Censored

In our last (for now) episode, we chat to John Kelleher who was appointed Irish film censor in 2003. When he left in 2009, the Irish Film Censor's Office had been renamed the Irish Film Classification Office, a reform that reflected how it had become, as John says 'more guide dog than guard dog'. Until the pod returns, thanks to everyone for listening!A & LM xx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our final (for now) episode, we chat to John Kelleher, who was appointed Irish film censor in 2003 but left the job as film classifier. Changing the job title signaled a regulatory shift, from 'guard dog to guide dog', as he says here. We asked him about his youth watching censored film and his work as censor/classifier. Thanks to everyone for listening A & LM xxx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Censors have been replaced by classifiers, opaque silence by annual reports. We read recent annual reports from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) to see how those offices work in a digital media age, and to see what the (complaining) public thinks of their role. Films mentionedMinions: the Rise of GruGhostbustersWatership DownBambiStar Trek the Motion PictureNutcracker (by Matthew Bourne)The BatmanBatman ReturnsA Man Called OttoThe Banshees of InisherinSaltburnCocaine BearBenedettaBBFC 2022 Annual ReportIFCO published reports Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This remarkable neo-noir, directed by Abel Ferrara, has never been certified by the Irish Film Classification Office (the new name for the censor's office). Aoife and Lloyd Meadhbh are joined by author Rob Doyle to discuss how Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund, with backgrounds in porno sleaze, made a sincere film about redemption, and forgiveness.Bad Lieutenant dir. Abel Ferrara, starring Harvey KeitelRob Doyle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Sam Peckinpah's film, standard Western tropes – outlaws, heroes, beautiful landscape – are used to interrogate an exhausted genre. He knows spectacular gunfights are problematic but did the cut version shown in Ireland convey Peckinpah's intent?The Wild Bunch, dir Sam Peckinpah, starring William Holden, Ernest BorgnineSupport us and Merch! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of Martin Scorsese's favourite films and guess what? We agree, it's brilliant. Contemporary audiences detested it, preferring to ignore why they derived pleasure from realistic, filmed torture and terror. This film has everything from Freudianism to a Hitchcock doppelganger. Cuts made by censors might be lost forever but it still shocks and gives us a perfect amount of ick.Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell, starring Karlheinz Boehm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh. The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Powell and Pressburger, starring Anton Walbrook, Moira Shearer. Support us!And, Merch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A horror fan (Lloyd Meadhbh) and not-a-horror fan (Aoife) agree that this unexpectedly feminist film did not deserve to be banned twice in Ireland. Caveat: Roman Polanski directed it.Rosemary's Baby (dir. Roman Polanski) starring Mia Farrow and John CassavetesMerch!Support us on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ties, suits and sex - Paul Schrader's exploration of consumerism and Richard Gere's hotness was pruned of bad language and "sex scenes" by the Irish censor.American Gigolo (1980, dir. Paul Schrader) starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Bill Duke, Hector ElizondoYou Must Remember This on American Gigolo More on Aoife's Gere-athon for Patreon supportersMerch! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the worst celluloid crime committed in The Evil Dead: excessive violence or Bruce Campbell's fringe? Lloyd Meadhbh (a fan) tries to persuade Aoife (a sceptic) to embrace this video-nasty classic. Also, listener correspondence on The Rocky Road to Dublin.The Evil Dead (dir. Sam Rami, 1981) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520deadEvil Dead II (dir. Sam Rami, 1987) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092991/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520dead%2520Weird Studies Podcast on ‘Evil Dead II' https://www.weirdstudies.com/136Support us, if you can Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lloyd Meadhbh rewinds the tape back to the 1980s, when a new film medium caused a new (ish) moral panic. Support usMerch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How revolutionary was Ireland anyway? Journalist and director Peter Lennon asked how a nation birthed by rebels seemed to be run by Catholic priests. His caustic script allied to Raoul Coutard's captivating cinematography made for a unique documentary. We discuss odd accents, cheeky children and creepy priests.The Rocky Road to Dublin (1967, re-released by IFI in 2004) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66JpC_T3wFMMerchPatreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know DIY censorship was practiced by those outside the film censor's office. Even after official censors vetted publicity material, some film posters showed too much