As we were reading about the evolution of Wonder Woman as a comic book heroine (and occasionally a feminist icon), I couldn't help but think that there was just no happy medium to be found for her as a representation of what a woman could and should be. When she was at her strongest, Amazonian powers and all, she was criticized for her secretarial alter-ego, who was obviously fitting a very prominent gender role of the time. And then, when she was "revamped" in the early 1970s to meet the demands of the growing feminist movement, she was stripped of her powers and what made her most unique, and suddenly she was just an ordinary woman trying to live her life... But then, to state the obvious, Wonder Woman ISN'T ordinary, and that wasn't the intention when she was created, so how can a change that is absolutely the polar opposite of her origin be in keeping with the original message that Marston had in mind? It just doesn't make a lot of sense. I think that the writers of the "new" Wonder Woman are to be commended for their bravery and innovation, but I think that what really makes Wonder Woman who she is harder to define than they may have originally thought.
A blog for and about the intersection of comic books and American history.
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