Supergirl: A call for humanity

While the story of Superman has been known for a long time, until now few people know the story of his cousin: Supergirl. Since March 15, 2016, it is known that Superman has a cousin equal to him, Kara Zor-El.

With her, DC Comics opened a new era. With a big heart, not afraid of risk and danger, Kara Danvers aka Supergirl is committed to saving the world. Emotion and excitement are preprogrammed!

Supergirl, Superman’s cousin, has been enriching the DC Universe and the Netflix library since March 2016. With great success! Hot topics, different phases of life, a lot of heartache and simply captivating, but at the same time very touching. With “Supergirl” they hit the bull’s eye and the hearts of many viewers! Sure, it probably can’t top the popularity of Superman, but who knows what the next few years will bring. We are definitely in love with Shock!

Just like Superman and other well-known DC faces, Supergirl is based on and based on a comic book. To date, there are 3 seasons in the German Netflix, in the American already 5, with about 22 episodes each. So for relaxing evenings more than suitable!

The plot

Kara Zor-El, now 24 years old, arrived on Earth at the age of 13 after her parents saved her and her cousin from the end of their home planet Krypton and brought them to safety. While her cousin Kal-El landed on Earth in his space capsule without any problems, as a baby, Kara’s capsule did not arrive on the planet unknown to her until 24 years later due to turbulence.

In the meantime, her cousin has become a grown man, on Earth he is no longer an unknown name for a long time, and hands her over to the same family that had also taken him in: the Danvers family. From now on, Kara’s last name was no longer Zor-El, but Danvers.

Likewise, she was no longer an only child, from this point on she grew up with an, albeit earthly, big sister. She hides her superpowers and learns human behavior. By an unexpected coincidence, she, already an adult at the time, is forced to reveal her powers to the world and use her powers. From now on, she leads a turbulent and fractious double life. Again and again she has to find herself and reconcile her double life as personal assistant to the head of the media company CatCo and as a superhero. 

As Supergirl, she protects her earthly hometown from (extra)terrestrial criminals on a daily basis and ensures humanity and safety, together with the secret government agency DEO.

Cast

Supergirl – Melissa Benoist

James Olsen/Guardian – Mehcad Brooks

Alex Danvers – Chyler Leigh

“Winn” – Jeremy Jordan

Hank Henshaw/J´non J´onzz – David Harewood

Cat Grant – Calista Flockhart

Mon-El – Chris Wood

Lena Luthor – Katie McGrath

Societal relevance:

While “Supergirl” sounds extremely fictional and unrealistic, this series is much more realistic and topical than most would expect. Again and again, topics are addressed that still and again occupy our society in the 21st century: sexism, everyday racism, intolerance, homophobia, power structure, climate change, war, flight, mass murders, concentration camps.

Guardian, for example (spoiler alert!!!), is in fact dark-skinned, but doesn’t reveal himself because he knows full well that if he does, he’ll be demoted. And that’s just because of his ethnicity. More topical than some might think.

Homosexual couples are also rejected and discriminated against by their families in this series.

On the planet Mars, which plays an important role during the whole time, the same horror scenario took place, which dominated the world here from 1938-1945: concentration camps, mass murder and systematic extermination of a “race”.
This part can be seen as a reminder of our history, especially for us Germans! Those, who survived the horror on Mars, fled to the earth, sought to find refuge and safety there. Only this one example stands symbolically also for all the people who seek protection and refuge with us in our time, due to war and destruction.

Also topical: climate change and the associated destruction of nature and the earth. Climate change is also a highly topical issue in “Supergirl” and is repeatedly addressed. It’s true that no movement like “Fridays for Future” appears there, but that’s secondary!

These examples are enough to establish an astonishingly clear connection to reality. It is frightening that such topics, apart from climate change, are still topical! This is just one of the messages that can be heard from “Supergirl”!

But also just because of this, the series touches countless people and opens eyes!

Looked at closely, you can see this series as a call for more humanity, empathy and justice!

Conclusion:

As with any film, or in the case of any series, opinions and criticism differ greatly. There are those who find Supergirl important, morally correct and the series itself good. Those who think that our world could also do with someone like Kara Danvers aka Supergirl.

On the other side are the critics who find the series too mainstream or boring, or who are generally not a fan of superhero content. 

Then there are also the people who position themselves with these two sides and, as an example, only found season 1 good and exciting!