Enjoyed this listen, modern and feminist!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

This is the audiobook version of Lady Sidekick: 50 Tired Tropes for Women which came out in October 2020. It was an illustrated book so I'm assuming from the sample of the ebook involves a lot of illustrations and was just sort of a list, but I might have to buy to find out what 'The Mute' is because a trope I spend a lot of time on but have not heard many others talk about (nevermind it's nothing, the short description is nothing). Maybe I should have compiled a list so we could compare what is and isn't in the audiobook version.

I went back and did it. Some of the tropes are named differently, but at glance, it seems they are the same and include a new one that wasn’t in the illustrated book at all.

Covers several tropes including the racist, classist, ableist and queerphobic ones. Of course, all these go hand in hand with sexism. It's also trans-inclusive so all woman are here. It's quite a short books, so doesn't go into details with each trope (probably 10 to 20 minutes to each), it's more a glance at these tropes and how they are harmful.

This book is quite tropical, even mentioning the mess that is Sia's ableist musical before it was realised but we all knew how bad that as gonna be from the trailers and then the twitter tantrum she had when Autistic people we're not impressed. It also includes Rosie Jones, Jade Anouka and Alya Mooro talking about tropes that affect them.

They are skits in this audiobook and they are the weakest part of the book. That is also the whole of the illustrated book. The audiobook actually discusses the trope, where the illustrated book is a coffee table book that is basically just a list with illustrations that sort of go with the trope.

As a writer/mass fiction consumer, I was aware of these tropes and I do disagree with the way some of them are analysed. The Final Girl one kinda missed the mark and sounds like Anneka Harry doesn't watch horror films, she just knows that Final Girl is a trope and it's linked to attitudes about sex. The Final Girl trope is really complicated, because it's part of genre that will push the limits of rating boards, meaning you will hire people solely based on what they're willing to do on camera. You gonna hire the best actress to carry your movie while getting your rating from an extra willing to go topless. I could write an essay about what was an easy production choice and what is an actual story choice when it comes to this trope but I'll just leave you with that it's argued that Evil Dead has a Final Boy.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for False Clichés. This book is very light and if you want to do actual theory stuff go away, but the personal anecdotes are good. If you want personal and possible funny (comedy is subjective), then this is a good listen. I wouldn't recommend the illustrated book to actually read though. There's nothing really there but maybe as gift.

You know what? I enjoyed this audiobook, sceptical as I was. I definitely got at least 3 laughs out of it. An extra star for not being too full of itself.

Okay, look, it can be confusing. The audiobook has 20 tired tropes for women in TV and cinema. The book version, by which I mean the print version, has 50. I haven't read the book version and this kind of discrepancy mildly annoys me. However. However. This audiobook has a few extra punches in the form of guest narrators which I'm merely ASSUMING does not exist in the print version, making it into some sort of a glorified podcast series. Plus, the author-narrator herself breaks into a song at one point and dramatic-reads (is that a verb?) some of the content. She's a voiceover artist AND comedian, so generally, the audiobook is very, very well performed. I actually rewinded and listened to some of it again after I reached the end, because I wasn't ready to say bye yet.

You know, I got through 19 of the tropes and I was quite satisfied, when the 20th one came on. A Bollywood trope. As an actual Indian, I was very surprised and assumed it would be the trope of the Indian immigrant in Western pop culture, but this one was an actual somewhat-deep dive into Bollywood heroines. If this isn't peak 2021 feminism, I don't know what else is (I probably don't). She obviously butchered the pronunciations, but probably butchered some other pronunciations as well and I wouldn't know any better. But it was all very pleasant. Also, might I add, the book very much refers to Donald Trump in the past and Kamala Harris as the present vice-president so it's very nicely up to date. I'm imagining the author had to add a few lines on the day of recording itself, and props for that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher and author!

An examination of the dire, dated and quite frankly, idiotic tropes of women in popular culture. Doesn’t sound like a riveting listen, does it?

But, thankfully, this isn’t a boring, preachy rant. Writer and comedy performer Anneka Harry gets her incisive points across with humour, and a satisfying dollop of sarcasm. (Some may consider it the lowest form of wit, but she uses it to excellent effect.)

The Fat Girl, Struggling Single Mum, Depraved Bisexual and Damsel in Distress. Just 4 of the 20 tropes that Harry puts under the spotlight. And you’ll recognise most, if not all, of the rest.

The further you go into this scathing dissection of misogynist, racist, ableist and homophobic tropes, the more you realise just how damaging they are. It also becomes clear that they’re the pillars on which a depressingly large amount of films, books, adverts, novels and TV programmes are built.

