Wonder Woman
What is the story behind Wonder Woman?
The theme this month is heroes and role models. If you are anything like me, you grew up watching Lynda Carter kick some major butt in her leotard and boots on the small screen. You made golden wristbands and tiaras out of paper and converted your jumprope into a lasso. You deflected the imaginary bullets shot by little boys' plastic guns with ease and grace. After months of begging, your parents finally gave in and bought you the coveted Wonder Woman underoos and you showed them off proudly at sleepover parties all across town. You didn't want to watch Wonder Woman on TV, you wanted to BE her. So, who came up with Wonder Woman? When? Why?
Wonder Woman was created by a psychologist and educational consultant for DC Comics, Dr. William Moulton Marston, and first emerged in print in 1941. Marston had been studying the super heroes of the time and realized that there was no female hero in the bunch. Wonder Woman was originally conceived as a complement to Superman, as a comic book hero that young girls could relate to. Max Gaines, the leader of DC Comics liked the idea, and Marston combined their two middle names to create Marston's pen name: Charles Moulton. Wonder Woman was not Marston's only claim to fame, he is also credited with inventing the blood pressure test that later made the polygraph (lie detector) possible. It isn't surprising then that lie detectors and truth telling feature prominently in the Wonder Woman storylines. Marston's thoughts about his creation are reflected in this quote from a 1943 American Scholar article:
"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's 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."
Wonder Woman, otherwise known as Princess Diana or Diana Prince, leads quite a busy life. Some of her occupations include: Princess of Themyscira, Ambassador of The Amazons To The Man's World, Secretary To Colonel Darnell (U.S. Military Intelligence), Secretary and member of the Justice League of America. She travels between her birthplace, Paradise Island, and locations all over the world including Washington D.C., Boston and Gateway City. She seems just as busy as today's mortal woman. The only difference: we don't wear sparkly bathing suit outfits and have super powers!
The Amazon princess had already been around for quite some time in the pages of comic books by the time Lynda Carter slinked into her leotard for the masses. Can you believe the television series starring Lynda Carter only lasted from 1976-1979? That was long enough to leave an incredible impression on a generation of young girls in America and throughout the world.
"Good and beautiful" she was indeed. Young girls everywhere had Princess Diana/Wonder Woman as their role model. It made no difference if she appeared in print or on the television, Marston's plan to give girls their own super hero to look up to worked. Marston's death in 1947 led to a series of style changes in the comic books featuring Wonder Woman. She was killed off in the comics in 1986 only to emerge restyled the following year. Wonder Woman lives on to this day in reruns and also in animated form in the Justice League cartoons that run on Cartoon Network. Wonder Woman comic books and memorabilia are hot collectors items. There are rumors that a live action Wonder Woman movie is under development in Hollywood, to be produced by Leonard Goldberg and Joel Silver. If they need any volunteers to play the lead role, I'll be happy to don my Underoos and give it my all.
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