Confessions of a Wonder Woman Convert
When we look deep inside, fangirls know we can be some of the toughest critics when it comes to other women. We live in a world where perfection is expected, drilled into our heads by a constant barrage of images of seemingly flawless women. At times we expect too much of ourselves, our fellow fangirls, and even our heroines. Today at Geek Insider, Maggie Mae Fish explained why she is a Wonder Woman convert – thanks to the Man of Steel, no less.
My world turned upside down. I realized I had been looking at her through a misogynistic lens, dismissing her as an oversexualized 12 year old boy’s wet dream. I was seeing her outfit and her makeup and her weapons, instead of seeing who she really was. A wonderful strong human being with a second X chromosome.
And it was in the midst of this realization I saw the new Man of Steel film.
With my brows furred, I watched as Superman “struggled” with being different, not fitting in, finding his place in the world, and handling human emotions.
As I watched, Lois Lane’s one badass line of “Are we done measuring dicks?” fell away to another flatly written female side character. She lived in the shadow of what I thought a woman in a superhero film should be. I compared her to this new formed image of Wonder Woman in my mind. A character that could have tackled Clark Kent’s problem of identity, fitting in, and human emotion in a much more layered and interesting way. In other words, a way [***]ing better movie.
I left the theater with a mix of emotions. I was disappointed I had let my mind wander to Wonder Woman so much during a film about Superman. I was angry that there has yet to be even a whisper of a Wonder Woman remake. I was sad a movie producer wasn’t waiting for me outside the theater to give me the job of rewriting her story for film and offering me the lead role. I was sad I forgot to grab my leftover popcorn.
But, Ladies (& Gentlemen) I am here to officially announce that I am a Wonder Woman convert.
As hopes for a new Wonder Woman movie still sit on the event horizon of fannish expectations, Fish’s change of heart shows why the heroine’s future on the big screen is important for women.
Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and strong female characters. She also writes about Star Wars for Random House’s science fiction and fantasy blog Suvudu.com and Star Wars Insider magazine and is a contributor for Her Universe’s Year of the Fangirl.
In her spare time, Tricia puts the finishing touches on her first novel, Wynde. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
For updates on all things FANgirl follow @FANgirlcantina on Twitter or like FANgirl Zone on Facebook.
Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
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