Why Did No One Pick Up The Wonder Woman Series?

[PhiMed]

Wonder Woman is an action hero, and as an action hero (I hate to say this, but it's true), her stories are more likely to appeal to boys. While we can talk all we want about adult sensibilities, these stories are really for children.

As good as The Dark Knight was, it probably wouldn't have had the appeal it did if Batman wasn't an iconic character from people's childhood.

Characters like Wonder Woman, who have a tendency to solve things with their fists, are popular among boys not because of how adults relate to each other, but because of what we teach our children. While recent years have certainly seen a push back against "violence" among school-age children, boys are much more likely to be encouraged to "have it out" than girls are.

As a result, boys, not girls, are more likely to want to kick the bad guy's ass physically. Of course this comes with exceptions, and it's not the rule, but it is a prevailing tendency.

And both boys and girls want to see a superhero they could see themselves growing up to be. Little girls don't want to be Wonder Woman because they have no desire to kick the bad guy's ass (in general... don't freak out). Boys don't want to be Wonder Woman because unless they undergo sexual reassignment surgery, they can't, even in imagination land (again, in general).

So until we live in a world where a large enough number of boys or girls can look up to this character, a kick-ass female superhero is unlikely to grab the imagination of children. And much like the tobacco industry, comic stories have to hook 'em young, even if they have to be reminded later (a la Dark Knight) that they've got the itch.

 

[Something Amyss]

goddamned 18-35 male demographic. I have honestly gotten frustrated at the lack of good action heroines in media (and yes, games are equally guilty of this).

And is quite recognisable on this very site, sadly.

 

[Veylon]

A big part of the problem, as far as I can tell, anyway, is that superhero movies go through a character arc. Spiderman is about a guy who gets powers and has to figure out how and why to use them. He goes through a series of changes, growing as a person. Batman has to deal with the loss of his parents and comes to the belief that his greatest duty is to try to prevent this happening to others. What changes does Wonder Woman go through? How does she develop as a character? If she doesn't have doubts and weaknesses to overcome, how can we identify with her as a character? The other critical question: can she overcome them without becoming emotionally dependent on a man.

The second bit is the issues with men fighting women. Right now, women usually either cower or kick ass. It's rare for blows to be traded, except where there's two women. Is the movie-going public prepared to see Wonder Woman drag her battered, bloody body up with the force of sheer will to perform the cinema cliche of taking down the bad guy one a final fight? I hope so, but I have my doubts.

And then there's the tone. Wonder Woman comes from a paradise to our world. Is this a comedy of errors? A stern lecture on the evils of men? Does her upbringing strengthen or weaken her in the less-certain place we call home? The answer better be both or this movie is a farce.

Really, this project would require a skilled moviecrafter to reinvent the character. I can hope, but it probably won't happen.

 

[Grahav]

I quote George from "Dead Like Me":

"Superman got a cool cape, and what about Wonder Woman? A swimsuit and whore boots."

It is really difficult to take her seriously in that costume.

 

[Falseprophet]

There is nothing flawed at all with the basic concept of Wonder Woman. She is basically Thor meets Captain America. If both those characters can get a movie coming out this summer, a character who is basically a fusion of both of them should be able to as well.

I think there's a clearer reason for the failure of most superheroine movies [http://ragnell.blogspot.com/2010/11/can-you-be-prettier-when-you-cry.html]:

When you figure all the lead woman in your film can be is window dressing, and you don't pick the best actress (and instead chose the sexpot who's natural looks you're going to cover with appearance and alter with CGI anyway), and you don't write a strong part for her (because you didn't pick a good actress who can carry it, or you'd rather write the men, or you don't feel comfortable with a heroic woman), and you don't encourage the actress to give her best in the role (because strong emotions aren't pretty, because you didn't pick a good actress to begin with so why bother), and you go as far to as to cut down on the humanity of a moment in order to make it more sexually palatable, then your movie sucks. This is why your movies suck, Hollywood. Not because your lead is female, not because your actress sucks (that's actually your fault because you morons hired the sucky actress and are actively trying to make her suck more), but because you've decided your lead isn't a human being. It's not female action heroes who suck, Hollywood, it's you.

 

[Amaury_games]

I hope that, when they do make a movie or series about her, they are kind and smart enough to not base it upon bad comics such as Amazons Attack.

PS: Yes, I say "when" they make, because they will make a movie of her eventually. It's one of the Big Three of DC, as the article remembered. Someone will know how to introduce the character, build a story and the other characters, and have a great battle that portrays what Wonder Woman stands for (as I remember, she is referred to as the Spirit of Truth - or should be, but a lot of comics appear to have forgotten this).

 

[cefm]

The effects animators started working on the boob-jiggle animation..........and nobody saw them ever again.

 

[Carlston]

Think the remake of Wonder Woman's image and power in the Justice League series done by the creator of Batman the Animated series was dead on.

