Is Supergirl a Bully?
White Lake (MTCC Newswire) 18 March 2016
EDITORIAL by and © 2016 Neil E. Clement, All Rights Reserved.
Frankly, the new Supergirl television show on CBS, which appears to be specifically targeted to a juvenile audience, and its reliance on extremely graphic violence to ‘entertain’, goes far beyond disturbing and enters into the strange world of deviant mental illness before dipping into the realm of what can only be described as unwarranted psychological conditioning.
From where did we dredge up this desire to portray young women as bullies of the first order?
Where exactly did we develop this need to teach our children that viewing an invulnerable pubescent female joyfully beating the living snot out of other invulnerable demigods while majorly tearing up the landscape and in the process somehow eventually magically subduing the supposedly evil itinerant or getting double-whomped-on instead, when in fact invulnerable beings cannot be subdued in this fashion at all, that this clearly hostile, excessively violent behavior is somehow a good thing?
This type of bullying stereotype doesn’t work any better for women than it does for men.
And NO, Supergirl DOES NOT “lose her powers and need periodic recharging just like Superman (as everyone knows)”.
And YES, I do believe in empowering women, just not like this.
What possible rationale can one use to explain this travesty of science fiction? Supergirl as a role model? Hardly. More of a nightmare. And thus this insane behavior is inculcated into our society by unthinking cretins. Is there so little real violence in the world that we must actually add to it with this tripe? I find it hard to believe that delivering this type of mindless brutality as popular entertainment is helping us somehow.
Are we really so detached from reality that we must teach our youngsters this bizarre bullying behavior as a form of ‘entertainment’, then sit back and wait for the rave reviews to roll in and act surprised when crazy shit actually happens instead?
This whole business of a violence-centric society needs a rethink. That we should need to be or that someone thinks we need to be overwhelmed with this type of barbaric BS over the airwaves is deeply saddening.
This same mindset of the “over-the-top, seemingly testosterone-charged, generally rude” young female taking charge of every situation, kicking ass, shooting up the area with a vast assortment of weapons and just generally wreaking havoc with impunity, but whose excessively violent behavior is often overshadowed by the “has large breasts and always wears low-cut t-shirts revealing abundant cleavage, and, boy, isn’t that distracting? but don’t you dare bring my sexuality into the equation, I’m just a poor girl doing a tough job syndrome”, seems to be taking hold as a ‘normal and apparently expected’ form of ‘entertainment’ now so obliviously obvious in many new, hopefully short-lived cop shows. The sexually repressed Supergirl, on the other hand, with her ultra-conservative clothing, has never revealed any cleavage that I am aware of, although, I will grant you, I have not seen every episode.
How long must we suffer the indignity of being exposed to ordinary citizens being used and abused by ‘legal’, ‘law-enforcing’ bullies hiding behind a badge and more than happy to tell ‘the perp’ how many times s/he will be raped if sent to prison (so cooperate, eh)? This is entertainment? On whose terms?
Are we certain sure that teaching our children that anyone with a badge is immune to consequences and can do anything they please while everyone else must pay the price for their actions, that this situation is right and normal, and the way things are supposed to be?
For the record, be it man, woman, child, animation or what have you, official or unofficial, any portrayal of this type of brutally crazy, uncontrollable and vicious behavior; this over-the-top, in-your-face, “I’m the baddest bully there is and I will stomp you and there is nothing you can do about it” attitude, this reflects poorly on our society and the so-called values of truth, honesty and the American way that we are theoretically supposed to be living by.
I am appalled that this type of disturbing caricature of undesirable alpha behavior for both men and women passes as ‘harmless entertainment’ in this and other countries, and I am outraged that these misleading and violent stereotypes are being presented as actual role models for young people, and that this travesty should be labeled as ‘entertainment’. I am quite certain that the entertainment industry can and should do better.
We need to be teaching our people that goodness and decency, not repressed rage and immature anger ending in violence, is the ticket. But I guess that won’t sell any tickets. Unless your name is Disney.
White Lake (MTCC Newswire) 18 March 2016
EDITORIAL by and © 2016 Neil E. Clement, All Rights Reserved.
