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.
WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES is an independent documentary feature that looks at female superheroes, warrior princesses and other icons of women's empowerment in pop culture. Exploring our nation's long-term love affair with comic book superheroes, the film raises questions about the possibilities and contradictions of heroines within the genre. Reflecting our culture's deep-seated ambivalence toward powerful women — even in this so-called post-feminist era — women may be portrayed as good, or brave, or even featured as "action babes," but rarely are they seen as heroes at the center of their own journey.
Tying the film together is the groundbreaking figure of Wonder Woman, the unlikely brainchild of a Harvard-trained pop psychologist. From Wonder Woman's original, radical World War II presence, to her uninspiring 1960s incarnation as a fashion boutique owner, to her dramatic resurrection by feminist Gloria Steinem and the women of Ms. Magazine, Wonder Woman's legacy continues today — despite the fact that she has yet to make it to the big screen.
The hero is a key archetype in Western culture, yet heroes have almost invariably been male and white. Twenty-eight centuries since Achilles — arguably the first superhero — the classic heroic archetype remains unaltered: displaying the so-called "masculine" virtues of strength, courage, assertiveness, leadership, physicality, and sometimes violence.
Why are these characteristics considered "heroic"? What happens when women engage in ways of thought and behavior traditionally confined to "masculinity"? Why do most superheroes show little or no talent for communication, family, or empathetic caring? Why aren't these values considered heroic, and how do our ideas about heroism reflect our culture's values?
In our era of increased plastic surgeries and emphasis on "looking good," rather than acting powerfully, many psychologists, media and social critics have long decried the fact that women are bombarded with images of physical perfection and portrayals of their gender purely in terms of sexual attractiveness. It is time to counter this with some reflection on why our culture struggles with images of women triumphant beyond the domestic arena of relationships and family.
This film invites women and girls, men and boys, to consider how stereotypes in the comic art genre serve to limit our vision of women, while reinforcing some of society's deepest prejudices against them. Exploring how our highly visual culture places more emphasis on girls' and women's looks rather than on their deeds, WONDER WOMEN! urges women to claim the action genre — and media in general — as their own, if they want to change how they are represented.
A visually kinetic yet also warmly witty film, the film harnesses the voices of literary critics, women writers, classicists, philosophers, impersonators, collectors, feminists and fanatics to explore our very gendered notions of "heroism" and "power."
WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES is produced by Vaquera Productions, LLC, who is solely responsible for its content. ©2012
WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES
Screening at Geppi's Entertainment Museum
Sunday May 5th, 2013
1 PM
Free with Paid Admission
Limited Seating
Call 410-625-7060 to reserve your spot today!
