Because of The Hunger Games, I think we're ready for a Wonder Woman movie

[Burnouts3s3]

I think I'm with a lot of people when we say that Hollywood is ready for a Wonder Woman movie. I was with many fans who were displeased that a Flash movie was announced first instead of a Wonder Woman movie and Gal Gadot's casting as only announced after people got upset at the SDCC announcement.

But, because of recent successes of movies with female leads such as The Hunger Games, Frozen and (Please bear with me, I don't like this example either) Twilight, I think there is a market out there for Wonder Woman to cater to the female demographic.

What bugs me the most about this is that we've have several source materials to draw upon including a long running TV show, an animated film (which I thought was good), cartoons, a history of comic books, and even a porn parody. Yet, it seems WB became scared after the failed NBC pilot (which was dreadful).

I've also come across some arguments. For the sake of the posters, I will not post their names.

You give [producers] "the most iconic superheroine" and "hasn't had a TV series or major media presence since the 70s", and repeat "WOMAN LEAD", their heads fucking explode with how many demographics and story styles they're trying to chase down at once.

And they give it to familiar TV names who have had successes with female lead shows, which is pretty much a recipe for disaster with Wonder Woman, because it always means stuff like Ally McBeal or Gilmore Girls or whatever, when a modern day set Wonder Woman should honestly probably feel like a more heroic Supernatural or whatever. Urban fantasy, with a slight superhero bend.

But they want the Ally McBeal appeal too. So. They literally get the guy who made Ally McBeal to do it. And everything goes to hell.

And then they fucking gave it to Heinberg for awhile, because he's also already in TV and briefly wrote Wonder Woman in the comics. I am DYING to find whatever story ideas HE had, cuz he's awful.

Wonder Woman doesn't have a movie, and this is going to sound really weird, because she's too proactive a heroine, and audiences (especially female audiences) hate that.

Hunger Games and Twilight may have female leads, but they're actually thinly veiled fairy tale princess stories. Hell, look at the commercials for Catching Fire; they're all about how Katniss has pretty dresses and love triangles, and not about the whole "remember where they make kids kill each other for no reason" plot.

The problem is that Katniss and Bella aren't very proactive, whereas Wonder Woman is. When you actually start to learn about her beyond just assuming she's an icon, Wonder Woman is more like Ripley; the kind of female character that women tend to ignore at best or actively dislike.

On the subject of the rejected Wonder Woman script from Joss Whedon.

Maybe, but he doesn't need them anymore, WB changes their minds constantly, and the very fact that they gave it to Kelley and Heinberg in the first place shows that they're chasing something entirely different than what Whedon would be interested in doing.

WB seems to want the... general women's audience? Like, sit down, casual TV watching audience of women. Not the TV nerd women who update the wikias and know their shit, and catch every episode of whichever new show features two white dudes being ambiguously gay.

Which, to be fair, marketing Wonder Woman to them is tough to begin with.

But whatever, WB wants something different than a more straight up action/fantasy show. They seem to want something more... character drama. Bit more teenager-y.

So, are these arguments valid or are they biased in favor of not producing a Wonder Woman movie? If you were given the reigns, how would you make a Wonder Woman movie? If it were up to me, I'd just make 300 but with Amazons. Also, I would replace Gal Gadot with Eva Green.

 

[Thaluikhain]

There seems to be a bit of "I don't have anything against a Wonder Woman movie, it's everyone else" going around...same with any movie not about the adventures of Captain Straight White Guy.

But, whether or not it's everyone else, the big names don't want to make it. It's risky making a movie like that...make a Captain SWG movie, and nobody cares if it fails, do something else and it'd be shown as proof of why only Captain SWG movies should ever be made.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Wonder Woman is insanely hard to market, I'm afraid. Not even because she's a woman, but because she's just... kind of an odd superhero that most people can't place too well.

Supergirl is a girl who's super strong and can fly. Done. Catwoman (not really a superhero, but still) is a cat burglar with amazing athletic abilities and a whip. Simple. Wonder Woman is from some amazonian society somewhere, and has a lasso that makes you tell the truth or something. There isn't really any simple symbolism to her character. Apart maybe from feminism, which will already be too politically charged for many people. Add to this that Wonder Woman just isn't that famous of a superhero outside of the states.

