Societal Artifacts In Wonder Woman

Societal artifacts give valuable insight into the ways in which feminism, sex, and gender are portrayed in culture. The three artifacts that I have looked at and examined over the past semester have been an online advertisement for the 2017 movie Wonder Woman, the cover art for the action/adventure video game Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, and the portrayal of a transgender FBI agent in the early 90s tv show Twin Peaks. While all three artifacts highlight different issues that infect society, together they show a complete picture of how feminism, sex, and gender is and how it could be if societal values progressed. At the center of these artifacts lies the concept of giving people agency to be the person they can be, and in order to

I think Wonder Woman does even more than just those though, both the movie and the character give women agency. Author Wendy Varney discusses how toys give boys agency in her article “Of Men and Machines.” While boys are given agency to act strong through their machine-like toys, Varney breaks down how, “girls feel alienated by these toys and have had their own spheres outlines by toy manufacturers.” (2002: 171). The spheres outlined for girls fit into the stereotypical feminine guidelines of being beautiful and more submissive. The film Wonder Woman provides agency for women by demonstrating a strong female character not restricted by traditional societal values. The character of Wonder Woman comes from a non traditional society where there are only women, and when the character enters our society, she points out differences between the two. These differences often highlight how our society fails where hers succeeds, in ways such as giving women a voice in positions of power and in physical spaces. The agency Wonder Woman demonstrates is, in my opinion, a big reason why the film was such a success and can inspire

The cover art for Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection originally got me thinking about how it perpetuates the idea of gender training by continuing the trend of portraying men as naturally strong, brave, and charming, while also socializing young boys and men to feel a pressure to behave like Nathan Drake. Looking back at the artifact, it is clear to me that it is an example of androcentrism. The cover of the game features no noticeable femininity, and in fact chooses to go the route of uber-masculinity through it’s imagery of a man holding a gun, scowling, and looking like he is on an adventure. While making a product specifically designed for a specific target audience is not inherently damaging, Uncharted fits into a larger narrative, both in video games and in a larger context, of media designed specifically for men and not considering women in the product and its promotion. Cover art is meant to attract someone to a product, and Uncharted is playing right into the stereotypical gender roles that both men and women have by embracing only masculinity and not