“Les Supers Nanas” adapted for live action, why the costumes unveiled are shocking

On April 8, 2021, photos from the set of the live-action adaptation of the cult cartoon The Super Girls have leaked. This foretaste of the film did not convince many people, and certainly not the writing of aufeminin. We see actresses Dove Cameron, Chloe Bennet and Yana Perrault in their super hero outfits. Not only do the costumes look pretty cheap, but in addition, despite intending to be faithful to the cartoon, the trio’s schoolgirl mini-dresses and knee-high socks are puzzling. Should we expect yet another ultra male gauze series focusing on the sexualization of heroines, while the whole point of this franchise is based on girl power?

These photos have logically caused an uproar on Twitter. Obviously, the channel The CW unveiled a few days later the official pictures of the super heroines. We see Bulle, Belle et Rebelle, played by Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron and Yana Perrault. According to Entertainment Weekly, the footage from the shoot that had buzzed the previous week would actually be taken from short flashbacks that look back on the trio’s adolescence while the film, as a whole, focuses more on their lives as young adults.

On the production side, we can be reassured by remembering that this upcoming series is written by Diablo Cody, to whom we owe the excellent Juno, and Heather Regnier, who was at the helm of Veronica Mars. If the series is a live action adaptation of the cartoon, it is not a reboot. The story begins fifteen years after the end of the animated series. We therefore better understand the choice of adult actresses. Bulle, Belle and Rebelle are in their twenties in this new TV show. They face their daily lives as young adults and regret, deep down, having been deprived of childhood because of their life as superheroines. But no luck: they will have to come together again to counter a global threat.