The problem with Wonder Woman is this whole idea that she came to our world to teach us about peace and niceness and caring.
She didn’t. She came here to fight Nazis. That’s all.
Which is that it makes no sense that the Amazons, after hundreds (thousands?) of years of isolation, suddenly decide to send one of their own off into the outside world as an ambassador. Why now? What makes them think the rest of the world is suddenly worth engaging with?
That’s where the Nazis come in. Because the Amazons see the rise of fascism, and the development of more and more horrendous means of mass slaughter, and it freaks them out a bit. So they have to send someone to help defeat the forces of evil, or even their secluded island won’t be safe any more.
(Yeah, I added the panel, that's not part of the original post. But it's an awesome panel. That's the first time I ever saw the "White Suit.")
The problem with Wonder Woman is this whole idea that she came to our world to teach us about peace and niceness and caring. She didn’t. She came here to fight Nazis. That’s all.
ReplyDeleteFar be it from me to fall back on the doctrine of authorial intent, but isn't this simply completely wrong? William Marston, weirdo though he might have been, had the clear and openly stated intent of designing a female character who would be sent out into the world of men to teach them peace and love. Yes, through tieing them up a lot. But still:
"Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychologically propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world. There isn't enough love in the male organism to run this planet peacefully. Woman's body contains twice as many love generating organs and endocrine mechanisms as the male. What woman lacks is the dominance or self assertive power to put over and enforce her love desires. I have given Wonder Woman this dominant force but have kept her loving, tender, maternal and feminine in every other way. Her bracelets, with which she repels bullets and other murderous weapons, represent the Amazon Princess' submission to Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty. Her magic lasso, which compels anyone bound by it, to obey Wonder Woman and which was given to her by Aphrodite herself, represents woman's love charm and allure by which she compels man to do her bidding."
To say that Wonder Woman "came here just to fight the Nazis" and had nothing to do with spreading peace and love is, at best, a drastic misreading.
Moose N Squirrel speaks rightly...but the two views are less contradictory or mutually exclusive than CharlieAnders makes them sound.
ReplyDeleteSteve Trevor and his description of the Nazi menace are demonstrably the proximate cause of Diana being sent as an abassador of the Amazon way to the outside world. The Amazons see just how far things have gone without them and need to act.
Now imagine the Amazons saying, "We've got to step in and show the modern world how things should be run...and we'll start with Diana sorting out those nasty, brutish Nazis. Instead of lecturing them or taking over the world, we'll show the world how just one truly integrated self-assertive superwoman with all the advantages of our way of life is fit to overcome any obstacle, and let them accept our principles freely and of their own accord."
Personally, I'd like to see a lot more of Marston's original intent brought back to Wonder Woman...and I don't have a lot of time for versions which depict her as messed up or conflicted or woman-hating (!) or all the other abuses which have been heaped on her. Instead of belligerent or spoiling for a fight, I could see her as someone can be tough whenever it's necessary, neither hiding from it nor revelling in it. Think of an idealized "mother figure" whose attitude is "If you misbehave, mister, I will punish you...but it's for your own good."
Above all, she should be the essence of cool...in the sense that she knows who she is and forgives even her own failings. And her attitude on the one occasion when she's been pushed to deliberately kill someone shouldn't be horror or revulsion, but calm sorrow and regret that it was necessary to prevent a greater wrong.
I'd just like to point out to you, Diana, that the majority of nazi zombies aren't like that at all, and are more than willing to listen to reason as long as you flatter them and put their personal comfort with the conversation above all other concerns. There's no reason to drag all of nazi-zombiehood into your "crusade" over a few bad eggs...
ReplyDeleteHmm...that seemed funnier in my head...
ReplyDeleteAren't Nazis a little out of date?
ReplyDeleteAnon -- 1) Nazis are never out of date. See Hellboy.
ReplyDelete2) She actually does address this in the original post.
3) In all seriousness, I'm in favor of tying her origin to WWII. Because she's from an island of immortals, and there did have to be a good reason for them to think the outside world was worth digging into again. Even if it's just Hippolyta ventured forth before her daughter did, that's a tie.
I've seen Hellboy and I still don't think Nazis are the right kind of foe for Wonder Woman. The Nazis are kind of an undead, Lovecratian horror for Hellboy, and it makes sense for a more supernatural character.
ReplyDeleteI think I prefer the "ambassador of peace" because it's heavily ironic considering the Classical background. The Greek city states were constantly at war and in a lot of cases "peace" wasn't a diplomatic compromise, it was conquering your enemy and either extinguishing them totally or forcing them to accept your terms uncondtionally. The Classics angle hasn't really been explored much in Wonder Woman. Myth has, but that's only one aspect, and in my opinion the absolute least interesting one. I'd find it interesting to see Paradise Island sending out ambassadors to begin a brutal takeover of "Man's World" under the guise of diplomacy. The Classical angle also opens up other story possibilities. Classics generally is a male field, by which I mean the bulk of writers who've survived are male, and I wouldn't mind seeing a writer exploring a female dominated Classical society and trying their hand at genres like pastoral, elegy, epigram, iambics and the public debate of war councils within the Wonder Woman title.
Wonder Woman is the original subversive character in comics and I think being reduced to fighting Nazis seventy years after the war ended would keep the character limited and bound to self-parody, and that's a shame when so much more could be done.
Well, if DC wanted to they could always use the instability of a post-911 world as rationale enough for Wonder Woman's entrance to Man's World.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't mean she'd be fighting Moslems, but perhaps the heroine could instead dedicate herself to bringing Amazonian principles and philosophies to a world seemingly dedicated to destroying itself.
In fact, that rationale works in the Cold War, Vietnam, the 80s arms race and other incidents throughout history as well.
Wonder Woman, like Captain America, is a character that's never going to be able to be fully separated from the time when she was created. Really, she's so heavily tied into World War II that her costume is the American flag.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, there are characters that really only work (or only work really well) when they're fighting Nazis--Cap, naturally, and Indiana Jones comes to mind. Is Wonder Woman one of them?
Maybe.
But fighting Nazis never hurts.
Wonder Woman, like Captain America, is a character that's never going to be able to be fully separated from the time when she was created.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is true. Captain America's raison d’être really was World War II; he really was designed to fight Nazis. But as George Perez's run demonstrated, Diana can be separated from her 1940s roots pretty easily.
As for her costume, the only really flag-like thing about it is the stars, and honestly, it's long past time she lost those. They're a clunky design element, and there's no reason why a foreign princess from a hidden island of ancient Greek amazons should be dressed in the American flag, anyway.