fandom nerd spaces are horrifically ill-prepared for this sort of conversation both because they're overwhelmingly dominated by men after spending the last decade pushing any new fans who were women out of the space, and because they lack the actual standards of quality to appreciate anything outside the scope of what's acceptable in narrow genre conventions
the overwhelming critique from comic book nerds is "the comic is better," and almost entirely that argument consists of "the comic looks better" which is naive at best if not actively disingenuous. the comic is obviously gorgeous but a live-action movie would never be able to match that style, and moreover, it was never trying to. the movie has its own very defined aesthetic that you need to meet where it's at. and as far as the comic's story being better… no, it's just not, sorry. it's upheld as iconic and i do enjoy it fine but i find it lacking, especially in terms of kara as a character- in WoT she serves as more of an elevated deity figure to be observed by ruthye, whereas in the movie she's an actual character with an arc. i don't want to dig into all the specific comparisons, but what this strikes me as is fandom nerds upholding this comic as a golden goose and hating the movie for diverging from it, even if that was always the plan and even if it's for the better
what particularly shocks me are the men- even the men who are attempting to "defend" the movie- who will compare it unfavorably to wonder woman 2017, a movie that is just absolutely horrific from its casting (talentless IDF member as your headliner YEESH) to its plot ("hey guys it's the war god that causes all the wars, if we kill him we can stop the wars"), but what it DOES feature is a man in an incredibly prevalent role and the use of a romance plotline to tie the larger-than-life goddess to humanity. that connection to humanity is embodied by a young girl in supergirl, and the male viewers lack a character they can see themselves in unless they're willing to open themselves up to actually seeing women as people
but genuinely, why the unfavorable comparisons to wonder woman, a film that is damn near objectively worse in every way? well, keep in mind that movie is 9 years old, and released in the era where there was actual hope that nerd spaces would start accommodating women more actively. i don't want to pretend 2017 was a progressive utopia, but those ideas were generally on the cultural rise, and that culture has crashed and burned, giving way to a modern society that is frothing at the mouth with misogynistic rage
so many of the critiques read as superficial jabs looking to find any reason to hate on a movie with a female lead. she isn't pretty enough, isn't put together enough, even if that actively serves her character. not enough of lobo or superman, the MEN they're here to see
but even the men who posit themselves as progressive feel the need to find weird reasons to justify their dislike of the film. perhaps the saddest critique is the needle drop for the final battle. did you find it cringe? okay, that's fine. don't pretend this is some great failure that ruins the film, that this moment alone "killed supergirl." you're desperately picking at straws to find something to justify your impotent anger at a movie that doesn't cater to you
what this highlights to me more than the failure or success of any one film in a corporate entity's latest attempt to construct a cinematic universe is the damage that has been done to this culture, to the fandom nerd spaces. many of the men lambasting supergirl make their living optimistically speculating on how avengers: doomsday will miraculously turn out to be a masterpiece instead of a shameless cash grab, breathlessly building hype for the upcoming spider-man movie that's coming off the back of a trilogy of awful entries. these men wouldn't dare criticize those projects, because those aren't acceptable targets. so they're blind to seeing how they actively contribute to this campaign of hate, further pushing women out of the space, reinforcing their community's existing views and all the misogyny therein
and when all of that comes crashing down on them, when they look around and see the review-bombing from misogynistic agitators and right-wing grifters, if they even reel enough shame to try and defend the movie, they do it tepidly, cowardly. they do it with a "did i think it was a perfect movie? no. but it was dumb fun that didn't push the envelope" and maybe throwing in a "girls need movies like this, too" for good measure
and frankly, what girls actually need is better allies than all of you
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