Spoiler warning: There are spoilers including discussion of the plot of the Wonder Woman movie here in this post.
One of the biggest revelations in Wonder Woman is tucked into the end of the film. Diana confronts Ares, the god of war, about the nature of man and mankinds goodness. The two mythic beings have the character-defining philosophical battle of the movie, and then he slips in a declaration that makes Diana question everything she was ever taught: She is the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods.
Up until this point, Diana believed what her mother had told her that she was made out of clay and Zeus had given her life. By way of magic and myth, Zeus has symbolically been a father to her. But Ares implies something a bit more sordid: that Zeus had a relationship with her mother, Hippolyta, and created a child. And if thats the case, then its not clear what else the Amazons lied to Diana about.
The movie leaves the final interpretation of Dianas origin to its audience, and in doing so reflects a debate over Dianas origin thats been going on in Wonder Woman comic books over the past several years.
The original creator of Wonder Woman is a man named William Moulton Marston, who was, among other things, credited with inventing the lie-detector machine (which brings to light why Diana uses a lasso that compels people to tell the truth). He also had progressive, complex, and intertwining views about gender, relationships, and sex. Marston wrote about women being to be superior to men in some aspects, but was also intrigued by the dynamic between the dominant and submissive hence why so many Wonder Woman comics portrayed the heroine bound and blindfolded.
Marstons origin story reflected these ideas. In his version, Diana was born on a paradise island that was home to Amazons, women who were enslaved by mankind they were kept in chains but eventually broke free. On their island, they developed physical and mental strength and raised Diana, who was born out of clay and did not need a father. Diana, in Marstons eyes, was raised in this perfect world, on this perfect island, inhabited solely by women a deliberate decision.
Marston borrowed Wonder Womans origin story from feminist utopian fiction, which always involved women living on an island, and what happens when a man or a group of men is shipwrecked there, Jill Lepore, a Harvard professor and author of The Secret History of Wonder Woman, told me over email. It was a thought experiment, designed to ask readers to think about how all political orders are man-made. The point was that there werent men. Marston hitched this tale to the legend of the Amazons.
There is no Zeus in Marstons story, and its strictly a world without men. Men were the source of pain and evil for the Amazons, and Marston wanted to explore what it would be like to have a hero like Diana, a woman raised solely by women, completely aware of what men are capable of at their worst. Philosophically, Marston believed that women were capable of showing humanity a different way of life, a peaceful and loving one, in contrast to the ways of man and the patriarchy. Diana was the embodiment of this philosophy.
Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power, Marston wrote in a 1943 issue of The American Scholar. Womens strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.
Marstons story was tweaked in 1959 in Wonder Woman No. 105 (written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Ross Andru), where Diana is given gifts from the gods and goddesses, like Athenas wisdom, Aphrodites beauty, strength from Demeter that rivals Herculess, and Hermess speed.
This wasnt the first tweak to Dianas origin, or the last: Some stories rewrote and reinterpreted the reason Diana came to the world of man, or how she got her name, or why she carries a sword. But its really the change that came to the comics in 2011, the Zeus-you-are-the-father reveal we see in the movie, that fundamentally redefines Wonder Woman.
In 2011, DC Comics instituted a relaunch of 52 of its titles called the The New 52, which essentially undid those titles previous storylines and reset them at a new starting point; it was characterized at the time as a way to make the comics more accessible to new readers. In writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiangs New 52 run, Wonder Womans origin is changed: Diana learns she was never made out of clay, and like what the movie implies with Ares the clay story was used as a cover by Wonder Womans mother to hide that she and Zeus had had a relationship. Further, Ares teaches Diana how to fight.
Along with all this, the new origin credits men with how powerful and formidable Diana is, Alan Kistler wrote for the Mary Sue in 2014. Whereas before she had learned all her training from the Amazon women, her greatest teacher is now Ares.
The Azzarello-Chiang run also includes a story in which the Amazons reproduce by finding sailors, raping them, killing them, and then selling male babies into Hephaestuss slavery in exchange for weapons (this editorial decision was critically maligned, despite general praise for the book).
Adding Zeus to the story, and in particular adding Zeus as Dianas father, undermines the basic plot, Lepore told me. It turns the story of Wonder Woman into something much closer to the story of Thor it makes her story less distinctive.
Essentially, the New 52 reboot inserts men into Marstons story and significantly alters the territory Marston wanted to explore by having Diana raised in a female utopia. In the new telling, Wonder Womans powers dont come from goddesses or other Amazons, but rather from Zeus and Ares. Her mother, the woman who loves her most in life and the epitome of Amazon glory, is refashioned as a betrayer and deceiver. Paradise Island, instead of being a place that lives separately and peacefully from the world of man, now becomes a place where men like Zeus wield power and Amazons are vindictive.
