This guide contains lesson plans and activities to facilitate discussion and deepen understanding of the complex issues raised in the film Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines and the online game WONDER CITY. Two standards-aligned lesson plans encourage students to think critically about American popular culture’s evolving attitudes toward powerful women and gender.
Grade Levels: Middle and High School, Youth Development Organizations
Subject Areas: Women’s Studies, Social Studies, Media Studies, Language Arts
Lesson Plan One supports the viewing of Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines. In this lesson, students will identify stereotypical portrayals of female action heroes in the media, comparing the characteristics of female action heroes to their male counterparts. Students will discuss the causes and effects of gender stereotypes in the media, and consider how they influence the real-life attitudes and behaviors of viewers.
Lesson Plan Two supports playing of WONDER CITY, the interactive comic book adventure. WONDER CITY involves students in addressing the very same failure of imagination and opportunity that Wonder Women! documents. As the film encourages young audiences to explore pop cultural history as a means of thinking critically about how we visualize power and gender, the game provides an interactive component for the same audience to identify their own heroic qualities and make empowered choices. Print outs include badges earned through game play and short bios of the feminist icons highlighted throughout the game.
