How would you describe the film, not an easy task for a viewer maybe who hasn't seen it recently, or why do you suppose Mulholland Drive has such a durable interest for audiences?

That's such a good question.

So like pretty much all of Lynch's oeuvre, Mulholland Drive is a dark and menacing film in a lot of ways, but it is unique, I think, in so far as it is very female-forward or femme-forward.

The two main characters are women.

A lot of the film dwells on their relationship to each other, um, both as friends and then later as more than friends.

And I think a lot of the film disrupts, uh, assumptions about voyeurism, the male gaze, desire.

And a lot of, of Lynch's films are concerned with the victimization of women and the cruelty, uh, towards women that often flourishes within a patriarchal society.

And your dossier is written entirely by women, cis and trans, and I was curious if there were other aspects of this critical perspective that you wanted to bring to the film and this discussion in terms of the connectivity between the articles in your dossier.

How would you describe the film, not an easy task for a viewer maybe who hasn't seen it recently, or why do you suppose Mulholland Drive has such a durable interest for audiences?

That's such a good question.

So like pretty much all of Lynch's oeuvre, Mulholland Drive is a dark and menacing film in a lot of ways, but it is unique, I think, insofar as it is very female-forward or femme-forward.

The two main characters are women.

A lot of the film dwells on their relationship to each other, um, both as friends and then later as more than friends.

And I think a lot of the film disrupts, uh, assumptions about voyeurism, the male gaze, desire.

And a lot of, of Lynch's films are concerned with the victimization of women and the cruelty, uh, towards women that often flourishes within a patriarchal society.

And your dossier is written entirely by women, cis and trans, and I was curious if there were other aspects of this critical perspective that you wanted to bring to the film and this discussion in terms of the connectivity between the articles in your dossier.

How would you describe the film? Not an easy task for a viewer maybe who hasn't seen it recently, or why do you suppose Mulholland Drive has such a durable interest for audiences?

That's such a good question.

So like pretty much all of Lynch's oeuvre, Mulholland Drive is a dark and menacing film in a lot of ways, but it is unique, I think, in so far as it is very female forward or femme forward.

The two main characters are women.

A lot of the film dwells on their relationship to each other.

both as friends and then later as more than friends.

And I think a lot of the film disrupts assumptions about voyeurism, the male gaze, desire.

And I was curious if there were other aspects of this critical perspective that you wanted to bring to the film and this discussion in terms of the connectivity between the articles in your dossier.

How would you describe the film, not an easy task for a viewer maybe who hasn't seen it recently, or why do you suppose Mulholland Drive has such a durable interest for audiences?

That's such a good question.

So like pretty much all of Lynch's oeuvre, Mulholland Drive is a dark and menacing film in a lot of ways, but it is unique, I think, in so far as it is very female forward or femme forward.

The two main characters are women.

A lot of the film dwells on their relationship to each other, um, both as friends and then later as more than friends.

And I think a lot of the film disrupts, uh, assumptions about voyeurism, the male gaze, desire.

And a lot of, of Lynch's films are concerned with the victimization of women and the cruelty, uh, towards women that often flourishes within a patriarchal society.

And your dossier is written entirely by women, cis and trans, and I was curious if there were other aspects of this critical perspective that you wanted to bring to the film and this discussion in terms of the connectivity between the articles in your dossier.

How would you describe the film, not an easy task for a viewer maybe who hasn't seen it recently, or why do you suppose Mulholland Drive has such a durable interest for audiences?

That's such a good question.

So like pretty much all of Lynch's oeuvre, Mulholland Drive is a dark and menacing film in a lot of ways, but it is unique, I think, in so far as it is very female forward or femme forward.

The two main characters are women.

A lot of the film dwells on their relationship to each other, um, both as friends and then later as more than friends.

And I think a lot of the film disrupts, um, assumptions about voyeurism, the male gaze, desire.

And a lot of o- of Lynch's films are concerned with the victimization of women and the cruelty, uh, towards women that often flourishes within a patriarchal society.

And your dossier is written entirely by women, cis and trans, and I was curious if there were other aspects of this critical perspective that you wanted to bring to the film and this discussion in terms of the connectivity between the articles in your dossier.

Yeah

...

I think we can all relate, is that we've inherited a lot of baggage in terms of what it means to adorn ourselves, whether or not it's putting on a fabulous pair of violet high heels, or whether or not it's, it's, you know, doing a dramatic eye, which I love how passionate you are about the dramatic eye, as am I. Um, so I feel like this has been a topic that's preoccupied me for a long time, and I've written about, um, femininity and sexuality quite a bit in terms of writing about film and writing about visual art, but I never wrote about, um, cosmetics specifically.

And the Object Lesson series from Bloomsbury, which is a series of s- short books that combine academic rigor with, I, I hope, a more accessible, um, way of writing.

Yeah.

So I don't want to speak for all.

But I do think that the idea of the body being a kind of canvas, the idea of the body being a way to express belief systems or interests or personality traits, I do think that this is something that comes from human beings, um, having a creative aspect to them.

Like, we, we've always had this aspect to us as a species that wants to adorn, design, draw.

So when and why do we see that happening? Because if we didn't have that, we wouldn't have lipstick now.

Absolutely, Miranda.

It's such a great question.

So one of the things that I was really intrigued by, I wouldn't say surprised necessarily, but intrigued by was how consistent the sex work lipstick or the sex work face paint conflation has existed.

So like the bullet lipstick, like the actual tube of lipstick didn't really exist until the 20th century.

But long before that, of course, people painted their faces and sometimes painted their lips.

So to the extent that lipstick or lip paint was accepted historically, it was usually only among the very tippity top of the socioeconomic ladder.

So can you do some myth-busting for us? Did they wear red lipstick? And if not, I mean, I think I've given it away at this point, but why do we think they did?

So when and why do we see that happening? Because if we didn't have that, we wouldn't have lipstick now.

Absolutely, Miranda.

It's such a great question.

So one of the things that I was really intrigued by, I wouldn't say surprised necessarily, but intrigued by was how consistent the sex work lipstick or the sex work face paint conflation has existed.

So like the bullet lipstick, like the actual tube of lipstick didn't really exist until the 20th century.

But long before that, of course, people painted their faces and sometimes painted their lips.

So to the extent that lipstick or lip paint was accepted historically, it was usually only among the very tippity top of the socioeconomic ladder.

So can you do some myth-busting for us? Did they wear red lipstick? And if not, I mean, I think I've given it away at this point, but why do we think they did?

So when and why do we see that happening? 'Cause it- if we didn't have that, we wouldn't have lipstick now.

Absolutely, Miranda.

It's such a great question.

So one of the, one of the things that I was really, um, intrigued by, I wouldn't say surprised necessarily, but intrigued by, was how consistent the sex work, uh, li- lipstick or the sex work face paint, um, conflation has existed.

So, like, the bullet lipstick, like, the actual tube of lipstick didn't really exist until the 20th century, but long before that, of course, people painted their faces and sometimes painted their lips.

So to the extent that lipstick or lip paint was accepted historically, it was usually only amo- among the very tippity-top of the socioeconomic ladder.

So, um, aristocrats could, um, adorn themselves with different types of face paint, including lip paint if they so chose, but it was something that was really rarefied, and it was really just for the tippity-top.

So can you do some myth busting for us? Did they wear red lipstick? And if not, I mean, I think I've given it away at this point, but why do we think they did?