Back in April, Warner Brothers announced the DC SuperHero Girls Initiative, a multimedia platform introducing a bunch of DC female characters to a bigger audience. I loved the idea.
As a father of three girls and a self-proclaimed Brony, who has watched MLP and 'Equestria Girls', I thought this was a perfect platform to build an audience. We saw the initial characters but I am sure the entire DC catalog is probably available. And Supergirl was wearing Chuck Taylors. So it was all win back then.
Earlier this week, the website for the initiative went live. Here is the link: http://www.dcsuperherogirls.com/
It is a pretty simple site right now. There is the group shot above. Then you can click a link to see the individual page for each of the characters. These pages include a simple description of the character and then three adjectives that define them.
Supergirl is the 'new girl' at the school and is described as new to the planet. I like the idea that she is learning the ropes at the school. And the description that she's 'powerfully persistent' is great. It might be a way to say she is fierce in pursuing her heroic goals without getting too scary. Maybe this 'school' is the Midvale Orphanage equivalent, the place Superman takes her to become accustomed to the planet.
The adjectives are also interesting. Sweet makes sense and is in line with classic Supergirl.
Awkward seems to be something newer for the character. We have heard Melissa Benoist describe the character as 'adorkable'. And being new to the planet means the writers can play up the 'stranger in a strange land' aspect of the character, a way to make her awkward here on Earth. We'll have to see how this plays up.
Given the last adjective is fun-loving makes me think she'll be outgoing in personality. This won't be a withdrawn awkward.
I'll be watching for more stuff from this site and initiative. But so far, so good.
While it's great that super hero females can be great role models for young girls, it's sad and upsetting that they "can't" be for boys also. Most Justice League merchandise excludes Wonder Woman because "boys 'can't have'/ 'don't want' females." The Justice League girls line, if you can find it, feature Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl, drawn prettier and with no men, with an emphasis on makeup and dressing pretty.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that at this point in time we still have such segregation, why can't we have a super hero line with both action figures and dolls and market both to girls and boys. The Super Hero High seems very much like they'll try to copy the success of Monster High and Ever After High, only with super heroes (I do realize that super heroes in high school have been done before, but ...). I hope that we don't have to read about each heroine's fashion sense along with how when they're not learning to be heroes just love to go shopping. Yes, I realize that some girls like that, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is such an emphasis in "girl" toy lines where girls are subjected that every girl has to like that. I wish they just put out a new Legion of Super-Heroes if not a new Young Justice that showcased both female and male heroes and appealed across the board. With this it just feels like another "girls can only like Supergirl and boys can only like Superman."