2017. The Year of Wonder Woman. We all have heard of this superhero. She’s fierce, strong yet so beautiful and down to earth. We all have secrets. Wonder Woman has them too. I personally love Wonder Woman. She’s someone who I look up to, but after reading about her and how she was created, it completely changed the way I see Wonder Woman. She is a superhero that has changed and influenced the world in many ways. The creation of Wonder Woman also sparked up some controversies in the past and people were unsure with her character. Why?

 

First, let me give you a brief on who is Wonder Woman. Her original name is Diana of Themyscira and she’s born on Paradise Island. In the human world, she disguises herself as Diana Prince. She’s the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and greek god, Zeus, which makes her a Demi-Goddess. Because of her parents, she possesses powerful superhuman abilities like having super strength and lightning speed. Wonder Woman is one of the famous heroes in the DC Comics Universe. However, she’s not created by the people of DC. Surprisingly, Wonder Woman is created by a psychologist named William Moulton Marston. Surprised? 

 

 Marston is an American psychologist and he is known for for inventing the systolic-blood-pressure-measuring-apparatus, and its one of the most important components for inventing the lie detector that we all know today. He used it to conduct an experiment and he obtained valid data that women are more honest than men in different situations, which was  really beneficial to the society.  Around 1940, he participated in an interview where he discussed about comics which caught the attention of Max Gains, whom was a comic publisher which then hired him to be an educational consultant. Due to the results from the experiment, it influenced him to create a superhero of his own, one that doesn’t lead with power or violence, but with love. Marston’s wife, Elizabeth, suggested that it should be a woman. He then created Wonder Woman based on his wife. Wonder Woman was then introduced to the world on October 1941 which was scripted by Marston under his pseudonym, Charles Moulston. 

 

 

Wonder Woman tends to have a warrior archetype. When Diana was little, she was the only child in Paradise Island. Amazons tend to train everyday on the island and it was hard for Diana to enjoy her childhood and do childlike activities. She soon took interest in combat fighting and started to train since young with her Aunt, Antiope So, due to all the year of training, her knowledge of combat is relatively high. That is why she could easily fight of the Nazi soldiers all at one time with lighting speed.

 

She also has an empathetic and compassionate archetype. Before she passed No Man’s Land, she wanted to help everyone on the way, but Steve insisted her to move on due to the time being. Her facial expression was enough to explain her feelings of helplessness. When they got to No Man’s Land, a lady cried for help and thats when she knew that she had witnessed enough. She immediately took of her cape and climbed the ladder to No Man’s Land without any hesitation. This explains how she was empathetic when she saw the innocent people and her act of selflessness made her have an empathetic and compassionate archetype.

 

Culture-wise, Wonder Woman has quite a bit of influence with Greek mythology. Besides being a Demi-Goddess, Diana is also an Amazon Warrior. Amazons are a group of woman warriors related to the Scythians and Sarmatians. The Gods have created them so they can act as Guardians to protect the Human World and they have a task to provide a bridge to a better understanding to humans. Greek Gods are also involved.  For example, Diana’s Father is the King of all Greek Gods, Zeus and Wonder Woman has a mission to defeat the god of war, Ares. Besides that, the weapons that Wonder Woman has used is given to her by the god of love, Aphrodite. This shows that they are a lot of Greek influences in the world of Wonder Woman, and to me its quite interesting to see cause I rarely see superheroes have Greek influence.