Stand-up comedian Rosie Jones, actor and poet Jade Anouka and author and journalist Alya Mooro make guest appearances. And they’re great inclusions. They have personal experience of dealing with the negative impacts of the Inspirationally Disabled Girl, Angry Black Woman and Muslim Woman tropes. So the way they speak about them is illuminating and powerful.

Lady Sidekick’s a thoughtful, engaging and entertaining contribution to the much-needed discussion about representation.

‘Lady Sidekick’ - Yes! Just a big yes for this whole audiobook. It was brilliant, funny and wonderful. Uplifting, inspiring and I loved the whole subject content and it was done so well.

This audiobook goes through a series of different tropes - like ‘being a tomboy’, the femme fatale, the ‘English Rose’ and damsel in distress to name a few. It was so on point and I didn’t even associate some of the tropes mentioned as even being tropes, but upon listening - yup, so true!

There’s so many stereotypes floating around our society, entrenched in our lives going way way back. The book drew on a few notable examples through history and more recently, it was interesting to see its progress throughout time. And it was nice to read also how some of these tropes are changing, but also highlighting in a lot of ways, the room for improvements with a long way to go!

The book goes through 20 different tired tropes, how they originated, examples in media, fiction and the real world with plenty of tongue in cheek humour - I loved it!

I love how this is written too. It’s funny, light hearted and so personable, relatable and just fab. It’s greatly narrated and I love the addition of the few guest narrators who lended their experiences and voices to a few of the chapters.

I found myself nodding in sympathy and in solidarity with many of the archetypal tropes and representation of women in media and popular culture. I would definitely recommend everyone and all to pick this up for a listen. I could have listened to more and it was an overall, entertaining and interesting awesome audio.

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<p><em>Lady Sidekick</em> is a high energy deep dive into "20 tired tropes for women" in film and TV in the western world, written and performed by comedian/writer/woman of many skills, Anneka Harry.</p>
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<p>To say I'm a bit of a film nerd would be an understatement. My Youtube history is filled with hour long video essays by Lindsay Ellis, Cold Crash Pictures and Melina Pendulum, as well as bite-sized daily content from What Culture and The Take. So when I saw <em>Lady Sidekick</em> on NetGalley I requested it immediately. </p>
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<p>Having not come across Harry's work before I admit I came into the audiobook with a 'of course they went with a white woman' attitude, but from the opening alone my fears were dispelled as Harry emphasizes that this is only a look at western media and a small part of a much bigger picture of how women are portrayed in film and TV. Despite focusing on just twenty tropes, Harry encompasses sexuality, disability, race and gender into her analysis, speaking on her own experience as a lesbian and featuring guests who can offer a first hand perspective on other identities within womanhood. The self awareness and scope present in this less than five hour long listen was refreshing to hear and I'm adding Harry's previous audiobook <em>Gender Rebels </em>to my to-listen pile.</p>
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<p>Split into chapters between 10-20 minutes long Harry provides a description of the trope in question, how it came about and the negative impact it can have on women plus the knock on negative impact it can have on men. She dives into the roots of the stereotype, some founded in sexism, others racism, ableism or homophobia, then moves onto the historical contexts it progressed under and how it's still alive and well on our screens today. There's discussion of the infamous Hays code which erased most of the LGBTQI+ and female led representation in film prior to the 1930's and the historical context of the 'Tom Boy' which was eye opening for me. Though short each chapter is rich in detail and provides a well rounded summary of the focused trope.</p>
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<p>Harry is a compelling narrator, with the right mix of authority and warmth to really get you invested into what she's saying. It may be because I spent the latter half of my childhood in the midlands myself but I revelled in the realness of her accent and the friendliness she seems to just exude. I only intended to listen for an hour long session but wound up listening for four hours without realising, and would have finished it in one session if I hadn't had a Zoom event to attend. The sections by the contributors were also equally delightful to listen to. Rosie Jones has such a dry sense of humor that she made me giggle snort more than once and both Jade Anouka &amp; Alya Moore's pieces were stunning. </p>
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<p>There was a section on Alexa Chung that for me seemed out of place tonally (though may be down to the fact satire goes over my head) though my main criticism would be its length. I want more! I'd love for their to be a whole collection of <em>Lady Sidekick</em> on different themes, with the guest speakers hosting relevant topics. Gender studies and film often go in hand in hand as it's a way to discuss serious topics without coming across as preachy and I would love to see more of this commercially available. </p>
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Timely and brilliant, and a great listen in audio. I liked the addition of different cast members too. Funny and charming and insightful.