Red, Blue, and Bronze

Inside the Symbols of the Wonder Woman Film

Valerie Estelle Frankel

• Publisher: LitCrit Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781548105990
• eBook ISBN: 9780463015711
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film History & Criticism

Wonder Woman the 2017 film blazed into the theaters and thrilled audiences with its killer action. Boys and girls cheered when their superheroine dropped her cloak and raced across No Man's Land, eagle blazing on her chest. In fact, a deep symbolism lurks behind Diana's lasso, shield, and crown, especially the new film versions. Why is her island filled with shells and spirals? As she explores Edwardian London, and mucks through the trenches, how is her journey particularly superheroic? The characters, their origins, and the nuances of feminism reveal much about America's favorite superheroine and how she subverts them all.

Red, Blue, and Bronze

Inside the Symbols of

the Wonder Woman Film

Valerie Estelle Frankel

Other Works by Valerie Estelle Frankel

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: A Harry Potter Parody

Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage: A Harry Potter Parody

Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey

From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend

Katniss the Cattail: The Unauthorized Guide to Name and Symbols

The Many Faces of Katniss Everdeen

Harry Potter, Still Recruiting: A Look at Harry Potter Fandom

Teaching with Harry Potter

An Unexpected Parody: The Spoof of The Hobbit Movie

Teaching with Harry Potter

Myths and Motifs in The Mortal Instruments

Winning the Game of Thrones: The Host of Characters & their Agendas

Winter is Coming: Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones

The Girl’s Guide to the Heroine’s Journey

Choosing to be Insurgent or Allegiant: Symbols, Themes & Analysis of the Divergent Trilogy

Doctor Who and the Hero’s Journey

Doctor Who: The What Where and How

Sherlock: Every Canon Reference You May Have Missed in BBC’s Series

Symbols in Game of Thrones

How Game of Thrones Will End

Joss Whedon’s Names

Pop Culture in the Whedonverse

Women in Game of Thrones: Power, Conformity, and Resistance

History, Homages and the Highlands: An Outlander Guide

The Catch-Up Guide to Doctor Who

Everything I Learned in Life I Know from Joss Whedon

Empowered: The Symbolism, Feminism, & Superheroism of Wonder Woman

The Avengers Face their Dark Sides

The Comics of Joss Whedon: Critical Essays

Mythology in Game of Thrones

We’re Home: Fandom, Fun, and Hidden Homages in The Force Awakens

Nonsensibility

Superheroines and the Epic Journey

To all the Wonder Women and Wonder Girls out there…

Red Blue and Bronze is an unauthorized guide and commentary on Wonder Woman’s movies, comics, shows and other products. None of the individuals or companies associated with this book or television series or any merchandise based on this series has in any way sponsored, approved, endorsed, or authorized this book. All rights reserved.

Red, Blue and Bronze

by Valerie Estelle Frankel

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2017 Valerie Estelle Frankel

Print ISBN: 978-1548105990

Contents

Why Wonder Woman?

Symbols

Film Moments and Thoughts

Characters: The Amazons

Characters: Man’s World

Feminism

The DC Extended Universe

Easter Eggs

Works Cited

Why Wonder Woman?

To many, Wonder Woman is the first, the only superheroine of note. Why is that?

Wonder Woman’s emergence and success in the 1940s was unparalleled by any other woman in comic books during that time or since. Her continued success has defied the odds, though changes in the structure of the comic books helped to welcome young female readers. By and large, women as well as men were drawn to the 1970s television series. Since Wonder Woman’s spectacular beginnings, she has become an icon for female empowerment, as well as a term for any woman who can multitask with finesse or show abilities that transcend traditional norms. (Knight 314)

Supergirl and Batgirl (however well the former is doing on television) began as sidekicks. Far too many heroines like Hawkgirl or Sue Storm were created as girlfriend and female counterpart. It’s also notable how they all were named “girl,” even those who were created as equal partners. Diana, created before them all, is an actual woman. Caroline Preece of The Mary Sue writes: “Here was a female hero who wasn’t great in spite of being a woman, but great because she is a woman. Kara Danvers [TV’s Supergirl] is girly and silly and frets about dating boys. She is compassionate and understanding and sometimes too headstrong and idealistic for her own good. Sometimes she’s wrong, and she makes mistakes.” Wonder Woman offers a new kind of role model – feminine but indescribably powerful.

The character arrived in comics in 1941, and continued with barely a break through present day. Even without this longevity, her comics were remarkably prolific. “With 56 issues of Wonder Woman, 106 issues of Sensation Comics, and 29 issues of Comic Cavalcade released in the 1940s, no other super-heroine came close to matching Wonder Woman’s presence on the newsstands,” notes Tim Hanley, author of Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World’s Most Famous Heroine (26). When her creator, William Moulton Marston, first pictured “a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love,” his wife advised, “Fine ... but make her a woman” (Mandaville, Kindle Locations 4245-4246).

In a 1943 article in American Scholar, Marston stated that “it seemed to me, from a psychological angle, that the comics’ worst offense was their blood-curdling masculinity“ In response, Marston pitched a female superhero to All-American editor Sheldon Mayer to give young readers an alternative to all of this male-dominated violence. Marston called her “Suprema the Wonder Woman,” which Mayer wisely shortened. Marston wrote his comics under the penname Charles Moulton. (Hanley 13)

After Supergirl and Catwoman, this is the first female dominant superhero film in twelve years since Elektra (2005). This is also the first female-directed live-action film to have a $100 million+ budget (of $150 million). With an opening of $103 million, the film marks the highest US opening for a female director – unsurprising as there are so few of them. Director Patty Jenkins adds, “I think the pressures and responsibilities of making the first Wonder Woman film were already intense. You know, that’s as big as it gets. I try not to only focus on the fact that it’s a female character and just make Wonder Woman a great Super Hero movie” (“Interview: Director Patty Jenkins”).

Many would say the Wonder Woman film has been delayed decades too long, with piles of Superman and Batman, and even obscure heroes from Punisher to Thor getting in first. Critic Robert Jones, Jr. concludes:

The people who own the Wonder Woman trademark and brand don’t really have, and haven’t really had, much faith in the character and her potential. She has historically played third fiddle to the likes of Batman and Superman. And I think the corporate types don’t really get her appeal. That is why they’ve been so hesitant about doing anything with her. It’s why Green Lantern, a character no one outside of a few die-hards is checking for, could get a film before her. That’s why they had to “test” her out in Batman vs. Superman. They projected their feelings, insecurities, and ignorance onto an audience and assumed we wouldn’t want a Wonder Woman anything, much less a movie, because they didn’t want one. This movie and the reaction to it proved them dead wrong. (Complex and Jones)

Before this, Joss Whedon (The Avengers), George Miller (Mad Max) and Paul Feig (Ghostbusters), among many others, all failed to bring the Amazonian princess to the big screen.

Still, Jenkins celebrates the character’s universality: “As a woman, to discover such a complex and compelling w...

Table of contents

• Why Wonder Woman?