Beyond her being a woman, she's just kind of a can of worms, I think.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm mostly shocked Wonder Woman's big screen debut will be as a secondary character in the sequel to a reboot of a mega franchise, starring Superman and Batman.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I keep repeating my concern: making a Wonder Woman movie is like dirty dancing in a minefield. She's pretty much THE feminist icon so any movie made about her for the big screen will be put under the tightest of scrutiny, and few want to put their ass in the sexism crosshairs and get endless grief if she looks at Steve Trevor the wrong way, or the camera catches too much cleavage, or if the usually used "stranger in a strange land" schitck comes off too manic pixe dream girl, or if the other amazons come off too extreme man hating feminist.

Don't get me wrong, the animated one a few years ago was great, and if Hollywood can get Iron man to be successful, such a well known character would do big bucks on name alone. At the same time, whn the internet gives the impressions your flaws will overshadow any positives you produce, and can take any kick ass girl film and claim elements of rape culture anyway, I can't blame any director (male or female) for thinking it wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Me, I'd just find a woman director, hand her the animated film and say "expand on this".

 

[Marter]

I'm mostly shocked Wonder Woman's big screen debut will be as a secondary character in the sequel to a reboot of a mega franchise, starring Superman and Batman.

She was in The Lego Movie, although I could see why people wouldn't count that. (Many are listing it as her theatrical debut, though, so I figured I'd mention it.)

 

[MLionheart]

We've been ready for Wonder Woman movie for ages. We're just being made to wait, because reasons.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm mostly shocked Wonder Woman's big screen debut will be as a secondary character in the sequel to a reboot of a mega franchise, starring Superman and Batman.

She was in The Lego Movie, although I could see why people wouldn't count that. (Many are listing it as her theatrical debut, though, so I figured I'd mention it.)

I meant live-action debut of course, she's been in at least 9 feature length animated movies since 2008 (although Lego is her first theatrical appearance).

 

[JimB]

There isn't really any simple symbolism to her character.

How do you mean? It's a fairly accepted theory (not least because DC has released omnibuses with these titles) that Superman is a symbol of hope, Batman of justice, and Wonder Woman of truth. Pretty simple.

 

[Casual Shinji]

There isn't really any simple symbolism to her character.

How do you mean? It's a fairly accepted theory (not least because DC has released omnibuses with these titles) that Superman is a symbol of hope, Batman of justice, and Wonder Woman of truth. Pretty simple.

First time I heard of that.

And with 'simple symbolism' I mean that Superman is like a god, Batman is like a vengeful ghost, and the Hulk is smash stuff; Concepts/fantasies that are easy to grasp onto for an audience. I don't really get what Wonder Woman's hook is.

 

[JimB]

I don't really get what Wonder Woman's hook is.

Envoy with a warrior ethos from a superior society to the mortal world, who occasionally has to punch gods in the fucking face.

 

[mecegirl]

And this just popped up on my tumblr dash.

Spoiler

The way I see it is that DC missed an opportunity. Both Captain America and Thor did not bomb and WW is a mix of both concepts. Now we are getting a Guardians of the Galaxy movie...and no one even knows who they are.

 

[Zhukov]

I'd be interested to see how a Wonder Woman movie fared. I think the Hunger Games argument has at least some merit, although that property had a big ol' lucrative fanbase ready to go thanks to the books. I don't know if WW has that.

I have no idea if I'd actually enjoy the movie itself. Not really familiar. I watched an animated WW movie once. It was... not horrible I guess.

All that said, I can see why the suits wouldn't want to risk, what... hundred of millions, on a WW movie.

 

[JimB]

I have no idea if I'd actually enjoy the movie itself. Not really familiar. I watched an animated WW movie once. It was... not horrible I guess.

Pretty much. It's watchable, but I'd really love to find and smack whoever wrote the feminism scenes:

Wonder Woman: All men are sexist! That is why I dislike you, Steve Trevor!
Steve Trevor: Hey! That's sexist against men! You are as sexist as you condemn me for being!
Wonder Woman: You're right! I am chastened! I now wish to improve myself by accepting and loving men!

