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Watch WONDER WOMEN! Online, Social Screening April 24

WBIMG_OVEE_WW_397x225_2 copyWe’re thrilled to announce a special online, interactive screening of WONDER WOMEN! on April 24 at 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET, on ITVS’s OVEE website (that’s Online Video Engagement Experience). Join director Kristy Guevara-Flanagan as she live chats during the screening and participates in a discussion with viewers from around the cyber-world.

You can also watch WONDER WOMEN! online at any time on PBS. The film is available until June 14, 2013.

DOC NYC Q&A, International Screenings And One Powerful PSA

As we approach Thanksgiving, the WONDER WOMEN! team would like to extend its gratitude to everyone who made this project possible. You truly helped us get this far.

Recently we’ve had a lot of exciting events, including international screenings in Canada, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Taiwan and Poland. Also, the folks at DOC NYC were gracious enough to tape the Q&A after our Nov. 11 screening in New York City. Producer Kelcey Edwards, film character Katie Pineda, editor Melanie Levy, and editor Carla Guttierez answered questions from both a moderator and the audience.

Additionally, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media launched a new PSA in support of its See Jane campaign. We applaud their work and wanted to share this powerful video with you. You can also read their latest research on the topic.

Last week Davis did a great Q&A with Ms. Blog. We’ll leave you with this quote,

“Feminism simply means equal social and political status for men and women. There’s nothing radical about it or about using that word or having that as a goal. We’re simply trying to elevate the status of the female characters to equal. We take up half the space in the world so it would be great to see roughly half of characters be female.”

Q&A With Ink-Stained Amazon, Film Character Jennifer Stuller

WONDER WOMEN! character Jen Stuller is a Seattle-based writer and scholar, specializing in gender and sexuality in popular culture. A critic, thinker, and an occasional knitter, she has vowed to use her powers only for good.

Her most recent book, “Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology,” is a comprehensive history, critique, and reference guide examining feminist history and potential within popular culture. She is also Programming Creative Director for GeekGirlCon.

WONDER WOMEN! Executive Producer Erin Prather Stafford recently interviewed Jen about her book, popular culture and love for the character Modesty Blaise.

EPS: Your book “Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology” argues that Superwomen, from Wonder Woman to Charlie’s Angels, are more than just love interests or sidekicks who stand by their supermen. How did you become interested in this topic? What inspired such a thorough examination of female heroes in our popular culture?

JS: As long as I can remember I’ve been interested in stories about adventurous girls and women. My favorites as a child were those of Dorothy Gale, Pippi Longstocking, and Alice in Wonderland. From them, I learned that curiosity, bravery, and compassion lead to life-changing journeys and life-long friendships.

Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman was also incredibly formative. She was both graceful and powerful – that, combined with her belief in, and support of women (and her belief in herself), informed that kind of person I wanted to grow up to be.

When I went back to college at nearly 30, I had just fallen in love with the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Around that time, American culture was also seeing a revival of the superhero genre – especially in film. I started thinking about why we weren’t seeing women on screen in superhero roles, particularly at the level we were seeing men. I wondered about the journey of the female hero. Are her trials and tasks different from that of the male?

I decided to make this the topic of my senior thesis, which eventually took the form of a book proposal. That, of course, evolved into “Ink-Stained Amazons”, where I explore the history of female super and action heroines in film, television, and comics, and how they were influenced by, and in turn, influenced, real world politics and social mores in American culture.

The book also explores the specifics in how female heroism is represented, as well as advocates both media literacy, and the production of media by women.

EPS: How did you become involved with the WONDER WOMEN! project?

Kristy and Jenn before taping interview with Q13 FOX Seattle

JS: I became involved with WONDER WOMEN! when Director, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, approached me after a presentation I’d given at the Comic Arts Conference at WonderCon on feminism in Lois Lane and Wonder Woman comic books of the 1970s. She was interested in how my work investigated ways in which feminism and popular culture influenced and reflected social and political values about gender. And in fact, my history of this interplay, “Ink-Stained Amazons” was about to be published – so we had a lot to talk about! It’s been wonderful to watch the evolution of this inspiring film, be a part of it, and of course, to become friends with a wonder woman like Kristy.