When the live action show hit there were still Wonder twins, the invisible jet ect, and let's be honest... a magic rope that wrapped around a criminal makes them tell the truth?

After her remaking with heroes like Superman, she is a more believable character, in the JL series they even touched on her not fitting in much with the norm of society probably less from being a woman than being a 6'8 amazon with super powers. But people have to accept today the old views about female heroes is not the same as say the 50's.

After a never ending ramming of Buffy, Dark Angel and countless unexplained stick cheerleaders with no muscle mass or real supernatural tie to powers just teen glamor girls with bouncing boobs all over a set doing move after move that makes the WWE wrestlers shakes their head in shame, we need a believable female hero to begin with...I'd say in the 90's Lucy Lawless pulling off Xena was bout the only thing I'd buy, but still didn't watch as it was filled with lame who is a lesbian week romance for ratings grabbing story lines.

And unless your going into Superwoman or Super girl take Ripley from Aliens or Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 (not the series) and you have a good mortal base of a ass kicking female with still enough looks to pull off making the ratings nazi's happy.

There are tons of female super heroines you can make shows out of. But keep in mind TV networks now cancel their most POPULAR shows first to second season, you'll never have a MASH again or anything that spans the years unless it's animated.

But if you want to see everything wrong and what never to do in such a series try and find the 5 episode failed Gotham's own Birds Of Prey. Where they refused to put masks on the "hottie" and just had the beating people up in alley ways to little or no consequence to the plot or hiding a identity. Just get a main character, surround them with supporting characters not all have to be beautiful. If you use a comic book, stick to the lore don't go the route of Smallville making up horrid plot points. And keep in mind your not only catering to teens...

When they get it right and make it watchable. I'll be there to support it. Till then, don't blame the males or society blame the hack script writers who THINK they have to devolve everything that comes across their desk into a T&A beauty fest of mediocrity.

Come to think about it...a Metroid live action show would be awesome. Well the old Samus not the new one.

 

[Carlston]

Allow me to remind all of you of the existence of this.

yeah, but Michelle Pfeiffer was so much better

Didn't DC denie all continuity of this litterbox mess from the Batman storyline?

 

[emeraldrafael]

Its cause she's a woman.

AND HERE ME OUT FIRST!!!

Now, its cause she's a woman, and int he male egotistical dominated world, girls cant be heroes without a man to back them up (think about it) or another equally hot female lead who they share a close bond with (think about it more). Now, Wonder Woman also has a rather traditinally slutty attire. She wears metal arm bands (I know why, shut the hell up), has that spandex panty thing going on, and a revealing top. She uses a rope to capture her enemies, beats people up with her fists, and flies an invisible jet. So so far, she has:
1) Slutty Appearance
2) Gender
3) Bondage style tactics
4) the idea that she was a slave and is now a princess (you want that brough back up in America? Cause she's white, lets not forget. Unless you cast her like you do Xena)
5) Fisticuffs violence
6) Possible drug problems, since its an invisible jet

against her, and you want her to be a positive female role model? Now dont get me wrong, I'd like to see a wonder woman... well... really anything, though a movie would be cool (then again, a smallville kinda thing for her would be nice. What?! I liked smallville, is that a crime?) to see and have. Cast some light on those other DC cornerstone characters. And of course those points are all misconstrued and twisted, but thats exactly how people would market it, especially fox (unless its a heavily pro conservative/republican messaged show/movie).

So its all cirmcumstantial against wonderwoman. THe best things about her and that make her character will be the doom of her.

Also, I know that she got a costume change, but they wont use it. Thats just not Wonder Woman.

 

[Terrik]

She's a boring character with random powers and a backstory that doesn't fit in with the DC universe at all, but go ahead and blame it on "women heroes being a novelty."

Right on the money there.

 

[Ghengis John]

Explain to me why female heroes are still a relative novelty.

Liz, the answer for you is bad track record. As much as you or I might welcome a strong female hero in an action movie or television series, in the west at least they generally tend to bomb. Look at the fantastically short lifespan of the recent Bionic Woman reboot or relatively short The Sarah Conner chronicles run. Even the original Wonder Woman series struggled and never really found it's identity going so far as to bring an indestructible chimp into the mix. She-rah only ran two seasons and Buffy the vampire slayer was never a breakaway hit. As far as films go look no further than Cat Woman, Resident Evil, Bloodrayne or Ultra Violet.

I can't really tell you why. Is it that western audiences are not ready to accept female protagonists as action heroes? Or is it that the writing isn't up to par on the efforts. If I were to guess? Something is off in the writing. Too much is made of "girl power" in my opinion. Does Bruce Willis shout "I'm just as tough as you are!" as an affirmation of his masculinity every time he dispatches a terrorist? When Sarah Conner destroys a terminator robot and then says "Now who wants breakfast?" what's the angle supposed to be? You've just taken the audience out of their investment by taking a sharp, heavy handed detour through girl power town.