EDITORIAL by and © 2016 Neil E. Clement, All Rights Reserved.
Frankly, the new Supergirl television show on CBS, which appears to be specifically targeted to a juvenile audience, and its reliance on extremely graphic violence to ‘entertain’, goes far beyond disturbing and enters into the strange world of deviant mental illness before dipping into the realm of what can only be described as unwarranted psychological conditioning.
From where did we dredge up this desire to portray young women as bullies of the first order?
Where exactly did we develop this need to teach our children that viewing an invulnerable pubescent female joyfully beating the living snot out of other invulnerable demigods while majorly tearing up the landscape and in the process somehow eventually magically subduing the supposedly evil itinerant or getting double-whomped-on instead, when in fact invulnerable beings cannot be subdued in this fashion at all, that this clearly hostile, excessively violent behavior is somehow a good thing?
This type of bullying stereotype doesn’t work any better for women than it does for men.
And NO, Supergirl DOES NOT “lose her powers and need periodic recharging just like Superman (as everyone knows)”.
And YES, I do believe in empowering women, just not like this.
What possible rationale can one use to explain this travesty of science fiction? Supergirl as a role model? Hardly. More of a nightmare. And thus this insane behavior is inculcated into our society by unthinking cretins. Is there so little real violence in the world that we must actually add to it with this tripe? I find it hard to believe that delivering this type of mindless brutality as popular entertainment is helping us somehow.
Are we really so detached from reality that we must teach our youngsters this bizarre bullying behavior as a form of ‘entertainment’, then sit back and wait for the rave reviews to roll in and act surprised when crazy shit actually happens instead?
This whole business of a violence-centric society needs a rethink. That we should need to be or that someone thinks we need to be overwhelmed with this type of barbaric BS over the airwaves is deeply saddening.
This same mindset of the “over-the-top, seemingly testosterone-charged, generally rude” young female taking charge of every situation, kicking ass, shooting up the area with a vast assortment of weapons and just generally wreaking havoc with impunity, but whose excessively violent behavior is often overshadowed by the “has large breasts and always wears low-cut t-shirts revealing abundant cleavage, and, boy, isn’t that distracting? but don’t you dare bring my sexuality into the equation, I’m just a poor girl doing a tough job syndrome”, seems to be taking hold as a ‘normal and apparently expected’ form of ‘entertainment’ now so obliviously obvious in many new, hopefully short-lived cop shows. The sexually repressed Supergirl, on the other hand, with her ultra-conservative clothing, has never revealed any cleavage that I am aware of, although, I will grant you, I have not seen every episode.
How long must we suffer the indignity of being exposed to ordinary citizens being used and abused by ‘legal’, ‘law-enforcing’ bullies hiding behind a badge and more than happy to tell ‘the perp’ how many times s/he will be raped if sent to prison (so cooperate, eh)? This is entertainment? On whose terms?
Are we certain sure that teaching our children that anyone with a badge is immune to consequences and can do anything they please while everyone else must pay the price for their actions, that this situation is right and normal, and the way things are supposed to be?
For the record, be it man, woman, child, animation or what have you, official or unofficial, any portrayal of this type of brutally crazy, uncontrollable and vicious behavior; this over-the-top, in-your-face, “I’m the baddest bully there is and I will stomp you and there is nothing you can do about it” attitude, this reflects poorly on our society and the so-called values of truth, honesty and the American way that we are theoretically supposed to be living by.
I am appalled that this type of disturbing caricature of undesirable alpha behavior for both men and women passes as ‘harmless entertainment’ in this and other countries, and I am outraged that these misleading and violent stereotypes are being presented as actual role models for young people, and that this travesty should be labeled as ‘entertainment’. I am quite certain that the entertainment industry can and should do better.
We need to be teaching our people that goodness and decency, not repressed rage and immature anger ending in violence, is the ticket. But I guess that won’t sell any tickets. Unless your name is Disney.
White Lake (MTCC Newswire) 18 March 2016
EDITORIAL by and © 2016 Neil E. Clement, All Rights Reserved.
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