"William Marston was an unusual man—a psychologist, a soft-porn pulp novelist, more than a bit of a carny, and the (self-declared) inventor of the lie detector. He was also the creator of Wonder Woman, the comic that he used to express two of his greatest passions: feminism and women in bondage."(Berlatsky, 2015)
For over 60 years, Wonder Woman has filled the pages of her magazine with adventures ranging from battling Nazis, to declawing human-like Cheetahs. Her exploits thrilled and inspired many young girls, including Gloria Steinem. Through all of this, she has had to pilot her invisible jet through territories that her male counterparts have never had to. She is constantly pulled in two directions; her stories must be entertaining and non threatening to the male status quo, while simultaneously furthering her as the original symbol of 'Girl Power.' She is praised for being an icon of strength to women everywhere, but chastised for wearing a skimpy costume and tying men up, as if she were no more than a male fantasy. No comic book character has had to endure as much scrutiny as Wonder Woman. That's because Wonder Woman represents an entire gender, at a time of important social flux. Although she was created by a man to influence a male audience, Wonder Woman has evolved into an important symbol of the feminist movement.
An Amazon is born
Shortly after Superman made his appearance in 1939, a noted psychologist by the name of William Moulton Marston wrote an article in Family Circle magazine, praising comic books. According to Les Daniels in Wonder Woman: The Complete History (Chronicle Books, 2000, pp. 22-24), his article caught the eye of M.C. Gains of DC Comics. Gains was so impressed by the article, he hired Marston into a new position at DC Comics. Within a year, at the urging of his wife, Marston set out to create a female superhero. By February 1941, Marston handed in his first script for ‘Suprema: The Wonder Woman.’ (We owe a debt of thanks to whoever dropped the Suprema.) Marston created a unique heroine, based loosely on Greek Mythology. Diana was the Princess of Paradise Island, a mystical place inhabited by Amazons. Her mother, Hippolyte (sometimes referred to as Hippolyta), Queen of the Amazons, wanted a child and petitioned the Goddesses of Olympus to give her one. She was instructed to sculpt a child from clay. When she was done, the...
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... nurturing. All the while balancing family issues and fighting against stereotypes. As her comic book moves ahead, Wonder Woman will continue to tackle issues relating to every woman, and even, every human.
Works Cited:
Berlatsky, Noah. Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics, 1941-1948. January 2015. Print.
Daniels, Les. Wonder Woman: The Complete History. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2001.
Edgar, Joanna “Wonder Woman Revisited”: Ms. Warner Communications: (July 1972) 28-29
Jimenez, Phil. Wonder Woman #172. (Second Series) DC Comics: (August 2001)
Kanigher, Robert. Sensation Comics #97. DC Comics: (May-June 1950)
Kanigher, Robert. Wonder Woman #204. DC Comics: (January-February 1973)
Marston, William Moulten. Wonder Woman Archives, Vol. One. New York: DC Comics 1998, 8-16
“The New, Original Wonder Woman” Wonder Woman, ABC: November 7, 1975
O’Neil, Dennis. Wonder Woman #177. DC Comics: (July-August 1968)
Perez, George. Wonder Woman #1 (Second Series) DC Comics: (February 1987)
Thomas, Roy. Wonder Woman #288 DC Comics: (February 1982)
Wolfman, Marv. Crisis On Infinite Earths #12 DC Comics: (December 1986)
...eats until the eggs are hatched (Moore, 2013, p. 1999). As times changed, so did mentality. Moore is trying to change society’s view of women. She is trying to show that a woman can accomplish a lot more than first thought. Marianne Moore also uses descriptions from Greek mythology. She refers to the ancient serpent Hydra, Cancer the crab and the hero Hercules. These references give us an idea that Moore portray’s the Nautilus and women, to be strong and adaptable in a new modern society. From my understanding of the poem, the conflict is the inequality in which women were treated. Humanity did not believe that women were capable of accomplishing everything such as man. In the present time, I believe there is still a masculine mentality in certain cultures. Moore took a great step forward to better change this issue that as afflicted society for a long time.
Somewhere around 1939 and 1941 Detective Comics and its sister organization, All-American Publications, presented well known superheroes, for example, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the Flash,
Wonder Woman choose to save people's lives. They both did what they had to do to save many people's life. In the same same way Helen was taken away from her husband and the imbalance or injustice in the hero’s life would be when Odysseus needed to control his ego example “Odysseus, raider of cities” (9:418) he's bragging about what he can do. In the beginning of the story so he wasn't all about him and what he can all do for himself to show off he says, “I would not need them in my way glorying spirit/but let my anger flare and yelled” (9:414-415). The imbalance or injustice for Wonder Woman would be she could choose to help people but many people thought she was a big thing “Go in peace my daughter. And remember that, in
In the article “Wonder Woman” Gloria Steinem expresses that the making of female super-heroes empowers females by reducing the fixed theme of a Caucasian male saving an inferior female. She displays this by showing how inferior women were before in male super-hero comic books, compares what it was like personally reading female super-hero comics to male super-hero comics as a child, the fight with other women to have the original Wonder Woman published in Ms. Magazine and how even males were changed by the making of Wonder Woman.
