Q2

Text 2 — Magazine article extract
How does Fidge explore the impact of role models in her childhood?

Text 2 — Magazine article extract
An ode[1] to our childhood idols Where I grew up . . . there was a channel desperate to see strong women – or more dedicated to shows for kids – YTV. It was accurately, just women doing anything the go-to station for me and my older sister remotely interesting. The “token female in the early 1990s and we’d always watch our character in a swarm of men” schtick[3] favourite show: She-Ra . . . the eight-foot-tall is still very much around in entertainment; cartoon superhero with long blonde hair and and back then it felt like every woman was a flying unicorn sidekick. She-Ra was made a princess . . . helpless, wearing pink frills and for me and my sister – freakishly blonde desperate to be saved. She-Ra didn’t need kids with unicorn obsessions. And I mean saving; she had a freaking sword! that kinda literally: her character came about in 1985 as a long-lost sister to an existing There wasn’t much she couldn’t do, and if superhero, He-Man, to appeal to young there was, she’d recruit her hero brother, girls. Cynical cash grab? Sure. But for a her sidekick Swift Wind (the unicorn) and preschool-aged little me, it was revolutionary whichever kindly character happened to be seeing a powerful woman get to do all the in the episode at that time. A team of goodies cool stuff reserved for guys, like use swords fighting the forces of evil – a childhood and have a personality. classic for a reason . . . She was the first superhero I remember Tragedy struck when the youth channel airing learning about and her transformation from the show underwent scheduling changes and human Adora into hero She-Ra was the best those crazy bigwigs decided to take She-Ra off part of the show. She’d raise her mighty sword the air. This was devastating. My mother . . . in the air, cry “for the honour of Grayskull, encouraged us to speak truth to power in I am She-Ra” and KABLAMMO! . . . she the only way children in the early ’90s was in superhero mode, ready to fight bad could: we hand-wrote letters to the station guys and talk to animals and SAVE THE to express our disappointment. My sister’s KINGDOM. Or something. I don’t really letter was articulate and polite, arguing for remember much of She-Ra’s lore[2], to be the importance of female role models on TV. honest. But her impact was monumental in Mine was more direct: “Put back She-Ra. my household. Do it . . . NOW!! ” They didn’t change their decision, but another lesson She-Ra taught My sister and I were, like many girls in me was that sometimes the good guys don’t the ’90s (and before then), unconsciously always win.
DEIRDRE FIDGE HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO An excerpt from magazine article HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO © Frankie Press
[1] ode tribute
[2] lore a body of tradition or knowledge
[3] schtick stereotype