Supergirl – the Bravery and Ferocity of Dark Feminine Energy

Supergirl embodied some super powerful themes. As a disclaimer to start, I have to rewatch it again later when it comes out on streaming, so I can watch it more thoroughly with subtitles since I have bad hearing. However, I wanted to get this out there as a start in order to validate the movie, since I already love it. I want to do my part in countering the bad reviews online.

Kara is both the cool girl as well as the more complex and compelling dark feminine character. As the cool girl, she’s a cross between Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) in Thor: Ragnarok and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) in Guardians of the Galaxy. Drunken, independent, and nonchalant. Yet, when it comes down to defending the innocent from danger, she steps up immediately. She saw little Ruthye as a nuisance at first glance, but then felt intrinsically called to protect her.

Supergirl is also somewhat reminiscent of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in terms of having some of the darker qualities. She was traumatized by having her whole species decimated, including her parents and her planet. She was sent off to safety in a space shuttle by her father, alone with only her cute little puppy. The only kin in the universe remaining was her cousin —Superman, whom she met for the first time upon arrival on Earth.

Unlike other “good” superheroes, she’s not afraid to kill the villain in the end. She spares Ruthye the moral burden – insisting that she walk away from the bloody deed. After Ruthye reluctantly complies and tearfully hugs her, departing the scene, Kara stabs the villain twice, in the chest. It’s pretty gruesome. This is pretty much the personification of dark feminine energy. Destroying evil in order to protect the good and the innocent. Kara possesses Kali energy, the dark feminine goddess in Hindu mythology. Only a baby fan of the DC comics if that, I hadn’t known the storyline ahead of time. I was a bit surprised by the direct demise of the villain, to be honest.

Superhero films usually have the “good guy” or “good girl” – the protagonist – spare the villain’s life, even after the villain had ended countless people including their very own friends or family, as well as entire planets in some cases. Then of course the film needed a resolution, so the plot often has the villain die by their own karma or some random chance of nature like a rope that was holding them up off a cliff snapping by chance at the crucial time – with the superhero reaching out and attempting to save them out of “goodness”. Letting evil run rampant when given the chance to end it is not “good”. Of course this is all in the context of movies and superheroes, as real life is sometimes more complex, and the truth is often obscured. Superhero films grandly personify the essence of good and evil. Yet the trope of the “good guy” who was actually merely the “polite guy” was always a bit illogical and even spineless. Supergirl departed from that trope with character and charisma, and it really was powerful.

As Kara (Zor El)’s mother was dying from radiation poisoning before their planet was destroyed, she told Kara to be good. “It doesn’t mean you can’t be tough. It doesn’t mean you always have to be nice. Just be good.” Her dying mother’s wish became central to Kara’s identity throughout.

I also loved the sister-like friendship that developed between Kara and Ruthye. It’s refreshing to see such camaraderie and love between a white girl and an Asian biracial girl. It’s unfortunately still rare to see Asian characters on the good side in films, and even rarer still – maybe even singular – to see such a friendship and sisterhood develop between two superhero girls in such a dynamic, and not in competition with each other.

The one thing I will say is that Ruthye was definitely the damsel in distress, needing constant saving by Kara throughout the film. Granted she was only 14 years old, but still! The first and only time Ruthye saved herself and demonstrated any agility whatsoever was from the alien prison when Supergirl wasn’t around. She’s an enabler! Just kidding.

Overall Supergirl was a refreshing jolt for superhero films, and I’m excited to watch it again!