Bastién, Angelica Jade.

“The Strange, Complicated, Feminist History of Wonder

Woman's Origin Story.” Vulture, 8 June 2017,

www.vulture.com/2017/06/wonder-woman-origin-story-the-strange-feminist-

history.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2018.

Bastien starts this journal entry as her reminiscing on what she thinks of when she thinks
of the iconic wonder woman costume and we even get introduced to drawer Harry G. Peter. She
references the multiple changes in her appearance and clothing throughout the 75 years of her
existence. We also get a reference to the movie with Gal Gadot that at this time was “dominating
the box office” to show current affairs of what was going at the time. She also writes that this is
the biggest pop culture moment for Wonder Woman since the 70’s, this then provokes the
essential question for the article,” Why has it taken decades to give the longest-running and most
well-known female superhero her own film while her male peers have headlined features,
animated series, and major comic-book events?” This then leads the writer into telling the origin
story and answering her question by relating it back to this. I really like how she explains the
difference between male counter parts and her origin. She states how they all have sturdy molds,
while Wonder Woman’s has been adjusted slightly but it’s been done so much there isn’t a
strong, rememberable story to take and run. It’s been criticized as too weird, boring,
complicated, just not right. We as readers question if this is because she is a woman? The ending
of the article describes this perfectly stating, “With the praise the film is receiving and the
success of Rucka’s recent comics, my hope is that a new age for Wonder Woman is dawning.
Perhaps she is finally entering a point in her history in which what makes her so radical — her
unabashed feminism, the female-oriented nature of her origin, her unerring compassion — is
built upon rather than derided.”

This story is good because instead of going into depth about the origins like most of my other
sources, it kind of takes an aggressive spin on why we have waited so long and really points out
the feminist aspect of the Wonder Woman, how women stand and what we as a society should
really be believing about there being only one true female superhero. I think this article adds the
commentary that I need to add to my reflection to really push my point across with the story line
and history of Wonder Woman coming from my other sources.

The author of this article is Angelica Jade Bastien, who is Chicago based critic and essayist.
She’s written for many big magazines such as the New York times, Vulture, The Atlantic and
The Village Voice, for a living she writes and as Woman understands the feelings of female
empowerment and idolization of a female superhero.
 Dockterman, Eliana. “Wonder Woman: The Gal Gadot Movie 75 Years in the

Making.” Time, Time, 19 Dec. 2016, time.com/4606107/wonder-woman-breaks-

through/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2018.

I wanted to get an article that incorporated the big-time block buster movie that was just
released about Wonder Woman, released in 2018, directed by Patty Jenkins. Time magazine was
a good choice to me for a review on the movie and how society is taking it. Dockterman wrote
about how this year the honorary ambassador was going to be given to Wonder Woman by the
United Nations even though it had been 75 years since the comic and she didn’t have a debut
film. At first there was a huge debate on and many protests/petitions against a white woman with
big breast and tiny waist being the symbol for female power. Over 100 staffers protested against
her and post the project. This has been a huge dilemma for Wonder Woman as she has been it
all, seen it all, with her costume changing hemlines from up to back down dozens of times
throughout the years. The author then adds in how Gal Gadot, the women who plays Wonder
Woman, voiced her opinion stating, “There are so many horrible things that are going on in the
world, and this is what you’re protesting, seriously?” The article then goes into detail of Gadot’s
accomplishments and how like wonder woman is very complex between standard definitions’ of
Feminism. Another big topic brought up was the demographics for Wonder Woman, many
reasons it was hard to get a pass on this film was that producers didn’t believe teenage boys
would want to see a woman fighting bad guys, they stereotyped only boys being comic readers
and completely disregarded the opinion of young girls. The article praised Patty Jenkins for
being able to bring it to life as a female director and goes into more details of Wonder Woman’s
evolution in the comics throughout the years, and then tells about how when the first trailer came
out during comic com many fans whooped and hollered drowning out the ending scene of the
trailer out of excitement. This article was good for a modern review on Wonder Woman and
shows how even a lot of the problems she faced in the 40’s is still occurring.