 

Over the years, Wonder Woman has been the image of feminism. Due to certain influences, the images of women have been stereotyped and this has made a negative impact towards women around the world. Women are often belittled in so many aspects, especially jobs. There is always a glass ceiling that is preventing them to move up the social ladder due to their sex, thus preventing them to get a higher social status. Women are also seen as being helpless and weak. For example, in movies, women are normally shown as being the victims, and are often waiting to be rescued by the hero. Also, gendered division of labour was and still is present in our society where women are seen to be responsible for certain task, like taking care of the children and also the chores. Marston was a strong supporter of feminism and he stated : “….Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weaknesses. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all strength of Superman plus all allure of a good beautiful.” He also stated that: “Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world”

 

Wonder Woman’s combat outfit has three striking colours, which are yellow, red, and blue and its meant to look patriotic, representing the flag of USA. The outfit is also athletic, enabling her to move better and fight more comfortably. The gold eagle on the outfit is indirectly spelling out a ‘W’, which represents her initials, Wonder Woman. Over the years, there has been a lot of changes made to the outfit, so that it appeals to the audience and to make it  look more modernised. In the recent Wonder Woman movie, the outfit looked like it was made of metal rather than a spandex looking outfit, but it still made it look athletic. The colours were slightly darker than normal so it that could  blend in with the overall tone and setting of the movie. The boots were high enough to support her so that she could slide across the room with lightning speed without injuring her knee or legs. Her best known weapon is her Lasso of Truth. Its a golden girdle that is unbreakable as it was made by Queen Hippolyta’s craftswomen. Besides than acting as a tool that could tie people up, it can also compel people to tell the truth. Marston was the one who invented the systolic blood pressure measuring apparatus (lie detector). Hence, the Lasso of Truth represents the lie detector. 

 

In the movie, Batman vs Superman, when Wonder Woman was battling Doomsday, there has been a lot of scenes where she was seen smiling while battling. This shows how she loves a challenge and is motivated to defeat the creature. In the Wonder Woman movie, when she was entering No Man’s Land, the scene was set at slow-motion, which actually showed the majestic-ness of Wonder Woman. When she was deflecting bullets with her gauntlets, it was also in slow motion. This is to show that she was strong enough to deflect the bullets. 

 

Even though Wonder Woman is a really famous character, there were also many controversies caused. In the comics, there were a lots of pictures thats contained bondage and submissive behaviour. There were also a lot of torture, violence and sadomasochism, making the comic very inappropriate. To respond to that, Marston stated that he saw bondage submission as a “respectable and noble practice” which quite a number of people were disagreeing with that. In  March 1942, about a year after it was published, the comic was on the blacklist of “Publications Disapproved for Youth”, just because she was not dressed sufficient enough. Moreover, she was also seen as and LGBT icon as she grew up in an island of all women, so many people assumed that she was a lesbian.

 

Wonder Woman has a post modernist art style as she appeared in both the past and the future. For example, she helped in the World War in the past and she also joined the Justice League to help fight Steppenwolf. Her immortality has enabled her to help fight crime since the ancient times.

 

Powerful yet loving, Wonder Woman has truly defined what its takes to be a true hero. A hero that fights with a purpose. A hero that forgives even though she’s mentally hurt. Wonder Woman is not only iconic because she’s the face of feminism, but she’s also a great example of how human beings should behave, to have the power to forgive. To have the power to be compassionate. To have the power to love. 

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Bibliography.

1. Bobby Anhalt. 2017. 15 Darkest Secrets Behind Wonder Woman. [ONLINE] Available at: https://screenrant.com/wonder-woman-darkest-secrets-comics-movie/. 

2. Marguerite Johnson. 2017. The truth about the Amazons – the real Wonder Women. [ONLINE] Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-truth-about-the-amazons-the-real-wonder-women-78248

3. Wikipedia. 2018. Wonder Woman. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman

4. Angelica Jade Bastién. 2017. The Strange, Complicated, Feminist History of Wonder Woman’s Origin Story. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vulture.com/2017/06/wonder-woman-origin-story-the-strange-feminist-history.html

5. Olivia Truffaut-Wong. 2017. Wonder Woman' Reclaims The Iconic Costume To Make It A Symbol Of Strength. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bustle.com/p/wonder-woman-reclaims-the-iconic-costume-to-make-it-a-symbol-of-strength-61599.

6. Jill Lepore. 2014. The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/