In addition, they also felt the story comics Wonder Woman would be more interesting if the Amazon Princess likes sex.
Women aren’t represented as incompetent, but rather as limited. In “The Woman Precedent Female (Super) Heroism on Trial”, Julie O’Reilly analyzes the distinctions between the ways male and female superheroes are “put to the test” in narratives. She also describes how male superheroes are the ones who are accepted into the world of fighting and protecting against evil; while the females have to go through much more than males in order to be recognized for their efforts. “What really is on trial, then, is a female superhero’s ability to be a fully recognized subject” (O’Reilly 452). The “heroine in her own right” should be acknowledged just like how male superheroes are recognized. Female superheroes deserve the right of being able to do just as much, and possibly even more, than a male superhero can and they should be given the appreciation as well as the acknowledgment that they rightfully deserve. For example, one book written by Stieg Larsson called “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” depicts the life of a very strong female protagonist. The literature illustrates two people who are trying to solve the mystery of the disappearance of a young girl in the 1940’s but the woman isn't getting much credit or motivation as the other characters.
This was evident in the findings of the research when it was demonstrated that even when a female superhero was considered empowering, this could nonetheless have a negative impact on how the participants’ viewed their bodies and make them prone to placing more value on their self-image. This proposed that even when talent and strength between the sexes are similar, if the importance of the female character relied on her appearance, women will also place an unnecessary amount of value on their own appearance. In this case, the fact that these female superheroes where as strong as male superheroes could be perceived as a method used to confront men’s power because they tried to be equal, yet, because the female characters were nevertheless being hyper-sexualized, it did not counteract in a positive way. Instead, more unfavorable and resentful emotions toward women were developed simply because now female superheroes not only had unrealistic physiques, but their level of competency was also impossible for real women to attain. Therefore, this demonstrated indications towards hostile
Let’s discuss a little bit of comic book history for starters. The most iconic superhero in all of American comic book history has got to be Superman. He was created near the beginning of superhero comic books and debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938[1]. He would remain as the blueprint for many superheroes for years to come as the atypical white American male. But as the years go by there were comic book heroes that came out that go against this archetype such as Wonder
Wonder Woman made her first debut during the great depression in the sunday “funnies.” Which was three years after the dawn of the superheroes. Wonder Woman proved popular enough to get her published spot in Detective Comics, also know as DC Comics. To Marston (a Harvard- trained psychologist), Wonder Woman was a personal creation. Even though over the years there has been many female super characters. Wonder woman has lasted the longest in pop-culture. Marston made Wonder Women out of ancient Greek Myths. Although she is an amazon, she possess...
Nancy Drew is noteworthy for her lack of dependence on male characters for assist and honored for her independence at a young age. Drew is a young woman who appeals young readers due to her fantasy life. She is an attractive, young, well-mannered, witted woman with a nice house, whose self-determination provide her noble access to the real world. By her courageous personality and spirit, she is a role model of gender roles in children's literature. Furthermore, Nancy Drew's adventures gives us fair ideas on justice and discrimination in the world. Ultimately, Nancy Drew’s mysteries are inspiring, presents with female empowerment, and gives examples of independency throughout the series.
To be someone of great strength and empowerment is looked upon highly in today’s comic book society. That is, if this specific character is that of the male gender. It is hard, almost impossible to find a character of the female sex to be strong, empowering, and her own person without her being over sexualized. From Harley Quinn, to Cat Woman, there are so many more characters out there who do not get the true spot light they deserve for their over sexualized bodies make it impossible for their story to be fully told. One of the most famous characters in the DC universe who has been over sexualized and under sexualized various times would be the marvelous Wonder Woman. There are many moments where it can be argued, that Wonder Woman’s poses and cleavage are more important than her story. However, there are some instances where this is not the case. Sensation Comics featured Wonder Woman #3 cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Carrie Strachan which gives the character a good sense of who she really is. I chose this picture, which can be found in the back of the Sensation Comic featuring Wonder Woman volume 1 which we read in class, because I wanted to take another stand for how people can draw Wonder Woman and still have her empowering and attractive.
Wonder Woman or so-called Diana Prince, her creator is inspired by the feminism. Wonder Woman skills were powerful, including bullet-pinging with bracelets, lassoing, basic psychology, great strength, and athleticism and being half-god. In 1970s TV version, she is always sort of naked. After cultural reset, she has thighs to kick things with, is a feminist act. Female protects the world from male violence with better violence, instead of nurture. Wonder Woman’s aunt, called Casting Robin Wright, visualizes the battle-axe as a battler again with an axe. A female German chemist decides to devastate humans. The above-mentioned are also feminist
10 May 2014. "Wonder Woman Publication History." http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Wonder_Woman_Publication_History DC Database. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.
Marston. In light of this, William Marston made Wonder Woman for DC Comics which was aired in 1941. He felt that ladies required an image of energy in such a changing time in ladies'
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