Re: META: Wish Fulfillment, WCs, and Mary Sues


Jamas Enright wrote:
On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 martinphipps2@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

this case, to tell the truth). Rumour has it he even had his wife
dress in a Wonder Woman costume.

Not his wife, try his mistress...and the two of them were into the whole
bondage thing.

Not only that, but I believe the mistress (Olive Byrne) was living with
both William Moulton Marston and his wife, Sadie. Wonder Woman herself
was tied up in the comic books on, oh, I don't know... EVERY OTHER
PANEL!

And, to top off the wrongness of it all-- the way in which she was a
total failure as a Role Model For Strong Women but instead a total
success as the sum total of her creator's sexual predilections-- the
cherry on top of all this is: Wonder Woman isn't even a good or
interesting character.

And, I think, she fails on an iconic level. When someone says
Superman, I think of truth, justice, and the American way. Apple pie,
a proudly swelling chest, a chiseled chin and a smile, sunlight blaring
in the background.

When someone says Batman, I think of dark things, of shadows. I think
of homicidal maniacs, severe architecture, of an orphan standing over
his parents in a grimy alleyway.

Hell, when someone says Scrooge McDuck, I think of adventure, of
whimsy, of daring and surprise around every corner!

But when someone says Wonder Woman, I think of an invisible jet and
Etta Candy.

I mean, sure, the Superman and Batman mythos have some silly elements
(Ace the Bat-Hound?), but the essential, iconic nature of the
characters over come it. To me, Wonder Woman lacks that iconic
stature. That's not necessarily a bad thing: there are many great
characters who don't operate on iconic levels, but rather on very
specific ones. They are very complex, very specific characters with a
great deal of personality.

But Wonder Woman lacks even that.

In the words of Master Blaster:

Lame. Frickin' lame.

--
Jamas Enright
"Answers answered and questions questioned."
Homepage: http://www.eyrie.org/~thad/
Blue Light Productions homepage: http://www.blue-light-productions.com/

"If a great state has decided by law that twice two is five, it would be
foolish to allow mathematicians to testify." - Comment during the Scopes
Monkey Trial.

Yes, but one can be equal to zero.

--Tom
.

Relevant Pages

  • June Reads
    ... And he's in lust with Felice, the dangerous young wife of the local bank manager. ... Mark Haskell Smith is agreat at creating larger than life characters and an equally outrageous plot while making you care about the characters and delight in the twists and turns of the plot. ... One night, they are in the wrong place at the wrong time and a gang of bikers rape Kristin, kill her father and the son of his friend, Henry Chin. ... I thought the portrayal of the missing teenager was excellent and felt we got to see the impact she had on people. ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)
  • Re: Phonemes
    ... > since he brought 'military' force to quell the 'strikers'. ... That might be valid with Asimov's main characters, ... His so-called 'competent' women are ... I've read that his second wife also served as a model for some of them. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Jericho Theory
    ... they haven't shown his wife ... characters that aren't essential to the current direction of the story. ... third episode seems to Dale ... I am so done with plans. ...
    (rec.arts.tv)
  • Re: 30 Days of Night (Movie)
    ... I'm sorry that you can't handle expressionism. ... What kind of story can you tell when you can't even tell the characters ... Both the husband and wife wore hoods over their heads and faces were ...
    (rec.arts.comics.misc)
  • Re: MISC: GODLING # 8: BALLAD OF LONELINESS
    ... And that's because he's dealing on an iconic level, ... The safest thing to do is base characters on people you've actually ... The Imelda character is not a stereotype of Filipinas: ... stereotyping any Asian character because I have so much to base my ...
    (rec.arts.comics.creative)
Loading