TV Transgender Superhero

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Hello,

I have just read that the TV series Supergirl is to get a Transgender Superhero. Here is the link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44915149

This leads me to ask a question. Why are superheros such an American genre? Is it purely down to Comic / Graphic novels, or something deeper?

I would love to read your responses.

Love to all

Anne G.

Comments

Down to History I think

Since the depression of the 1930's millions of people have found solace in the world of fantasy. I don't mean the dragonslayers and hobbits and trolls and the like but being able to set aside their dull boring life for a while and escape to something new and different yet identifiable.

The superhero's were just like them most of the time. They were members of a society that the readers of the magazines of the times (the penny dreadfuls if you like) could relate too, identify with. Clark Kent was a nobody reporter until... {you know the rest}

Then it there is the society that is pretty unique to the USA. I don't mean to sterotype but the biggest is best, we are the greatest and all that razamatazz make these superheros fit right in whereas in other societies, hero's are much more low key, reserved and often totally eschew publicity. Take US Election Rallies. The Candidate is portraied almost as a Superhero, coming to save the world from the demons in the other party.

Self publicity is something that most Americans do very well. People who travel a lot know who is an american the moment they walk into a room/bar etc. That is not to denegrate Americans. It is just the way they appear to others. It is their unique style. Russians outside of Russia also have a readily identifiable style/persona.

There is a great documentary on the BBC I-player that was made by an american that if you can watch it is worth doing so.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0b8rc45/rich-halls-wo... (90 minutes long though)
If you can watch it, it gives those of us outside the USA a good insight into what makes the USA tick. The bit he describes about what happens when two Americans meet each other is just brilliant.

Other nations have their own style as well.

I'm sure that some University somewhere runs a PHD course on this very thing. Naturally, I could be totally wrong and barking mad.
Samantha

In mid-century America superheroes will run for office

laika's picture

SUPERHERO PARTY candidates will just be guys in costumes, maybe with rocket boots and other Ironman-type gadgets, but they'll have names like THUNDERBOLT and will take the fusion of American politics with show business to the next level. They'll run on platforms of law and order and military might. Not to be outdone, the opposition will consist of people in fluffy animal costumes. The FUZZYWARM PARTY's promises will be all about diversity and the environment and taking care of everyone.

I've seen the future and it's a Kurt Vonnegut novel.
~hugs, Veronica

Actually you are quite

Actually you are quite correct. During WWII, and I would hazard a guess even today; training was given to American spies and those who worked behind the enemy lines to ensure they would pass completely as a person (citizen) of which ever country/locale that they were placed into. It was rather easy to spot an American, or an Englishman/woman if they were placed into an area of the European countries, because they simply stood out as either American or English. The way they smoked their cigarette was a sign, they way they spoke, or interacted with others and so forth. Lots of training required to remove those signals. The same applied to the other side(s), so they too would not stick out when introduced into the enemy's territories.
Knowing the local language is the first step, however you also have to learn it with all the little idioms, slang, variations due to local within the country, and the like. Using German for an example, there is "high" German and "low" German. Written the same, however the spoke word(s) are pronounced differently. That little slip could have cost a spy his/her life.

So. I guess we won't see the show

here in the U.S. unless it gets shown on BBC America. Well, we'd probably screw it up anyway if it was made here.

I wonder what it is that makes the U.K. so much more accepting of Trans folks. I talk regularly to a few U.K. citizens and they always tell me about how much more relaxed the attitude toward Trans folks is in the U.K.

Jeeze! Are we THAT uptight here in the U.S.?

Catherine Linda Michel

As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script. Y_0.jpg

Well, the reason might be,

Monique S's picture

that brits in general are ony confrontational when in the army.

As private persons a lot of them try to hide behind a politeness that could also be described as: "I don't give a hoot as long as it doesn't touch me".
Also most of them just love bowing to authority (King or Queen & Co. Ltd. and partners (government)). Also political correctness has gone rampant there to the effect, that while I lived there two policemen let someone drown in a lake, because they had not been trained in rescuing people from the water.

Mind you I used to love the English. But their lack of guts in certain respects gets to me more often than not nowadays. And then, being in danger of being accused of a hate crime does keep most people in check, but is that real understanding? Hmmm, maybe I really am getting even more radical with age, too.

There are - of course - individuals who really care and understand, but those you'll find in any nation, as that should be basic human nature still.

Monique S

Jeeze! Are we THAT uptight here in the U.S.?

Yes, when a black man is accused of being gay in East Point Georgia and is beaten near to death. Yes, when a gay man has a rope wrapped around him and dragged to death behind a pick up truck in rural Texas. When a LGBQT friendly club in Atlanta is bombed, yes. We are that uptight about such things here in the US.

Hell, we have organized pickets and protests when there's a convention that promotes the safe use of whips, flogs, ropes and other toys.

YES, we are that up tight about things, I'm very sorry to say.

She-wow is the most recent

Aylesea Malcolm's picture

She-wow is the most recent one to my knowledge that was on TV.

I’m not sure about the Sailor Stars (sailor moon)

tg cartoon

mountaindrake's picture

I believe you mean Shezow. Have a good day and enjoy life.

Have a good day and enjoy life.

Amazing

She has the best presentation of any T girl I have ever seen. If she wanted it, I hope that she got her surgery. I think she came out very early in life, so was able to have all the latest protocols?

Gwen

She started at 9 or 10,

She started at 9 or 10, sometime in the 4th or 5th grade back in 2009.

It helps that the family had money, she won a lawsuit against her school system for bathroom access, and that she had a bestseller semi-autobiography meaning she could afford whatever she needed to help in her transition.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

Dream Girl/Dreamer

Enemyoffun's picture

This appears to be a new incarnation of her. She's from the Legion of Superheroes, I'm not too familiar with that particular line of DC heroes, well only the more common ones like Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl. I do remember hearing something about them making her transgendered in the comics too but I couldn't find anything on it. I do applaud them for it though :)

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/dream-girl/4005-1254/

It's her distant ancestor,

It's her distant ancestor, they are using that as a way of making her different yet still connected to the comic character. There's a chance they could feature her in a dual-role where she plays the Legion of Superheroes version as well.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

Nicole Maines

Andrea Lena's picture

The first transgender actress Mrs. D viewd on the Royal Pains series. Her biography is in most libraries. The cover below features her twin brother Jonas

51D9LGodenL.jpg

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena