First Look at Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman - BLTv on Variety.com
The buzz on Wonder Woman has been kinda middling in my mind. While the latest photo show a much better costume than the official costume photo, the real issue for me is that Wonder Woman probably isn't served by David E. Kelley's approach.
Don't get me wrong, Kelley is a great writer, but Wonder Woman's problem is that writers struggle with the original premise. The reasons for discomfort are obvious. The creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston, a psychologist and inventor of the polygraph believed in the educational potential of the comic medium. Yet, the ideas he wanted to impart to young impressionable minds were far from standard. Marston had an unconventional home life, living in a polygamy/polyamory relationship with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne. Marston intended Wonder Woman to represent the kind of liberate woman he admire, one that would guide society by controlling destructive masculine tendency. Wonder Woman's tendency to be tied up in her early comics, combined with Marston's lifestyle and beliefs always color the character in the mind of creators given the property. Still, if you play Wonder Woman straight, as they did in the 70s Lynda Carter show, she works perfectly.
Of DC Comics’ the holy trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman--Green Lantern might be in your head, but he is a late addition thanks to Geoff Johns) Wonder Woman has struggled in terms of cross media success. Even the current project, which initially stalled, faces an uphill battle in my opinion. Driven as it is, by Warner Bros. desire to monetize DC Comics, the success of this show is much in question. The logic behind pursuing DC properties as potential film franchises makes perfect sense. Marvel’s recent success creating a cinematic universe building on Iron Man has paved the way for the forthcoming Thor and Captain America films. Still, the DC Comic properties that have been successful in modern memory have done so, at some level, by staying close to the source material. Richard Donner's Superman basically took the core of the character and put it on screen. Christopher Nolan's Batman has done the same thing. In contrast, this take on Wonder Woman seems to want to avoid the warrior/princess/goddess aspect in favor of a struggling career woman story jammed into a superhero package. The character's success in the late 1970s, coming as it did at the end of a decade of political activism by women, did not project an uncertain female self. As other have mentioned, Wonder Woman is not unsure of herself, other might not be sure, but she is Wonder Woman, she has got this under control. From all accounts, David E. Kelley's script is missing this very important point. If you check out Tanit Phoenix audition video or the review online of leaked version of the script, this is a fundamental fact seems to be missing. If the pattern of successful depictions of comic book characters tells us anything, it is you need to be true to the core ideas represented by the heroic persona.
Let's hope Wonder Woman can come out on top in the television pilot battle.......wait.
The buzz on Wonder Woman has been kinda middling in my mind. While the latest photo show a much better costume than the official costume photo, the real issue for me is that Wonder Woman probably isn't served by David E. Kelley's approach.
Don't get me wrong, Kelley is a great writer, but Wonder Woman's problem is that writers struggle with the original premise. The reasons for discomfort are obvious. The creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston, a psychologist and inventor of the polygraph believed in the educational potential of the comic medium. Yet, the ideas he wanted to impart to young impressionable minds were far from standard. Marston had an unconventional home life, living in a polygamy/polyamory relationship with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne. Marston intended Wonder Woman to represent the kind of liberate woman he admire, one that would guide society by controlling destructive masculine tendency. Wonder Woman's tendency to be tied up in her early comics, combined with Marston's lifestyle and beliefs always color the character in the mind of creators given the property. Still, if you play Wonder Woman straight, as they did in the 70s Lynda Carter show, she works perfectly.
Of DC Comics’ the holy trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman--Green Lantern might be in your head, but he is a late addition thanks to Geoff Johns) Wonder Woman has struggled in terms of cross media success. Even the current project, which initially stalled, faces an uphill battle in my opinion. Driven as it is, by Warner Bros. desire to monetize DC Comics, the success of this show is much in question. The logic behind pursuing DC properties as potential film franchises makes perfect sense. Marvel’s recent success creating a cinematic universe building on Iron Man has paved the way for the forthcoming Thor and Captain America films. Still, the DC Comic properties that have been successful in modern memory have done so, at some level, by staying close to the source material. Richard Donner's Superman basically took the core of the character and put it on screen. Christopher Nolan's Batman has done the same thing. In contrast, this take on Wonder Woman seems to want to avoid the warrior/princess/goddess aspect in favor of a struggling career woman story jammed into a superhero package. The character's success in the late 1970s, coming as it did at the end of a decade of political activism by women, did not project an uncertain female self. As other have mentioned, Wonder Woman is not unsure of herself, other might not be sure, but she is Wonder Woman, she has got this under control. From all accounts, David E. Kelley's script is missing this very important point. If you check out Tanit Phoenix audition video or the review online of leaked version of the script, this is a fundamental fact seems to be missing. If the pattern of successful depictions of comic book characters tells us anything, it is you need to be true to the core ideas represented by the heroic persona.
Let's hope Wonder Woman can come out on top in the television pilot battle.......wait.
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