Flashback: American Historians on Movies: Recent Episodes
Katherine Fapp
Ever wonder what historians think of big screen portrayals of the past? Flashback: American Historians on Movies brings you conversations between historians as they examine their own expertise through the lens of America's favorite historian – Hollywood. Each episode host Katie Fapp is joined by a guest to discuss how these movies work as pieces of history, what they get right or wrong about the past, and most importantly what they can tell us about our own relationship with it.
We will post no podcasts before their time...lucky for us this week's episode on Fast Times at Ridgemont High is ready for your ears! Lecturer in American and Media Studies at the University of Sussex Dr Charlie Jeffries joins to discuss Amy Heckerling's teen comedy cult classic about the lives of six teenagers growing up in southern California in the 1980s. We dive into the history of teenage sexuality, of abortion on screen, the story of the movie's source material (hello, Cameron Crowe!) and more!
Charlie's book, Teenage Dreams: Girlhood Sexualities in the US Culture Wars, is out now with Rutgers University Press
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Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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Pack your bags, because this week on Flashback we're going transnational with 1956's Around the World in Eighty Days, the Best Picture-winning adaptation of Jules Verne's 1872 novel which took audience members around the world in a mere three hours. DPhil student at the University of Oxford Neil Suchak joins to tackle this globe-trotting epic that has as many historical layers as it does minutes. We discuss why peace activists don't make for good cinema (the answer may surprise you), the benefits of cameos, the British Empire, the 1950s view of American power in the nineteenth century, and more!
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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Something is afoot at the Watergate Comp– wait do you hear Bobby Sherman and giggling? In what is sure to be the first of many, Flashback covers its first Nixon movie with 1999's Dick, Andrew Fleming's Watergate scandal comedy which asks "what if two teenage girls were at the heart of the biggest scandal of the American presidency?" Presidential historian and Rothermere American Institute Research Fellow Rivers Gambrell joins to discuss this riotous but forgotten send-up of Watergate, Nixon, Woodard and Bernstein and 70s teen culture. We talk Watergate, Nixon's public persona, the power of teenage girls, needle drops, the comedy we can find from the unknowns of history, and more!
You can follow Rivers for updates on her work on sports and the American presidency on twitter @RiversGambrell
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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Well you can tell by the way we talk and talk...this week we're covering Saturday Night Fever, the 1977 dance-drama that took the world by storm with the story of one man's life as it revolves between the struggles of his working class Brooklyn neighborhood and his passion for disco. University of Oxford Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History Bruce Schulman joins to discuss this landmark movie which features a sparkling breakout performance from John Travolta and spawned one of the best-selling albums of all time. We discuss the place of the film in the historical memory of the 1970s, its depiction of working class life in New York City, and of course, the highs and lows of disco – from the Gibson's falsettos to Disco Demolition Night.
This episode contains discussion of sexual violence and contains strong language. Listener discretion is advised.
Bruce's book, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (2002), is available for purchase across the internet (and probably at your local library!)
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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Do you hear...drumming? Must be the start of a new season of Flashback! We start off the third season by covering Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic historical drama Gangs of New York, taking us to the streets of Five Points in the mid-nineteenth century and amidst rising tensions stemming from the Civil War. Junior Research Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute Mark Power Smith joins to discuss the role of party politics in the formation of American nationalism in the nineteenth century, Daniel Day Lewis's turn as a patriotic political party man who loves a top hat (no not that one, that was last season), the New York City Draft Riots of 1863, and more! Was American democracy born through bloody fist fights and gang violence on the streets of Lower Manhattan, as this movie suggests? Find out on this episode of Flashback.
Mark's book, Young America: The Transformation of Nationalism before the Civil War (my infinite apologies for getting the title of the book wrong in the introduction), is available now for purchase at your academic bookstore of choice.
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
Lord almighty, we feel out temperatures rising! Things are heating up this week on Flashback as we cover 2022's Elvis, director Baz Luhrmann's epic biopic (epi-io-pic?) following the career of musical legend Elvis Presley through his relationship with longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker. Dr Tyina Steptoe, Associate Professor of History at the University of Arizona and musical history expert, joins as we delve into the ways in which this bombastic film portrays Presley's relationships with rhythm and blues and country music, the American South and the end of Jim Crow, the queer roots of rock and roll, and much much more! This episode takes us from Memphis to Vegas and plenty of places in between – Britney Spears, teen girl fandom, and the Mann Act also all make guest appearances.
You can follow Tyina on twitter @TyinaSteptoe and find her radio show, Soul Stories, at KXCI Community Radio Tucson
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
This week Flashback covers its first World War II film as we take a look at David Ayer's tank film Fury. Ruth Lawlor, postdoctoral research fellow at Cornell University, joins to help dissect this 2014 war blockbuster. We discuss the WWII as a film genre, the aesthetics of war films, sexual violence on the front, and whether Fury's historical grounding impeded its ability to be a good movie.
