Josie and the Pussycats. Long before the fictional rock band featured in TV’s
Riverdale, their Archie Comics source material was brought to the big screen in 2001. Writer-director duo Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan (
Can’t Hardly Wait) were at the helm, with Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson and Tara Reid cast as band members Josie, Valerie and Melody, respectively, and the glorious scenery-chewing pair of Parker Posey and Alan Cumming as antagonists. But there was a twist.
While operating perfectly well as a sincerely heartfelt tale of friendship in the face of growing fame, the film is also a feature-length jab at the industries behind its existence, skewering consumerism, subliminal advertising, and the very notion of adapting a comic into a movie.
Updated / Monday, 1 Mar 2021
13:00
Acts Of Desperation author Megan Nolan (Pic: Lynn Rothwell)
Waterford-born, London-based Megan Nolan is an essayist and critic - her work has have published everywhere from
The New York Times and the
New Statesman (where she writes a regular column) to
Winter Papers and here on RTÉ Culture.
This month she publishes her first novel,
Acts Of Desperation (published by Jonathan Cape); it s a darkly funny tale of a toxic relationship and secret female desire, already acclaimed by the likes of Marian Keyes and Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård.
We asked Megan for her choice cultural picks.
, the more it dawned on me that Billie Joe, despite the p-rock trappings, is really a power-pop guy and his choice of tracks to cover really underscores where his heart is.
When I spoke with Billie Joe, he confirmed my instinct about pop and punk being more closely aligned than many might think. Billie Joe is living proof of that theorem, illustrated perfectly as he walked me through the album’s tune stack.
It only makes sense that an album catalyzed by a pandemic should kick off with “I Think We’re Alone Now.” The song, written by Ritchie Cordell and an uncredited Bo Gentry, was a huge hit for Tommy James & The Shondells in 1967. The song’s narrative is truly cinematic. it’s a record you can, in a sense, see. It charted again 10 years later for Berkeley’s own power-poppers the Rubinoos (who are still at it, after more than 50 years) and again 10 years after that for the shopping mall-promoted ingenue Tiffany. Billie Joe’s version showed up during the early da
The enigmatic star began her career as an actress, starring in
Bo Selecta! and presented various ITV2 shows including
I m a Celebrity.Get Me Out of Here! NOW! and
The Xtra Factor.
Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and the following year she began presenting
The X Factor – replacing the long-standing presenter Dermot O Leary. She also presented the hit TV show
Love Island between 2015 to 2019.
Chadwick Boseman
(Ian West/PA) Actor and playwright Chadwick Boseman died on August 28 aged 43, after being diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016. Boseman played superhero T’Challa in the 2018 Marvel blockbuster, Black Panther. Despite being diagnosed with cancer, he went on to star in a range of films, such as Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
The enigmatic star began her career as an actress, starring in
Bo Selecta! and presented various ITV2 shows including
I m a Celebrity.Get Me Out of Here! NOW! and
The Xtra Factor.
Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and the following year she began presenting
The X Factor – replacing the long-standing presenter Dermot O Leary. She also presented the hit TV show
Love Island between 2015 to 2019.
Chadwick Boseman
(Ian West/PA) Actor and playwright Chadwick Boseman died on August 28 aged 43, after being diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016. Boseman played superhero T’Challa in the 2018 Marvel blockbuster, Black Panther. Despite being diagnosed with cancer, he went on to star in a range of films, such as Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.