One of the most common tropes in YA fiction, is that of a first real romance. Even non-contemporary YA fiction or SFF YA fiction tends to have a romantic sub-plot. But what exactly are those plot strands saying about who you should be as a young adult? What myths are they continuing? And is it at the expense of providing better understanding? This week the dragons delve straight into that most ubiquitous of YA tropes, comparing the fiction with the reality. (Fair warning, this is probably Jules and Madeleine's rantiest episode yet and they do overshoot the normal episode length by about half an hour...)
On the slab this week Twilight - Stephanie Meyer, A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas, The Continent - Keira Drake and many more.
Title music - Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 194: Creaky Floorboards & Locked Doors - Learning Tension and Suspense from Gothic Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 193: Tragic Heroes and Unexpected Children - More Tropes We Love in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 192: Fitted Breastplates & Feminine Mystique - Sexist Absurdities in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 191: It's Harder that You Think - Writing Sex Scenes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 190: Art and Artifice - What Jane Austen has to say to a Modern Readership
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 189: Last One Alive - Final Girl Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 188: I'm Not Gay, I'm Just Evil - The Queer Coded Villain Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 187: Designer Flu & Superhumans - The Conspiracy Theory Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 186: Going Through Changes - Shapeshifters in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 185: This is Not Forgiveness - Redemption Arcs in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 184: Auguries and Omens - Bird Symbolism in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 183: The Future We Deserve? - Learning Hope From Science Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 182: Full Immersion Fantasy - the Appeal of RPG
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 181: Of Their Time - the Changing Faces of Diversity and Prejudice in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 180: 10,000 - A Celebration of Dissecting Dragons
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 179: Truth, Lies & the Big Misunderstanding - Honesty and Deception Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 178: Of Course, This Means War - Narrative Conflict in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 177: Of Good and Evil - Depictions of Morality in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 176: Fact vs Fiction - Blending the Real with the Fantastical in Historical Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 175: Winter is Here - End of Thrones
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