This episode contains frank discussion of sexual violence, assault, and contains strong language. Listener discretion is advised.
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
And we're live with a Flashback foray into the history of television. Historian of television and the Civil Rights Movement Sage Goodwin joins and offers her expert thoughts on 2005's Good Night and Good Luck, George Clooney's look at Edward R Murrow's and Fred Friendly's coverage of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communism hearings. Topics include the history of television finding its footing in the 1950s, the careers of Murrow and Friendly, the movie's commentary on the War on Terror, and more!
You can follow Sage on twitter @sagemgoodwin
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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Cue "Battle Hymn of the Republic", it's time for the Lincoln episode. Edward Osborn Professor of US Politics and Political History, host of The Last Best Hope? podcast, and Director of the RAI himself Adam Smith joins to talk Steven Spielberg's monumental 2012 biopic of the 16th president. We talk once again about the historical chameleon himself, Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln the man (versus giant marble statue), congressional politics surrounding the Thirteenth Amendment, historical criticism of the movie, and more!
You can follow Adam @aipsmith and his podcast, The Last Best Hope? @TLBHpodcast
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
Near...far...this podcast will go on! Welcome back to Flashback and our season two premiere, Titanic. Temporary Assistant Professor of American History at Cambridge Lewis Defrates joins as we tackle one of Hollywood's biggest films ever, James Cameron's 1997 romance-disaster epic that follows the lives of two star-crossed lovers aboard the infamous ship on its maiden and final voyage. We talk transatlantic crossings, class aboard the Titanic, and the long legacy of the disaster in media both before and after Cameron's movie.
You can follow Lewis at @lewisdefrates and the Cambridge American History Seminar podcast at @camericanist
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
P.S. – at one point I call James Cameron, a Canadian, an American. Apologies to Cameron and Canada.
TOONS! We're taking our first dive into animation with 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Robert Zemeckis's comedy-noir pastiche, inspired in parts by the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the Hollywood Studio system, and the decline of the Pacific Electric Railway Company. Surprised? Don't be! DPhil Josh Lappen joins to unpack why this family comedy where cartoons live amongst us actually draws from the rich history of Los Angeles. Along the way we also talk 1974's Chinatown and the grip it has on historians and the popular imagination, the place of conspiracies in history, and how both of those relate to LA's relationship with its own past. So smile, darn ya, and join as we join Roger and all his friends in the first season's finale.
Note: For those who want to skip spoilers for 1974's Chinatown which begin around 16:20, please jump ahead to 19:45
You can follow Josh on twitter @jlappen1
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
It's true, it's true – our episode on Jackie is here! DPhil student and resident RAI First Lady expert Liz Rees joins to discuss Pablo Larrain's Jackie, the 2016 microbiopic that follows (former) First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the days after the assassination of her husband, John F. Kennedy. We dive into first ladies in the popular psyche, the women of the East Wing who help transformed the role of the First Lady, and the relationship between legacy and the Kennedy Administration. Liz also makes the excellent case for why we should all care a lot more about Lady Bird Johnson.
You can follow Liz on twitter @lizreeshistory
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice
It had to happen eventually – this week we take our first foray into the world of Civil War film with 1989's Glory, Ed Zwick's epic about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first African American regiments to serve in the conflict. Joining us is Professor Jay Sexton, the Rich and Nancy Kinder Chair in Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. We talk reenactments, James Horner's score, the long trend of Civil War on film, and the film's continuing legacy, and much much more. Jay also brings some great insight into how Matthew Broderick's casting continues to resonate to the present day. All of that and more in this episode!
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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I drink your…podcast? This week we venture back to the American West as DPhil student and expert in the American missionary movement Gwion Wyn Jones joins to talk Paul Thomas Anderson’s sweeping 2007 epic about two men struggling to make their mark through oil or god at the turn of the century. Talk ranges from score composer Johnny Greenwood, the ties between religion and capital, evangelicalism in the American West, and of course, milkshakes.
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Flashback is supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
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Welcome to Flashback: American Historians on Movies! We’re kicking things off with perhaps the biggest piece of history on film (and stage!) of our times – 2020’s filmed version of the 2015 stage musical Hamilton. Grace Mallon of the Conventions podcast joins and offers her excellent insights. Were early cabinet debates just like rap battles? Does Hamilton actually obscure the diversity of early America? Is it aware that the city of Philadelphia exists? We discuss all this and more in this first episode.
Follow us on twitter @Flshbckhistopod
Follow Grace on twitter @GraceMallon3 and her podcast @ConventionsPod
Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute
Enjoy the show? Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice