• Glowstick@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    5 days ago

    The character itself is DOA. “It’s Superman - but this time it’s a girl!!” Um, ok. How’s about a character who is their own thing, not just a female version of an originally male character

      • searabbit@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        5 days ago

        Is it clueless audience’s fault that her superhero name sucks? Because I’m sure I’m not the only one that completely avoids female superhero movies/shows with stupid unoriginal names like “super girl” and “she hulk”.

        • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 days ago

          Not sure why you think “supergirl” is any more stupid than “Superman”. Less original, sure, but nothing would indicate that a Superman movie would be inherently better/less stupid than a supergirl movie. The supergirl movie also made a point of showing how distinct it was from the Superman movie by not even taking place on the same planet. There was even a clip of her in the Superman movie showing her in direct contrast to him.

          It’s fine to say the movie sucks, but if an audience is turned away by just her name, I do think there’s an element of misogyny there. Makes me wonder if “superboy” would do better instead. The character was imagined at a time when things centered men and so her name is defined by that, but her actions are not just Superman redux. She has her own story, but it’s possible her name keeps her in his shadow for general audiences.

      • cAUzapNEAGLb@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 days ago

        The story that introduced the character was drawn by Al Plastino and written by Otto Binder. Years earlier, Binder had co-created Mary Marvel, the sister of Captain Marvel.[4] Like Supergirl, Mary Marvel was a teenage female version of an adult male superhero, wearing a costume that was identical to the older character’s other than substituting a short skirt for tight trousers. (Binder also created Marvel Comics’ Miss America, a superhero who shared little other than the name with her sometime co-star Captain America.)

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergirl

        Its seems rather explicit - she was invented because the comic book creators wanted a femme superman - and so copy pasted the idea

        Im not saying its right, im actually thinking that it is sexist and a product and fad of its era - and to erase it with retconned lore glosses over the very real human issues we face as a society that dimmenishes femme content as simply masc-in-drag content - im sure the modern movie is more timely and modern in its perspective - but to ignore the origins and further to insult the correct assumption i think is invalid

        • charokol@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          4 days ago

          She has had decades of stories and development since then that have made her distinctly not “Superman, but a girl“

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 days ago

        Right? I saw the gladiator movie, and I saw the DaVinciCode movie. It’s just people in fucking Rome, running and fighting. These people have names, and fucking hair, and ears too. They’re the same movie. Such cheese.

      • Glowstick@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        5 days ago

        You don’t get it. Their backstory and personality is way below who the character is at the top level. Their name is supergirl, a copy of superman. Their outfit is exactly the same as superman, but now with a skirt. They presumably have a similar origin story of getting their powers from being at least partially kryptonian, with nearly all the same range of powers and weaknesses.

        It’s lame. Making a female variation of an existing male character is weak at a fundamental level that can’t be overcome. A good character is original, not a variation copy

        • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          5 days ago

          And it’s a woman living in the shadow of a man, which seems completely counterintuitive to supporting women. Like I want it to exist because we absolutely need more feminine voices, faces, and ideas in the comic and movie spaces, but this comes off like opportunistic 1:1 copypasta written by a man and a focus group.

          I’ll also preface that I’m not familiar with the Supergirl comics but I’m sure they’re far better and more nuanced. Perhaps the whole point is that she’s taking back a normally masculine symbol and making it her own. But based on what I’ve seen of the film, it’s not doing a stellar job of conveying that.

          • Glowstick@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            5 days ago

            Yup, supergirl may’ve been feminist for its time, but at this point in history it’s anti-feminist. A woman character should be her own fully original being, not a female variation of an existing man.

            • Notyou@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              5 days ago

              Wonder Woman was (is still) feminist for its time. They just had to make it that her only weakness was if she got bound or shackled by a man.

              • Glowstick@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                5 days ago

                Hah i didn’t know about that last part, but yeah exactly perfect example. Wonder Woman is her own original self. And there’s plenty more fully originals, Black Widow, Phoenix, Invisible Woman, Storm, Jubilee, Emma Frost, Captain Marvel, Scarlett Witch, Rouge, and on and on.

    • Steve@communick.news
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      Did you watch the trailer? They did that. Granted Supergirl is traditionally just Superman-but-a-woman. This version though seems very much her own character. Nothing in common accept the powers.

      • Glowstick@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        5 days ago

        The name

        The costume

        The origin story

        The type of powers

        The type of weaknesses

        … It’s mostly Superman.

          • Glowstick@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            4 days ago

            If a human character exists and then a sequel human character in the same universe has basically the same:

            Name

            Costume

            Origin story

            Powers

            Weaknesses

            … then that second human character is just an unoriginal variation copy of the original character.

            • Steve@communick.news
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              4 days ago

              Let me try again. All humans in any non-fantasy story, are born on the same planet, with the same origin. They have the same powers and weaknesses. All your left with to distinguish one human from another in your view, seems their names and clothing.

              Am I wrong?

              • Glowstick@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                4 days ago

                Yes, you’re wrong. Basically none of those statements is accurate. When literally everyone is born on the same planet then it’s not part of your backstory. And everyone has different powers and weaknesses

                • Steve@communick.news
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  4 days ago

                  And you don’t think two characters born on the same alien planet, can have different backstories, the same way two humans born on the same earth can?