Paper Girls: Fina Strazza shares why the series will not glorify the 1980s
Paper Girls is a new science fiction drama series that follows four tween girls in 1988 who all work delivering newspapers in their town. But their lives are disrupted when they suddenly find themselves in 2019, unsure of how they got there. “While searching for a way home, they clash with members of two time-jumping factions at war, and must come face-to-face with their adult selves and learn how to work together to save the world.”
The cast and creators of Paper Girls reunited at San Diego Comic-Con to introduce fans to the series and talk about the characters and themes explored on the show. One of the recurring thoughts on the panel was how Paper Girls will be more of an anti-nostalgia to the 1980s, unlike other popular series that glorify the time. Creator Brian K. Vaughan went as far to say, “This isn’t so much a love letter to the ’80s as it is a death threat.”
15-year old actress Fina Strazza, who plays KJ Brandman in the series, also spoke on how her knowledge of the 1980s influenced how she played her character. “I know that [KJ’s] arc is very important to a lot of people,” she said. “And so I wanted to make sure that I approached it very delicately, and, you know, made sure it was told truthfully and with dignity.”
Strazza went on to say her mother taught her about the stigmas surrounding the HIV/AIDS crisis at the time, and the homophobia that fueled it. “The homophobia that circulates in television and movies and just clearly the pop culture of the time, it’s very apparent,” she said. The panel made it clear this is something Paper Girls will acknowledge rather than ignore.
Paper Girls trailer
Watch the trailer for Paper Girls below to learn more about these characters and the trouble they run into while accidentally time-traveling from 1988 to 2019 during their paper routes — and see what happens when one of the girls runs into the older version of herself.
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Paper Girls comes to Amazon Prime Video on July 29, 2022 with all eight episodes available to stream.