This article is a lot more of the modern view despite the other articles focusing more on the past
Wonder Woman and how she’s come a long way from now. This article ties it together and
makes it clear by understanding where she is now. I think it’s good to show that a lot of the same
criticism is full circling to make my point on how no matter how much she has evolved and
changed throughout the years, wonder woman will always be a feminist icon and a superhero in
our pop culture.

Time Magazine is one of the most trustworthy magazine companies in the world of our society
and pop culture. For this movie to have a review page is a very big deal and shows how it’s a
controversial topic still today. Time Magazine has been around since 1923, and Eliana
Dockterman is writer/journalist for Time, so I take her as pretty credible.
 Gallardo, Ximena. “Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes.” The Journal of

Popular Culture, vol. 38, no. 6, 2005, pp. 1109–1111., doi:10.1111/j.1540-

5931.2005.00183.x. Accessed 8 Nov. 2018.,

This journal article talks about author Lilian Robinson and how Wonder Woman had
made such an impact on her. She tells the history of Wonder Woman dating back to World War
11 and her creation to be a feminist icon coming to help battle fascism. The article starts with
references to many of marvels, and DC’s other iconic female superheroes but none as timeless as
Wonder Woman. She points out how the depictions of these superheroes provide the first
portrayals of women empowerment and a move towards modern feminism, that the author
caught on to at a young age when falling in love with wonder woman and her powers in the early
50’s. This inspired her to write the book, “Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes.” I like
how this article is a review/description of a book related to the image of Wonder Woman and
how that’s effected society’s image on women with power for the better, it’s more interesting to
have an outer perspective opinion too instead of what the author thinks about her own book. I
don’t really like the layout of the site though as it is really hard to find this specific section to use
for my paper.

Related to my other sources I think that this will help my readers get into the mindset of the
deeper, more subjective view of Wonder Woman. She is more than just a really cool superhero;
her existence has changed society and lead to powerful movements for women in pop-culture. I
think this will give a more believable view since it describes the experience that an author, who
wrote a book on feminism related to Wonder Woman, had as a little girl and the major influences
we’ve seen in the media between the 50’s and now. This will relate good for an supporting
opinion as well as some background as to who Wonder Woman is. My other cites also talk about
the history so while that part might not be as helpful the powerful influence shown will be.

This article came from The Journal of Pop-culture which only has real, published articles and is
written about the statements from a legitimate author, Lilian S. Robinson who’s book on Wonder
Woman and Feminism is published. She also was alive during the time that Wonder Woman was
first introduced into media and lived till 2006 to see the advancement and evolution of Women’s
influence through pop-culture throughout the years so I definitely see her as a reliable opinion.
 Murphy, Mekado. “Wonder Woman's Surprising Back Story Has a Film of Its Own.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/movies/wonder-woman-professor-marston-angela-

robinson.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2018.

This New York Times article describes a review and synapses of the Film, “Professor
Marston and the Wonder Women” that was released in the summer of 2017 right on the heels of
“Wonder Woman” featuring Gal Gadot. This film focuses on the inspiration of the man who
created Wonder Woman’s character in the brink of the 40’s that forever changed feminism for
women. The story is about a Harvard psychologist who received a lot of negative feedback for
his over sexualizing of a comic book character. The author of the article, Mekado, writes about
the story involving the personal ties of his affair between his wife and assistance and how their
personal sex lives were incorporated into the comics. An interview was done with the director,
Angela Robinson in which she too tells what enticed her about this story and wanted to pursue a
film on it. The first question asked to her was “How did you first get interested in Wonder
Woman?” and her answer was basically saying how at the time Wonder Woman was the only
choice when picking a favorite female superhero, and since she wanted to be a superhero she
naturally wanted to look up to the only girl. I really like how this has very clear interviewer and
interviewee questions/answers. It made it easier for me to understand the point of this article and
express not only what the film was about but the behind the scenes, why the director wanted to
pursue this film and story line. I also think that the origin story that involves not only Wonder
Woman herself, but her creator is very detailed and interesting, despite it doesn’t really tell us the
impact that it has had on feminism pop-culture.

