WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES traces the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, WONDER WOMEN! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation.
WONDER WOMEN! goes behind the scenes with Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, comic writers and artists, and real-life superheroines such as Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna and others, who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.
Director’s Synopsis
Like most women and men of my generation, I grew up with Lynda Carter’s “Wonder Woman” television show. It was the late 70’s, the show was already in the constant rotation of syndication, and there simply wasn’t anything else out there that captured my imagination as a little girl. I had friends who were Wonder Woman for Halloween year after year because there were so few options for girls as fantasy heroes.
When I started telling people about this film, men and women had wildly different reactions. Most of the guys admitted that Wonder Woman was their first TV crush. Women reminisced about how they pretended to be her: twirling a rope to capture foes or spinning to transform themselves into superheroes.
Fast-forward some thirty years and I was reading a New York Times article that introduced Gail Simone as Wonder Woman’s first female writer EVER. Here was this incredible feminist symbol who had always been stuck, like a lot of strong female characters, between being created by men and being primarily consumed by boys.
The story stayed with me, and I began looking into Wonder Woman’s origins. Her creator, William Moulton Marston, was a fascinating character who set out to create an empowering role model amid a lot of super-violent male heroes. Of course, he also had some interesting ideas about what a strong female hero should look like. But his creation has endured while so many others have been forgotten.
I loved the idea of looking at something as populist as comics to reveal our cultural obsessions, and in particular, how women’s roles have changed over time. The narratives of our most iconic superheroes, told and re-told over decades, boldly outline our shifting values. That’s one story WONDER WOMEN! tells, but to me, it’s not the most interesting one. I hope the film also conveys the unpredictable ways those icons can shape and even transform us in return. For some it’s Lara Croft, for others it’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but we all need those iconic heroes that tell us we have the power to slay our dragons and don’t have to wait around to be rescued.
Characters
Gloria Steinem, Feminist and Political Activist
American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the Women’s Liberation Movement in the late 1960s and 1970s, Steinem surprisingly also has a lot to say about Wonder Woman.
Lynda Carter, Actress (Wonder Woman)
Actress Lynda Carter discusses her performance of the longest-running female superhero as the title character on the 1970s television series “Wonder Woman,” and how the experience has impacted her life. She also talks about why she feels the television character she helped to create has had such a profound and lasting impact on multiple generations of fans.
Lindsay Wagner, Actress (The Bionic Woman)
Actress Lindsay Wagner, most widely known for her portrayal of Jaime Sommers in the 1970s television series “The Bionic Woman,” shares stories about her experience as one of the earliest televised female superheroes. Lindsay also talks about why she feels there exists a strong need for similar icons of female power for young men and women today.
Andy Mangels, Wonder Woman Collector & Wonder Woman Day Founder
Wonder Woman collector, scholar, activist and enthusiast, Andy is known throughout the comics industry as Wonder Woman’s number-one fan. Founder of Wonder Woman Day – an annual fundraiser designed to raise money for battered women’s shelters – Andy describes his devotion to Wonder Woman as “almost religious.” Joking that he has more (wonder) women in his life than any gay man he knows, and speaking to the broad appeal of the character, Andy’s fanaticism begs the question: What can Wonder Woman tell us about the role sex and gender plays in feminism today?
Trina Robbins, Author and Comics Herstorian
Trina Robbins has been writing graphic novels, comics and books for over thirty years. From Wonder Woman to the Powerpuff Girls to her own teenage superheroines in “Go Girl!” – her characters have ranged from superheroines to women who kill. A veteran of San Francisco’s underground comix movement (along with R. Crumb and other renegades), she now delivers passionate lectures on comics, graphic novels and girl power throughout the United States and Europe.
Jen Stuller, Author
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.
Katie Pineda, Wonder Woman Fan and 4th Grader
Katie laments that not enough people know about Wonder Woman. She’s Katie’s favorite superhero, “because she’s strong, amazing, and she saves a lot of lives.” Katie loves to shoot arrows, beat her dad at video games, write comic books, and, on occasion, dress like her favorite superhero.
Carmela Lane, Wonder Woman Fan and Mom
Carmela has used Wonder Woman as her life’s inspiration and has multiple tattoos to prove it. An émigré from Brazil, she works and raises her daughter in New York and hopes that she can teach her daughter how to be a strong “Wonder Girl.”
