'Pilot'
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Superman's cousin undertakes her own heroic acts to protect her city.
Supergirl was created by Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisberg, airing on the CW network. It stars Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El who is revealed to be Supergirl, Superman's cousin. It began in 2015, with 65 episodes airing so far. The third season is currently airing.
Analysis:
Gender, stereotypes, and agency
The most interesting thing about this show is how it challenges the typical stereotypes associated with superheroes.
This is done not only though the character of Supergirl, but also through her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers, and her boss, Cat Grant.
Supergirl is originally sent to Earth to protect Superman, but when Krypton explodes her pod is thrown off course and she ends up arriving years later, once Superman is already famous and protecting Metropolis. Therefore, at first she has no mission and is sent to live with an adoptive family, the Danvers, as Superman sees fit. This fits the superhero stereotype as he creates the plot so has the most agency initially.
However, when a plane with her sister on it is destined to crash into the city, Kara decides to use her long hidden powers to save the passengers. This creates the phenomenon of Supergirl.
After this her agency is briefly undermined when she is taken down by an agency whose mission is to stop humans discovering extra-terrestrial beings, but it turns out her sister is behind this, and Supergirl soon escapes.
She then battles her first villain, who turns out to be a man who is much larger than her. The first time they battle, she loses, but the second time she wins, and takes him down.
The character of Supergirl therefore successfully subverts the traditional stereotypes of superheroes and gender by creating and driving her own plot in order to save the citizens of her city, National City.
Supergirl's adoptive sister, Alex, also has her own agency. When Supergirl originally saves the plane she is mad at her, and tells her she is not to do anything like that ever again. Therefore, this causes conflict between the two women, because their agencies are briefly opposed, however, when it is discovered that Alex is behind the agency who bring Kara in, it is discovered she is only trying to protect her.
Alex's agency is undermined by her boss's as he is the director of the agency and makes all the decision. However, her and Supergirl both still fight for what they want, and cause him to change his decisions.
Overall, the two women are seen to look out for each other, which is refreshing because they are not rivals as can often be the case when two women each have their own agencies. They also pass the Bechdel test, as they talk about something other than a man when they discuss Supergirl's mother, revealing how proactive she also was at protecting Krypton from alien criminals.
Kara's boss, Cat Grant, challenges stereotypes of the 'evil', cut-throat career woman, because although she runs her company in a determined, driven manner, she is seen to be fair rather than overly harsh.
She is who gives Supergirl her name, and for an interesting reason. Kara asks her about why she picked girl rather than woman as it is not as powerful, to which she points out that they are both girls and Kara still sees her boss as being powerful, therefore it is not anti-feminist. I think that this is clever as it shows that all women/girls can have agency and be powerful no matter their age, or whether they are classified as a women or a girl.
Review:
I decided to review this show following on from reviewing The Flash as that show challenged masculine stereotypes by giving its male characters traits which are seen as more traditionally feminine. However, Supergirl aimed to challenge gender stereotypes by telling the type of story typically led by a male hero like Superman, and instead have a female hero drive the narrative. I found this really interesting to watch, as it was far more relatable, not just because she is a woman, but because she is seen as not being indestructible. She fights with the villain and gets hurt because he is much bigger and stronger than she is, however, she doesn't give up and succeeds in the end. This was empowering, and felt important to show on screen, both for representation and also because it gives young girls a role model to look up to. I also liked how her and her sister looked after each other, even though they both had their own agendas, because it was similar to the relationship I have with my own sister. It was similar to The Flash in that she introduced herself through voiceover at the beginning of the episode as well as carried out heroic deeds, but I expected this because of both shows being about superheroes, and airing on the same network. It was still a bit over the top for me in places, but overall, I enjoyed this much more than I did The Flash pilot, because it felt much more equal in that both of the male and female characters had agency, and it challenged what I already know about Superman and his powers. I would love to continue watching this show because it reminded me of the type of thing one of my favourite films, Wonder Woman, was trying to achieve with challenging representations of female superheroes, and therefore of women.
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