In light of Michelle MacLaren's recent departure from the mythical forthcoming Wonder Woman movie, there’s a topic I want to share with you today: my theory on why we can’t have the Wonder Woman movie we all deserve and many, many of us want to see. It’s a little different from the prevailing ones you may have heard around the internet.
Though there are various canons, primarily Wonder Woman is the princess of Themyscira, a tribe of Amazons that renounce all men and live great lives because of it. For various reasons she comes to the “real” world—known to her as “man’s world”—and liberates modern women while embarking on varying adventures involving the insanity of modern life.
The character herself was created by a man that believed women were genuinely superior to men due to his scientific observations of their behavior in homosocial groups, using parameters such as empathy, group happiness, and ability to work together. He then created a character to be the champion of that philosophy, because he wanted others to see it. In fact, the older the WW comic, the more snappy it was, with lines that flat-out demanded the audience challenge current ideas about what women were and weren’t capable of. However, in time, especially in the cartoons, Wonder Woman was relegated to a side character that, like most female characters (and side characters like Aquaman), did what was needed without fail and was a better adult than everyone else in the room, but rarely got any of her own character development. She was dependable, but a non-entity. An NPC.
Classic Wonder Woman was about taking down the patriarchy. So some have said that her franchise hasn’t been revived for its own film because “taking down the patriarchy” and resisting mainstream maleness is too radical for mainstream media, and moreover too radical for Hollywood to finance. The very patriarchy such a movie would fight against is the exact one financing it, the theory goes, so of course people in power aren’t going to support something that undermines them. As one fan said about Guardians of the Galaxy, “We can get a movie about a talking space raccoon before we can get a movie about a woman.”
Another theory is that DC is run by misogynists who exclude women in the workplace, fanbase, and as lead content, either purposefully or by omission. And there is certainly credence to that which cannot be overlooked—I experienced some of it first-hand when speaking to DC comics executives and attending conventions in the early 2010s. The all-male board of directors refuses to speak to the concerns of female fans about equal inclusion and development of female characters, creators, and fans, and amending sexual exploitation thereof. The group of men often belittled anyone who brought up those issues (if they couldn’t avoid speaking about it altogether). The atmosphere in the room when a girl asked an “acceptable” question was “look, isn’t that cute, a girl!” and when one asked an “unacceptable” question—ie, challenged them in any way, negative or positive—was one of “why did you have to bring that up? You’re ruining the fun.”
It was, frankly, juvenile. It was not so much that “women should just stay in their place” as one of little boys not wanting girls in their clubhouse. It wasn’t that these guys were consciously trying to promote misogyny or hide women; they simply were petty, unprofessional individuals who had no business running a company, let alone a multinational one. They were men who came into the company when the only prerequisite for employment was being a fanboy, and they’ve continued to be fanboys well into their fifties, because no corporate power challenged them (even though sales and fans did), and now they want nothing to do with change—they simply want the status quo and empty profits.
Wonder Woman, of course, is a victim of that.
DC can’t adapt, and it’s because of the flaws of its management. It doesn’t help that DC is owned by Time Warner Cable, which also owns HBO: even the top of the umbrella believes in dark tales supported by the old saw that “sex sells”—the “sex” being the female product sold to the male audience. On the flip side, Disney owns Marvel, and Disney’s branding outlook is the complete opposite: family-friendly and wholesome values, sold to parents via kids, often achieved through humor and female leads.
If Wonder Woman were a Marvel property, she would have gotten a movie of her own by now. Why? Because she’s a top selling intellectual property that people know, and one capable of being family-friendly. (She’s also a princess!) And if Disney learned anything from Frozen—let alone its entire merchandising history—it’s that stories about women (and for girls) make money.
But DC doesn’t understand any of those things. My theory is not so much that The Patriarchy is Trying to Keep Women Down, or Lack of Confidence in Audience Spending on Female Leads is stopping Wonder Woman from getting her own film (though I do believe both of those are part of it, consciously or not). I think the final piece of the puzzle that’s holding DC up is that she doesn’t fit in their brand anymore—and why? Because she’s not just dark, and she’s not just a damsel. She’s a princess, a warrior, and someone who has real reasons for laughter and joy.
My theory is that Wonder Woman has to be modernized, but can’t be unless she’s seen as a whole person, representing everything a woman can be in today’s society and more. She has to fulfill every little girl's dream and every grown woman's desire for pride, freedom, and autonomy. It takes a visionary to put that into one character, and that simply can’t be done by a company that doesn’t believe women exist and hires talent that thinks the same way.
In order to modernize Wonder Woman, we have to admit she’s a full, vibrant person: with flaws, with loves, with quirks and charms, hopes and dreams and rough edges, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. She fights, she tells it like it is, but she’s also caring, and even motherly at times. Yes she’s Artemis (Diana), yes she’s Athena, but she’s also part Hera, and Ares, and Apollo. She’s every wave of feminism together. To be a believable woman today, you have to be everything at once—and most of these properties aren’t given that sort of full-literature treatment.
