Hag Horror: Older Women in Film

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why are women over the age of 50 so often cast as terrifying, decaying, manipulative people in Hollywood? When did this start? And how might it have been a reaction to second wave feminism?

In this episode, Kate is joined by Caroline Young to talk about the birth of Hagsploitation, or Hag Horror, and what it has meant for the women involved.

*WARNING there are adult words and themes in this episode*

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Anisha Deva.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello my lovely betwixters, it's me, Kate Lister. I am here with your fair dues warning
0:05.6	to give you the chance to get out now. Protect your delicate ears, go and do something more
0:10.0	wholesome than listen to this podcast, which is frankly disgraceful. This is your fair dues warning.
0:17.2	Get out now where you still can, because we will be discussing adult themes and an adult way
0:21.3	to adults speaking about adulty things and an adult subjects to you who are hopefully also adults.
0:26.4	And if you're not an adult you shouldn't be listening to this, go away right now and put play
0:30.1	school on. Okay, the rest of you, grown-ups, let's get into it.
0:37.2	Of the top 100 grossing films of 2021, only seven included a woman in a lead role who was over the
0:44.9	age of 45. It seems that Hollywood may just not have the roles there for older women,
0:53.2	well except one of course. Since the 1960s, older women have been cast in so-called
0:59.3	hagg horror films. What's that you ask? Well today, betwixtersheets, you, me and my fellow
1:06.5	crones are going to find out.
1:12.4	What do you look for, a man? Oh, money of course. You're supposed to rise when an adult speaks to you.
1:17.6	I make perfect copies of whatever my boss needs. I just turn him to none and push him to life.
1:30.0	Yes, social courtesy does make a difference.
1:32.8	Goodness, what a beautiful man. Goodness, there's nothing to do with it, Darius.
1:40.9	Hello and welcome back to betwixtersheets, the history of sex scandal in society with me,
1:45.4	Kate Lester. Hollywood films fans tend to come in waves. There was the gangster fad of the 1920s,
1:51.6	the 1940s, westerns, the 1950s rebellious teen movies, but in the 60s and early 70s,
1:58.3	a wave of films signaled the dawn of a new role for women in films. Sound good? Well, it's
2:05.9	perhaps hagg horrors cast women who were deemed unsuitable for romantic roles due to their
2:12.9	advanced age. It actually might not have been much north of 40. Oh god, it's depressing,
	...

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