skin, especially male arms and legs. Liam O'Leary collected this material Kevin Rockett Irish Film Censorship: a cultural journey from silent cinema to internet pornography (2004) Doctored film posters can be seen here Original, undoctored film posters:The Virgin Soldiers (1969) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065182/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 The Hustler (1961) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054997/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520hust Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066016/ From Here to Eternity (1953) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045793/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_from%2520here The Chastity Belt/On My Way To The Crusades I Met A Girl Who (1967) https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0064167/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_4_nm_4_q_chastity%2520belt A Cold Wind in August (1961) https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0054755/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 MerchSupport us on Patreon if you are 18 or over. Yes, we have been censored. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ken Russell's The Devils is definitely a film for us. Satanism, orgies, exorcisms - what's not to love? And it's a complicated censorship story of different cuts for different censors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Banned, appealed, cut eleven times: The Graduate (1967) had a torrid time in Ireland. What narrative were Irish audiences allowed to see? And, Mrs Robinson, we stan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A film beloved by our hosts that proved too much for the Irish censor. Was it Liza Minnelli's (as Sally Bowles) legs or men fancying other men? The answer is quite surprising. But then, so is writing a musical about genocide.Cabaret (dir. Bob Fosse, 1972)Merch!Help keep the show on the road (Over 18s only because 'smut' is censored) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lloyd Meadhbh explains Northern Ireland's special censorship sauce to Aoife. There's cross-border agreement, even more censors than usual and a bit of flogging. Films:Ulster the Garden of Eden (1930), tourist authority of NI Frankenstein (1931, dir James Whale) Ourselves Alone (1936, dir Brian Desmond Hurst, Walter Summers) Released in the US as Rivers of Unrest https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028071/ The Informer (1935, dir John Ford) Merch!Support us Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

War brings propaganda, and that means censorship. What happens if war is denied in favour of an 'Emergency'? We unpick why Betty Grable's legs were withdrawn from Irish cinema screens in 1941.A Yank in the RAF (1941, dir. Henry King) starring Betting Grable, Tyrone Power and John Sutton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aoife's working title was 'Wildcard' – we went on a journey through vice-ridden streets (and garages) of Dublin city in 1954.Films:Smart Alec (1951) US 'stag' film starring Candy Barr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did the Irish censor feel about Biblical epics? And how could a convent have ‘a sex atmosphere'? Where we discuss Mary Magdalene's gold bikini and dangerously smouldering Englishmen. But also, Elvis. Films: King of Kings (Cecil B. deMille, 1927)Black Narcissus (Powell and Pressburger, 1947) Flaming Star (Don Siegel, 1960)Support us on patreonMerch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We investigate ‘It', a type of sex appeal that raised the temperatures of cinema goers and censors in the 1930s. ‘It' was personified in the screen personas of Clara Bow and Mae West but did you know that tigers and Derry also have ‘It'? ‘It' (1927) directed by Clarence G Badger and Josef von Sternberg, starring Clara Bow and Antonio Moreno ‘She Done Him Wrong' (1933) dir. Lowell Sherman, starring Mae West and Cary Grant. ‘I'm No Angel' (1933) dir. Wesley Ruggless, starring Mae West and Cary Grant. It girls, 2000s iteration Support us Merch! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Film censorship in Ireland is a hundred years old today. What were Irish cinema goers watching in 1923, and what would the Censor keep them from watching in the future? Find out in this bumper birthday episode. · Discover which elderly TD was the most avid cinema goer in parliament. · Find out why soft carpets were an issue for one Deputy Film Censor. · Learn how the Mothers' Union compared cinema to demonic possession. · Welcome our new ‘Censorship Bingo' card: the ‘Don'ts' and ‘Be Carefuls' list. Support the showMerch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why would Irish censors object to a satire of the English upper-classes? They probably wouldn't but Arlen wrote something far creepier. With Dr Laura Ludtke.He's merciless on the role of sport in creating Englishman. Aoife BhreatnachI have to admit, the introduction of Mosley as the Minister of War in a fascist conservative coalition government led by Winston Churchill did throw me for a bit. Laura LudtkeTo use the narrator's own terms, there is something damn queer about the case. Laura LudtkeThese are powerful mammaries. Aoife Bhreatnach Laura's podcastLaura's previous turn on this podSupport the show! Merch! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's lots of indecency in this memoir ­­– vile racism, horrific violence – but readers shouldn't be protected from Wright's rage and bitterness.On the floor of the US senate, a Theodore Bilbo said "It is the dirtiest, filthiest, lousiest, most obscene piece of writing that I have ever seen in print.”Wright's memoir is emotionally and narratively like many published in the last 20 years.And the Irish weren't the only ones who've struggled with this book – this text has an epic history of censorship Fancy supporting the show?Merch! Supreme Court case featuring 'Black Boy'Richard Wright Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you do when you've read a lot of smutty books? Watch dirty films, of course. This season is about films that annoyed the censors. And, to double your fun, there are now two hosts: Aoife Bhreatnach and Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston. Here's a taste of what to expect from us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Patrick Mulloy, author of Jackets Green, heard his book was banned he did something unusual – he sued for libel. But why was this censorship trial held in London? This is a true crime special, but with banned books instead of dead bodies. Read about the violent 1920s here https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/ireland-1922/ Síobhra Aiken, Spiritual Wounds: Trauma, Testimony and the Irish Civil War (2022)Support the showBuy merch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mae West is remembered for her cracking one-liners but she was a helluva writer too. Guest: Dr Muireann O'Cinnéide. Her sexual persona that she creates in the film She Done Him Wrong means the Irish censors interpret this book as essentially indecent. Aoife BhreatnachOne of the things West seems to thinking about in the novel is: how do you replace that immediate kind of visual vivid iconography with a kind of a linguistic equivalent? Dr Muireann O'CinnéideIt's really quite a vivid rendering of a particularly ugly, corrupt world in which both crime, politics, money, and sex and alcohol are all very deeply intertwined. Dr Muireann O'Cinnéide Muireann's previous censored appearance Support the show Buy stickers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A prolific novelist and memoirist, Ethel Mannin cleverly smuggled lots of controversial ideas into this best-selling autobiography.Freud's influence on Mannin is clear at various points in the book because she is deeply interested in childhood as a political and cultural idea.Her chapters on schooling are very focused on telling readers about the vulnerability of children to scolding, humiliation and physical violence.She told her school teacher that her flag was the red flag – an incendiary statement if ever there was one.Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Written by a woman (and her ghost writer) hiding in an Italian villa to escape the paparazzi, this is a short, sometimes shocking memoir. This is a type of celebrity memoir, a text written by someone in the eye of a media storm.The relationship between homosexuality and heterosexuality creates a lot of anxiety for Roberta. What really jars with me, a reader in 2023, is the biological argument Roberta makes. Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let Box-Car Bertha show you the American underworld, where the homeless and rootless struggle to survive. An uncensored story that, unsurprisingly, was censored. In the publishing landscape of the mid 20th century, uncensored obviously means salaciousness but also a type of honesty that is tough and uncompromising. Bertha's mother believes in ‘free love' a phrase I thought originated in the 1960s but obviously dates from much earlier.The stories of hundreds of poor individuals appear here – all sorted by name, gender, occupation, ethnicity and ‘type'. Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of many books about the First World War on the censor's blacklist, this one claims to offer a new, fresh perspective about the British army. But how much truth can a memoir written by ‘anonymous' tell? With Dr Andrew Frayn. For a novel that's meant to be from a women's point of view, it's often very uncharitable about them. Andrew FraynPeople are walked up to the door of the bedroom, told it is a bedroom, and then left to imagine for themselves. Aoife BhreatnachIt's a generic novel at a moment when this kind of war book is becoming generic. Andrew Frayn Andrew Frayn & Fiona Houston, The War Books Boom in Britain ‘WAAC: the Woman's Story of the War' (1930) Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Written by an old man reflecting on his life in sex, this notorious memoir was banned almost everywhere. It's nice to know I'm not the imagined reader of this book – wrong gender, wrong gonadsHarris thinks pandering to girl readers stripped English literature of its earthy Shakespearean soulHis curious yoking together of philosophy and porn isn't always successfulFancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/Frank Harris, ‘My Life and Loves, Volume One' (1922) Frank Harris Previous episodes mentioned here:The Memoirs of Dolly MortonThe Lustful TurkExchange and Mart Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when an Irishman whose dramas offended audiences writes an autobiography? The state censors ban it. One censor asked: are you going to allow the truth to be told about everything to everyone without qualification and at all times? On a practical level, reading O'Casey's memoir like a censor is not easy.Obviously Catholic censors don't approve of Protestants – they were all apostates and heretics, on a fast train to hell – but they didn't like anti-clericalism either. Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A deep dive into the wonderful world of classified advertisements. You could buy nearly anything through Exchange and Mart: dogs, chickens, clothing. But if you look very closely, you can see why the censors decided it was ‘habitually and frequently indecent'.Without the post, E&M would never have existed – it was a business built on stamps and lettersTo avoid being prosecuted for obscenity, advertisers developed a whole language of euphemism to sell contraceptivesWhat I love about classified ads is the mix of boring and ambiguous within themSelling birth control devices in Britain: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2020/09/08/something-for-the-weekend-sir-buying-and-selling-condoms-in-britain/Fetishes in the small ads: https://www.cuirmale.nl/history/meeting.htmFancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Isadora Duncan was an artist who lived (and died) in an extraordinary manner. Her autobiography tells how she conceived a radical dance manifesto while partying across Europe.This memoir sold extremely well in America, being reprinted 9 times in 10 monthsA lot of this book reads like a society gossip column. Duncan can't help being political: everything she sees about her life and women's lives is politics to her.Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why did a children's picture book provoke new form of censorship in Britain? Danish attitudes to children produced books that upset other European cultures. Before Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin was published in 1983, a member of parliament called Geoffrey Dickens called bookshops to boycott it.In 1988, a co-operative in Cork city called the Quay Co-Cop ran a bookshop that stocked what they said was the ‘most comprehensive and up-to-date selection of lesbian and gay titles in Ireland'. Queer Ephemera:https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/jenny-lives-with-eric-and-martin-a-special/id1488294070?i=1000464529828 A Different Country (RTÉ, 11 June 2021) https://www.rte.ie/player/movie/a-different-country/207293480017 Pages from the book here:https://www.gayinthe80s.com/2012/06/1983-book-jenny-lives-with-eric-and-martin/ https://corklgbtarchive.com/ Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time on the podcast, it's a publication that's still banned in Ireland! According to Register of Prohibited Publications, Health and Efficiency is ‘unwholesome literature'. Naturally, we want to know precisely how this magazine is corrupting and degrading its readers. With Prof Annebella Pollen.Here's today's 'blacklist'Annebella Pollen, Nudism in a Cold Climate: the Visual Culture of Naturists in Mid-20th Century Britain (2021) Annebella's article in Health and Efficiency Throughout the thirties in Britain, when Nudism was becoming more acceptable and even fashionable, there was a boom in nudist magazines and Health and Efficiency was one of the most popular. Annebella Pollen This magazine was being sold to people who were enjoying looking at other people's bodies rather than rejoicing in the perfection of their own. Aoife Bhreatnach You've given me an ambition to go to the British Library and sit in the naughty section. Aoife Bhreatnach In Health and Efficiency magazine and other kind of naturist publications from the 1920s through to about 1970, they had really restrictive laws in Britain about what body parts could be shown and how. Annebella Pollen Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A train that could whisk its passengers across borders and into each other's arms was definitely too dangerous for the censors. With Juliette Breton. There's something quite erotic and tempting about travel, the possibility that you can go anywhere, but also you can meet anyone. Juliette BretonSo many thriller/adventure/spy novels from the period use trains as a kind of way of getting into the action. Juliette BretonThe train is like the boat going across the River Styx – everyone gets on it eventually. Aoife Bhreatnach Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Walter Macken dedicated his first novel to his Mammy, Agnes, he did not expect the censors to declare it ‘obscene'. How does a social-problem novel by a good Catholic offend the official arbiters of taste? Illegitimacy and pre martial sex are central themes and key plot devices. It's not as full throated an exploration of the relationship between man and sheep as you might expect. Macken went deep into our souls without us really noticing. Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hailed as ‘Dirty Book of the Month' by Time in 1966, this novel was an instant bestseller. But not in Ireland, where it was illegal to sell it between 1967 and 1979. What does this classic of women's fiction have to say about feminism, sex and medicine? With Dr Cara Rodway. I think one of the reasons it was so successful is that it has a wonderful curtain twitching element: who are the real celebrities that it's based on? Cara RodwayThe first film has been somewhat resurrected in later years as a sort of camp classic. Cara RodwayI think cultural phenomena like ‘Sex in the City' owe a lot to this novel and the narrative it created around women, friendship and work. Aoife BhreatnachThe image through the 70s and particularly in the 80s of the female bunk buster author - that definitely owes a lot to Jacqueline Susann and her success. Cara Rodway Films adaptations of the novel:Valley of the Dolls (1967, dir. Mark Robson)Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970, dir. Russ Meyer) Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpodEvil Literature stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first banned book I've read that features both a foot fetish and communism. Gibbons writes satire so entrancing it's can be hard to spot the filth but if the censors could do it, so could we. Or maybe the bewitching Englishness of the novel was too dangerous? With Dr Laura Ludtke.The novel induced that certain sweet boredom you get from reading a slow book where you look up and realize the world has moved on. Aoife BhreatnachThe names are so indicative in a very Dickensian and maybe even Austenian way. Laura LudtkeIt's written from a very self-conscious readerly perspective. Aoife BhreatnachYou don't call someone you're trying to seduce, or maybe you do, Dad. Laura LudtkeI think the whole novel is driving the conflict between occlusion and transparency. Laura LudtkeDr Laura Ludtke's LitSci podcastPrevious Censored episodes that link to this novel: Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm (1932), Powys, 'Mr Weston's Good Wine' (1927)Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hundreds of magazine titles were banned by the Irish censor. This true-crime periodical, full of murder and gangsterism, couldn't avoid being banned for discussing crime. But advertising ‘daring' and ‘frank' books didn't help either. The exuberant rampant Americanness of this magazine is what really struck me.The law also banned court reports on ‘any indecent matter the publication of which would be calculated to injure public morals'.You can see the roots of contemporary true crime in this one edition.The edition read for this episode is June 1930 https://archive.org/details/TrueDetectiveJune1930/mode/2up?view=theater Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Maura Laverty gently pointed out that Irish villages simmered with perverted lust, her novel was immediately censored. Or maybe it was her pointed criticism of the state that offended the censors.If an author can please an Irish audience with a book called ‘darlin' by the British, she must be doing something special.This is a chilling depiction of poverty and old age in the new County Homes, where the new republic has made no difference at all.This is all very soap opera - Laverty actually wrote a TV soap called Tolka Row in the 1960s.Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pro-censorship lobby produced a rich and often hilarious polemic. Dr Lloyd (Maedhbh) Houston joins me to talk effluent, tainted minds and ‘race suicide'. We also debate whether censorship was more of a moral panic than a conspiracy theory. Alongside the priests, there are a lot of politicians in these debates where they use rhetoric of censorship to express profound and disturbed Anglophobia. Aoife BhreatnachD.P. Moran would have thrived in today's internet culture, he would have been the king of Twitter. Lloyd (Maedhbh) HoustonIf you are looking for filth in everything you read, you will find filth. Lloyd (Maedhbh) HoustonWatching Irish politicians figure out who to blame for venereal disease after the British garrison has gone is so funny. Lloyd (Maedhbh) HoustonBrowse censorship debates online https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/find/?debateType=dail You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod And buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

The most memorable scandals in Irish life feature a fulminating bishop and this is no exception. This brief controversy is infamous but why do we find it so compelling? Dr Morgan Wait joins me to talk about television and titillation in 1960s Ireland. Anything that doesn't feature Gay Byrne is going to get considerably less attention. Morgan Wait When people recognise themselves, or suspect they recognise themselves, they get cross and ask for changes. Aoife Bhreatnach One of the biggest letter writing incidents was around ‘Home Truths' and it had nothing to do with censorship. Morgan Wait If the ‘Late Late Show' was introducing sex to audiences, it was to people who were already having it. Aoife Bhreatnach Support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Merch here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Theatre riots might capture the imagination but audiences, critics and authority figures shape theatre in