Cult films and a 'rockstar' philosopher

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is film critic and journalist Helen O'Hara who dissects what makes a cult film classic, after we hear about the making of the 1989 American film Heathers.

We also learn about the French philosopher behind the theory of deconstruction and how the world first became aware of coral bleaching in the 1980s.

As the climax of the American Football season approaches we look back at one of the most memorable moments from Super Bowl history.

Contributors: Lisanne Falk - American star of the film Heathers.

Helen O'Hara - film critic and journalist.

Helene Cixous - lifetime friend of French philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Agathe Hébras - granddaughter of Robert Hébras, survivor of the Oradour Massacre.

Clive Wilkinson - the former co-ordinator for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

Osi Umenyiora - two-time Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants.

(Photo: Winona Ryder, Kim Walker, Lisanne Falk, and Shannen Doherty on the set of Heathers 1988, New World Pictures/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to The History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson,
0:10.6	the past brought to life by those who were there.
0:13.6	This week, Jacques Derrida, the French rock star philosopher of the late 20th century.
0:18.8	He was philosophy incarnate, embodied. That is everything he did
0:23.8	thought daily was philosophical. Also, memories of a terrible massacre at a French village in the Second
0:31.5	World War. He was 19 years old when it happened. On his day, he lost his old village and all his friends,
0:39.8	but also his mother and two of his sisters.
0:42.7	Plus, the moment the world woke up to mass coral bleaching.
0:46.7	It was just coming in thick and fast, and we literally did not know what to do with it.
0:52.2	First, we were shocked shocked and then we were absolutely
0:55.3	petrified. What's happening to coral reefs? That's all coming up later in the podcast. But we begin
1:01.1	with a moment of cultural history. Back in 1989, a darkly comedic film was released, which would go
1:08.3	on to become a cult classic and change the way teen movies
1:11.8	were made. Heathers follows the exploits of four girls, three of them called Heather, who formed
1:17.5	a clique at an Ohio high school. Drew Hindman has been speaking to Lizanne Falk, who played
1:23.5	one of the title characters, and a warning this contains references to suicide and self-harm.
1:31.3	Grow up, Heather. Belieme is so 87.
1:34.9	I just killed my best friend.
1:37.0	And your worst enemy.
1:38.8	Same difference.
1:40.2	Heather Channel is not your everyday suicide.
1:42.7	She was very popular.
	...

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