Wonder Woman: A time Capsule

Wonder woman is often seen as the pinnacle of female representation in comics. According to the most current lore, Princess Diana is characterized as matriarchal, a brilliant tactician, is a founding member the Justice League and  is in fact stronger than Superman (because of the 'magical' nature of her abilities). But this a far cry from the ditsy, love-strung wonder woman from the comic and television series depictions of my beloved Amazon warrior princess. I was shocked to see images of Wonder Woman bound in S&M-reminiscent positions, taken aback by the masculinity and charm of Steve Trevor (who has all-but disappeared in modern Wonder Woman comics), and hated the fact that her first activity in modern world... was shopping.

Wonder Woman actually serves as an insightful source of information on the sociological/anthropological status in America in the 50's. Wonder Woman is like a time capsule that shows many of the prevailing stereotypes of women in this 'golden era'. In regards to the stylistic choices, Wonder Woman contains much more context provided to each scene in the form of often intrusive and awkwardly placed text boxes. This could have been done in a (misguided) attempt to boost viewership among women , insinuating that female readers might have a harder time keeping up with the story arc.

 Although that might sounds like a bit of a stretch, it is alarming that Wonder Woman often finds herself powerless, as her aggressor uses her own source of power against her. The TV series is even more revelatory of the overt misogyny in this period. WW spends the entire first episode pining for the attention of Steve Trevor! WW is essentially defined by Steve's desire. Even the first villain in the show is a jealous co-worker who tries to have WW killed in various. If Steve were not handsome, WW might not have every left paradise island. I can imagine a room full of white men sitting around a table, trying to contrive different ways in which they can appeal to their female audience by casting the most handsome possible actor for Corporal Trevor.

Another scene that comes to mind is when Queen Hippolyta warns WW of the perils of going to the United States. She begin by saying that the Amazonian have everything they need on the island. But in the very next sentence, she cannot refrain from biting her lip as she rolls her eyes back and undoubtedly reminisces on her sexual life in the real world.

Above all, this week showed me that men did not believe that Wonder Woman (emphasis on the woman) was capable of maintaining readers attention with her athleticism and feats of heroism alone.

And now that they have been proven wrong, I can't help but ask... why aren't there more Wonder Women-esque comic book characters? Or at least a Marvel interpretation of the matriarchal typecast.