Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg stands by the show despite Cyrus' comment that the title 'Supergirl' doesn't support gender equality in Hollywood.
- Oct 12, 2016
AceShowbiz - Miley Cyrus slammed "Supergirl" in an interview with Variety while talking about Hollywood inequality. She thought that the show didn't boost gender equality with its title. Following a press screening on Tuesday, October 11, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg responded to Cyrus' comment.
"It's based on a pre-existing property that's called Supergirl, so we never had any intention of calling it something other than that," Kreisberg defended the show's title. "I think we worked hard, especially in the early part of season 1 to address the discrepancy."
He added, "We actually had a scene about Kara [Melissa Benoist] herself lamenting, 'Why aren't I called Superwoman?' and had Cat [Calista Flockhart] with her great rejoinder about how the word 'girl' in and of itself is not offensive. We continue to be proud of this show, we continue to be proud of Melissa and the character she represents and the hero that she represents. We stand by the show."
Cyrus previously told Variety, "I think having a show with a gender attached to it is weird. One, it's a woman on that f**king billboard - it's not a little girl. Two, what if you're a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad? I think having a title like 'Supergirl' doesn't give the power that people think it does."
Kreisberg also explained how Supergirl as a hero isn't different from other superheroes on The CW. "For us, the strongest feminist thing about this show is Kara herself, and just as a character, what Kara does week in and week out, and the challenges she's presented with and how she overcomes them both physically and emotionally, that, to me, is the biggest statement toward having a powerful female on television, is by not talking about it, but actually showing a powerful female on television," he said.
He continued, "That's the biggest feminist statement that we could make, especially when you compare it to our other shows, like Flash and Arrow - there's nothing she goes up against that they don't go up against, and she's just as valorous and just as competent and just as emotional and just as flawed and just as strong as any of the other male heroes that we've created. That, to me, is the best example of being pro-woman, that this show can make as a statement week in and week out."
On the same occasion, Kreisberg confirmed that James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) would suit up as DC Comics' character Guardian in season 2. "James has a pretty big turn coming up," he teased. "These next few episodes are going to make him realize that being a photographer... is not enough for him, so he's going to go on a pretty exciting career trajectory that we're really pumped by. James is going to decide that he can no longer sit back and be a sidekick, so he's going to decide to become a vigilante and he's going to become Guardian - complete with the shield."
This will cause a problem in his relationship with Kara "because he has decided not to tell her," Kreisberg revealed, adding, "Now there's this new masked vigilante, and she has her own feelings about vigilantes, and it becomes a push and pull about who gets to decide who gets to be a hero?"
While James keeps it a secret from Kara, he lets Winn (Jeremy Jordan) help him. "He's recruited Winn to help him," Kreisberg shared, "Winn is his man in the van, so the two of them are doing this together. Winn and James together is comedy gold. Watching Winn, as he takes his job at the DEO, but then he's lying to everybody about how he's spending his nights, because he's going out with James, and how he walks in exhausted or walks in with a black eye and says he walked into a door, is the fun excitement of building these first 10 episodes."
Brooks has taken to Instagram to tease his character's alter ego by posting a picture of Guardian. "Knock knock. Guess who?" he captioned it.
"Supergirl" airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
