living chaos & loving it.

Both the movies and the characters are very different both in their stories and in the messages they are trying to get across

Superman was always human he's Clark Kent just as much if not more than kal-el he is a symbol of hope and peace

Kara has always been Kryptonian and she is only now expected to be human

She had her planet her life her parents

She never wanted to be a symbol or a hero she just wanted to be Kara Zor-el

But she's now expected to find her place on earth to be human to be a hero, a hero like Clark

None of this is to say she lacks humanity or can't be/isn't a hero

Superman let Clark be caring and human in a way most superhero movies don't seem to let their protagonists get, and the movie prioritized life and humanity as the core of why Superman does what he does. He values every life no matter what and does everything he can to save people, with a level of kindness and compassion that is often overlooked in the majority of big blockbuster action movies that care too much about cool explosions to worry about how many casualties they would have created in the process.

Supergirl let Kara be a flawed and messy character, as someone who makes mistakes and isn't always perfect but still tries to do the right thing. Kara wasn't sexualized or made into a #girlboss at all, and she had no romantic love interest forced into the movie. The bond she does form is with a young mentor and the relationship isn't framed as maternal or motherly in the slightest. She was written as a complicated but caring individual who is dealing with her trauma as best as she can.

I just got out of my second watch of Supergirl (still IMAX but way further back than before because I was dumb and sat front and center the first time). And I liked it so much more than I did a week ago!! It still has its issues - I actually picked up a few mixing issues with some lines that were redubbed, a few clunky cgi effects I hadn’t caught before, and they REALLY didn’t give the action the space in between so the movie could breathe; but, I also walked back on some of my first takeaways too (ie the ost is perfectly serviceable with a memorable and maybe even catchy theme to boot and they used it well - also, the story did flow a lot better on the second watch, even if the pacing was a bit rough).

BUT - the thing I honed in on this time around was character motivation and overall theming, mostly because I was so unimpressed with what they did in those aspects after my first watch. What I discovered this time made the movie so much better overall, and the central conceit of BOTH can be summed up with one word - home.

Act one primarily explores Kara’s lack of feeling of belonging and having a place to call home. She corrects Clark in their call by saying that her home was destroyed, she briefly considers permanently moving to a red sun planet because that kind of home would allow her to openly pursue her vices, and she says goodbye to Krypto by saying “home is wherever you are, buddy.” It’s a STRONG setup for this adventure to challenge her beliefs in terms of what “being home” means - and unfortunately they kind of squander that chance.

Act two gets REALLY muddied up by introducing another central theme and making it the main conceit until the very last scene. Because - once she says goodbye to Krypto and “adopts” Ruthye as a mentee, the movie suddenly becomes an exploration of what it means to be kind - specifically that is does NOT mean being this palatable ball of marshmallows that never expresses a negative emotion. AND THAT’S A GREAT THEME! They explore it in an interesting way with Kara and Ruthye’s relationship through to the climax. But it’s not what they set up in act one, and you can definitely feel the lack of a thematic thru-line, like you’re suddenly watching another movie. It’s not until Kara is talking with Clark and mentions that “it’s good to be home” where you see she’s had a change of heart on what her beliefs were in act one - even though the entire adventure between acts one and three were seemingly about something else entirely.

Now for my “fix” to this problem - and I’m stealing from the Superman 2025 movie for inspiration. The one thing EVERYONE was talking about after that movie was the idea of punk being kind - an idea that was mentioned in one conversation in the front half of the movie and never returned to again until the closing credits song. This movie could have had the same thing with the “kindness isn’t always pretty” idea if they’d toned it down and brought the home idea back to the forefront. (Either that or rewrite the beginning and ending to fit the kindness angle). And I think they could have done so in two very specific instances - in Zor-El’s last wishes for his daughter (alternatively Alura’s), and a dismissing “go home, ditz” from Lobo. Maybe three, if it doesn’t feel overbearing - you could let Ruthye switch her “I’m sorry for calling you careless” (I forget the actual line) for something along the lines of “I’m sorry you lost your home.”

For the Krypton scene, it would give the writers a chance to actually SAY something about the core premise instead of just giving Kara a vague character development that was never properly explored. Perhaps Kara can challenge Zor-El in saying “this is my home, I can’t just leave” for him to respond with “this home will always be with you, even in your next one.” It doesn’t even have to be THE major line from the scene, it can be in passing, giving way for the same kindness speech. She can even push back on that line, which would show that she’s not ready to accept that idea until her line to Clark at the end of the film. Finally, Lobo’s dismissal of Kara would give the audience one more chance to remember that through line - it doesn’t have to be something big, but it gives Millie the chance to react in some nonverbal way to show it affected her more than she let on. And it even gives Lobo way more of a central reason to exist in this flick.

Kara is at a crossroads, and one road leads towards Clark and one leads to Lobo. Or rather, one path leads to embracing the responsibility of the life and powers her parents gave her, and the other is continuing to drink her life away, not caring about anything or anyone but her and hers.

Lobo is immensely powerful, and the last of his planet. Just like Kara. And when we meet him, he’s passed out drunk in a bar, oblivious and uncaring of violence and exploitation around him. Just like Kara was trying to be when she first met Ruthye.

Lobo is Kara’s future if she gives up on trying to be good. Drunkenly stumbling through the galaxy not helping anyone or anything and only caring about herself. Maybe not mindlessly cruel, but not kind or good or caring of the pain of the people around her.

It’s why they both get Ruthye’s spiel, it’s why Lobo’s whole introduction mirrors what Kara was just doing demanding to know about the Brigands, it’s why they’re both “the ditz from the bar”, it’s why they both have the gag with the space suit collar.

It’s why Lobo crops up each time Ruthye and Kara are faced with choices, sometimes acting as a devil on their shoulders, sometimes just a big lurking ominous warning of their bleak future if they make the wrong choices. It’s why Lobo says “let Ruthye have her revenge”, uncaring of how the violence might haunt Ruthye for the rest of her life. He’s a big constant reminder why Kara cannot let this thirteen year old girl be consumed by violence, and of who her parents didn’t want her to be.

Lobo is Kara’s foil and shadow.