What We Loved in Prime Video’s ‘Paper Girls’ Adaptation
Based on the comic book series by Brain K. Vaughan, ‘Paper Girls’ is created by Stephany Folsom and stars Ali Wong, Adina Porter and others
A still from 'Paper Girls.'
Prime Video’s newest sci-fi series is the female-driven Paper Girls. A time travel story, the show follows four young girls who, while out delivering papers on the morning after Halloween in 1988, find themselves on an adventure to seal the fate of the world. Interestingly, these girls also meet future versions of themselves. Science fiction? Check. Girls and women? Check. Growth, evolution and entertainment? Check. Well, sign me up! Based on the comic book series Brain K. Vaughan, the show is an adaptation that gets quite a lot right. Here’s what we loved in Paper Girls:
1. Girl power
The Paper Girls narrative centers on four protagonists and their future selves who happen to be female and saving the world. It’s a refreshing change of pace as pop culture sees a slew of female-oriented offerings in the last few years, especially with groundbreaking shows like Ms. Marvel, Fringe, The Handmaid’s Tale, Supergirl and more. Our excitement levels peaked as we witnessed the girl power in this series where our protagonists meet an antagonistic time-traveler faction as well as their future selves.
2. Feminism
It’s 2022 and Paper Girls centers on four female protagonists. It certainly passes the Bechdel Test as well as represents Feminism intersectionally. We see Black, Asian and queer characters who are breathed life into via the spectacular show. The makers also do justice to oft sidelined roles and narratives in the Paper Girls adaptation on Prime Video.
3. Time travel
Time travel narratives are always fun. Whether it be Timeless, The Umbrella Academy, Dark, Loki or more, these stories tend to be adventurous and escapist. As we live in an ongoing pandemic, we could all use a break from our timeline and travel to different eras through pop culture. And Paper Girls does just that with its imaginative and relatable sci-fi premise!
4. Friendship
Ah, friendship — the one relationship that’s perhaps the deepest and most rewarding bond in life. Paper Girls follows four girls who become friends over time as they battle the odds to save the future. Their exchanges are super engaging in the series and it was thrilling to see Erin (Riley Lai Nelet), Mac (Sofia Rosinsky), KJ (Fina Strazza) and Tiffany (Camryn Jones) develop a friendship that quite literally lasts through the ages.
5. The comic book-to-screen changes
As with every adaptation, we can expect to see the makers take creative liberties. Given that Paper Girls has been adapted into a show, we enjoyed how the memorable characters were a lot more fleshed out along with the plot. We were also delighted by the Prime Video series’ treatment of the sci-fi world of the comic book, the dynamic visuals and how well the book-to-screen changes have been demonstrated in the adaptation!