And furthermore, while many writers have thrown around ideas of what a good Wonder Woman script would involve (the best ones coming from the internet, usually), a good script hasn’t yet come forward from people in a position to produce it. I think the major reason we don’t have a Wonder Woman movie yet because the writers DC keeps in its movie circle, and perhaps America as a whole, can’t imagine who today’s Wonder Woman is.
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The original Wonder Woman concept came in a time (post-WWII) when things were clearly changing for women in American society, and there was a strong idea of who the “New Woman” was, especially the new American woman, thanks to the country’s growing wealth. Media outlets, fashion magazines, high society and even movies touted what the new woman was and could be—a woman who worked, a woman who was educated, ran the home, and had a career; a woman who embraced the newest technology and fashion. This doesn’t seem so different from now, but there were a few specific set types: working woman (who had a pick of exactly three careers: secretary, teacher, nurse), mother, fashionable society woman, or a mix of the three; there wasn’t goth, geek, biker chick, etc. There was still not autonomy for women, just more choices within the system of oppression. (And before anyone balks at that—remember that single women were regularly blacklisted from signing for loans through the eighties.)
There was a mainstream, and a visible change to the mainstream. This change was seen and felt by a large segment of the population, if not always accepted, and many of the new avenues open to women were looked upon with excitement by girls, who might buy into the WW franchise. (And even boys, who were looking for their new, ideal woman who would exist in their world of the future.)
But can the same be said for today? There is no single, collected vision of who the woman of the future is. There is no single “working woman’s must-have fashion,” no limited subset of careers to transcend; in essence, there is no clear place the feminists of today are taking us. Sure, there are many issues being voiced and challenged, but is there only one woman who could represent them all? The loudest conversations involving the feminist movement today are surrounding reproductive rights and violence against women—but that’s not something you can make a family friendly movie around.
So, the time isn’t right, my theory goes. It’s not necessarily DC or Marvel or men’s fault: there’s nothing within the American collective consciousness that writers could use to modernize Wonder Woman’s storyline with, and make it relevant, the way social chaos and the 99% were for Batman, or a world power military trying to be good again is for Ironman, or the next frontier of space and technology is for Thor and the Avengers. Like Superman, WW is lacking that single, prescient narrative hook to reflect real life and draw people in.
But, you may say, DC could make us the new woman we all aspire to be, much like TV writers did with Xena and Buffy.
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Let’s brainstorm. Pretend you’re in the board room, sitting around a table with a notepad labeled “Committee for Wonder Woman film.” You and the other members are throwing around ideas, you’re tasked with brainstorming a character and storyline that would make an approachable, respectable, and profitable franchise well received by men, women, and children, and which has lots of merchandising potential.
First off, you’d make a couple of columns on the whiteboard. The first would be “Wonder Woman – Characteristics.” What are her main features and flaws? What does she really excel at? What are her qualities that stand the test of time? She’s a leader, a princess, a soldier/warrior, pretty and fashionable, independent, and very well educated—and she doesn’t take no for an answer. She also tends to meet inequality and social inanity by dealing out swift, Greek justice.
Nice. There’s workable material there.
She’s a tough girl, but she has a softer side. That’s relatable regardless of gender and age, right? Give her an awesome outfit like Meagan Marie and Tess Fowler’s and we could make an icon that stands the test of time.
The second category would be “weapons.” Let’s name all the weapons she’s ever used that could be iconic, interesting, or commercially viable. A lasso. Magic gauntlets, shield, and tiara. Probably a Greek short sword for good measure. A fighter plane, with cloaking power.
Awesome. She’s kind of like a cowgirl Sailor Moon fighter pilot. Seems legit. You can make tons of merchandise with that, of the frilly, action figure, and accessories kind. Delicate and rough-and-tumble merchandise achieved!
Third category: villains.
The lights can be heard buzzing in the silence, something like board room crickets chirping.
Can you name a single WW villain? I can’t.
Granted, I grew up primarily in the nineties, so I didn’t have any dedicated WW material to go off of, just things like Justice League cartoons. So you consult original comics material. Maybe you find something useable, maybe you don’t. It wouldn’t kill the project to just make up a villain, given that this franchise doesn’t seem to have any iconic ones people are particularly excited about.
The really unfortunate thing is that Wonder Woman properties can’t be mixed into the Thor universe, you start to think—she would fit right in culturally, and most all their enemies would be believably known to each camp. You could have her giving Loki a hard time, and sparring with Thor and Sif—Dammit, we’re talking about Marvel again. Gah! No.
The boardroom mood darkens.
Someone Tumblr-searches the most popular pairings involving WW, and stumble across the whole Batman v Superman debate, and your meeting is derailed until the pizza arrives.
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Wonder Woman is about commitment to better womanhood, to women realizing their true potential and then... doing what with it? Educating others? Living an ideal life?
It’s hard to say. And even harder to make into an action movie.