EPS: During the panel “Sheroes in Media: Women and Girls Changing the Game” at the Seattle International Film Festival, a discussion emerged about the term “superheroine.” Could you share your thoughts on the word and why it’s not the preferred way you use to describe women characters in action roles?

JS: I was sharing how I struggled over terminology when writing “Ink-Stained Amazons”. I really want to acknowledge and celebrate female strength but don’t want to use gendered language that instantly mark something as other than the norm. (Why can’t a hero be a woman? Why must we say “female hero”?) The word “superhero” isn’t inherently male, but the word “heroine” definitely provokes ideas about gender – particularly in regards to a female role within a narrative.

Ultimately, I’ve decided on using either “female super or action heroes” or “superwomen” when describing my work or discussing these characters, stories, and representations. It still marks female heroes as “other.” But, in many ways, that’s how they’re treated culturally, and I feel these terms come across as more powerful than the traditionally weak “heroine.”

Of course, I’d rather that the word “hero” did not imply gender at all.

EPS: Some commenters have claimed that with the success of Hunger Games, Avengers and other movies showing women in positive action roles, times have changed. Is this true? Do we still have a long way to go regarding the presentation of women in these types of roles?

JS: It’s true that in the past couple of years we’ve seen a resurgence of superwomen in film (not surprisingly, we’ve also seen a resurgence in feminist political action). And this is very exciting. But while we can observe some changes, we also do have to look at what compromises are being made, and where representation is lacking.

For example, The Hunger Games is a box-office hit featuring a female action protagonist – though many have criticized the producers for “white-washing” the character of Katniss Everdeen, who is described in the book as “olive-skinned.” It’s still a step forward to know that a studio is backing not just one film featuring a female hero – but a whole trilogy – especially as it proves that audiences will come out and spend money on stories about women.

Brave is the first film from Pixar to feature a female protagonist, and yet, the creator and original director, Brenda Chapman, was replaced by a male colleague. What does it mean when women are discouraged from telling stories?

Haywire, featured a highly-skilled action heroine in MMA fighter, Gina Carano’s Mallory Kane – one who was deadly, proactive, and never sexualized or objectified. But it didn’t excel at the box office (and personally, I found the narrative boring).

We’ve seen the eponymous protagonist of Hanna, and Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow (who received nearly as much screen time in The Avengers as Iron Man and Captain America – arguably the two male leads of the film), Noomi Rapace as a proto-Ripley in Prometheus, and Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series, among others. Though, for the most part it should be noted that generally these female characters are not the protagonist, but supporting players, and most conform to specific and restrictive standards of beauty, including white skinned, thin-bodied, and heterosexual.

We have to recognize where these representations “got it right” but also temper our celebration with informed critique so that we can be better.

EPS: You’ve revealed your favorite female hero is Modesty Blaise. What’s the background for this character and why do you love her? Where can people find her?

Discovering Modesty has been one of the highlights of my research. Not only is she an amazing character, but, as it turns out, an influential one in both American and British popular culture.

She was created in the early 1960s by Peter O’Donnell, and appeared in newspaper strip stories and novels for 40 years – all written by O’Donnell. Her story can be found in my piece, “Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise: The Princess of Spy-Fi Kicks Ass, and She Does it Backwards and in High Heels. Titan Publishing is currently reprinting volumes of all the newspaper strips – the novels and collected short stories can be a bit harder to find. There are also two films, Modesty Blaise (from 1966 – and truly terrible stuff, not even “so bad it’s good”) and My Name is Modesty (from 2004, which I think is actually quite good, though it’s very low-budget – it stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who you might recognize as Game of Throne’s Jaime Lannister).