other less dramatic ways. Guest Dr Barry Houlihan talks about his new book Theatre and archival memory: Irish drama and marginalised histories 1951-77 (2022)· Reading a banned book is a private thing while theatre-going is a public political act. · Theatre is a way of dismantling the mechanics of the state and church. · Theatres are institutions in their own way – they can have set audiences that they cater for and don't want to lose.You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpodAnd buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When tax payers pay for libraries, librarians have a duty to ‘the public'. Defining that public isn't easy, especially when priests, pressure groups and politicians get involved. · Being an arbiter of taste and decency was a tough job and nobody appreciated it. · The censorship mentality was still deeply embedded in a prudish and hypocritical society· He proceeded to tear up the books, pile them on the floor, take out a bottle of paraffin and a box of matches from his pocket. You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod And buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Moving pictures (de filums) were heavily censored but the state didn't officially scrutinise other visual art forms. Censure by covert means was the preferred method to control subversive art. Guest: Dr Róisín Kennedy author of Art and the nation state: the reception of modern art in Ireland (2021) · Part of the emotional response comes from a sense that modern art is conning us, hoodwinking us. Dr Róisín Kennedy· Censorship culture made access to visual art elitist. Dr Róisín Kennedy· The production of art in Ireland was directly affected by censorship in that artists produced landscapes as opposed to nudes. Dr Róisín Kennedy You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod And buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ Harry Clarke ‘Geneva Window' https://artsandculture.google.com/story/harry-clarke%E2%80%99s-geneva-window-and-the-irish-free-state-the-wolfsonian-florida-international-university/QgXRl5iSZDgXIQ?hl=en George Rouault ‘Christ and the Soldier' (1930)https://www.facebook.com/thehughlane/photos/a.142685499153995/4103076829781489/?type=3 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everyone wanted a piece of Roger Casement but which piece? Carefully extracting his skeleton from heavy London mud in 1965 didn't end the controversy over his life and lusts. · The treatment of Casement's dead body was exceptionally cruel, even by the standards of executed prisoners.· Why are all our significant national events in March? Is there some penitential impulse forcing us to suffer for our patriotism?· After the burial of the great man in 1965, there little hope of anyone in Ireland reading his raunchy diaries, whether published or not.· The Roger Casement in the diaries is having great fun and that, more than anything, upsets people. Some Reading:Lucy McDiarmid ‘The Afterlife of Roger Casement' in The Irish Art of Controversy (2005)Jeffrey Dudgeon, Roger Casement: The Black Diaries (3rd edition, 2019)‘Notes on the Exhumation of Roger Casement's Remains' in Documents on Irish Foreign Policy 1961-65 vol 12 You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpodAnd buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The scandal over Roger Casement's diaries is huge. People have spent millions of hours of obsessing over whether diaries allegedly found in his personal papers were forgeries or not. It's past time I read the smut and examined the censure of the man and his writings. Truly, he was the hottest martyr of the 1916 Rising – you could argue he was the finest half who ever laid down his life for the cause of Irish freedom.If you are looking for filth, you have to read a lot about gambling, sailing on ships and lost luggage.Casement the hero cannot be Casement the man, especially if that man is a size queen with a very active sex life. You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod And buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Liam O'Flaherty was the angriest Irish author of his generation who raged against ‘soutaned witch-doctors' (Catholic priests). He believed his outspokenness provoked social censure so severe that his work could not be found anywhere in Ireland. Guest: Teresa Dunne He's a great man for the description of breasts Teresa DunneI can't believe we're discussing whether holy medals count as a sex toy Aoife Bhreatnach You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpodAnd buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Although The Bell published fiction and factual pieces on topics the censors hated, such as single motherhood or gay desire, it was never banned. Unfortunately, only a determined few read a magazine that was not on open sale in every newsagent. Guest: Phyllis Boumans Phyllis.boumans@kuleuven.be · The Bell tried to challenge the Catholic monomania by giving space to voices from different denominations.· It really was a magazine by, for and about men.· It tried to advocate for frank and honest treatment of taboo topics such as illegitimacy. You can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod And buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.