My source above this one is a good tie to this article because they both reflect on successful
women intrigued by the story of Wonder Woman and add their own opinions/stories of what got
them into that business which ironically is kind of similar. The author is a black, lesbian women
in the film industry which is usually male dominated so taking on the role of doing a story on
Wonder Woman seems only natural and very empowering. In women’s feminism it seems to be
that Wonder Woman is more of an icon for a movement more than just a pop culture image and I
feel like all of this sources support that.

The author of this article is a New York Time’s journalist and has many articles written on
Wonder Woman and the different spin offs/adaptations of her story. I find her credible since she
interviews the authors/directors of these stories and finds not only their objective but why and
how it’s relates to their idea of feminism and their part in adding female empowerment using
Wonder Woman in the media.
 “The Man Behind Wonder Woman Was Inspired By Both Suffragists And

Centerfolds.” NPR, NPR, 27 Oct. 2014, www.npr.org/2014/10/27/359078315/the-

man-behind-wonder-woman-was-inspired-by-both-suffragists-and-centerfolds.

Accessed 8 Nov. 2018.

This reflects the original background story of Wonder Woman, but what I really like
about this article is it gave me a really good in-depth story and really focused on Wonder
Woman. Wonder Woman escaped from the enslavement of men dating back to ancient Greece.
Being the leader if Amazonian women she created an island called Paradise Island which was
free of men until one day a plane crashes, with a U.S military officer who needs to be taken back
because no men were allowed to stay on their island. This created the U.S. flag look of her
costume and brought her to the U.S in 1941. She is deemed useful and the creation of the name
“Wonder Woman” comes from her bracelets that stop bullets, and golden lasso that forces the
truth on wrapped victims. This article goes into even more depth about Marston, and how vital
he was to early progressive era suffragist movements and later the birth control movements. It
reveals how Wonder Woman really stood as a platform for his personal life, societal views, and
political platform. One example is the article points out how wonder woman’s weakness is a man
binding her in chains. These chains are extremely symbolic, and I found this so fascinating how
the history of women’s suffrage was brought in, how women in the 1910’s would tie themselves
in chains to the white house, and they began to use the symbol of chains as their trademark
during emancipation efforts. The article also details on how he brought up the idea of a female
superhero and the need for it at the time by saying, "Look, if you had a female superhero, her
powers could all be about love and truth and beauty, and you could also sell your comic books
better to girls. And that would be really important and great because she could show girls that
they could do anything." These words to me are the start of a female empowerment movement,
and how I liked how this article tied It all together. I think this one was my favorite to read and I
feel like the information is very detailed and useful but also touches base on everything between
the origin to what” it’s really about.”

Through all the other sources this is the strongest one and I think all my other sources reflect
from the information coming from this one. Wonder Woman is talked about with her origin,
what she does, and then also it brings up the creator of her and his history while also tying it to
how she is the face of the feminist movement in the early 40’s/50’s much like Katniss in the
Hunger games. I think that it helps us understand more of why the other author and directors
were so fascinated by Wonder Woman, and who Marston was more than just the man who
created Wonder Woman and cheated on his wife.

This is a transcript on the National Public Radio website during an airing of Fresh Air with Terry
Gross which was reflecting on the book, “The secret history of Wonder Woman,” written by Jill
Lepore, a staff writer for the New Yorker and American History professor at Harvard. She’s very
credible and I feel like it’s very believable that she knows a balance between history and
feminism.
 Reflection

