"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Monday, June 17, 2019

Favorite Characters: Nia Nal a.k.a. Dreamer (Supergirl)


One of the many reasons I’ve been all about Supergirl this past season is the presence of Nia Nal, a new addition to our crew.  She’s added a lot to the show, opened up several major plots, and is just an all-around fun character to have in the mix.  I’m really glad she’s joined the show (some Nia-related spoilers.)

First introduced as a new reporter at Catco, Nia is positioned as a young mentee for Kara.  Passionate about journalism and eager to make but a difference but lacking some of the confidence she needs to put herself out there, Nia grows by degrees under Kara’s guidance.  Like Kara, she very much wears her heart on her sleeve and is out to make the world better through her reporting; I love the scene where Kara side-eyes Nia’s hope to write a story on fashion in National City and Nia convinces her with a heartfelt pitch about the inspiring output of creativity and collaboration coming out of the industry.  Right away, it shows Nia’s heart and drive, along with her ability to see matters from perspectives that others sometimes miss.  It also shows something that’s a recurring circumstance for her – her insecurities and nervousness can get in the way of her goals, but when she’s able to forget those things for a minute (often when she gets caught up in her enthusiasm for something,) there’s pretty much no stopping her.

Because even though she can be timid, Nia is ultimately very brave.  Whether it’s confronting James about Catco staying neutral during a period of rising anti-alien sentiment or defending Brainy from some intolerant thugs, she frequently overpowers her own fear for the sake of doing what’s right.  It’s hardest for her to do this, initially, with her gradually-developing powers of prophetic dreaming – she’d always expected her older sister to be the one to inherit the gift, so she never studied dream interpretation and feels ill-equipped to accept the mantle she’s been given – but once she finally realizes how much help she can offer the heroes, she dives into her training headfirst.

This takes us back to mentoring again, with Brainy helping Nia learn how to use her powers and Kara giving her shadowing and hands-on experience in day-to-day superhero business.  Nia’s enthusiasm is as infectious as it is endearing – I love the gusto with which she takes to astral projecting, defending the vulnerable, and working on her superhero bravado.  While refusing the call is an often-used trope in genre stories and I understand why Nia is reluctant to face up to it at first, I love that she’s so all in now.

Finally, I really love that Nia is both of mixed human/alien heritage (born on Earth, while her mother was from Naltor) and a transgender woman.  This is cool for a lot of reasons.  Genre identities (aliens, mutants, etc.) so often stand in as allegories for real-world marginalized communities that shows sometimes forget to include those real-world aspects at all, but Supergirl acknowledges both.  Nia comes out to Kara as an alien before she comes out to her as trans, but each conversation is given its own breathing space and emotional content (and the second is what in turn helps Kara reveal to Nia that she’s Supergirl.)  I also like that Nia is fully both of these identities but that she isn’t “summed up” by either.  She’s Nia the character first, and Nia the half human/half alien and Nia the trans person are just facets of that, much like Nia the reporter and Nia the burgeoning superhero.  And even though the show presents Nia’s trans identity as not as big deal (and rightly so,) in the context of pop culture at large, it is a big deal to have a trans superhero on prime time television played by a trans actress.  This has never happened before, and much respect to Supergirl for being the first show to cross that milestone.  Nia is a fantastic character, Nicole Maines is an engaging and likable actress, and I can’t wait to see where the character goes next.

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