Its hard to reconcile this new origin story with Marstons vision and intent for the character. It also changes the way one might interpret the origin story presented in the movie.
To be clear, Im not here to bury the Azzarello-Chiang run there have been plenty of articles written about how good their story was. Im a fan of how the two explored Dianas psychology and interiority, and how the comic really felt like her own. Furthermore, Marstons view of women and feminism wasnt entirely pristine: As Lepore wrote in her book, Marstons portrayal often veers into feminism as fetish territory.
Marston, as near as I can tell, from reading his letters and diaries, wanted kids to see her as a hero, a very strong woman, who would do whatever she set her mind to do, Lepore told me. He liked that adult men might find her especially alluring, and the scenes of her emancipation (from bondage) thrilling. He didnt think there was a contradiction there.
Essentially, Wonder Woman is a figure of feminism that has been historically written and drawn by men (like a lot of the characters who exist in the comic book universe). So perhaps its better to think of the character as someone who, throughout the years, has reflected what men believe powerful women to be.
The Wonder Woman film made me want to reread Azzarello and Chiangs issues again, and explore the relationships they portray between love and violence, between physical strength and gender, and between Diana and her family. It doesnt feel like a search for answers, but more of an appreciation for where authors, writers, and artists have taken the character in both the comic books and the movie.
To its credit, Wonder Woman slyly doesnt pick one view of Dianas origin, and what it means for the character, over the other. Ares is an unreliable character, and he could be deceiving Diana, but its also clear that Hippolyta kept secrets from her daughter in an attempt to protect her.
The finales portrayal of Wonder Woman finding strength in love seems closer to Marstons ideal, while the annihilation of Ares seems more in line with her New 52 characterization. But the film, and those who worked on it, seems to understand that perhaps the greatest thing you can do for a character like Diana and those mighty Amazons isnt to choose Marston over Azzarello, but rather to inspire fans to form their own ideas about what strong women mean to them.
Visit link:
Wonder Woman's dueling origin stories, and their effect on the hero's feminism, explained - Vox
- Travel & Resources: DELHI / NEW DELHI - Utopia [Last Updated On: June 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 15th, 2016]
- Travel & Resources: DELHI / NEW DELHI - Utopia [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Utopia - New World Encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Utopia (book) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Chanel Mirage, Utopia, New Moon Illusion d'Ombre ... [Last Updated On: July 31st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 31st, 2016]
- New Utopia Design Build - Los Angeles, CA, US 90012 [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2016]
- THE NEW UTOPIA - Libertarian [Last Updated On: September 20th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 20th, 2016]
- NEW TOWN UTOPIA by Christopher Ian Smith Kickstarter [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2016]
- Travel & Resources: HONG KONG - Gay Asia and... - Utopia [Last Updated On: December 7th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2016]
- THE NEW CHAIN REACTION - Game Show Utopia [Last Updated On: December 7th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2016]
- DELHI / NEW DELHI: Massage and Spas - Utopia [Last Updated On: December 7th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2016]
- First Listen: Sinkane, 'Life & Livin' It' - NPR [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Who is authorized to bind your family business to contracts? - Lexology (registration) [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Meanwhile in Canada Things Are Just as Bad - New York Times [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Stellaris: Utopia expansion lets you craft megastructural ringworlds - PC Gamer [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- 'Stellaris' Utopia DLC Gets First Trailer; Will Introduce New Buildings And Perks - iDigitalTimes.com [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Utopia Pipeline project to bring 300 temporary jobs to New Philadelphia - New Philadelphia Times Reporter [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- With violin in hand, Mark Menzies finds hope for the future in the past - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Revolution: Russian Art review from utopia to the gulag, via ... - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Brooklyn's A/D/O Co-Working Space Is Building a Utopia for Creatives of All Kinds - Artsy [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Austra encourages listeners to imagine new, bolder futures - San Francisco Chronicle [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Michael Loong Proposes New, Sustainable Ideology to Achieve Utopia in China - Satellite PR News (press release) [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- French photographer builds supernatural Astana, calls it Utopia of the 21st Century - Astana Times [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- The village aiming to create a white utopia - BBC News [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- A notable show BAMPFA's 'Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for ... - Berkeleyside [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- British Airways Concorde 'Alpha Foxtrot' Arrives at New Bristol Home - AirlineGeeks.com (blog) [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- In praise of utopias, not dystopias: Salutin - Toronto Star [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- The Bannon-Trump Arc of History - American Spectator [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Everybody's Pop-Up Shop Throws a Wild AntiFashion Week Party With Adwoa Aboah - Vogue.com [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Plotting 'No-Place' in 'Utopia Neighborhood Club' - Seattle Weekly [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Utopia releases its next version of master data governance solution ... - SDTimes.com [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Bruno Ganz on New Film About Last Days of East Germany: 'This Is a Subject That Will Never Let Me Go' - Variety [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- New Barbarians: Inside Rolling Stones' Wild Seventies Spin-Off - RollingStone.