THIS Wonder Woman is NOT a Feminist Hero

Wonder Woman first appeared in comic books in Dec 1941. She was the brainchild of William Moulton Marston (though many attribute much of Wonder Woman’s origins to his wife Elizabeth and his female assistant who’s name I have forgotten) a Harvard Professor and inventor of the lie detector (the origin of the lasso of truth?). Marston created Wonder Woman to break the archetype of female characters in comic books and to attract female readers to the DC Universe by giving them a strong female hero (even though a good number of female comic book readers today shy away from “the spandex characters” as they are referred to).
Wonder Woman (also known as Diana) is meant to be seen as equal to men and this equality is established from the early part of her origins. She is created by the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta from the earth, and given life from the Greek Gods. This is much like Adam being formed and given life by God in the book of Genesis in the Bible. This equality message also carried over into real world politics with Wonder Woman’s original look closely resembled the image of “Rosie the Riveter” during WWII, thus trying to draw on the social and political power of the time. From this earliest inception, the character of Wonder Woman broke boundaries that lead her to be adopted by the Second Wave Feminist movement, culminating in Gloria Steinem putting the character on the cover of MS. Magazine. But since then, in current continuity, the character of Wonder Woman has fallen into the same gender inequality traps that a lot of women today are facing, and this film [Wonder Woman (2009)] does very little to break the Gender stereotypes; to the point where the films overall message can be seen as ANTI-feminist, something that goes against the original vision of Wonder Woman (even though the original version had Wonder Woman wear a costume that any ACTUAL warrior wouldn’t be caught dead in).

The major feminist criticisms about this film that I see revolve around the writer and the producers overall .anti-feminist message; thereby reducing feminine power and reinforcing gender norms and stereotypes. This message is displayed throughout the film in the way that the characters of Steve Trevor and Persephone are developed. Each character, in their own way, does much to reduce the feminist ideology of the Amazons, through their actions and dialogue with other characters. Steve Trevor displays in direct and covert ways the importance of male superiority and Persephone reinforces the importance of maternal passivity in women.
If you haven’t seen the film, in it Steve Trevor is constructed as a hyper-masculine chauvinist. He, like many of the social and cultural messages that (both men and women are taught) believes that women’s only value is in their bodies. This stereotypical message is apparent from his introduction. When Steve Trevor first lands on Themyscira the producers [of the film] reinforce this cultural stereotype by reducing the strong Amazonian women into the constructed male fantasy of feminine or “lipstick” lesbians; they’re beautiful, they’re giggling, they’re splashing each other and they’re naked (ugh!).
Also, because he is a man, (and is supposed to be strong and powerful himself) Steve is portrayed as having the same fighting prowess of Diana (who, in their first encounter, has to resort to the ever cliché “kicking between the legs” shtick to incapacitate him). He is even being able to stand toe-to toe with Ares (and survive a punch from him, however depowered) and successfully fight off one of his minions. Through these behaviors the producers try to make the audience believe that Steve is Diana’s equal even though Steve is a human and Diana is an Amazon; a warrior culture with strength, speed and agility that are far beyond ordinary humans and more equal to the likes of Superman. This depowering of Diana is done so that the audience can be subjected to an unnecessary and unconvincing romance (or a ‘romantic comedy’ as the producers mention in the audio commentary of the film) that culminates in an awkward, unfitting kiss between the two characters at the end of the film (because, once again, we can’t have a strong female superhero without her being in a relationship).
The film’s anti-feminist message and reinforcement of gender stereotypes is strengthened again by Steve Trevor’s consistently chauvinistic dialogue that is meant to belittle and degrade women. There are several moments in the film, often when Diana (and to a lesser extent other Amazons) makes an impassioned or feminist statement, where Steve Trevor’s dialogue is used to make the ladder feel less than. This may often go unnoticed, due to the comments being flippant or masked in humor. Thus, not only does he make the obvious chauvinistic statements (i.e. “Your daughter has a nice rack.”), but he also responds to several Feminist statements with a joke or offhanded comment that causes the power of the previous statement to be greatly reduced. One such example is this exchange between Steve and Diana. After witnessing a female office worker flirt with Steve, Diana correctly assess the root of gender inequality through gender Socialization:
Diana: (to Steve) Remarkable, the advanced brainwashing that has been perpetuated on the females of your culture; raised from birth to believe they are not strong enough to compete with boys, and then as adults, taught to traded on their very femininity!
But Steve’s response is sarcastic and stereotypical:
Steve: (sarcastically) How about we keep focused on that other [emphasis mine] social evil for now, you know God of War, the apocalypse?”
In one simple comment Steve has reduced Diana’s strong and keenly perceptive statement about the hypocrisy of female gender norms, to nothing more than an unfocused irrelevant observation that needs to be let go.
Steve’s most powerful Anti- feminist statement comes just after he saves Diana from one of Ares minions (Yes, Wonder Woman plays the damsel in distress at a point in the film, however brief) Diana wakes up in a hospital and she asks if Steve stopped Ares, he responds by saying he decided to save her instead and Diana gets angry
Diana: I’m an Amazon Steve, we are prepared from birth to give our lives in battle…I bet you would have acted differently if I were a man.
