The Great and Impactful Portrayal of Step-Parents in StarGirl

Step-parents aren’t typically portrayed in a good light within media. It’s common to see both stepmother’s and stepfather’s portrayed as inferior and harsher than biological parents towards their children. In the show StarGirl, good step-parents are done justice with the portrayal of StarGirl’s stepfather.

Stargirl’s Stepfather Is Very Involved

StarGirl is a show whose executive producer is Geoff Johns. The main character of the show is StarGirl, a superheroine whose actual name is Courtney Whitmore. What’s interesting about the show’s portrayal of Courtney’s parents is that, from the very beginning, her stepfather is shown to be very involved in her life and very important to the whole of the story. His name is Pat Dugan, and unlike the typical media portrayal of step-parents, he’s a very good father figure to Courtney who really cares about her. They get along well with one another and even comfortably joke around with each other.

Even more interestingly, even though both of Courtney’s parents eventually find out that she’s StarGirl, Pat is actually the first of them to do so, even before her biological mother. Instead of being a hindrance to StarGirl’s heroic activities, he is actually very supportive and helpful to her.

Pat Provides Relevant Hero Help

Another great thing about Pat is the fact that he has experience being a hero and can help Courtney on her heroic journey. Impressively, he actually used to be the sidekick for the late Starman, whose mantle StarGirl is taking up. This means that Pat has relevant hero knowledge that he can share with Courtney to help her be a better and more informed heroine.

Not only that, but Pat actually serves as a sidekick to StarGirl. He provides her with backup whenever she needs it. He’s incredibly helpful and loyal to her in this role. Even though he’s much older now than when he was a sidekick in the past, he still finds ways to assist StarGirl however he can.

This also extends to the superhero group that StarGirl eventually becomes the leader of. The group is known as the Justice Society of America and is comprised of many of Courtney’s friends. This means that the members are very young and still have a lot to learn. Thankfully, since they were friends to begin with, the members get along and work well together. However, Pat still serves as their older and wiser mentor since he has more experience being a hero than they do.

Pat’s portrayal as a stepfather in StarGirl is a welcome deviation from the norm of seeing step-parents portrayed as evil or ill-meaning. He’s literally also a hero himself. He provides StarGirl with help by dispensing the knowledge he attained during his time being Starman’s sidekick to help her become a better heroine. It’s amazing to see the beautiful relationship that Pat and Courtney have with one another, as stepfather and stepdaughter. It’s equally amazing to see the lengths he’s willing to go to in order to assist her when he becomes a sidekick again just to help her.