Wikipedia tells me she’s a fighter for love and justice, which makes me believe all of anime may just be based on her.
But in reality, Wonder Woman is about liberation and freedom for the masses she represents (i.e. anyone oppressed by the status quo that undervalues them), which, when you add in the typical hero aspect (that she’s left home to achieve something and comes back better for it) is really no different from any other kind of hero narrative. In fact, it’s the classic hero narrative, more than Superman’s—because Clark never really goes back home.
So who is the woman that’s today’s American hero? Who is the Wonder Woman we can all agree on, and believe in? It’s hard to pick just one “type” of woman to be the poster child of a “new” woman, a “new America,” because these days, there is no united front of feminism; it’s a bit jumbled up, much like the 99% protests were—sure, there are serious issues, and many, but no united front, no leader, capable of making demands at a higher level. So how can we work womanhood and feminism into WW’s story without it being a joke? Do we need to, or is it just on the side? And then how do we write the story about a woman who wants to preserve her nation and its right to its chosen way of life—and isn’t afraid to do what it takes? That’s what a hero is, isn’t it? Is that the heart of the Wonder Woman story?
So, who would play the part? Is there a woman that every woman cheers for right now, in the world? Kate Middleton? Malala? Emma Watson? Or Taylor Swift? Rachel Maddow, Hillary Clinton, or Jane Lynch? Elsa? Black Widow? The answer is: America lacks a unifying female presence that everyone can aspire to and admire. So DC has the chance to make one... one who embodies all of those women above. But that’s doable, and that’s a chance worth fighting for. It just can’t be done quickly or cheaply, which is what DC wants to do.
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Further complicating the issue of the timing of Wonder Woman’s franchising is that she’s a foreigner, an outsider—and not quite in the same way as Superman. In a time of harsh anti-immigration views, are we going to welcome a foreign savior as a viewer market (and in the fictional America of the film)?
Sure, she has some of that same ancient gods/Atlantis mystique and “greatness” that imbues Thor with authority, but the fact of the matter is that she isn’t a god. She’s from a pseudo-Greece that exists somewhere on Earth, hidden from technology. And let’s not forget that for European markets, real-world Greece is currently bringing the EU down with its debt crisis. Greece-inspired movies are, usually, hard sells, too; liking Greek mythology is more niche than say, dinosaurs, which nearly every kid likes at some point or another. The thing that made 300 sell was machismo and the gay crowd. (And the good costuming, which I’m not sure DC’s fragmented movie efforts can accommodate.) What’s gonna make Wonder Woman sell to overcome the “Greekness” obscurity factor? Female machismo for the male and lesbian gaze?
These things aren’t critical hits to a franchise, but they are things to consider, certainly. Especially when you’re trying to create a story that builds people up and gets around these real life issues to the point that the audience will receive it well. So when we start working on plot on this film, what is the main conflict that draws WW out of her homeland, and what role does she play there?
And when she does get to “man’s world,” aka the real world, is she someone who rejects money or someone who comes from it? She’s a princess but also a warrior, so is she like Kate Middleton with armor? Does she pay her own way with gobs of Themysciran gold or does she rely on others, like Thor did? Does she, heaven forbid, just be poor and get a job? And if so, what career would she have today? America’s most prominent female figures today arguably are in the military, or politics, for better or for worse; would she be in the military? Well, how does that make her different from Captain Marvel?
The film’s not an impossible project, but without Macguffins from space constantly causing problems like in Marvel’s universe, what could be a problem requiring Wonder Woman’s appearance in the way audiences are looking for in the modern day? Honestly, she wouldn’t even understand modern technology, so how is she supposed to know how to drive a plane?
This is why, quite simply, she makes a good side character in other characters’ movies: They handle problems that are integral to their development, and Wonder Woman is simply a very interesting, refreshing, and steadfast helper, who adds a lot but doesn’t need to be the main attraction. But if Sleepy Hollow and Downton Abbey are any indication, audiences love A) old-timey people, and B) having them admiring the greatness of modern technology while simultaneously lambasting all the things we hate about it.
It strikes me, though, that what Wonder Woman could understand is climate change. The ways of the ancients, showing us how we can be better ourselves to save, and appreciate, our Earth.
So, in conclusion, much of the trouble with modernizing Wonder Woman is that you have to stray from the original material a lot: you have to let her be the princess she is, but also the warrior who is ingenious and doesn’t take anybody’s crap. A leader, a fighter, a woman who’s not afraid of laughter—one who can carry the show, and you have to find a good actress for it too. It would take a very clever, in-tune person with a strong vision to write and direct this movie, with people behind it who believe in the power of well-written, well-rounded characters that can be marketed towards girls, women, and families, as well as men that like kick-ass women.
All of that is simply too much of a deviation from DC’s current model to realistically expect them to invest time and effort. So, ironically enough, lack of belief in everything Wonder Woman stands for is the reason we can’t have a Wonder Woman movie. Who’s going to step up and be our hero, and right this injustice?
*header image from Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman