Growing up in Texas, you learn that there are some words you just don’t say because they aren’t polite, and any Texan child knows the value of manners and the severity of threats like having your mouth washed out with soap.
So at all costs, we avoid words with propaganda-like nicknames: “the four letter word,” “See you next Tuesday,” and my personal favorite, “the F-word.” Shall we say it in unison? “Fem-i-nism.” Not in front of the ladies, now!
We all know that were it not for feminism, any woman reading this article would be forced to check a box on her web browser that said, “My husband knowingly has given his permission for me to access the Internet." But why, then, can’t we sit side-by-side as a unified group without any preconceived notions from our peers about the connotations that feminism might bring?
HBO recently premiered the documentary, Gloria: In Her Own Words, a film about Gloria Steinem and her inimitable, feminist voice. The documentary is a raw look into the life of the social activist: the highs — vibrant, lively and full of color (though I may just be remembering Steinem’s unending supply of colored sunglasses) — and the lows, as she herself admits, are black and white, lacking the veracity with which so many associate her.
The piece is a narrative progression from the start of Steinem’s career. Her move to New York is inundated with sexism, from finding an apartment on her own to gaining creditability as a young journalist. But the beginnings of a writer who wants to be taken seriously soon morph into images of an activist whose voice, often angrily opposed, fights for the equality that her younger self couldn’t have imagined.
“The hostility is a step forward from ridicule,” Steinem says with a nod.
The first article of Steinem’s I ever read was published in the October 1978 edition of Ms. Magazine (which she co-founded in 1972) entitled, “If Men Could Menstruate.” Though I wasn’t among the first to read it, 30 years later, her well-worn prose remained shockingly relevant. On my first acquaintance with Steinem, I was struck by her wit, measure and honest ideas. I laughed at the absurdity of themed tampons for men and, thanks to my Texas upbringing, even came up with a slogan or two for the John Wayne brand. “Life’s hard. Even harder without John Wayne tampons.”
What I really gained from that short article—aside from strategies for marketing men’s toiletries—was that finding a voice empowers a person to speak about all different kinds of things, in ways never before thought of. Before Gloria Steinem, who knew that women’s rights could be attested by mockery of men’s menstrual cycles? Who would have thought an article about men menstruating could be ever published, and in a magazine dedicated to feminism, nonetheless?
While Steinem’s story is uniquely her own, the images that comprise the piece are those that we all know quite well: Grainy, black and white video of women protesting the right to vote; a mob of women pouring the streets in the 1970 Strike for Equality March; a news clip of a Walter Cronkite broadcast with the text “Roe V. Wade Decision January 22, 1973” at the bottom of the screen.
They are those events that have so rightly gotten us to the place we are at today: A place where feminists old and young join together to laud the efforts of those before us and begrudge the term that unites us all together.
We all know that were it not for feminism, any woman reading this article would be forced to check a box on her web browser that said, “My husband knowingly has given his permission for me to access the Internet." But why, then, can’t we don our “This is what a Feminist looks like” T-shirt and sit side-by-side as a unified group without any preconceived notions from our peers about the connotations that feminism might bring?
For me, this HBO documentary makes some headway in answering this question. It is incredibly refreshing to see a singular woman’s story. We constantly hear the women’s movement, the women’s federation, and even though, as individuals we are part of these things, we don’t want to have to dye our hair magenta to be noticed on our own.
Gloria Steinem is an outstanding, talented writer, an activist whose ideas are formative in the alteration of so many people’s understandings of women’s rights and more importantly of equality—mine included. But she is one person to whom we can turn for inspiration within the movement that so inspired her.
Rather than take her experience as universal, it’s time to recognize that feminism is a familiarity of ourselves that we find within the larger group. And while the movement is growing globally to new people in far away places, it’s because of how these worldly, unifying ideas impact singular stories—like Gloria Steinem’s—that feminism, however dirty of a word, is still able to connect us. She says so herself, “Do not listen to my advice—listen to the voice inside you and follow that.”
Photo courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures
Milly Alcock in Supergirl.
Last year's Superman reboot brought a renewed sense of optimism for, if not the concept of the comic book movie, then at least the DC Comics universe. After more than a decade of DC films that felt mostly creatively bankrupt, the leadership of James Gunn gave the story a sense of fun. That included the brief introduction of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, who’s now getting her own showcase in, naturally, Supergirl.
When we first met her in Superman, Supergirl was in rough shape, arriving at the Fortress of Solitude visibly inebriated. Nothing has changed at the beginning of this film, save for her aimlessly traveling around the universe with her rambunctious dog, Krypto. One of her random stops puts her in the same bar as Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is looking for help tracking down Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a group known as the Brigands after they brutally murdered her family.
Kara is initially loath to offer aid, but when Krem shoots a poison dart into Krypto while escaping, her motivation goes way up, especially since Krem holds the antidote. Kara, with Ruthye doggedly following her, uses every means available to her to find Krem, a journey that is hampered by galaxies having different colored suns than the one that gives her powers, the yellow sun.
Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film is a big step back in the fun category, not least because Supergirl is deep in her feelings for much of the film. Her personal trauma, which is detailed in occasional flashbacks, gives a reason for her depression, but fails to land fully. The story seems to want everyone to be sad, as it includes a child trafficking ring and multiple instances of families being murdered.
Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
To try to counteract that downer material, the filmmakers give Supergirl many opportunities to show off her fighting skills. While still CGI-heavy, the action scenes contain enough of a semblance of reality that they feel exciting. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the inclusion of several slow-motion sequences, giving the impression that the filmmakers didn’t trust the actors to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.
Superman (David Corenswet) makes a handful of appearances in the film, and while his presence is welcome given how well the character came across in the previous movie, it also doesn’t allow Supergirl to become her own person. Almost everything she does is colored by either her cousin or her parents, and since her powers are identical to those of Superman, there is very little that makes her story unique aside from how she’s dealing with the fallout.
Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) gives an appealing performance despite her character being drunk and/or moody most of the time. She definitely sells what Supergirl is going through, so if given a better story in a future film, she’s proven her capability. Schoenaerts makes for a pretty good villain, although he’s aided by a look that includes a face full of studs. Jason Momoa has a memorable supporting role as the bounty hunter Lobo, even if his character doesn’t add much to the story.
While not a full-on disaster, Supergirl does not continue the momentum that Superman started. With a story that’s more concerned with showing audiences death scenes than a hero saving people, the film doesn’t seem to understand the appeal of a character like Supergirl or how to make her someone audiences will return to over and over again.
Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures