I’ve been thinking about how portal fantasies - you know, where a character travels through some sort of portal into a fantasy world - often have girls as their main characters. Alice falls down the rabbit hole, Dorothy gets tornadoed to Oz, Coraline crawls through the secret door to the Other World, Lucy is the first Pevensie to go through the wardrobe, Wendy specifically is invited to accompany Peter to Neverland.
I know this is r/books but this trend seems to extend to movies too. Pan’s Labyrinth, Spirited Away, and Labyrinth all have girl protagonists. I’m having a hard time even thinking of boys in portal fantasies. Bastian (Neverending Story) is one, although the movie version doesn’t really show him portaling until the sequels. I guess The Pagemaster (1994 movie that maybe just rips off Neverending Story?) could count. And the other Pevensies and Darlings accompany their sisters through the portals, but they’re secondary to the girls.
I wondered if anyone here had any theories about why portals seem to draw in so many girls. I have some of my own but I’m curious what others think.
I’ll probably come back to expand properly when it’s not super late and I’m super sleepy but I want to bring attention to a portal fantasy book series I wish more people knew about
The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville
It stars a female protagonist for the lists all are making of boy v. girl versions lol However, it’s a 90s Scholastic Book Fair classic
I think female protagonists are possibly more popular than male (I honestly cannot say what is true, I don’t know) when it comes to this specific genre is a mix of what everyone else has said but here’s my specific take (please take with a grain of salt, I’ll reiterate I’m posting under the influence of sleep):
(Also note I was born in 1990 Ontario Canada a cis woman, so this is my specific perspective)
In the same way that men/boys are socially allowed to have adventures and don’t quite need another world nor a portal to make a name for themselves and be a hero, men/boys aren’t typically socially allowed to have these adventures the same way women/girls do
You know those jokes about how people expect girls to play vs how they actually do? How majority of western girls can attest to the drama they put their toys through, the very adult themes girls can act out through play as young as 6-7yrs old, it’s not coded into boys
Girls are, inadvertently or not, taught to be more emotionally mature/intelligent from the get go. We’re caretakers and peacemakers and we’re always told to let things go or get over it, don’t rock the boat, be easy and flexible because a boy needs to be loud and rough and tumble (I hope that by now these stereotypes are being thrown away; I’m not a parent, myself)
Boys can get away with anything and always get what they want. They’re boys, it’s expected that they’re mean, dirty, strong, leaders
Portal fantasy means to me, as the young girl I was and the woman I am today, the penultimate escape fantasy. Even when things are dangerous and difficult, it’s never BECAUSE you’re a girl but it resonates with you for that reason
You are your own person, you are a hero, you are liked and loved and hated and despised and it’s because of who you are, not what your biology is
It’s permission to be the boy, to experience what it’s like to be the center of attention on the forefront of everyone’s mind and there’s magic or something?? Hell yeah
I don’t feel like I’m explaining myself well enough so I’ll stop here lol
Honestly, The Never Ending Story (book of course) is, imo, more like a girl portal fantasy despite being a male protagonist
It’s more about relationships, self image, emotional/mental growth, consequences, confidence, SO MUCH weight to that story lol