Now you know where you see a lot of female heroines with broad acceptance is in anime. Strange as it may be I think I know the reason why they work so well. Watch Ghost in the Shell or Claymore. While the character's sex might be an issue it isn't made THE issue. Major Kusanagi is a fully realized person, intellectual, philosophical, she ponders her true identity and her place in the universe and as an emotional human being it bothers her that she's a cyborg and she wonders if she's really human, if she has a soul. While she wonders these things she never stops to wonder about her biological clock or makes jokes about making the boys lunch.

I'm not saying you don't see bubbly, girlish depictions of women in anime or sexualized ones but the ones that work work because their writers are treating them like real people. If Rukia gets in a fight, she has a fight to win she doesn't shout "that's for making me break a nail!". Claire is a woman but she's also consumed with rage. A woman can be consumed with rage? Why yes. We all know that women too become enraged but you wouldn't really know it watching the silver screen. A good female hero like Ripley from Alien or Beatrix from Kill Bill is a rarity in the west because nobody really seems to get how to write them. Thusly they tend to bomb because bad writing is bad writing and so nobody wants to put their money behind them.

There's also the other pitfall of sex which is sexualization. If you parade your heroines around in skimpy little leather outfits they have already lost their self-respect and relatability. It becomes apparent that the writer has no respect for women and all girl power poured on top of this becomes all the more ironic. Mark my words, sucker punch will suck because of this. I honestly pray it delivers Zach Snyder a well deserved bomb. He's the most ham handed director I've ever seen garner so much universal acclaim. If it fails he will no doubt say "it's because we cast women as the heroes, we were ahead of our time" and not "we objectified our skinny models on the one hand and tried to make it seem like we respected them with the other".

You know who is a great female film hero? Belle Rosen from the The Poseidon Adventure (1972). She's old, she's fat, she's brave and she's heroic.

 

[KarumaK]

SNIP*
Oh great, the noncanon comic where the characters are vastly different. Superman does not heal back up mind you, he regains his powers after Wonder Woman saves his life. What a great insight into how DC earth 1 Wonder Woman is and her character. Did it also offer you deep insight into the Green Lantern's mind of fantasizing about prison camps? That sure is a great sign of Superman's abilities, in the comic where an alternate universe russian superman solos the entire green lantern corps made out of american soldiers. When did you see her mind-controlled? in the cartoon? lmfao. It's one of the effects of Artemis' powers, try brushing by Simone's run on her comics, it came with her elevated status of goddess of truth. :|


Proof of a bad character? That's just stupidity. There are hardly bad characters, only bad writers and concept/ideas carried through halfway. It might pain you to realize that Superman has more powers than the ones he had in the JLA cartoon. And if anyone's ever discussing Superman in the comics, they'll naturally refer to the DEFAULT EARTH 1 SUPERMAN. Not Superman in an oddball alternate universe. You might also not realize that characters are often depicted poorly in one comic and in a better light in another. That's why you need to read a few of them (the relevant comics that is) to gain some perspective. That's also why Superman might drop like a fish once a beam of red sunlight hits him in one comics and bravely push through waves of it in another.

Have you ever touched anything with the old Question or Starman in them? Nobody save 13 year old retards would claim that they are bad characters. And they are character whose stories you can enjoy from beginning to end. The reasons you gave for Wonder Woman being a bad character are idiotic and riddled with fallacies. Powers you have a hard time wrapping your meager intellect around does not make it a bad character. Losing fights does not make one a bad character. And being weaker than another hero does most certainly not mean that you are a bad character. You claimed that none of her skills were relevant and that somehow this made her a bad hero? Those are wrong on all points. her fighting skills are part of the reason why she was able to fight Zeus and Zoom. And every single big time hero relies on their skills more than anything it seems. Saved Superman's life more than a few times :|

So in the end it comes down to a narrow minded fool's lacking perspective and lack of knowledge. Simply put, you need to read more comics and attend some classes in critical thinking. If any university will accept you after high school that is.

(PS. I naturally won't be responding to any more of your "arguments")

Hey that's cool buddy, I'm not a fan of beating my head against a brick wall's worth of stupid anyway.

 

[gettingphatter]

she has more powers than Batman...she comes from the Greek Gods with superhuman powers, she can fly, she's as strong as Superman...HELLO! She's right up there with Superman and Batman, and Spiderman...the only way to make her fierce is in an actual big screen movie with amazing effects of today, NOT a boring tv show!!!

 

[gettingphatter]

there are many flaws to your thinking...Wonder Woman has alot of powers and a very worthy backstory that the 70's campy TV show has not able to effectively portray. Just read the orgin of WW, and you will see she is just as strong of a character as Superman. Studio execs are wasting their money on trying to create some other female heroine when the best one has still not been made into a movie franchise. Batman's tv show was beyond campy, and yet the movies, when done right, are amazing.

 

[gettingphatter]

you obviously don't know the whole story