Monstrous

In 2002, My Big Fat Greek Wedding told us what a woman's happy ending looks like: transformation, marriage, and belonging. It was funny, warm, and enormously successful. It was also telling a very old story.

In this first episode, writer Hayley Davis deconstructs the film to examine two myths that run through almost every story we consume: that in order for a woman to get what she wants, she must first become more attractive — and that what she ultimately wants, above everything else, is to get married.

Academic, author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri then traces where Western beauty standards actually came from — how a specific set of physical markers became globalised, naturalised, and made to feel inevitable.

And then we visit hairdresser, textured hair specialist and business owner Subrina Kidd at her private studio in Dalston. Subrina has built a career that includes editorial shoots for British Vogue and Vanity Fair and clients including Jennifer Hudson and Naomie Harris — and she has done it entirely on her own terms, structuring her business around the life she wants to live rather than the other way around.

This episode asks: what does it actually look like to want more? And is it possible to build something different, bit by bit, without asking anyone's permission?