volando-voy:
arendellesfirstwinter:
counterpunches:
professorspork:
brinconvenient:
professorspork:
stuffidontneed:
volando-voy:
counterpunches:
dealanexmachina:
randomthingsthatilike123:
Do you ever think about how Kara felt when she got to earth,
it’s her first day at school and she’d nervous and excited and still so so
devastated about what happened to her world and she looks up and there on some
boy, who’s breath doesn’t sound like he’s ever spoken anything but English and
has never even tasted what Kryptonese sounds like as it falls from his lips,
there’s her family’s symbol. And it is everywhere.
It’s on shoes, toys, key chains, shirts, a caricature and a
commodity used to sell merchandise, something that they claimed but it isn’t
theirs to take. A gimmick. Something that’s meant to be - not sacred, per se,
not quite that level but at least respected-and here is some snot nosed boy who
laughs at how strange she is, and he’s wearing her family’s coat of arms. Her
name is all that she has left, and everyone on this new planet has made it into
something that is no longer hers.
This is a girl who couldn’t go to the Fortress of Solitude,
because it was too painful, too many memories, and she must see that symbol
Every. Single. Day. In the second or third episode, James told her that the
symbol means a lot to some people, but he doesn’t even know the half of it, the
centuries upon centuries of its history and above all the name El is hers and I
wonder if she wishes Clarke was just a bit more subtle, and she’s proud of her
cousin, she is, but the huge red symbol –we’ve seen it before in other colors,
almost just stamped on sometimes, merely blending in, it doesn’t have to be
red–surrounded by the bright sky blue is just so eye catching.
And the red!Kara episode is a very big revelation, since
while it showed every bad thought kara has ever had, every thought she decided
not to act on, it also showed us thoughts that she does wish to act upon that
aren’t necessarily bad, just something that she can’t really do. Like how she
dresses. And we’ve talked plenty of how she dresses without any inhibitions at
Catco, but just look at how she prefers to dress as Supergirl–a dark,
unassuming plain black uniform, used by soldiers on Krypton, a small, red,
barely noticeable symbol of the house of El, unless you’re looking at it from a
certain angle you miss it. Still honoring her family, but it’s still something
that’s hers because the world doesn’t get to own every piece of her.
And regardless of how she might have acquired it, if it was
from astra or non or whatever, this is how she truly wishes she can be seen as
Supergirl–the clothes, that is. And tactically at least, this is something
that has a far better tactical advantage- the sky blue can blend in a bit
better with the sky in the daylight, sure, but that’s kind of counteracted by the
bright red. The black, however, blends in so much better, and they can’t see
you bleed when you’re wearing black, don’t know that they’ve hurt you.
And if you consider the two of them, it makes so much sense
that they’d have different costume preferences, they’re such different people
and Kara’s even said “i don’t want to be like my cousin, he always goes it
alone.’ Clark, with the ‘look-at-me-world’ costume, the savior that has to prop
everything up by himself, atlas bearing the weight of the world, never letting
anyone lighten his load. So much of Kara is wrapped up in her family motto, el
mayara. Stronger together. Kara doesn’t want to be the world’s savior, she
wants to be a single pillar, not it’s foundation. Not it’s everything. She
wants to help, especially with those who have no other options and can’t help themselves, not yet, but she doesn’t want to be their crutch, and we’ve learned from red!kara she’s very aware of how she can be seen, if she’s not careful to present herself in a certain way (and she does like it, almost too much, that’s the problem, it’s completely at odds with how she’s raised and how she wants to think, so she buries it away, doesn’t act on it until she’s forced to).
Kara would blend into the shadows, just a little more. She wants
to help this new place, her new home, but it doesn’t get to have every single
piece of her. Kara wants to be a team player, a cog in the machine–albeit a
large cog—instead of the actual machine.
Tl;dr, Clark wants to do it all on his own, leading to ‘stare
at me’ bright colors as his costume bc he’s playing at god, whereas kara if she
had the option to make her own choices might very well choose dark, neutral
colors if there wasn’t an already pre-established pattern to follow bc she’s
more about supporting people than being a savior.
#supergirl#meta#A+#it would be great to actually see something like this on the show and hammer home#how incredibly harmful that kind of appropriation and commodification can be#like I absolutely wish it were that smart and that kind of show#but unfortunately for the things that Supergirl does do right#i sincerely doubt this kind of social commentary will be one of them#A+++ fandoming though (@racethewind10)
The first three paragraphs of this totally fucked me up (in a good way), because shit, man. Superhero merchandise is all over the fucking map, commodified and commercialized and branded. And for someone like Kara to spend her entire childhood being so honored to wear the crest of the House of El, and then to see it everywhere. Worn by people who have no clue what it means, by some people who are unworthy of the symbol.
It must be like how Native Americans feel when they see people donning feather headdresses as a costume. The pain slicing through her and being alone in that pain because it’s different for Kal-El; he never grew up on Krypton, was never part of a greater whole. That’s why Astra’s words to her about being the true heir to the House of El reverberates in her, rang so true.
