Trope Confessions

Maggie and Aya discuss their favorite trope.... evil boyfriends! This episode is not an endorsement of bad behavior. Works mentioned: Star Wars, the Grishaverse, 50 Shades of Grey, Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, Dr. Horrible, Firefly, Buffy, A Discovery of Witches, Beauty and the Beast, The Shape of Water, Axiom's End, Gone Girl, Breaking Bad, How I Met Your Mother, and SHREK.

Maggie and Aya get a little personal in this episode, in which we discuss how instances of sex-on-page (or screen) influenced our ideas about sex and as teens. Works under discussion: Twilight, His Dark Materials, the Princess Diaries, Tamora Pierce's work, Gilmore Girls, 50 Shades of Grey, the Flame and the Flower, A Court of Thorns and Roses. Left out for this discussion but worthy examples of this or related tropes: Sixteen Candles, House of Night, Dirty Dancing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Trope Confessors sit down with Star Wars aficionado Wendell Britt of Integral Emergence. Maggie learns that the Star Wars books might be worth reading.

This is the first episode of a new segment: Spoiler Alert! Our first recap and exploration will be of: Gilmore Girls! Also known as Maggie's favorite show. Listen in as Maggie explains the goodness to Aya and Sam. And tune in soon for Star Wars!

As a child, did you ever pretend to be an orphan? We did. We explore how common this trope is and when it works for us and when it doesn't. 

Okay! We'll admit it! We love the cursed love triangle. Works mentioned in today's episode: Twilight (duh) by Stephanie Meyer, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo; Gilmore Girls, Legally Blonde, The Legend of Korra, Mean Girls, Adventure Time.

In the wake of JKR revealing her whole hand in her new book (a guy dresses as a woman to kill people, yikes) we decided to look at the ways JKR's transphobia shows up in the beloved Harry Potter series. Actually, that's a total lie, we recorded this in July. For a good time, drink every time one of us says "problematic."

Back in July, Maggie and Aya spent some time thinking about the things JK Rowling has said online. Realizing that not everyone is as Extremely Online as we are, we break down what she said and why it matters. Stay tuned for Part Two, coming soon, when we discuss the ways in which her viewpoints show up in the beloved book series itself.

Maggie confesses to liking the Special Girl. Aya worries they might be that annoying, special person. Both of them misuse the word "Bestowed". Aya gets excited about Star Wars.

Meet your new One True Pairing! Maggie and Aya discuss the future of Trope Confessions: topics we may cover, tangents we may get stuck on, and of course, evil boyfriends. There are also two very special confessions.