Or ‘Extraneous Fangirling’ as I subtitled this episode while editing it. And in truth there is a fair bit of fangirling, but there’s also a lot of critical reflection to go with it. Because when we looked back at the books and shows we enjoyed as kids, we found some unsettling similarities. We remembered female characters for their femininity, as damsels or wives, not as heroes with their own interior journeys.

Ducky from The Land Before Time

But maybe what these stories lacked in gender equality, they made up for in theme and content. We ask: how has children’s entertainment changed? What sort of female heroes are taking their destinies in both hands today? And have we been looking at this whole question from a Western perspective? Listen on…


Mentioned in this episode:

  • Star Wars
  • The Land Before Time
  • Dogtanian
  • The Muppets (Christmas Carol & Treasure Island)
  • The Animals of Farthing Wood
  • Around the World with Willy Fogg
  • Labyrinth
  • The Dark Crystal
  • Phineas and Ferb
  • Steven Universe
  • Little Witch Academia
  • Gravity Falls
  • Ben and Holly
  • Peppa Pig
  • The Adams Family
  • Gargoyles
  • The Dragon Prince
  • Avatar TLA & Korra
  • She-Ra (2018)
  • Spirited Away
  • Whisper of the Heart
  • Nausicaรค of the Valley of the Wind
  • Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Jungle Book
  • Mulan (1998)
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • The Little Mermaid
  • Aladdin (2019) and (1992)
  • Robin Hood (1973)
  • Mandy and Judy (comic)
  • The Beano
  • The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton
  • Which Witch by Eva Ibbotson
  • Point Horror
  • Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
  • The Whitby Witches and The Deptford Histories by Robin Jarvis