Rethinking and Relaunching

On Sisters Under the Mink 2.0, a fresh approach to newsletter-writing, a new essay series about ... brothers under the mink? That is: men and manhood at the movies.

Hey, stranger. 

It’s been a while. In part, that’s why I’m writing to let you know that Sisters Under the Mink is evolving into something new. I want this to be a newsletter which will explore all kinds of films and subject matter, contemporary and historical, tapping into film discourse in a more wide-ranging way than before. I want to write to you all more frequently, about more varied things, in other words. 

When I started this newsletter in early 2021, in the last dregs of lockdown, it was borne out of a deep love of researching & writing longform about film and television, where I could express my biggest passions and interests. Those interests are still very much with me, deeply interlaced in my personal and professional life. These include among other things: the interplay between femininity and masculinity on screen; glamour, fashion, and how appearances can be deceiving; movie stardom; and the dark annals of movie history and its various hucksters, gangsters, and shadowy figures. 

They encompass art imitating life, particularly in 20th century Hollywood. They include viciously macho crime flicks, ranging from James Cagney in The Roaring Twenties to Michael Mann’s Thief. But they also, of course, include a fascination with the women who survive and manage within them, whether that’s Gladys George cradling a dying Cagney in her lap and mournfully uttering, ‘He used to be a big shot’ or Tuesday Weld looking wistfully at James Caan in an all-night diner.  

All of these interests coalesced into the original iteration of Sisters Under the Mink, with its original focus on how women are depicted in crime film and television. But what I have since realised is that my ideas all want to burst through the ceiling of this concept, and there are so many films past & present that I love that I have up until now been unable to explore here. That’s why I don’t feel bad about saying that I want to expand Sisters Under the Mink far beyond the realms of its original remit. 

So What’s Changing? 

The idea going forward is to devote the newsletter to a rolling series of deep dives into areas of film culture, with  two new essays in the series per month. These subjects will be wide-ranging, and may include interviews with film luminaries, stuntmen, makeup artists, and whoever else I see fit; essays on everything from Dudes Rock (modern masculinity at the movies) to Dirty Glamour (the dark, nasty underside of the Hollywood beauty industry) and beyond. There’ll be a lot more of me in these missives, I think: for one thing, paywalls will help ensure that I feel comfortable with sharing things with you, the reader, and I don’t think anything one writes is as interesting if it doesn’t have at least a flavour of the self and personal experience in there somewhere. 

Each series will have its own designation of interviews, essays, and discussion. Each essay will also be uploaded as an audio podcast, recorded by me, so you can listen rather than read if you prefer.  If we get to a certain number of subscriptions/upgrades, I would also like to explore further extras, including live chats and group zooms. The first dispatch will be free to everyone: the rest, available for a small monthly fee. 

It’s a mere £5 to subscribe per month, or you can save £10 by purchasing an annual subscription. If you really want to show your support, you can purchase a Founding Member subscription for £120 per year or another amount to your liking - there’s no extra benefits for this one (for the time being), other than the knowledge that your generosity is keeping this project on the road.  

The first essay in the first series - Dudes Rock! - will be going up tomorrow, and will be available free for all readers. The series is all about the modern man at the multiplex, and the first two essays will be an examination of the symbol and history of the jock at the movie, whether he’s a baseball player, a professional wrestler, or otherwise - and how he’s been reformed by modern movies into the sensitive himbo in films from Everybody Wants Some!! to The Iron Claw to Challengers. 

Subsequent essays will examine everything from Kevin Costner’s mega-flop western Horizon to thinking about men while they think about the Roman Empire in Gladiator II; In Defence of Showing Your Girlfriend Miami Vice, or Toxic Masculinity and Its discontents; and Guys Being Dudes As They Run Away from Twisters. I plan to leave no stone unturned in a summer-long exploration of what, why, and how men onscreen have changed (or not) in front of our eyes, from the tennis jock-simps of Challengers to the homoerotic sexual fetishism of a leather-jacketed Austin Butler in The Bike Riders, as well as all the iterations who came marching on screen before them. 

Why is it Changing? 

In true delinquent fashion, like a shady sister under the mink, I have gradually shrunk away from writing this newsletter on a regular basis. As a working freelance journalist kept in regular employment by a patchwork quilt of various commissions, I am always improvising; squeezing time and resources (and, spoiler alert, money) to earn a living. And that has meant this passion project - which has never been fully paywalled and remains free in its entirety to the reader unless they kindly decide to upgrade - has been more of a side-hobby than a side-hustle.  Basically, Sisters Under the Mink has remained what it began: a labour of love. Though those of you who  have continued to opt for a paid subscription during the last few fallow months are real ride-or-dies, and I love each of you as dearly as I love Montgomery Clift (which is a lot). 

Here’s the thing: something I learned as a young writer was that my success and satisfaction always seemed to  be magnified whenever I was taking my time writing about a thing I actually loved; that I felt connected to somehow or that I had strong feelings for - even if I wasn’t sure who the audience were, or if there were only five of you. I was surprised again and again by the ways in which people took an interest in what I had to say in various forms, be it a deep-dive on a B-starlet who murdered her husband, or moonlighting as a ringside boxing reporter.

Unfortunately, the model for digital culture journalism is broken. It’s getting harder and harder to place those stories. Publications are shuttering and mass layoffs are everywhere; it is increasingly difficult to make a living covering film in the most bare-bones and straightforward manner, nevermind trying to  chase the niches of the enthusiast. I don’t wish to bore you with all the details, but the long and short of it is that it’s hard to get paid to write about things you are passionate about.. Increasingly,  it’s becoming hard to even get people to pay you what they owe you.  

But I do believe that there is an audience for this kind of work; not film reviews of the latest blockbuster or listicles, but writing that is earnest and passionate and that can illuminate and explain some of the most fascinating and underexplored areas of film culture for you, the reader, and hopefully instil in you some of that fascination and obsession that I have carried with me my entire life.  I can’t wait to write these pieces for you, and in some small way write as my writing heroes growing up did before me, e.g. not responding to the market or financial necessity or desperately chasing editors in the hope someone - anyone - would understand their worldview and their larger project.  The Eve Babitzes and Molly Haskells of the world (admittedly in a far more robust and healthy media landscape) were forging their own blazing paths to get to write precisely what it was they wanted to write.

This is my attempt to do the same, because I know I have it in me. You have it in you, too: I know that the reader is smarter, and more curious, than many publishers and commissioners and powers-that-be say you are. But to do that, I need your support - and in exchange, you’ll get two new essays from me per month, for less than the price of a pint.  

Look out for the first two entries in the Dudes Rock! Series over the next few days.  I really hope you’ll join me on this new journey together, one made up of a heady brew of celluloid fever dreams, dark fascinations, and natural-born thirst. I can’t wait.