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Drought-crazed utopia flushes away common sense - NewHampshire.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Lenkom Theater: From Soviet utopia to post-modern dystopia - Russia Beyond the Headlines [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- GHOST To Record "Darker" New Album This Summer, Tease Completely New Lineup - Metal Injection.net [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Protest Cabaret: Ithaca's Resistance - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Fighting for Utopia in Tough Times - AlterNet [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Mardi Gras brings on the fun - Tullahoma News and Guardian [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Angela Henderson-Bentley: New take on Jack the Ripper an idea whose 'Time' has come - Huntington Herald Dispatch [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Knowledge can fight ignorance: New speakers series will shed light on Yemen - Detroit Metro Times [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Hygge Is Where the Heart Is - New York Times [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Utopia is coming, with a basic income for all - The Times (subscription) [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Government shakeups and political unrest are coming to Stellaris in its Utopia expansion - PCGamesN [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Rutger Bregman: 'We could cut the working week by a third' - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- The board hoard: your guide to the best new board games - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Tempted To Move Out Of The US? New Zealand Wants To Help You Escape - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- THE SOUND OF MUSIC to Welcome New 'Georg von Trapp' on Tour in Hershey - Broadway World [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Stellaris Utopia Gameplay Expansion Out In April - Attack of the Fanboy [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- At BAMPFA, 'Hippie Modernism' Proves the Fight for Utopia is Far from Over - KQED [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Stellaris Utopia Set To Launch April 6th - One Angry Gamer (blog) [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Railcar derailment in Utopia due to vandalism: Cando Rail Services - Simcoe.com [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Stellaris: Utopia Path to Ascension release date trailer - Gameplanet [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- JUSTIN JOHNSON: It's a TRAP! - SCNow [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Watch brutal Xenomorph attack in new 'Alien: Covenant' trailer - CNET [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Dr. John to headline Utopia Fest in final year at Four Sisters Ranch - austin360 (blog) [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- Want utopia? Start with universal basic income and a 15-hour work week - Wired.co.uk [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- Extreme Channel 4 reality challenge Mutiny makes its sailors suffer - iNews [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Utopia Frozen Yogurt and Coffee House | Ellensburg, WA [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- March 4, 2017 - EDP Foundation - Utopia/Dystopia / Hctor Zamora: Order and Progress - E-Flux [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Utopia for Realists and How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman digested read - The Guardian [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- A taste of 'Utopia' - Otago Daily Times [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- Father John Misty references Taylor Swift in new song, 'Total Entertainment Forever' - EW.com [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- Time After Time May Be Your New Bad TV Obsession - Gizmodo [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2017]
- 'Time After Time' delivers Jack the Ripper to modern-day New York - Long Beach Press Telegram [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- Why everyone hates the GOP's new health plan - The Week Magazine [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- A modern utopia: Inside the UK's first women-only housing community - International Business Times UK [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- Utopia Now! - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- Hello Cuba, Adios Utopia: Cuban Art in Texas - Observer [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- Whole of It: 'Free Cake at the Top' - Scottsbluff Star Herald [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2017]
- Utopia in the Time of Trump - lareviewofbooks [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2017]
- The Nature of Robots - Film School Rejects [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Utopia Multimedia Festival brings artistic talents together in one place - Taranaki Daily News [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- The Electoral College is right for New Mexico - Albuquerque Journal [Last Updated On: March 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 19th, 2017]
- Equal writes and the best new women fiction: Book reviews - Express.co.uk [Last Updated On: March 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 19th, 2017]
- Liberal America Has A Sweden Fetish - GOOD Magazine [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- Utopia Creations travels to Florida - Journalism.co.uk [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- A Well-Ventilated Utopia - The New York Review of Books [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- 500 years after Sir Thomas More's Utopia, what have we learned? - The Sydney Morning Herald [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- This Swiss Startup Is Bringing AI to the Music Label Business - Bloomberg [Last Updated On: March 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 23rd, 2017]