Tropes - narrative devices that characterise particular genres of fiction - are usually good things, afterall what's wrong with giving your readers more of what they want? However the dragons would argue that certain tropes are outdated and potentilly harmful for normlising ot playing for laughs attitudes that really need to be addressed. One such trope is that of the lecherous but otherwise inoffensive (in actions at least) mentor character and all of his ilk. This character is the sly voyuer, the author of unwanted but 'harmless' groping. A particularly prevalent character in anime and comic books. This week sff authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside take a look at various examples in speculative fiction, examining what this says about out attitudes to sex and sexual harrassment. On the slab this week; Full Metal Alchemist, Dragon Ball Z, Kushiel's Avatar - Jacqueline Carey and The Thief with no Shadow - Emily Gee, as well as Marvel, DC and other comic book universes as a whole.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 393: Unlikely Rebels - the Moral Outlaw Trope
Episode 392: An Awful Lot of Walking - Mastering Pacing in Speculative Fiction
Episode 391: Lost in the Woods - Tracing the Origins of Hansel and Gretel
Episode 390: Let the Games Begin - Why the Competition Trope is so Popular in Speculative Fiction
Episode 389: Beautiful Misery - The Hunger for the Afflicted Woman in Fiction
Episode 388: A Conflagration of Authors - AI, Audiobooks and Infringement
Episode 387: Complicated Runes and Ineffable Power - Hard Versus Soft Magic Systems in Speculative Fiction
Episode 386: The Art of Not Fitting In - A collection of Not Like the Other Girls Trope Observations
Episode 385: Both is Good - Examining Bisexual Representation in Speculative Fiction
Episode 384: Appearances Can be Deceiving - The Hidden Power of Modern Fairytales
Episode 383: Gaslit Magic and Immortal Monsters Hunters - Incorporating Strong Historical Elements in UF
Episode 382: Part of Your World - Tracing the Origins of The Little Mermaid
Episode 381: Hard Times in Magic & Logic - Examining the Parameters of Hard Scifi and fantasy
Episode 380: Will He Escape those Dastardedly Clutches - Why Cliffhangers Are a Bad Idea
Episode 379: Exuding Menace 101 - How to Create Menacing Villains
Ep 378: Separated by a Common Language - Examining the Differences between UK and US Urban Fantasy
Episode 377: Bringing in Dessert - Serving Up Delicious Endings Against Desperate Odds
Episode 376: In that Time In that Place - the Monomyth and Other Storytelling Modes
Episode 375: The Batcherlorette - Bookish Edition
Ep 374: Her Fatal Curiosity - Tracing the Origins of Bluebeard
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