As for why I love her: she’s extraordinary. She’s highly skilled, sophisticated, smart, compassionate, and adventurous. She embodies all those qualities that inspired me in characters as a little girl – but in an adult protagonist. She’s complex, not like so many stand-in female characters, who only serve as plot points in male stories, or as eye-candy in their own. She’s sensual and sexual, but isn’t defined by her sexuality. She’s independent, but not a lone wolf. She has dear friends, and in return is one of the best companions anyone could ever hope for – thoughtful, considerate, and if you really mean something to her, even willing to risk her life for you. She has loving and romantic relationships with men who respect her autonomy, but her relationship with her life partner Willie Garvin, is always strictly platonic.

She is a business woman, an adventurer, a loyal friend, and a bad-ass babe.

EPS: Your book delves a lot into television shows with strong female characters. What are you currently watching that embodies some of the same qualities people loved about Buffy or Alias?

JS: I’ve found that television is the medium with the most, and the most complex, female characters. Currently, I am loving the Canadian series, Lost Girl, created by Michelle Lovretta with feminist intent, and Executive Produced by Jay Firestone, who previously co-produced the television series Nikita, starring Peta Wilson.

The premise of Lost Girl is about as silly-sounding as that of a cheerleader slaying vampires in So. Cal – and, of course, a series that turned out to be much smarter than the title made it seem: Lost Girl is the story of a bisexual succubus private detective named Bo as she navigates the light and dark worlds of the fae.

Seriously.

But it works. And it works well.

Not always, of course. But I’m thrilled by how the series creators manage to explore Bo’s sexuality without objectifying it, or her. That is a really fine line to walk, and they have so far been successful. Our hero is independent, strong, smart, compassionate, and has a female best friend named, Kenzi, who is delightful and snarky and supportive. It’s rare that we see women heroes working together, especially in a mentorship-type relationship, and one where there is never a hint of sexual attraction. These two put each other’s well-being ahead of other relationships – though those exist too.

The cast is wonderfully diverse, and the storytelling creative. The low-budget production quality can occasionally be distracting, but that, along with the genre format, allow for a lot of subversive storytelling. Can you imagine? A woman whose sexuality IS her power, but isn’t the whole of her?!?!? Amazing.

EPS: Are you working on a new book?

JS: Right now I’m thrilled to be editing and contributing to an anthology on Fan Phenomena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Intellect Ltd’s new Fan Phenomena series. I’d love to do a revised and expanded edition of Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors, especially as we’re starting to see a lot of content featuring women and girl super and action heroes – as well as, women using non-traditional forms of media production to tell stories.

I have some other projects I’m working on featuring women and popular culture, so stay tuned!

EPS: What’s the backstory for GeekGirlCon?

JS: GeekGirlCon evolved out of the desire to provide safe spaces for female geeks to come together to share their work,  celebrate their passions, network, make friends, and eventually contribute to the evolution of geek culture – in STEM professions, pop culture industries and representations, and in the treatment of women at other cons.

The organization evolved out of a standing room only panel at Comic-Con International in 2010 called “Geek Girls Exist” and was built, and is maintained, by over 40 all-volunteer staff members and our extended community.

We just marked our two year anniversary, have produced two successful, meaningful, and inspirational cons, as well as hundreds of events both online and throughout the Puget Sound region – and we’re going to keep celebrating, and keep making a difference!

EPS: What aspirations do you have for the depiction of women in action roles?

JS: I would like to see more diversity in our depictions in regards to race, ability, and sexuality – without the overwhelming focus on mainstream, heteronormative ideas about what is or isn’t sexy, what is or isn’t powerful, and on what it means to actually be heroic.

Hello Seattle and SIFF!!!

The WONDER WOMEN! team is back together for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). We’re ecstatic to be here, especially since Seattle is the home of both Jen Stuller, author of the fantastic book “Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology,” and the nonprofit Reel Grrls. Both are featured in WONDER WOMEN!

The film will be screening three times during SIFF:

Saturday, May 26, 3:30 p.m. at the Everett Performing Arts Center

Sunday, May 27, 4 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre

Monday, May 28, 6 p.m. at the Harvard Exit

SIFF has posted information on its website about obtaining tickets.

