So I guess you can just decide to become a reporter. Who knew it was so easy?
These days? Yes.
Journalism, as it pertains to my minor in college, is dead. If you have an ISP and a keyboard, congratulations. You're a journalist. Never mind that you don't understand ethics, the inverted pyramid style of writing, Strunk & White or the AP Stylebook. You have an opinion on something? You're a journalist now.
So Miley Cyrus says since Melissa Benoist is a woman and "not a little girl" that they need to change the name of the show or remove reference to gender altogether because she also wonders "what if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad"
Stick to singing, or whatever it is you do Ms Cyrus, please.
This was addressed on the first episode of the show.
And if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad you're most likely going to tune into this show EVERY FLIPPIN' MONDAY!
Go back to rubbin' your ass on Robin Thicke, Miley. :)
So I guess you can just decide to become a reporter. Who knew it was so easy?
These days? Yes.
Journalism, as it pertains to my minor in college, is dead. If you have an ISP and a keyboard, congratulations. You're a journalist. Never mind that you don't understand ethics, the inverted pyramid style of writing, Strunk & White or the AP Stylebook. You have an opinion on something? You're a journalist now.
QFT!
Had to share this. It's a great example of today's journalism. The local CBS affiliate just ran a news story about their anchors training for a charity road race. I guess they didn't have a cute pet story in the can.
So Miley Cyrus says since Melissa Benoist is a woman and "not a little girl" that they need to change the name of the show or remove reference to gender altogether because she also wonders "what if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad"
Stick to singing, or whatever it is you do Ms Cyrus, please.
This is the reason why two women at my work will not watch the show. One watches all the other DC shows. They both are offended by her name including "girl".
This is the reason why two women at my work will not watch the show. One watches all the other DC shows. They both are offended by her name including "girl".
"Supergirl" executive producer Andrew Kreisberg responded that he stands by the show. He says since it was based on a pre-existing property called "Supergirl," there was never any intention of calling it anything but that. Kreisberg says they worked hard during the show's first season to address the discrepancy between the title and the character's age.
I wonder if the two women at your work knew that Supergirl is actually a legacy character created in and published since 1958. I don't know what I'd think if grown men refused to watch a Hellboy movie because Ron Perlman was clearly portraying an adult man.
Sheesh... what people get offended over these days.
So Miley Cyrus says since Melissa Benoist is a woman and "not a little girl" that they need to change the name of the show or remove reference to gender altogether because she also wonders "what if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad"
Stick to singing, or whatever it is you do Ms Cyrus, please.
This was addressed on the first episode of the show.
And if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad you're most likely going to tune into this show EVERY FLIPPIN' MONDAY!
Go back to rubbin' your ass on Robin Thicke, Miley. :)
It would make more sense for a little girl who wants to be a boy so bad.
This is the reason why two women at my work will not watch the show. One watches all the other DC shows. They both are offended by her name including "girl".
"Supergirl" executive producer Andrew Kreisberg responded that he stands by the show. He says since it was based on a pre-existing property called "Supergirl," there was never any intention of calling it anything but that. Kreisberg says they worked hard during the show's first season to address the discrepancy between the title and the character's age.
I wonder if the two women at your work knew that Supergirl is actually a legacy character created in and published since 1958. I don't know what I'd think if grown men refused to watch a Hellboy movie because Ron Perlman was clearly portraying an adult man.
Sheesh... what people get offended over these days.
Hellboy is not an apt comparison, because there's no Hellwoman for him to appear infantalised in relation to. Nor does the rest of pop culture have a decades long history of infantalising men.
Even John Byrne could figure out that calling an adult superhero "Girl" wasn't a great look in 1985 (even if he didn't fix it in the most subtle way possible).
It's probably far too late to change Supergirl to Superwoman, particularly when her presentation across media is so inconsistent (arguably she makes the most sense in LOSH opposite Superboy and all those other boys, lads, lasses and girls, rather than as the younger cousin of Superman).
But surely it's not that hard to understand why it might be off putting to some, especially those not so au fait with the character's history, that the female superman is a "girl" but the male superman gets to be a "man".
This is the reason why two women at my work will not watch the show. One watches all the other DC shows. They both are offended by her name including "girl".
