Tender Subject

The Substance with Mae and Jo Isaacson!

This week, Kayte and Mae are joined by writer and professor Jo Isaacson to dissect the polarizing new body horror film by Coralie Fargeat, THE SUBSTANCE! We dig really deep, and discuss camp, old Hollywood and hagsploitation, Marxist alienation, unboxing videos and giving birth to a new beautiful monster. Sources mentioned:
The Monstrous Feminine and The Return to the Monstrous Feminine by Barbara Creed
”Whatever Happened to Monstro Elisasue: In Defense of Psycho-Biddies in the Substance and Beyond” Jo Isaacson, Blindfield Journal 
“The Guardian View on Female Led Horror: Time For a New Formula”, editorial, The Guardian 
Where to find Jo:
@StepfordDotter on Twitter
Stepford Daughters book
Facebook horror group
Blind Field Journal
Mae is also a co-host on The Ladykillers Podcast and makes music at eversonpoeKayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here
 

029-Sweeney Todd with Jay and Dave

This week on Tender Subject, Kayte, Jay and Dave have cooked up a feast of an episode on the demon barber himself, Sweeney Todd! Join us as we sink our teeth into the movie, the play, the sets, the songs and lots and lots of blood.
Media referenced:
“Is That Just Disgusting?" Mapping the Social Geographies of Filth and Madness in "Sweeney Todd" by Aleksei Grinenko link here 
Six by Sondheim
Jay is also a co-host on Library Punk!
Dave is also a co-host on Genre Reveal Party and hosts This is Your Afterlife Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!

ANOTHER BITE: Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Jo Isaacson

In honor of Texas Chainsaw's 50th anniversary and Jo's Post45 cluster (Kayte's collage is in it!) we are re-publishing our TCM episode. Enjoy!
Did somebody order head cheese? If you did, you're in luck! This week, we're joined by Johanna Isaacson, author of Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror, to talk about the one, the only, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre! We ask the important questions, such as, "does Leatherface represent feminized labor?" and "is Leatherface trapped in an MLM?"
(We worry about Leatherface's wellbeing a lot.)
 
Readings:
“Blood for Oil,” Chuck Jackson
Men, Women, and Chain Saws, Carol Clover
Splatter Capital, Mark Steven
“The American Nightmare,” Robin Wood
“Cannibalism, Class, and Power: A foodways analysis of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Mark Bernard
“Horrible Form,” Evan Calder Williams
“Headcheese and a Side of Benjamin,” Jerry D Metz
“Film Bodies: Genre, Gender and Excess,” Linda Williams
 
Jo’s links: 
Twitter handle @StepfordDotter
Stepford Daughters link 
Facebook horror group
Blind Field Journal
Precarious Souls (a super DIY movie they're making with friends)
 
Follow us on Twitter @tender_subject and on Instagram @tendersubjectpod
We're also on Bluesky @tendersubject.bsky.social
Art by Anya R. Hueing
Music by @coffin_flops

028-Titus with Carlee from Hit Factory Pod

Jay and Kayte are joined by Carlee from Hit Factory podcast to talk about a movie near and dear to all of our hearts, Julie Taymor's brutal and gorgeous Shakespeare adaptation, Titus (1999). We discuss intentional anachronisms, faithfulness to texts, how Victorians tried to re-brand Shakespeare (and the Classical Era!) and heroes and villains. This is an incredible movie that we all love so much but it's hard to find so please enlist your tech-savvy friends! (big wink)Media referenced: David Sterling Brown talks about Aaron and Black Lives MatterDr. Mia Escott discusses Aaron and Race on Shakespeare Anyone?The making of Titus on YoutubeWhere to find Carlee:Co-hosting Hit Factory podcastWriting essays about sex in film
Jay is also a co-host on Library Punk!Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!

027-Top 10 Alien Body Horror with Tina Horn!