We’re also part of an amazing panel “Titled “Sheroes in Media: Women and Girls Changing the Game” on Saturday, May 26, 7:30 p.m. at the SIFF Film Center. It is free and open to the public.

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan: Director, WONDER WOMEN!; Jen Stuller, who is also programming Director for GeekGirlCon; Daniel Tayara: Reel Grrls youth filmmaker; Megan Gaiser, Her Interactive and Marta Smith, IGNITE: Inspiring Girls Now In The Technology Evolution, will discuss how women, both real and fictional, are represented in American culture.

Who influences and controls the media messages we receive about strong women – and how are they internalized by consumers?

Can’t make the panel? No worries, we’ll be tweeting from it live over at @wonderwomandoc, hashtag #sheroesSIFF.

And check back here for more news from SIFF!

Megan Gaiser and Marta Smith Join SIFF Panel

Megan Gaiser, Her Interactive, and Marta Smith, IGNITE: Inspiring Girls Now In The Technology Evolution, will be a panelists at “Sheroes in Media: Women and Girls Changing the Game.”

They join Kristy Guevara-Flanagan: Director, WONDER WOMEN!; Jennifer K. Stuller: Author, Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology and Programming Director for GeekGirlCon; and Daniel Tayara: Reel Grrls youth filmmaker for a discussion on how women, both real and fictional, are represented in American culture. Who influences and controls the media messages we receive about strong women – and how are they internalized by consumers?

The panel takes place Saturday, May 26, 7:30 p.m. at the SIFF Film Center. It is free and open to the public.

As Chief Creative Strategy Officer and former CEO of Her Interactive, Megan Gaiser sets creative direction, brand and portfolio expansion and cultivates strategic partnerships. Under her stewardship, Her Interactive (HI) has grown from a boutique company to an emerging competitor with the globally-loved Nancy Drew franchise games sales topping 9 million units world-wide. The Nancy Drew PC franchise is the #1 in the U.S. six years running.

Marta Smith started working for Microsoft in 1991 in Quality Assurance, then became a Test Lead in 1998.  She continued in that role until she left Microsoft in 2010 and went to work at a local liaison office for Western Digital (a hard drive manufacturing company).  Over the course of her Microsoft career, she worked on DOS-based, Windows-based, and Mac-based products, and on various releases of DOS Works, WinWorks, WinWord, MacWord, Mac Messenger, Mac Communicator…and the list goes on.

WONDER WOMEN! screenings at SIFF:

Saturday, May 26, 3:30 p.m. at the Everett Performing Arts Center

Sunday, May 27, 4 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre

Monday, May 28, 6 p.m. at the Harvard Exit

SIFF has posted information on its website about obtaining tickets.

SIFF Panel: Sheroes in Media: Women and Girls Changing the Game

WONDER WOMEN! will be part of a free panel during the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) titled “Sheroes in Media: Women and Girls Changing the Game.” It will take place Saturday, May 26, 7:30 p.m. at the SIFF Film Center.

Sheroes exist. They can be found in the stories of comics, novels, film, television, and video games. They can also be found in real life – in mothers and sisters, community leaders, and media makers.

Join Kristy Guevara-Flanagan: Director, WONDER WOMEN!; Jennifer K. Stuller: Author, Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology and Programming Director for GeekGirlCon; Daniel Tayara: Reel Grrls youth filmmaker; and others as they discuss how women, both real and fictional, are represented in American culture. Who influences and controls the media messages we receive about strong women – and how are they internalized by consumers?

The event is open to the public

WONDER WOMEN! screenings at SIFF:

Saturday, May 26, 3:30 p.m. at the Everett Performing Arts Center

Sunday, May 27, 4 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre

Monday, May 28, 6 p.m. at the Harvard Exit

SIFF has posted information on its website about obtaining tickets.

Community Event Raises Funds For GENaustin

We’ve been going nonstop at the festival. Yesterday the team hosted a free WONDER WOMEN! community event at the Gallery Black Lagoon. The event benefited the Girls Empowerment Network (GENaustin), whose staff was on hand to collect five dollar donations.

