Posts Marked pants

  • So You Think You’ve Got Pants, Wonder Woman?

    July 2nd, 2010

    On Fan Fridays I write about fandom.

    For the last two days there’s been a ton of ruckus made over Wonder Woman’s new costume, which recently was urbanized by artist Jim Lee. Over here at ALM Talkies, this news is very interesting to us, since we ourselves are revisiting past incarnations of Catwoman over at my Catwoman Summer Project.  Over the last month fans have been weighing in on the various Cat Costumes, and practicality is rarely a concern when it comes to fleshing out a superhero (or villian).

    But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to Wonder Woman. I’m sure you’re well aware of the original design, which Lynda Carter inhabited in the TV show:

    Yes, very patriotic. And here’s the updated costume:

    Hmmm.  Very modern.  Practical. Wrong?

    Those sentiments are being thrown around online.  Comics Beat has collected quotes from around the web, which I really recommend if you want to dig deep on this aesthetic battle. DC blog says…

    “She didn’t need to be redesigned for the modern era… i don’t know who that’s supposed to be in that costume, but it sure isn’t Wonder Woman.”

    Where femininist blog Jezabel disagrees:

    “I really think her look works as fashion!”

    But the concern goes deeper than redesigning an iconic costume. Fox News is claiming the new look has stripped Wonder Woman of her patriotism. An anonymous DC comic book artist claims that the removal of the flag symbolism is motivated by a current movie development and how the character would sell internationally:

    “This new sleek and fashionable Wonder Woman will translate well to a film franchise centered on a female action hero. That wouldn’t have worked as well with the bright and flashy red, white and blue costume, and it definitely wouldn’t have played in the very lucrative international markets. The new Wonder Woman costume looks like something you could put on Angelina Jolie, or on one of the bad guys from the ‘Twilight’ saga.”

    Well, Geek O System thinks that if Fox understood Wonder Woman a little better, they would have better reasons to call her un-Patriotic:

    • She’s not American.  She’s from a small magical island utopia.  She probably counts as an illegal immigrant.
    • She’s from the worst kind of hippie commune: an all female hippie commune that preaches free love and sexual equality.
    • She’s a polytheist.  The Greek gods breathed life into a clay form, and thus Diana was born.  She regularly calls on the strength of Greek goddesses in battle.
    • She’s pro-gay rights. Ok, so I don’t know if this has ever been confirmed by a comic, but I defy anyone to come up with a compelling reason why she wouldn’t be.  The Amazons are a race of all female immortals from ancient Greece.  You cannot convince me that they would have a taboo about such things.
    • She’s pro-the UN.  Her mission, ultimately, is to be an ambassador, bringing the Amazonian way of life to Man’s World.
    • She’s a pacifist.
    • And, perhaps the thing that sets her at odds with Fox News most of all, she reveres the truth, no matter its content.

    Someone is getting the claws out. But what does the original Wonder Woman think? In a recent interview with ABC news Carter said:

    “I think Wonder Woman has a mind of her own. And I think she was just kind of ready for something new. She’s got an attitude and if this is the new thing that she wants to wear, well, by God, she’s going to wear it. And I like that. And I hope that in the story someone mentions, where’s the old one? And she says, get over it!”

    “I think it will take time for people to get over not seeing a lot of leg.”

    In this day and age where all the female pop stars are taking their pants off, I personally welcome this change. And now she can legitimately kick some butt without worrying about getting a wedgie.

    Work it, Wonder Woman!

    UPDATE:  Here’s a video from CrazySexyGeeks weighing in on the Pants issue.  While most women seem to abhor the idea, Tim Gunn sides with me.  As he says around the 5:30 mark, “She could work a pant.”

    Thank you Tim for the tip.

    July 2nd,2010 Blogging, Fan Fridays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments