CinePunked have just walked out of the cinema in 1967 after watching Casino Royale and have woken up in 1997 and watched Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery… Thirty years may have passed between films, but what else? Robert, Rachael and Ben explore the sexual and cultural representations of Austin Powers, the lines surrounding what’s acceptable in comedy, and the film’s links to Casino Royale.
Sleeve notes are below.
With Robert JE Simpson, Dr Rachael Kelly, Ben Simpson
Produced by Ben Simpson
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Episode URL: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=653871
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SLEEVE NOTES
Following on nicely from the last episode on the 1967 Casino Royale, we explore the cult 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Separated by 30 years in time, but joined throughout by music, visuals and sentiment.
Watched back to back, and with our recordings done back to back, the links between the two films are more obvious than ever. I’d hoped that this would be a fun revisit for a film that has left an indelible mark on the popular consciousness – I’m sure most of you will have seen someone don an Austin Powers costume, or quote lines from the film at some stage. Its been 23 years, but in many ways, this man out of time, still seems completely relevant.
While the conversation shows the affection that the CinePunked team collectively have for the franchise, its not without its controversy. As we recorded we were still looking to host our live Offensive Comedy event – postponed following the cancellation of the Belfast Film Festival thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic – and that fed into our discussion of what is and isn’t appropriate in comedy – including a lengthy discussion of depictions of sex, and ethnic stereotypes. We’d love to hear your own thoughts on this, so do drop us a line.
Focus is on the first part of the franchise, but we may come back to the rest of the series in a future recording.
Recorded in studio at Comber, Northern Ireland on 15 March 2020.
Engineered and mixed by Ben Simpson in studio, April 2020. Final edit by Robert and first published on 15 May 2020.
– Robert
CinePunked 