Supergirl has launched an impressive marketing campaign. At every turn, whether the medium is radio, television, Internet ads, and every social media platform, there’s some sort of Supergirl plug.
We live in a world where being fabulous means being extra-ordinary, à la famous, and in a culture obsessed with celebrities and the fame that comes with it. I won’t pontificate on the plot, as this article isn’t meant to be a spoiler. I’d rather comment on my observations of the show and who it’s geared towards. The fact that Kara, Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), is a fumbling, bumbling, novice assistant whose youthful looks resemble more of a 16 year-old than someone in her 20s ought to tell us something. The show is geared towards the same teenie, and tweenie boppers as well as twenty somethings that drooled over Justin Bieber when he was still just a nobody producing his own YouTube videos. Despite some of us who criticize the show as being lame and maybe even scrutinize Benoist’s acting capabilities and range, one has to understand the genre and the audience the show is targeting.
The teenage population is more in-tune to social media and even capable of mastering the art of getting followers, retweets, reblogs, likes, and so on, than your ordinary dummy adult. Having said this, the teen population is a huge one. Targeting them means potentially attracting a powerful audience, and if you throw in the comic-book geeks, you can really be onto something big. But, I have speculation for any faithful comic-con going, comic book fanatics. Why? Because they’re likely the biggest critics and haters of the show. But, they also weren’t required to get Justin Bieber millions of hits on YouTube.
There have been various articles written on the Supergirl plot, scrutinizing and or dissecting the writing and acting. But the storyline is secondary, as is Kara’s line in the pilot, to the effect of “I was meant to do more.” (Hint: she’s Superman’s cousin who’s come to Earth to lookout out for him. As if!) It’s in Episode 2 during a flashback scene when her mother tells her,“You have the heart of a hero” that drives the point home. It’s a magical line that every little girl wants to hear and believe. That line right there tells you who the show is targeting. It’s not meant for everyone, especially the average adult interested in a great crime thriller or sitcom or the latest addicting reality show.
I’m not a comic book geek. I’m not a Justin Bieber fan either and the audience I feel the show is attempting to target, I’m not sure I am a part of. Having said this, it doesn’t really matter. The fact of the matter is that there are genres for a reason in both the visual medium and that of books, because not everyone likes every genre.
What I never understood is why would a pair of glasses and business attire suddenly makes everyone completely blind to the flying superhero who’s face is plastered in the media, when the entire time they’re saving the planet while also sitting in the next cubical?
Regardless, Superman and Supergirl and many other comic book heroes are nothing more than an allegory for life. That perhaps people don’t take you seriously, they don’t even notice you, almost like they’re blind until they finally see you as someone great, some type of hero. Supergirl is not a show for everyone, but it definitely has a great marketing machine backing it as it targets vulnerable viewers who like under-dog stories where a nobody can suddenly become a super-hero.