"Supergirl" executive producer Andrew Kreisberg responded that he stands by the show. He says since it was based on a pre-existing property called "Supergirl," there was never any intention of calling it anything but that. Kreisberg says they worked hard during the show's first season to address the discrepancy between the title and the character's age.
I wonder if the two women at your work knew that Supergirl is actually a legacy character created in and published since 1958. I don't know what I'd think if grown men refused to watch a Hellboy movie because Ron Perlman was clearly portraying an adult man.
Sheesh... what people get offended over these days.
I actually did explain when Supergirl was created. I also mentioned how there are other "girl", "woman", "boy", and "man" characters. I used the Legion of Super Heroes as my main reference point.
Up until the “Return of Superman” storyline, Superboy and Superman were the same person. Supergirl, though she graduated high school in 1965, went on to college, then got a job, never became Superwoman. Why not? Branding? If people weren't confused by Superboy/Superman, why would Supergirl/Superwoman confuse anyone? (Granted, Superboy was created retroactively, but that doesn't really make a difference.) No, that’s not the reason—not a good one anyway.
And, yes, there was the occasional Superwoman that popped up from time to time (usually Lois Lane temporarily gaining superpowers), but nothing that lasted. So that’s not the answer either.
Supergirl was designed to draw in young female readers—little girls. She was originally intended to be a teenager younger girls could aspire to be like—sort of a mash-up of Superman and the teenage humor comics that were popular with girls at the time. Her name made perfect sense at the time.
In the late ’60s, DC aged her up a bit. Fashion became a larger part of the book with ever-changing costumes designed by the readers (and a little tweaking by the artists), again to appeal to girls (though perhaps a slightly older segment of that audience). The name still kind of worked.
In 1971 Supergirl graduates from college and gets her first real job. Women’s lib was in full swing at this point, and it would have been the perfect time for Supergirl to become Superwoman. But DC stuck with Supergirl, a name which really no longer made sense both in terms of the character’s age and more importantly in terms of appealing to the intended audience. And it’s made less sense as time has marched on.
But as @Brack said, it’s probably gone past the point of no return now, especially as DC is now trying to build up a new Superwoman character. (And it’s interesting to me that Supergirl is superior to Superwoman both in regards to experience and power. I wonder what Freud would make of that. :) )
So Miley Cyrus says since Melissa Benoist is a woman and "not a little girl" that they need to change the name of the show or remove reference to gender altogether because she also wonders "what if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad"
Stick to singing, or whatever it is you do Ms Cyrus, please.
Does it bother me that a lot of female characters are "girl" rather than "woman"? Yes all the time but the show is based off of a pre existing character so I put up with it. The only way more female characters are going to be developed and picked up are if we show there is a market for them. I want Kara to grow up seeing capes just don't belong on men. There is a place for her too. As for the boys who identify as female, they are looking for female role models (speaking as a teacher who has had students begin to transition) and this version of supergirl I feel is a great role model. While I believe Miley is entitled to her opinion, I wish she was a bit more well informed. I'm sorry but I feel that dismissing her opinion doesn't help matters as too often newcomers to the genre who make criticism are dismissed too easily rather than engaging them in the conversation.
Dismissing an uninformed Miley Cyrus aside, being SO offended that a character that has ALWAYS been known as SuperGIRL is also named 'Supergirl' on a new TV show that you refuse to watch the show where they directly deal with the disparity is a tad bit reactionary.
I affectionately refer to my wife and daughter as "my girls" and my wife says "boys will be boys" when referring to her adult brothers. No one gets offended. We can debate the merits of DC's decision, but is it really an argument worth having? If there is a Superman must there now be a Superwoman? Does society demand tha we now need a clumsily titled Grown-Up Flash to match Kid Flash? Does DC's Power Girl require there to be a DC version of Power Boy? Power Girl is a girl. And even easier to say than 'Power Woman' for that matter.
In fact, it may be presumptuous to blame the creators' decision to name her Supergirl (or to not alter her name as she got older) as sexist at all. It may actually have been more of a linguistic aesthetic preference to use a single syllable "girl" than the two syllable "woman." Something Tolkein referred to as the fickle relationship among the sounds of words, their meaning, and our emotional responses to them. Again, I believe it IS an apt comparison to cite Hellboy as an example of this being an adult hero who is called 'HellBOY" instead of "HellMAN" which kind of sounds dumb. With youth today actually using comments like 'btw' in conversations instead of "by the way," these complaints seem surprising.