GENaustin’s mission is to support and guide girls to make wise choices as they navigate the pressures of girlhood. As part of the WONDER WOMEN! event GENaustin asked girls in their programs to submit personal artwork of themselves as superheroines with super powers. The pieces were shown at the event and each girl who participated received a WONDER WOMEN! UNITE bracelet from the film.

Here are some of the wonderful submissions:

Snippets of the film were shown to the audience, followed by a Q&A with Kristy and Kelcey. Mary Celeste Kearney, Associate Professor of Radio-Television-Film, specializing in feminist media and cultural studies, moderated the discussion. Also in attendance were documentary stars Katie and Carmela. The audience asked engaging questions and the filmmakers shared great insight into how they came to create this remarkable film.

More updates from Austin soon!

WONDER WOMEN! Austin Community Event March 11

The team behind WONDER WOMEN! will host a community event benefiting the Girls Empowerment Network (GENaustin) on Sunday, March 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gallery Black Lagoon, 4301 Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas, 78751.

Attendees will have the opportunity to

• See snippets from the documentary WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES.

• Listen to a Q&A with WONDER WOMEN! Director Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Producer Kelcey Edwards, moderated by Mary Celeste Kearney, Associate Professor of Radio-Television-Film and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

• Enter a superheroine/superhero costume contest.

• Enjoy food and refreshments.

• See superheroine artwork created by girls in GENaustin programs.

The event is free and open to the Austin community, a SXSW badge or film pass is not required to attend. Staff from GENaustin will be on hand to collect $5 donations for the organization. Created in 1996, GENaustin, supports and guides girls as they navigate the unique pressures of girlhood.

Our panel at Geek Girl Con!

The History of the Universe as Told by Wonder Woman had a fabulous experience with our panel at Geek Girl Con. The issues and facts presented in the film seemed to really resonate with the crowd and there was a general acceptance of the material even though it was presented in rough-cut form. We had a great panel and a great time and we got a WONDER-ful review from Fan Girl  you can read here.

Fangirlblog.com writes, “The panel was set for 90 minutes; it could have gone 190 minutes as far as most of us in the room were concerned. A disappointed sigh rose from the audience when we were asked to move on to make way for the next panel.”

Like many other women, she grew up with Wonder Woman, and wonders what effect that this 70’s TV show had on her life. Fan Girl agrees that women have not been given the same opportunities to be super. Wonder Woman in particular has yet to make a big screen presence when so many male heroes take up the spotlight.

She closes saying that the film, “… will encourage more women to believe that they too can make a difference. Most importantly, though, I walked out of that room realizing I’m not alone.”
Thank you Fangirlblog for coming to see the film at Geek Girl Con and sharing your views on the film!

Wonder Woman Pilot Rejected by NBC

As you may or may not know the new Wonder Woman pilot episode was not picked up by NBC, reason being, the outfit did not match the original Wonder Woman.

The argument that was made was that “She is meant to be an inspiring feminist icon, but she represents a vast array of things that feminism despises. By which I mean, she dresses like a stripper.” However, an article from “DC Women Kicking Ass” entitled, “It’s not the costume, stupid” argues that the costume argument is just an excuse for the real reason they are rejecting it.

When asked why there was no Wonder Woman movie Darren Franich from Entertainment Weekly said, “It’s just much easier to sell a male action film to studios than a female one.”

When the only audience they think of is men, that may be true, but “Women want to see characters that are strong and smart and capable. They don’t want to see characters that are cliches or bastardizations or characters that are seen through the lens of male writers and creators who don’t write authentic women but as archetypes and a mindfield of sexist tropes.”

They say it is hard to sell a female hero, but when is the last time they tried?

Click here to view article!

– Jackie Grieff

Aspiring Director/Editor working on a Bachelors degree in Digital Film and Video Production at The Art Institute of California – San Francisco. Interning with Kristy Guevara-Flanagan for the project THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE AS TOLD BY WONDER WOMAN. Self-proclaimed nerd, and long time super hero lover.

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