Stargirl Season 2: Work Life Balance and Trauma
The moral case for balancing your life out and avoiding trauma.
Where is the line between having a job and having a life?
For some people, there isn't really a line. Their job is their life. They've spent so much time and energy getting to a point where they have the job they want, it's only reasonable to think of them as the same. Probably because they feel interchangeable. Anyone who works so hard for job they want is going to have to dedicate their lives to it. Even with such dedication however, at a certain point it becomes clear that in order to do that you've often missed out on other non-work related life events which are important.
Fixing that requires finding a balance between work and spending time doing things like having fun and building relationships. This even applies when you have a destiny to fulfill, or at least you believe you have one. There has to be more to your life than focusing your entire life on a single, all consuming goal, despite the fact that such dedication might ultimately save lives. Many superheroes over the years have struggled to find this type of thing and it mirrors what a lot of people struggle with in real life.
Stargirl seems to be exploring this idea in the new season. At least based on how the first episode has gone. Courtney is obsessed with her life as Stargirl and refuses to let it go. She's dedicated herself to finding a new villain to fight which will give her life meaning. Almost to the point of being willing to see villains around every corner, even when they aren't actually there. This is best exemplified by her throw down with Artemis and how it leads to summer school. She's struggling to see any kind of life outside of this job she built for herself.
Thankfully, she has her parents and friends to help her move beyond this obsessive behaviour. They're trying to give her more than just Stargirl to find happiness in. Part of why they're doing it however is because of what they're dealing with themselves. Mainly, the trauma of what being a superhero and helping people entails. Rick is trying to find a way past who he used to be and accept the mantle of his parents. Beth is feeling lost after losing the one thing that made her feel like she had only her parents around. Where this is most exemplified however is in Yolanda.
She's dealing with the consequences of her decision to try and help people. How she took a life, partly out of revenge, but also in order to save the people he would likely hurt if he escaped. Like a good hero though, she can't move past taking another life, even if it was for a good cause. Living with the trauma of what a superhero must sometimes do for the greater good. One assumes this will be a major part of showing Courtney and her friends why they need a life outside of being a superhero.
To make life worth living.
It's going to be an interesting season and I encourage you to check it out as soon as you can. Catch up on the first season here on the CW app in the United States and Amazon elsewhere, and then check out the new season.
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