As for newcomers to the genre, there seems to be a loud minority of people online who are far more interested in changing comic properties to serve their particular social interests than actually bothering to support or read the comic properties themselves, but that's another thread for another debate. See also: #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend
I agree and there is a lot of people who just jump on bandwagons but as I often do the best way is to direct them to the stories that stand out and highlight that character in its essence. I can understand women's frustrations and no it isn't worth an argument it is worth a discussion. However in the grand scheme of how women are represented in superhero media, the use of the word girl in supergirl is the least of our problems.
"What do you think is so bad about 'girl'? I'm a girl and your boss and powerful and rich and hot and smart. So if you perceive Supergirl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem you?" - Cat Grant, Pilot episode
... being SO offended that a character that has ALWAYS been known as SuperGIRL is also named 'Supergirl' on a new TV show that you refuse to watch the show where they directly deal with the disparity is a tad bit reactionary.
Which is also a bit ironic in an age when people take longer than ever to truly grow up. The Twenties are now essentially an extension of the teenage years for many young adults I know, acting very much like "boys" and "girls" long past previous generations did.
A nice first episode with Superman. I can appreciate the balancing act the show's creators needed (and still need) to do trying to accommodate the HUGE iconic weight of the Superman character into their little show. I don't say "little show" in a negative sense at all. That's what it is: a cute little show starring a cute leading character in a world that seems created by an advisory committee of middle school girls. NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT...but that's what it is. It's "Adventure Lite"...and nothing wrong with that, either. But once you bring Superman into that delicate ecosystem, things are going to change. In fact, we actually saw it changing within the story itself with surprisingly self-aware honesty. The scene where Superman and Supergirl enter the DEO headquarters and everyone starts ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over Superman among them was a refreshingly (and surprisingly) honest acknowledgement of the 800 lb. gorilla in the room...namely, how do we keep Supergirl the star of the series now that we've let freaking SUPERMAN into the clubhouse? CAN a character like Superman be a mere supporting cast member? We shall see!
A nice first episode with Superman. I can appreciate the balancing act the show's creators needed (and still need) to do trying to accommodate the HUGE iconic weight of the Superman character into their little show. I don't say "little show" in a negative sense at all. That's what it is: a cute little show starring a cute leading character in a world that seems created by an advisory committee of middle school girls. NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT...but that's what it is. It's "Adventure Lite"...and nothing wrong with that, either. But once you bring Superman into that delicate ecosystem, things are going to change. In fact, we actually saw it changing within the story itself with surprisingly self-aware honesty. The scene where Superman and Supergirl enter the DEO headquarters and everyone starts ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over Superman among them was a refreshingly (and surprisingly) honest acknowledgement of the 800 lb. gorilla in the room...namely, how do we keep Supergirl the star of the series now that we've let freaking SUPERMAN into the clubhouse? CAN a character like Superman be a mere supporting cast member? We shall see!
All good points. I remember when SG's first season started some of my online colleagues were bemoaning the fact that it wasn't like Arrow or The Flash. Which to me was the point...Supergirl's adventures shouldn't really BE like Arrow's or Flash's. It is a "cute little show" and I'm not its target demographic at all...and there's not a darn thing wrong with that. Nor will it stop me from tuning in faithfully.
I think Superman is slated to be in this season for four episodes, so I'd imagine it's either going to be "Well, I need to get back to Metropolis" or something will happen that prevents him from sticking around. Looks like she'll have Mon-El as a surrogate, and that should be fun, but yes...they need to be real careful to enforce the idea this show is called "Supergirl" not "Supergirl and This Week's Hero". :)
Comments
Journalism, as it pertains to my minor in college, is dead. If you have an ISP and a keyboard, congratulations. You're a journalist. Never mind that you don't understand ethics, the inverted pyramid style of writing, Strunk & White or the AP Stylebook. You have an opinion on something? You're a journalist now.
And if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad you're most likely going to tune into this show EVERY FLIPPIN' MONDAY!
Go back to rubbin' your ass on Robin Thicke, Miley. :)
Had to share this. It's a great example of today's journalism. The local CBS affiliate just ran a news story about their anchors training for a charity road race. I guess they didn't have a cute pet story in the can.
I wonder if the two women at your work knew that Supergirl is actually a legacy character created in and published since 1958. I don't know what I'd think if grown men refused to watch a Hellboy movie because Ron Perlman was clearly portraying an adult man.
Sheesh... what people get offended over these days.
Even John Byrne could figure out that calling an adult superhero "Girl" wasn't a great look in 1985 (even if he didn't fix it in the most subtle way possible).
It's probably far too late to change Supergirl to Superwoman, particularly when her presentation across media is so inconsistent (arguably she makes the most sense in LOSH opposite Superboy and all those other boys, lads, lasses and girls, rather than as the younger cousin of Superman).
But surely it's not that hard to understand why it might be off putting to some, especially those not so au fait with the character's history, that the female superman is a "girl" but the male superman gets to be a "man".
It did not make much difference.
And, yes, there was the occasional Superwoman that popped up from time to time (usually Lois Lane temporarily gaining superpowers), but nothing that lasted. So that’s not the answer either.
Supergirl was designed to draw in young female readers—little girls. She was originally intended to be a teenager younger girls could aspire to be like—sort of a mash-up of Superman and the teenage humor comics that were popular with girls at the time. Her name made perfect sense at the time.
In the late ’60s, DC aged her up a bit. Fashion became a larger part of the book with ever-changing costumes designed by the readers (and a little tweaking by the artists), again to appeal to girls (though perhaps a slightly older segment of that audience). The name still kind of worked.
In 1971 Supergirl graduates from college and gets her first real job. Women’s lib was in full swing at this point, and it would have been the perfect time for Supergirl to become Superwoman. But DC stuck with Supergirl, a name which really no longer made sense both in terms of the character’s age and more importantly in terms of appealing to the intended audience. And it’s made less sense as time has marched on.
But as @Brack said, it’s probably gone past the point of no return now, especially as DC is now trying to build up a new Superwoman character. (And it’s interesting to me that Supergirl is superior to Superwoman both in regards to experience and power. I wonder what Freud would make of that. :) )
As for the boys who identify as female, they are looking for female role models (speaking as a teacher who has had students begin to transition) and this version of supergirl I feel is a great role model. While I believe Miley is entitled to her opinion, I wish she was a bit more well informed. I'm sorry but I feel that dismissing her opinion doesn't help matters as too often newcomers to the genre who make criticism are dismissed too easily rather than engaging them in the conversation.
Dismissing an uninformed Miley Cyrus aside, being SO offended that a character that has ALWAYS been known as SuperGIRL is also named 'Supergirl' on a new TV show that you refuse to watch the show where they directly deal with the disparity is a tad bit reactionary.
I affectionately refer to my wife and daughter as "my girls" and my wife says "boys will be boys" when referring to her adult brothers. No one gets offended. We can debate the merits of DC's decision, but is it really an argument worth having? If there is a Superman must there now be a Superwoman? Does society demand tha we now need a clumsily titled Grown-Up Flash to match Kid Flash? Does DC's Power Girl require there to be a DC version of Power Boy? Power Girl is a girl. And even easier to say than 'Power Woman' for that matter.
In fact, it may be presumptuous to blame the creators' decision to name her Supergirl (or to not alter her name as she got older) as sexist at all. It may actually have been more of a linguistic aesthetic preference to use a single syllable "girl" than the two syllable "woman." Something Tolkein referred to as the fickle relationship among the sounds of words, their meaning, and our emotional responses to them. Again, I believe it IS an apt comparison to cite Hellboy as an example of this being an adult hero who is called 'HellBOY" instead of "HellMAN" which kind of sounds dumb. With youth today actually using comments like 'btw' in conversations instead of "by the way," these complaints seem surprising.
As for newcomers to the genre, there seems to be a loud minority of people online who are far more interested in changing comic properties to serve their particular social interests than actually bothering to support or read the comic properties themselves, but that's another thread for another debate. See also: #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend
Good enough for Cat, good enough for me. :)
This iteration of Superman is wonderful.
"I usually say hi." "Me, too."
So. Happy.
So. Happy!
"I wish everyone could see Grant and Melissa (full costume) playing old school nintendo in the cast green room..."
I think Superman is slated to be in this season for four episodes, so I'd imagine it's either going to be "Well, I need to get back to Metropolis" or something will happen that prevents him from sticking around. Looks like she'll have Mon-El as a surrogate, and that should be fun, but yes...they need to be real careful to enforce the idea this show is called "Supergirl" not "Supergirl and This Week's Hero". :)