Facehuggers, Xenomorphs, Offspring, oh my! This week Kayte and Mae are joined by writer/educatrix Tina Horn (@tinahornsass) to talk about our favorite body horror scenes in the Alien Franchise! We're talking about guts, gore, psychosexual horror and more in our longest, rowdiest episode yet! But hey, we watched SEVEN alien movies in a week for you! Where you can find Tina: Buy Tina's new book, Why Are People Into That?Listen to Tina's podcast, Why Are People Into That?!Check out Tina's comix and other writing
Mae is also a co-host on The Ladykillers Podcast and makes music at eversonpoeKayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

026-Moeties (Elytron Frass) with R.E. Parrish!

Kayte and Jay and guest R.E. Parrish are zipping up our wyrm-skin jumpsuits and plunging into the gnostic fantasy that is Elytron Frass' Moieties. We talk about Ergodic literature, Ero Guru nansensu, the history of gnosticism, the book as tactile object and all sorts of other esoteric weirdness.
Media referenced: "The Erotic Japanese Art Movement Born Out of Decadence" by Evelyn Wang, Dazed Magazine."George Bataille Book Club Bonus", Girls, Guts, Giallo, S3, Ep6."On Eleytron Frass' Moieties" by Germán Sierra, Apocalypse Confidential.
You can find R.E. here: ComicsEtsy
Jay is also a co-host on Library Punk!Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!
 
 

025-Manhunt with JJ from Cul de Sac of Blood

"The End of the World is Nuts"Writer J †Johnson joins Kayte and Mae to talk about the beautiful and bloody novel Manhunt by Gretchen Felker Martin. We talk about how refreshing it is to read a gender apocalypse book that doesn't deal in binaries. Plus: don't trust rich libs, incredibly hot sex and how to build community at the end of the world. 
Media we referenced:Heat Death interview with GretchenJJ is the co-editor of Cul de Sac of Blood, a horror poetics journal and the author of two books with Punctum Books. Their forthcoming book, Janky Materiality will also be published by Punctum.Mae is also a co-host on The Ladykillers Podcast and makes music at eversonpoeKayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

024-Titane with Sophie Lewis

Guys, are cars bad? We ask this and so many other important questions as we dig deep under the hood of Julia Ducournau's oil slicked film, Titane with writer Sophie Lewis (@reproutopia) We're talking about abjection, family abolition, gender fluidity and what it means to f*ck a car. Let's ride! 
Sources referenced:
Return of the Monstrous-Feminine: Feminist New Wave Cinema by Barbara Creed
"A New Humanity: Interview with Titane's Writer/Director Julia Ducournau" The Final Girls
Where to find Sophie:Join Sophie's patreon here.Buy Full Surogacy Now: Feminism Against FamilyBuy Abolish the Family: A Masnifesto for Care and Liberation Take a class with Sophie at BISRAnd look out for their new book Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation from Haymarket soon!
 
 

023-YellowJackets Season 1 with Madeline Lane-McKinley

Press play on your PJ Harvey cassette tape, we are talking about season 1 of Yellowjackets with writer Madeline Lane-McKinley! We dissect themes of adolescence, maenadism, fandom and ‘90s culture. Plus! Are teenage girls really that mean? Is there enough cannibalism in Yellowjackets or just enough? 
Buy Madeline’s book Comedy Against Work here 
Pre-order Fag/Hag here soon! 
And look out for Solidarity with Children here soon! 
 

023-Hannibal (2001) with Jon from Horror Vanguard!

This week, Kayte and Jay are joined by Jon from Horror Vanguard and we are back in the world of Hannibal Lecter! We talk about Ridley Scott's 2001 movie Hannibal and the Thomas Harris novel (1999) of the same name. On the menu: Dante! Opera! Hannibal shopping! Florence! Surveillance and Mediation! Sources discussed in this episode:
"A Postmodern Reproduction of Dante Alighieri's Exile" by Antonio Sanna
"“A very well-tailored person suit” Hannibal Lecter as Genderqueer American Gothic Cannibal" by Alena Kiel
Jon's PatreonBuy Jon's books here and here