There are plenty of less than savoury tropes that probably need to be gently retired or at least adjusted and not used wholesale. The 'not like the other girls' trope for instance, or its close cousin 'girl on girl hate'. However, that doesn't mean that all friendship depictions in fiction should be passive and free of conflict. In real life and in fiction, we learn about ourselves via our relationships with others. Friendships are an important part of that. The dragons are generally against prescriptive writing advice and sweeping generalisations in what you can and can't include in fiction. With that in mind, is there a place for the 'queen bee/ mean girl' trope? What about female characters in competition with each other? Or friendships being depicted in an unhealthy way? This week Jules and Madeleine delve into the value of using these sorts of trope in speculative fiction. Under the microscope this week: Daredevil, Mean Girls, I am the Silence and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 357: Gunpowder Crackers and Cancelling Christmas - the Myths Surrounding Common Christmas Practices
Episode 356: Nutcrackers Little Wooden Boys and Bears of Very Little Bear - The Sentient Toy Trope in Speculative Fiction
Episode 355: He’s a Maneater - the Global Invasion of Ogres in Myth & Fiction, part two.
Episode 354: He’s a Maneater - the Global Invasion of Ogres in Myth & Fiction
Episode 353: High Fidelity and Historical Accuracy - Do Adaptations have a Duty to be Accurate
Episode 352: 2022 A Space Oddity - Sci-fi (& Fantasy) Tropes which Don’t Work
Episode 351: Picture This - Enhancing Scenes with the Right Frame in Speculative Fiction
Episode 350: When Pain Says No - Chronic Illness Representation in Speculative Fiction
Episode 349: The Stones Remember - Cursed Places of the UK
Episode 348: Written in Blood - Vampires of the UK and Ireland
Episode 347: Bat Beasts Kellas Cats and Wolf-men - Lesser Known Cryptids of Britain and Ireland Part 2
Episode 346: Wodewose, Owlman & Morag - Lesser Known Cryptids of Britain & Ireland
Episode 345: Once More with Feeling - The Successes and Failures of Musical Episodes in Genre TV Shows
Episode 344: Enough to Make a Cat Laugh - Tracing the Origins of Puss in Boots
Episode 343: Exiles, OutCasts and Outsiders - Solitary Villains and Isolated Heroes
Episode 342: Distant Fathers 2D Beefcakes and Tortured Villains - Sexist Tropes Against Men in Speculative Fiction
Episode 341: True Beauty is Found Within - Tracing the Origins of Beauty & the Beast
Episode 340: There is none so capable as Anne - Why we should celebrate gentle characters
Episode 339: You Can’t Take the Sky From Me - Weird Westerns and Why We love Them
Episode 338: There are Wolves in the Woods - What Folklore Can Teach Us About Storytelling
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