Steve responds in anger
Steve: Oh, playing the sex card again are ya? I have had just about enough of listening to you go on about how terrible men are…News flash! The Amazons aint so perfect either. You act brave, but cutting yourself off from the world was cowardly, not to mention stupid. Like less communication between men and women is what the world needed. [Diana tries to interrupt him but he stops her] No I am not done, you met your first man like 15 minutes ago and you think you have us all figured out. Well, I am sorry, not everything a man does is to further some misogynistic agenda. We don’t pull out chairs or open doors for you because we are trying to keep you down. .I saved you because [pauses] because I care for you Diana. [Diana ends up apologizing]
It is here, Steve uses a tactic that is common in anti-feminist rhetoric. Not only is he dodging a direct question about equal treatment; but he is trying to discredit Diana’s way of thinking as being too radical by using unrelated behaviors as examples (i.e. pulling chairs and opening doors). Also, he tries to point out that it is her lack of experience with men that is giving her this view (when in actuality many women in today’s society who share Diana’s sentiments come to that conclusion because of their experiences with men). He then tries to justify his behavior by stating that he cares for her. It would be nice if the writers and producers of Wonder Woman didn’t make him have to exhibit that care in an hyper-masculine expression of gallantry, but instead show that Steve cared for Diana enough as a person, to help her carry out her mission regardless of the peril she is in; trusting that she can take care of herself. Does he do that? No but he uses convoluted logic and shaming to make Diana feel less than enough to apologize.
Persephone is another character that reinforces the producers anti feminist message through her actions and dialogue with other characters. In the beginning of the film, Persephone is a strong, competent female warrior that is fighting Ares army with the other Amazon warriors. She gets injured in battle, and after Queen Hippolyta defeats Ares is charged with guarding his cell. Over the next thousand years, Persephone (in part due to Ares’ seduction of her) becomes disenchanted by the feminist ideology and adopts many of society’s female gender stereotypes that are then reinforced in her dialogue with Hippolyta as they fight at the end of the film.
Hippolyta: (to Persephone) Have you not brought enough death and misery upon us?
Persephone: I am sorry my Queen, I didn’t expect to fall in love.
Hippolyta: Love!? You’re an Amazon; you turned your back on your sisters.
Persephone: No, it was you who did that when you turned your back on mankind [emphasis mine]
Hippolyta: You were given a life of peace and beauty.
Persephone: And denied one of families and children. Yes, Hippolyta the Amazons are warriors, but we… are women too. [dies]
Here again we see the reinforcement of particular gender cultural stereotypes specifically the double-bind that women find themselves between being strong women and being wives and mothers. Consistently in our society (and reinforced through the dialogue above) these two desires are often constructed as opposed to one another, if you want a career, and to be independent, you must sacrifice being a good wife and mother and vise versa. What also is implied by Persephone’s final statement is that to be a woman, means having families and children (because all women want be wives and mothers) and that since being a warrior is framed as being the opposite of that, women cannot be warriors with out giving up that which makes them women; which means that warrior women aren’t real women or real warriors. Real warriors are men.
In conclusion, I would be remiss if I did not mention the few feminist scenes and characterizations that go untarnished by the films glowing anti feminist message. There is a great scene when Diana first gets to New York she comes upon a little girl crying:
Diana: What’s wrong little one?
Little girl: [drying her tears] They [a group of boys] won’t let me play pirates with them
Diana: And why not?
Little girl: Because I am the girl and they need someone to save [To which Diana gives a look of shock and surprise] It’s o.k. I don’t even know how to swordfight.
Diana: [sits closer to the girl as they watch the boys] Neither do they, in battle they would be slaughtered instantly. Would you like me to teach you how to swordfight? [The little girl seems happier and excited as Diana picks up a nearby stick] They [the boys] are using the horizontal cut, but in close like they are, the thrust is a better move because it is more likely to cause injury and less likely to be blocked by your opponent. You understand?
Little girl: Uh huh
Diana: [Smilingly hands over the stick] Now go, Unleash hell. [The little girl grabs the stick and while releasing a battle cry, engages the boys in combat. She is clearly their superior]
The two most well rounded feminist characters turn out to be Artemis and Queen Hippolyta. They embody the versatility and over all power of the feminist woman by films end. In the beginning of the film, Artemis is the greatest warrior of all the Amazons (save Hippolyta) easily dispatching Ares’ forces (which include a Cyclops) with relish. Yet, she is somewhat one sided character in that she believes that a woman’s strength is solely in her ability to wield a sword. Through her experiences with fellow Amazon Alexis she learns that a woman’s power can come from other places, like through knowledge and study and that a full empowered woman is not just one who can wield a sword and kill the enemy, but one that can think, using knowledge as another form of strength.
Queen Hippolyta is by far is a symbol of the modern feminist woman. Not only is she an unparalleled warrior but she is in full embrace of her sexuality (In the beginning of the film, Ares mentions that Hippolyta is perusing him on the battlefield almost as aggressively as she did in the bedroom) and motherhood (making Diana out of clay and then again at the end of the film when she allows her to leave Themyscira to pursue happiness) to the point where she can be seen as the true feminist hero of the film. She shows the audience that women can break gender norms and identify themselves as intelligent, honorable, strong, dynamic beautiful warrior mothers; if they so choose. But much of this gets overshadowed by the onslaught of anti feminist messages the larger scope of the film provides.