Put your heely’s on and whip out your dance mats because it is time to throw it back to the 2000s.

Welcome back to Break it Down Season Two! This week Holly and Hilary are joined by the pop culture queens and host of Bandwagons, Bríd Browne and Fionnuala Jay to discuss all things 2000s.

Follow Bríd & Fionnuala on social media @bridboo @fionnualajay
Listen to Bandwagons wherever you get your podcasts and keep updated by following @bandwagonspodcast on Instagram and @bandwagonspod on Twitter.

Let us know what topic you want us to break down next... click on the link! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnp7S_7eTJoXGUBUSExgamM5WbBPcAx_zZGXKFjKhIWiaPdg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Artwork by: @akalashell
90 Seconds of Funk by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Holly and Hilary present the 2020 pop culture awards! Before we say goodbye to 2020 forever, we decided to look back on the year and pick out our favourite shows, movies, music and podcasts. 

Thank you to everyone who listened to Break it Down in 2020, here’s to 2021!

*This episode was recorded remotely, there may be slight issues with the sound quality at times but were working on it! :)

Let us know what topic you want us to break down next... click on the link! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnp7S_7eTJoXGUBUSExgamM5WbBPcAx_zZGXKFjKhIWiaPdg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Works Cited:

Chayka, Kyle.“Emily in Paris” and the rise of Ambient TV (2020):  New Yorker.

Davies, Hannah J. “Less! Less! Less!: How the miniseries took over TV (2020): The Guardian

Godwin, Richard. “The age of comfort TV: why people are secretly watching Friends and The Office on a loop (2020): The Guardian.

Ide, Wendy. The future of film: can cinema survive Covid-19?: The Guardian.

Lee, Ashley. “Why TikTok’s Ratatouille experiment is the future of musical theater”: LA Times.

Movie University. Will Movie Theaters Survive? Are Movie Theaters Dying? Future of Movie Theaters (2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb1wffYqveg

Pelly, Jenn.“Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters Album Review”. Pitchfork.

Scriptnotes. 478: The One Hour Drama. https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496?i=1000500974808

Scriptnotes. 476: The Other Senses. https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496?i=1000499034784

To Whom it concerns, welcome to the Break it Down Toy Show Special! Yes, you read it correctly. On this episode, Hilary and Holly break down Ireland’s Christmas extravaganza, The Late Late Toy Show. They chat about the women that made the toy show possible and reminisce on the show’s most iconic moments throughout the years. They are also joined by a former toy show star, Eva Mitchell, who reflects on her time on the show in 2003. 

As this year’s toy show will inevitably be a bit different, we wanted to make this episode extra special and involve our amazing Break it Down community. We asked our listeners to send us in voice notes about their favourite toy show memories and what the toy show means to them, so grab a pack of tissues! 

This episode is dedicated to our amazing guests:

Eva Mitchell

Adam Gilroy

Ellie Cunningham

Jack Coughlan

Let us know what topic you want us to break down next... click on the link! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnp7S_7eTJoXGUBUSExgamM5WbBPcAx_zZGXKFjKhIWiaPdg/viewform?usp=sf_link

                                                                                     Works Cited: 

Corr, Alan. “How Gay Byrne invented The Late Late Toy Show”: https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2019/1104/1088649-how-gay-byrne-invented-the-late-late-toy-show/

Falvey, Deirdre. “The women behind Gay Byrne’s success: who they were and what they did”: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-women-behind-gay-byrne-s-success-who-they-were-and-what-they-did-1.4075777

Pat Kenny humiliated on Late Late Show by posh woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ypQyOZq7Eg&t=27s

The Origins of the Late Late Toy Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43LTTtMEXs

RTÉ Christmas Archives: https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/922-christmas-tv-past/

Toy Show ad cost unchanged at €17,000: https://www.businesspost.ie/legacy/toy-show-ad-cost-unchanged-at-17000-8df79a41

On your marks, get set, bake! This week, in light of the upcoming Bake Off final, Holly and Hilary break down the beloved baking competition. They take a closer look behind the scenes and discuss how the show was filmed during the Covid19 pandemic. They also explore why food shows are appealing in general, class identity, gender and how Bake Off constructs a British utopia AND they each determine which contestant will be this year’s winner.

Works Cited: 

Baxter-Wright, Dusty. “This is what it's ACTUALLY like to go on the Great British Bake Off”: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a46380/great-british-bake-off-tent-things-you-didnt-know/?utm_campaign=cosmo-2020-tradetracker&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=tradetracker&utm_term=137180

Bradley, Peri. "More Cake Please—We’re British! Locating British Identity in Contemporary TV Food Texts, The Great British Bake Off and Come Dine With Me." Food, Media and Contemporary Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016. 9-26.

Casey, Emma. "From Cookery in Colour to The Great British Bake Off: Shifting gendered accounts of home-baking and domesticity." European Journal of Cultural Studies 22.5-6 (2019): 579-594.

Chan, Andrew. "‘‘La grande bouffe’’ Cooking Shows as Pornography." Gastronomica 3.4 (2003): 46-53.

Dobbs, Sarah. “15 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of The Great British Bake Off”: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/90944/facts-about-the-great-british-baking-show-bake-off-gbbo#:~:text=The%20illustrations%20are%20created%20by,after%20the%20episode%20has%20filmed.&text=Even%20if%20a%20bake%20goes,to%20make%20them%20look%20good.%E2%80%9D

Gotllieb, Meryl. “‘The Great British Bake Off’ is the best food show on Tv”: https://www.insider.com/the-great-british-bake-off-filming-2016-8

Westbrook, Caroline. “Why do the contestants on Bake Off wear the same clothes for the whole of each episode? https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/20/why-do-the-contestants-on-bake-off-wear-the-same-clothes-for-the-whole-of-each-episode-13451357/

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween! On this more casual episode, Holly and Hilary discuss their greatest fears growing up, their own ghost encounters and the spookiest places in their hometown. This episode also includes a very frightening tale from Holly's Dad,  Tony. 

Happy Halloween, everyone! Just because we are inside this year, it doesn't mean that we can't celebrate Halloween. Dress up, eat loads of sweets & chocolate and watch scary movies!


Music:
A Ghost Waltz by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0, From the Free Music Archive.
Monster Parade by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License, From the Free Music Archive.

How would you feel if one day you woke up and started to shrink? Join Hilary and Holly as they take a closer look at one of the most iconic science fiction films of the 1950s, The Incredible Shrinking Man. They break down the Cold War context, how the atom influenced science fiction at the time, what the film reveals about masculinity and the very ambiguous ending and the different ways to interpret it! Dr Miranda Corcoran also joins us to speak about her experience teaching the text and what it reveals about masculinity during the 1950s. 

Miranda Corcoran is a lecturer in twenty-first-century literature at University College Cork. Her research interests include Cold-War literature, genre fiction, popular fiction, sci-fi, horror and the gothic. She is currently writing a book titled Witchcraft and Adolescence in American Popular Culture: Teen Witches.

Twitter: @middleagedwitch 

Works Cited:

Craig, Rob (2013). It Came from 1957: A Critical Guide to the Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland. 

Cunnally, Ruthellen. "Mind over matter: mental evolution and physical devolution in The Incredible shrinking man." Journal of Popular Film and Television 41.1 (2013): 2-9.

Haraway, Donna. "“A Cyborg Manifesto”(1985)." Cultural Theory: An Anthology (2010): 454.

Hendershot, Cyndy.  Darwin and the Atom: Evolution/Devolution Fantasies in The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Them!, and The Incredible Shrinking Man. JSTOR.

Hendershot, Cyndy. Paranoia, The Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films. Popular Press, 1999.

Muller, Jurgen. Movie’s of the 50s. TASCHEN. Bibliothecca Universalis.

Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction. 3 rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2010.

Warren, Bill (2009). Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, The 21st Century Edition.

Music:

A Ghost Waltz by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0, From the Free Music Archive.

Monster Parade by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License, From the Free Music Archive.

Have you ever wondered how Monster Mash became a graveyard smash? Join Holly and Hilary as they kick off this four part Halloween Series by attempting to answer that question! They explore Monster Mash’s timelessness and universal appeal by breaking down its context and cinematic and musical influences. Was Bobby Pickett just at the right place at the right time? You decide.

Works Cited:
Buck, David. “Doin’ the Mash”: https://tedium.co/2018/10/25/monster-mash-history

Cowie, Colleen. What is Halloween music - and why does it scare us? https://blog.thecurrent.org/2018/10/what-is-halloween-music-and-why-does-it-scare-us/

Grant, Barry Keith. Monster Cinema. Rutgers University Press, 2018.

Jedeikin, Desi.‘MONSTER MASH’ WAS A NOVELTY JOKE. IT’S ALSO A PERFECT SONG. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/monster-mash-lyrics-dance-history-songwriters

LeDonne, Rob. ‘Monster Mash’: Bob Pickett’s Daughter, Darlene Love, Reflects on the ‘Ridiculous’ Songs Success: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8015114/monster-mash-bobby-boris-pickett-halloween-history

Reyes, Xavier Aldana. “Gothic and Cinema: The Development of an Aesthetic Filmic Mode.” The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts, edited by David Punter, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2019, pp. 395–405. JSTOR.

Zaragoza, Alex. “This Halloween, Please Remember That 'Monster Mash' Still Slaps”: https://www.vice.com/en/article/43k83b/this-halloween-please-remember-that-monster-mash-still-slaps

Music:
A ghost Waltz by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0, From the Free Music Archive.
Monster Parade by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License. From the Free Music Archive.  

Who we are and what we are all about. Break it Down is the podcast that explores the unexplored in popular culture. Find us wherever you get your podcasts - we are available on all platforms. 

Got a question or suggestion? Don’t hesitate to contact us on:

Email: breakitdownhh@gmail.com

Instagram: @breakitdown.podcast

Twitter: @breakitdown_pod