Wonder Woman's Cultural Impact

With seventy years worth of comic continuity, Wonder Woman has obviously been an enduring figure in the comic book world. But what about other media and the culture at large? Though some media may not give her the same respect as her cohorts, Batman and Superman, that doesn't diminish the presence that she has had in culture throughout her seven decades.

While a live action film has yet to be made for the princess, in 2009 an animated film was made; with Keri Russell providing her voice. However, this wasn't the first animated appearance for Wonder Woman. That goes to a 1972 episode of The Brady Kids. Yes, those Brady kids. Then from 1973 to 1986 she was a character in the cartoon Super Friends, which was based on Justice League of America. It was so popular is led to another comic book series and many spoofs. Over a decade later another cartoon based on Justice League of America was made. Justice League (later renamed Justice League Unlimited) aired from 2001 to 2004. Both Super Friends and Justive League Unlimited employed much of the DC Comics arsenal, like Superman, Batman and Aquaman; though in the later show, Wonder Woman's origin was changed slightly, with some of the characters referring to her as "rookie."


These cartoons aren't Wonder Woman's only forays into television. For three seasons from 1975 to 1979, she was title character in the Wonder Woman series (later renamed The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.) The series starred Lynda Carter in the lead role, which became what she was best known for. Not only did it almost define Lynda Carter's career, but her involvement also helped shape the image many had of Wonder Woman in their minds. Carter herself was a huge fan of the character, so she insisted that she be "played for real" (WonderWomanForDC.com) and did her own stunts in the show's first season. To Carter, the character was an important example of feminism and virtue.

The series is also a very early example of bondage-related themes coming into pop culture. However, when most talk about or mention it, they play up the sexual conotations and ignore the implications of it within the story and it's themes (which I will get back to later) and that Marston saw it as a noble practice. He once said, "The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbound force to enjoy being bound... Only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for a stable, peaceful human society." (Wikipedia)

Besides mainstream pop culture, Wonder Woman has made her way into other art forms. For instance, the essay/article, "Body Swapping, Empowerment, and Empathy", explains the reasons why Linda Stein included Diana's text and image in her 2009 armor sculputures. The scupltures are a comment on gender constructions in regard to people's bodies and how they are "material of cultural reproduction, produce the tangible body." (Thompson) She used Wonder Woman because she can "reflect nothing less than the confusion, fear, and constant reformation of American ideals about American women." (Thompson)

Like many people, I have my own memories of Wonder Woman within my frame of reference. My earliest one being the theme song playing in a scene in the film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. The most recent being two episodes of The Big Bang Theory; one in which the characters all dress up as the Justice League with Penny as the group's Diana and another when the four main boys all dressed as Wonder Woman. Another Wonder Woman reference that has always stuck with me was in the film Spiceworld starring the Spice Girls. The film included a scene where they each dressed as many female cultural icons, icluding Marilyn Monroe, Jackie O., Charlie's Angels and Twiggy, with Geri Halliwell dressing as Wonder Woman, among others.

As embarassing as some may think that reference to be, I bring it up to make a point. That Wonder Woman's costume is so ubiquitous that even those who know nothing about superheroes, comics or her specific history, know her costume. And as I said before, like an origin story, the costume is part of what define the comic superhero.

The costume is so embedded in our cultural DNA, that it was used for a Playboy photo "story" of sorts in February 2008 with Tiffany Fallon. As one might expect, using the WW iconography is such a way upset a great many people. Including AfterEllen contributor, Dorothy Snarker, who said, "If you’re going to objectify, just objectify. We all know the game. Don’t frame it in the guise of some faux empowerment lexicon that you think will make the sexualization more sophisticated and therefore more acceptable." (Snarker)

As one can probably tell, the costume is a source of a lot of emotion and not just for fanboys. At times, it is at the crux of feminist thought about Wonder Woman and not always for the reasons one might immediately think (as indicated by the AfterEllen blog entry.) That (along with the sometimes at odds feminist ideas about Diana) is the topic of the next entry.