Next week, June 29th, Prime Video releases a series based on the Brian K. Vaughan graphic novels, Paper Girls.
What’s It About?
The Amazon byline is straightforward:
It’s the day after Halloween in 1988 when four young friends accidentally stumble into an intense time war and find themselves inexplicably transported to the year 2019. When they come face-to-face with their adult selves, each girl discovers her own strengths as together they try to find a way back to the past while saving the world of the future.
But as we all know, Time Travel isn’t as clean cut as all that. Jumping from 1988 to 2019 would be enough of a shock for anyone (can you imagine jumping from cordless phones being ‘new’ to a world where everyone has a smart phone!?), but doing so and finding out things like you didn’t become the doctor or politician or … worse. What if you died?
The me I wanted to be in 1988 isn’t at all the same as the me I ended up becoming, and that’s okay for me, but it’s not for everyone. Some people wake up with a Kafkaesque revelation that they went the wrong way. None of us ever get to look our future, or past, selves in the face, though. How much would we change if we knew what we’d become? If twelve year old me knew I was 100% going to be a lesbian, a lot of things would be different. No offence meant to my ex boyfriends, they were (mostly) great guys, but if I’d known, I wouldn’t have dated them.
Is it Queer?
In the comics, 100% absolutely yes. There’s a whole plot line for one of the girls who is shown a glimpse of her future and she’s a lesbian. But, for those of us who remember 1988, being out and gay then wasn’t a thing. We still called each other ‘fag’ as an insult (among other terms which no one would use today). Homophobia was raging, and we were a punchline.
So for the girl who figures out future-her is into women? It’s a world changing moment.
But time travel causality loops are also a thing, and since knowing that a lesbian butterfly emerges from her cocoon would change all our past actions, can we return to our own timelines without change or disaster? Or are we all forced to forget who we were in order to become who we will be?
In the comic there’s one answer.
And the stability of time itself depends on that answer.
Watch Paper Girls on 29 July
Check it out on Prime Video. You can check out the trailer:
And the teaser:
Screener Review On Paper Girls
A fast paced series with changing destinations and timelines, that show us who we were, who we are, and how we can change the world. Giant robots included.
Hi, Mika. It’s 29th of july, not june. 😉
Dang it! Fixing 😀 Thank you.
I love the comic book so I’m scared and don’t want to watch it because I have an image of the characters. But after reading this I think I will give it a try; thank you <3
The series is different from the comic (it has to be in order to display things properly — not everything translates perfectly). But as someone who also loved the comics, I think this is a good adaptation. Even if it wasn’t an adaptation, I would tell people to watch it 🙂 It’s a good series, and I hope it gets another season!