Last month, a University of Michigan psychology study found a link between Netflix’s suicide teen drama, 13 Reasons Why, and suicidal intention in vulnerable teen viewers. It’s a small study, with only 87 participants, but it echoes what experts on teen mental health have claimed from the show’s debut — the show’s treatment of its suicidal protagonist […]
RECOMMENDED: Netflix’s Terrace House
Terrace House is the perfect reality show. It’s chilled out, low stakes TV from Japan (and Netflix), easy to watch, easy to enjoy, and almost unbelievably addictive. If you’ve not been watching it, the holidays are the perfect time to do so. The concept of Terrace House is simple: six strangers —three guys and three girls […]
The Unsettling “Pacifist” World of Deltarune
It’s no secret that I love Undertale. I think it’s a masterpiece of heart, soul and meta gaming commentary, and I thought I’d never play a game like it again. At least, until Halloween this year, when the creator surprise dropped… something on Twitter. A demo. A first chapter. A three hour gaming experience. A […]
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is the Feminism of Nightmares
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a “feminist” dystopia. On the surface, it invokes a delicious power fantasy — the sort of vengeful female world that misogynists fear — but in reality its power is another trap, luring rebellious girls into even greater restriction and oppression. Back to the 1950s Greendale is a highly traditional and […]
Free Choice (To Kill Feminists) in Red Dead Redemption 2
Last week, Youtuber Shirrako uploaded a series of videos centered around torturing a Suffragette character in Red Dead Redemption 2. In the videos, with titles like “Beating Up Annoying Feminist” and “Annoying Feminist Fed to Pigs,” Shirrako found inventive ways to torment the campaigner for women’s votes, including throwing her down mine shafts and feeding […]
Night in the Woods
Until the final chapter of Night in the Woods, I was convinced I was going to give it a rapturous review. The game follows the daily life of Mae, a girl who just dropped out of college for reasons unmentioned and returned to her small hometown. It’s mostly a slice-of-life visual-novel-with-minigames, as you explore the slowly […]
Quick Questions from the Search Terms
An idea stolen, with much love and appreciation, from Captain Awkward. Why Cersei is not a feminist hero You can take your pick, really. She murders people. She expressea a lot of internalised misogyny, explicitly hating pretty much every woman who isn’t herself. She tortures people. She killed Lady! She murders people. You can argue that […]
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Struggling with Sexism in East Asian Dramas
When it comes to “problematic things I enjoy anyway,” my biggest guilty pleasure is East Asian dramas. Typically Japanese ones, as that’s the language that I (sort of) speak, but now I’ve started to study Chinese, I’ve added those to my viewing line-up too. Most recently, I’ve been watching a very silly Taiwanese drama called Miss In Kiss, which is a […]
The Legends of Catherine Howard
It’s almost impossible to find fiction (or even non-fiction) about Catherine Howard that doesn’t paint her in an extremely negative light. The historical facts, in brief, are like this: the teenage Catherine came to Henry VIII’s court as a maid in waiting to the new queen, Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Henry married Catherine very […]
Tangled: Before Ever After
Disclaimer: Tangled is my favorite movie. Not just my favorite Disney movie. My favorite movie. So when Disney announced they were making an animated TV show, I was very excited and very skeptical. I couldn’t wait to watch it. So, was it good? The short answer is yes. If you like Disney and cuteness and badass female characters, […]