And now that it’s been pointed out - I wonder if that is really why Kara was so mad about being named Supergirl.
Obviously this is not something the writers were thinking about when they wrote that scene- but for the character, this would be important to her.
Seen in this light, her anger at being named by Cat as Supergirl takes on a new reading.
She complains about the girl part, because that is writers want to push, but if we read Kara this way, perhaps she only talks about the girl thing because that is the only thing she is allowed to comment on. She can’t comment on why the whole idea of “Superman” or being seen as an extension of that human construct is so offensive to her, why it gets under her skin, why she needs to distance herself from Clarke’s Superman, because no human would understand it.
But she says SOMETHING all the same, because here she is, finally in a position to say something about it. Perhaps that is why Kara went into communications and media in the first place, because she would want to be in a position where she can help shape the story.
And her desire to rebrand the S, step away from Super and restore its original meaning of El Mayara is so strong, it has her charging into Cat’s office, forgetting who she is to them, without thinking about the consequences.
This is a fascinating point and I really wish the show (or fandom) would do something about it.
#i mean i think a fundamental difference comes from how they experience their culture#because to clark it really is partially a costume#it’s a heritage he never got to properly inherit and so he’s pieced it together and made it his own#he thinks of being kryptonian as an act of solitude and individuality because that is how he experienced it#as the last#but she thinks of her symbol as family because that is what it has meant to her#strength through unity. both necessitating and informing the other.#clark thought he was the last and alone and that is the only way he has ever understood a people he felt certain he would never truly know#but kara is actively choosing to remember them (because she can) and it’s a huge difference#in ideology identity and approach via @perpetuallyfive)
pulling @professorspork‘s tags over from the other version of this post bc they’re great too:
#my favorite thing about this post #is that it juxtaposes kara and clark as children of diaspora #BOTH are desperately reaching with both hands to hold onto the place they once called home #but all clark can do is wear it #all he can do is proliferate it #because he never got to have it under his skin #kara will feel the missing piece that’s been ripped from her for the rest of her life #but all clark has ever had is the emptiness
#i am so glad y'all added to this post #i have been thinking about this for the last few days #because i had someone argue with me that kara zor-el isn’t allowed to count as ‘other’ in US culture #like friend she lies about her identity because there are policies to discriminate against and imprison her #an entire story arc of this season revolves around how max lord built technology specifically to poison and/or kill her #for existing as a different race of creature #nearly every member of her culture and her species is dead #a huge part of the reason i love kara is because sometimes she doesn’t feel at home ANYWHERE #because she lost her home but she remembers it well enough to feel wrong turning her back on it#and before she can even reconcile those things for herself #there goes the world defining her beyond her contro l#that’s just supergirl#meta (via @volando-voy)
saying Kara doesn’t count as ‘other’ because she’s white is just
SHE IS SPACE JEWISH. SHE AND CLARK HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SPACE JEWISH.
the Kryptonian story has always been about carrying your heritage forward by draping it over your shoulders because they can’t see it on your skin. it has always been about passing: about how all Clark or Kara have ever had to do to blend in has been slap on a pair of glasses, because unless you mark yourself as different maybe they won’t see you that way, and that’s safer - and the people who love you will always ask you to choose ‘safer’ over ‘selfhood.’ blend in. assimilate. don’t let them know what you can do, what you’ve seen, how you ache with a history they’ll never understand.
tags from @professorspork:
#also #unrelated to where this post has veered off to #how much do i love that Clark was vulnerable to Myriad #because HE SEES HIMSELF AS HUMAN #i swear to god the Supergirl writer’s room understands MY clark kent #better than any other creative team i’ve ever seen #and it’s such a bummer that they were only forced into defining him that way #to throw him into sharp relief against kara #because this is how he should ALWAYS be seen #this is how he sees himself #supergirl #JEWISH KRYPTONIANS MY JAM FOREVER
Some day, if I’m very, very good, and work hard, I can be a good enough person to marry this entire post.
#Clark’s story has always been about the immigrant trying to fit in and assimilate without losing the part of his heritage #that made him who he is #Often that’s his powers and kryptonian relics #sometimes its a message or mandate from his parents or culture #sometimes its an artifact taking over his mind and trying to create a new #krypton #but clark is full of conflicts #he’s always trying to find the balance between the larger than life persona of superman #and the grounded life of Clark Kent #trying to temper all of his physical strength with the might of the pen as he writes corruption out of existence #Kara is just so much more herself no matter which persona she’s presenting #She was able to grow up on krypton and really understand its culture and what it is to be kryptonian at a visceral level #before traveling to earth and figure out how to fit this person she already was into the available molds in earth/american culture #she’s integrated in a way clark never can be because he’s always the kansas boy trying to fill bigger shoes #and he has not integrated that into his identity in the way kara has #Superman is an attenuated ersatz version of what clark thinks is the epitome of his best attributes #Superman is a construct from Clark’s hopes of what he could be#Supergirl is kara being her best and realest self #not a construction #an extension of herself #Supergirl is just the result of the good person that Kara already was gaining powers after she formed her own identity #without ever having been othered #Clark knew he was different for a long time #even though he didn’t gain his powers until his late teens #(in later versions of continuity) #he still knew that there was something different about him than the other kids (via @brinconvenient)
#i have always enjoyed the idea that clark believes that the real him is and always will be clark kent#that’s who he is#superman is what he does#but it’s exactly the opposite for kara#supergirl is her real self and kara danvers is the affectation#not that there aren’t a lot of very true and real parts of kara that shine through#but that clark is most at ease when he is wearing the glasses#his day to day life probably comes so naturally#while kara has to make the choice to shine a little less bright#to go unnoticed and keep some of her opinions to herself#(there is definitely a lot here about societal expectations of women in general#in terms of keeping quiet and going unnoticed - an assistant vs clark’s authoritative journalist voice -#but particularly a woman who has had to acclimate to a new culture and exist within those pre defined expectations.)#point being: clark is most himself inside his glasses and kara is always inside of some costume#whether an approximation of how her cousin already defined “kryptonian” on earth#or the unassuming assistant#she is never entirely herself on her own terms#which perhaps is why she insists on so much agency and following her own heart and moral compass (via @perpetuallyfive)
Just gonna throw a little bit more onto this already lengthy (but fantastic) post, and say that there’s one tiny thing I disagree with: “supergirl is her real self and kara danvers is the affectation” - like you said “she is never entirely herself on her own terms”, which I feel extends to her costume just as much as it extends to Kara Danvers. Supergirl is a symbol, a mask; she’s the living representation of how Clark’s redefined the House of El’s crest on earth, of hope and heroism. So Supergirl isn’t real either, not fully.
What a lot of this reminds me of is a conversation I saw way back when, about Mulan’s outfit in the Disney parks; should it be her “Honor for Us All” outfit from the beginning of the movie, or her soldier outfit? And someone commented along the lines of: “Neither. Mulan’s outfit at the end of the movie is the best representation of who she really is, when she saves China, because it’s a mix of both components.” Kara’s not fully Supergirl, and she’s not fully Kara Danvers.
I say Kara Zor-El is the true self.
Supergirl is just as much an affectation as Kara Danvers. She’s still acting, she’s still putting on a brave, confident face, she’s a symbol as much as what she wears on her chest. Sure, she gets to finally be an out alien, an out Kryptonian, but she’s still hiding. Supergirl’s mask is her demeanor, her confidence, her embodiment of the ideal. Supergirl’s not flawed; she doesn’t cry for her lost planet, she doesn’t get scared (for her loved ones, for herself, of losing even more), she doesn’t rage and scream and cry at the utter injustices the universe throws her way. And neither does Kara Danvers, who hides behind smiles and stumbled greetings and lead-lined glasses, whose rage and pain and loss is just as buried, but this time beneath goofy sweaters and slouched shoulders.
Kara Zor-El is neither of these, and both of these. Kara Zor-El is the girl that grew up on Krypton, and the woman that grew up on earth. She’s a sum of all parts, and more, because Kara Zor-El has nothing to hide; it’s Kara Zor-El that is hidden, behind both the masks. She never gets the chance to be this version of herself on the show, because she’s almost always hiding in one costume or another, but she’s there. (Alex knew this Kara, knows her. It’s Kara Zor-El who hid from the popcorn maker, and Kara Zor-El who soared after Alex’s flight to Geneva.) She’s the strength of Supergirl and the compassion of Kara Danvers and the heritage of the House of El; she’s the loss and grief and rage and renewal of losing a home and finding a new one; she’s honest and proud and humble and kind.
Supergirl is alien, Kara Danvers is human, and Kara Zor-El is.
it’s funny: itty bitty Kara dives into her first rescue is because she wants to save people, sure, but also partly because she thinks she ought to – baby Kal’s grown up and become a hero without her, so she has to do something to honor her family’s memory, right? except she doesn’t understand the rules on Earth, doesn’t realize that a little girl tearing the door off a burning car isn’t easy to explain away, doesn’t know that she’s putting her new family in danger by holding onto the expectations of her old one until it’s already too late.
adult Kara’s first rescue, though? the moment when Kara scrambles dripping wet onto the wing of that plane is the only time she ever stands in the spotlight as herself – her real self, without costume or disguise. it’s Kara honoring the family she’s lost in service of preserving the family she’s found. and this time she understands what she’s sacrificing in revealing who she is, but the alternative is sacrificing the one person who grounds her sense of self. and that’s the moment Kara Zor-El chooses to be the hero of her own story – her personal story – but in so doing, she opens herself up to becoming the hero in everyone else’s story, too.