To make a conclusion to my question, What influence on pop culture has Wonder

Woman had throughout history and now? I definitely have a clear answer from my five sources
but to pin point it to just one is impossible since it’s based really on your views and it turns out
that Wonder Woman has a very political background. Her story is told best from my NPR source
that reflected on her origin story of how she was part of the Amazonian Woman clan who were
battling being enslaved by men. She led a rebellion of women who escaped emancipation then
created their own island called Paradise Island. This island only allowed women, so one day
when a Military Officer crash landed on their island it was standard for them to get rid of him.
This led to a mission back to the U.S to bring Officer back to his home and resume his part in
World War 11. Wonder Woman’s mom then made the iconic American flag suit contributing
items that reveal where she got her name. The items her mother harbored her with; arm bands
that reflect bullets and a golden lasso that forces it’s victims to tell the truth. No woman had this
type of power hence her being named, “Wonder Woman.” Dating this back to the early 1940’s,
the first time a female superhero was introduced into America. We can thank the creator of
Wonder Woman to Professor William Marston, a Harvard Professor whom was involved in a
scandalous love triangle affair between his wife and receptionist. (Mekado) This scandal leaked
into his comics creating an outlet for his frustrations and resulting in the first Woman superhero
portraying women in a new, empowering light. His comic didn’t refrain from being often
criticized for over sexual comments or costumes and just basically reflecting his political
platforms towards emancipation of women. He was a major part in women’s suffrage
movements and the birth control movement. He reflected this strongly by making Wonder
Woman’s only weakness a man binding her in chains which was an allusion to the 1910’s act of
Women chaining themselves to fences outside the white house. (NPR) This led to chains being
very symbolic for Women during these movement.
The story behind the creator of Wonder Woman comics is just as important as she is
because it shows us the reasoning behind her associated political views and controversies. In
American pop culture as a whole she represented this feminist icon that gave women and
especially young girls freedom to be strong and do just as much as the man. The multiple female
authors, directors, actresses, etc. we see from today and then claim all to have been inspired by
their admiration of the only female super hero. When these women got older they were inspired
to embrace their own “Wonder Woman” persona and do really big things in media to project
forward the movement of empowering women in male dominated fields. Take for example, Patty
Jenkins (Dockterman) the director of Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot that was just released
and given its own Time magazine article too. She was the only woman to successfully develop
and put out a superhero saga involving a female lead that outnumbered/matched any other
Marvel or DC male lead superhero film. Smaller films like “Professor Marston and the Wonder
Women” directed by female director, Angela Robinson was released around the same time, but
starred the male creator of Wonder Woman but she did not carry the movie herself. Jenkins and
Robinson were similar though to having an early influence from the Wonder Woman comics and
remember dressing up like her or having her merchandise, (Gallardo) in the article, “Wonder
Woman: The Gal Gadot Movie 75 Years in the Making.” The author Dockterman elaborates on
how it took 75 years to give her, her own film despite the U.N trying to give Wonder Woman the
Honorary Ambassador award without a debut film feature. This led to a huge controversy
involving actress Gal Gadot on the idea now of the woman who is the symbolism of feminism
wearing sultry costume to save our world, but the ideas of what Wonder Woman’s costume
should look like has been another ridiculous battle over the years bordering back and fourth from
revealing to concealing (Dockterman).
We all have this idea of what feminism should look like and it’s sad to me that the
appearance of a woman tells whether she is a respectable one or not. I mean it’s even as simple
as a comic book character who saves the world, she really doesn’t need dress code approval to be
seen as an iconic legend and someone girls should look up too. She’s the only option to female
superheroes (Bastien) and kicking butt in a man’s world of comics and fighting and I think that’s
pretty impressive to reflect on. Over the years and changes in pop culture she is the first female
superhero to defend her title and remain a timeless icon and symbol for Women’s suffrage even
inspiring some of today’s best female authors, directors, etc. to produce empowering, brilliant
films and literature progressing the image that Women can do anything and more our only
limitations being ourselves.
 Reflection

My EWC is about Wonder Woman and her influence on pop culture in America being
first introduced/created to the public in 1941 by William Marston, a Harvard professor. She was
known as the Amazonian woman that lived on an island with no men but came to America to
help a military soldier who crash landed on their Island. She has been criticized and changed
throughout the years as being over sexualized and unimportant, or just not as interesting to young
boys as the Male superheroes were. The media never deemed her as important until Women
started using her as their hero. She was a symbolic figure to the Women’s suffrage movement
and it was well known that Professor Marston political views and personal life were reflected
through his comics. Wonder Woman became more than just the first female superhero but the
face for change in Women’s rights. We now could be just as powerful as the men and do just as
much as they could. She definitely was one of the main reasons I believe that clothing and
attitudes towards women in society began to shift, alongside many other just as important iconic,
female figures in media.