This week on Season of the Glitch, we continue our journey through the history of artificial lovers with the delightfully strange 1949 British comedy The Perfect Woman. While the film itself is a lightweight bedroom farce about a lifelike female robot, it proved to be the perfect jumping-off point for a conversation about gender, performance, censorship, and the enduring fantasy of the "perfect" partner. Along the way, we explore postwar British cinema, the uncanny space between human and machine, and how even the most disposable cultural artifacts can illuminate deeper anxieties about technology, love, and control.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to 'The Perfect Woman' and episode overview

01:53 Historical and cultural context of the 1949 film

04:52 Main characters and plot setup

09:48 Themes of AI, gender, and control in the film

14:50 Analysis of the robot Olga and its significance

20:05 Humor, censorship, and cultural constraints

24:53 Imagination, desire, and the prompt of the film

30:00 Genre, style, and film techniques

34:55 Final thoughts on the film's cultural impact

resources

'Metropolis' (1927) - Film - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/

'Sleepless in Seattle' (1993) - Film - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108160/

'Lost Highway' (1997) - Film - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/

British Film Censorship - Article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_censorship_in_the_United_Kingdom