar genres (the buddy road comedy, the erotic thriller) while featuring lesbian lead characters.

To talk about this trend, I spoke to Moira Donegan, a frequent guest of the podcast, who sees the movies as evidence of “the lesbian plot” becoming Hollywood fare. She locates both films as exercises in nostalgia in a period when actual lesbian culture is rapidly changing.



Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Up next
Aug 30
The Iran War Stalemate w/ Trita Parsi
The Trump administration has announced a new set of harsh sanctions against Iran. This is a strange development since originally Trump launched a war on Iran on the pretext that sanctions weren’t working. Trita Parsi of the Qunicy Institute argues the current tactic won’t work an ... Show More
37m 45s
Aug 23
Israel’s Escalating Conflict with Turkey w/ Adam Weinstein
The current conflict in the Middle East might escalate on a new front. In recent weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjaman Netanyahu has been touting Turkey as a potential threat on par with Iran. This conflict is partly spurred by the fact that Syria, currently rebuilding after a b ... Show More
38m 15s
Aug 16
Trump’s Chaotic Foreign Policy w/ David Klion
There’s an ongoing feud in the Trump administration between restrainers (advocates of a less hawkish foreign policy) and neoconservatives (advocates of militarism on multiple fronts). David Klion wrote about this conflict for the Nation but notes that the ideologies are less impo ... Show More
43m 55s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2024
EP120 | LOVE LIES BLEEDING and DRIVE AWAY DOLLS | PULP KITCHEN PODCAST
tail spinning
1h 16m
Mar 2024
‘Love Lies Bleeding’ and the 21st Century Noir Movie Canon
Sean and Amanda discuss a recent run of positive 2025 movie news (1:00) before digging into Rose Glass’s second feature, ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (20:00). They take stock of Kristen Stewart’s unique movie star presence, discuss Glass’s genre command and audacious screenwriting, and p ... Show More
1h 27m
Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Queens Are Dead, Episode 9)
The Hollywood studio system begins to crumble, and Louella and Hedda decline and fall, too. But just as a new generation of filmmakers rises from the ashes and reinvents the movie business, so too does gossip find new life in a new look. We’ll end our season by talking about a wo ... Show More
1h 2m
Dec 2023
Misogyny on the left, lesbian dating apps, Barbie (2023) thoughts & review
Post-hiatus episode recorded in the summer for our beloved listeners! In which we discuss a listener-submitted hot-take about misogyny within leftist discourse and the failure of people to effectively address patriarchy or take sexism seriously. Then we hard-shifted to a hot-take ... Show More
1h 33m
Sep 2023
“Lesbian Chic”: Bound and Anne Heche in Wild Side (Erotic 90’s, Part 15)
At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the anxiety that women might not need men after all. By the middle of the decade, women-loving-women had become the heroes of a number of neo-noir crime films, but ... Show More
1h 10m
Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Witch Hunt, Episode 6)
During an era in which Hollywood and Washington are shakily aligned in the witch hunting of actual and reputed socialists, Louella struggles to maintain her position as cheerleader for the status quo, while Hedda grabs a torch and tries to burn it all down, using celebrity gossip ... Show More
45m 35s
Apr 2024
‘Love Lies Bleeding’ with director Rose Glass
What do you get when you mix female bodybuilding, guns, and a twisted romance? You get Love Lies Bleeding, the latest film from director and co-writer Rose Glass. When she first emailed Kristen Stewart about appearing as its lead, Rose says she described the film as a “crime, rom ... Show More
20m 14s