Where’s Supergirl?
Originally posted 10th November 2015 * Greg T. Miraglia
We all would like to believe that it is a giant leap forward for network television to finally bring another caped superheroine to our television screens or Ipad, or tablets, etc., but if you take a detailed look at Supergirl you notice it’s still a male controlled story of how women are weaker than men. I by no means agree with this, but that’s how the show is being written. Kat Grant says it herself, women have to work harder to be respected, but this interpretation of Supergirl’s story is not working very hard.
Let’s look at the obviously guy-centric superheroes: Clark Kent in Smallville, Green Arrow in Arrow, Jim Gordon in Gotham, and what do they have in common? They all immediately started out pushing people away and creating solitude, whether it was because they thought they would hurt the people they cared about or because they attract the danger that would hurt the people they cared about. The bottom line is they went a season or in the case of Arrow three seasons thinking they could do it themselves.
As a writer I can tell you that making your character push people away gives the story some drama, and keeps the story interesting to start. Supergirl resolved this issue in the first two episodes, declaring that she isn’t going to do things the way superman does (Hopefully she quits the newspaper and gets new outfit in the future). It’s obvious from the first two episodes in which our heroine constantly gets her butt saved by supporting characters that the writers never intended for this female hero to stand on her own. They wrote the hero to accept help, instead of pushing against it. Every female hero written for television accepts help, and works within a team.
It’s a recurring issue, even in the early 2000’s when WB released, Birds of Prey, it was a team of women. When are we going to see a solo female that doesn’t need the government or a bunch of groupies to save the day?
Also if you were Kara-El, would fly around in a mini-skirt? We need female superheroes that can be respected. Give this hero some respect.