Feminist Frequency Radio

FFR 54: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Episode Summary

This week, we’re off to Greendale to spend some time with the new Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina! The latest incarnation of the teenage witch who originated in comics in the early 1960s and who famously had her own TV show in the 1990s, The Chilling Adventures takes a creepier approach, with plenty of references to Satan and all manner of genuinely scary and sinister happenings plaguing the mere mortal townsfolk of Greendale. Our conversation touches on the show’s attempts to establish its feminist bonafides, its handling of characters of color and a character who is gender-nonconforming, the ways in which it tries to be simultaneously scary and silly, and more.

Episode Notes

This week, we’re off to Greendale to spend some time with the new Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina! The latest incarnation of the teenage witch who originated in comics in the early 1960s and who famously had her own TV show in the 1990s, The Chilling Adventures takes a creepier approach, with plenty of references to Satan and all manner of genuinely scary and sinister happenings plaguing the mere mortal townsfolk of Greendale. Our conversation touches on the show’s attempts to establish its feminist bonafides, its handling of characters of color and a character who is gender-nonconforming, the ways in which it tries to be simultaneously scary and silly, and more.

SEGMENT TIMESTAMPS:

01:40 Entertainment News: Women kiss at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; transphobic responses to Dwight Howard allegations

09:20 The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

39:40 What’s Your FREQ-Out?

RELEVANT LINKS:

In Defense of Prudence Night on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Angelica Bastien: https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-prudence-black-witches.html

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann: https://www.amazon.com/1491-Second-Revelations-Americas-Columbus-ebook/dp/B000JMKVE4

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn: https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-ebook/dp/B015XEWZHI