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Sep 14Liked by Rowan Davies

I love this! The Live Aid anecdote really made me laugh (how exciting you were there btw!) and this definitely makes me want to go away and analyse the female characters I come across in film and literature. My instinct is to say that characters who always do what they are supposed to tend not to be narratively interesting, whether male or female, but I take your point that in these circumstances women tend to be afforded less agency. I’m interested to go back and reread Rebecca now. I think it is telling that I can recall the firecracker titular main character who never appears in the book far more clearly than the actual protagonist.

Such an interesting and thought-provoking read. Thank you!

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Thank you! Live Aid was absolutely amazing, just a totally overwhelming experience (annoyingly it was not my first gig, but it was only my second). Also aaargh, you've made me realise I talk about 'Rebecca de Winter' rather than 'the second Mrs de Winter' in the penultimate para, which just goes to show how right you are. I've fixed it now, but thank you

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Going to need to read this a few more times before contributing something more than a triggered "ohmygod".

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This whole topic was so deeply buried that it took me ages to drag it out of my subconscious.

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Did you tell your parents what had happened? 😳

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No! I'm quite glad I didn't (I think). They were generally extremely good parents - I have very, very little to complain about. And now I'm a parent too I've got a greater appreciation for how easy it is to screw up without meaning to. Also, tbh, I quite like sulking ;-)

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Ha, highly relatable. I was triggered because when we rewatched all our childhood home videos recently I'm barely in any of it. Sometimes I start talking to camera and it just cuts off 😭

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Oh no. I'm sorry. I had something very similar when I went through my parents' vast collection of family photos - or, should I say, vast collection of photos of my brother, in which I occasionally feature. It does set off a bit of a bomb in your head doesn't it.

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Have you heard Firecracker Girls’ new cassingle? It’s awesome :)

Thanks The Metropolitan for making my Saturday morning most enjoyable! X

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I actually just Googled 'Firecracker Girls' because I wasn't sure whether that was true! Thanks Mags x

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