I'm not saying whoever wrote that needs a beating, but one open palm upside the head is perfectly appropriate.

 

[John Connor M]

It will no doubt be terrible because of 'reasons' - i.e. they'll try to reinvent her to be more accessible and end up with what they did to the new spiderman.

They'd only do it for the Justice League film that they're determined to put out since Avengers did well (because that was a surprise) so it'd end up being a boring origins story cash in.

Also since when did Katniss become some beacon of great female characters? If you reply that she is strong/capable/independent then appartenly all it takes to make a good female character is to take stereotypically masculine traits and give them to a woman (which is if that's what you think, you're doing it wrong)

 

[Vault101]

She's pretty much THE feminist icon ....

I think that title goes to "Rosie the Riveter"

Wonder Woman: All men are sexist! That is why I dislike you, Steve Trevor!
Steve Trevor: Hey! That's sexist against men! You are as sexist as you condemn me for being!
Wonder Woman: You're right! I am chastened! I now wish to improve myself by accepting and loving men!

I'm not saying whoever wrote that needs a beating, but one open palm upside the head is perfectly appropriate.

the fuck did I just read?

Also since when did Katniss become some beacon of great female characters? If you reply that she is strong/capable/independent then appartenly all it takes to make a good female character is to take stereotypically masculine traits and give them to a woman (which is if that's what you think, you're doing it wrong)

Women come in all kinds

but the thing here is depending on the context of the story....when we say "write a male charachter then gender flip it" what were really saying is "don't fall back on common cliches and tropes that plauge female charachters...write them for who they are and what they do"

there are some situatins where gender takes a back seat...Katniss probably isn't worrying about her periods or BABEZ! or other such nonsense while others are trying to kill her

I'd be interested to see how a Wonder Woman movie fared. I think the Hunger Games argument has at least some merit, although that property had a big ol' lucrative fanbase ready to go thanks to the books. I don't know if WW has that.

I have no idea if I'd actually enjoy the movie itself. Not really familiar. I watched an animated WW movie once. It was... not horrible I guess.

All that said, I can see why the suits wouldn't want to risk, what... hundred of millions, on a WW movie.

arent they making a movie about marshmellows?

[i/]fucking marshmellows....[/i]

 

[JimB]

The fuck did I just read?

You read my slightly exaggerated but still depressingly accurate transcription of a conversation about feminism between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman in the 2009 animated video Wonder Woman.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Every time I think of a Wonder Woman adaptation I always think of the version done by Linda Carter.

Anyways...

I'm not a fan of Wonder Woman at all and I think she's a boring character, but that aside I don't think it will be easy to have her be translated to the big screen. I mean, yeah the Hunger Games did well and I think that has to do with more of the demographic than anything else, but I guess from that you could have a WW movie. DC really hasn't had a good track record with their stuff though, outside of Batman, so I don't know if she could have a stand alone movie.

Maybe with the right director and studio it would be possible, but you really need to have it written well enough that it doesn't come off as ridiculous. Or they could go full ridiculous and own that shit so that it turns out awesome. Who knows?

 

[geK0]

I really don't see why Hollywood wouldn't be ready for a Wonder Woman movie. Maybe some people might cry "sexism" because "oh no! bikini and cleavage" but Wonder Woman has managed to be held as a feminist icon despite her "male gaze" sex appeal and has managed to be a marketable character despite being a feminist icon. Making a kick-ass female super hero isn't exactly rocket science : \

 

[Vault101]

The fuck did I just read?

You read my slightly exaggerated but still depressingly accurate transcription of a conversation about feminism between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman in the 2009 animated video Wonder Woman.

*sigh*

you know just today I read a quote from a celebrity who said she wasn't a feminists because "she loved men" heeeeh eeeeh

if you use false equivalency and dogedly insisted on taking a "middle ground" (ALL THE TIME) you can then pretend you are "correct" because the best way to be "right" is to always take the middle ground-

oh wait... no thats a logical fallacy

[sub/]TLR MRA's and feminists are not "as bad as each other" but thats another fight for another day [/sub]