Gender Performativity In The Wonder Woman Series

Representation refers to the construction of media languages which are used to portray a particular type of filmic world to an audience (slide). This essay shall outline different treatments of filmmaking used to establish certain societal groups from the critically acclaim superhero film The Dark Knight (2008) directed by Christopher Nolan. This sequel film follows Batman, with help from Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent eradicating crime from Gotham city until a crazy mastermind criminal, the Joker appears in Gotham, creating chaos. The first paragraph introduces the stereotypical representation of masculinity in superhero film through the aspects of mise-en-scene and acting of the male protagonist. Storyline and mise-en-scene help establish the representation of pretty, leading- female characters that semi-disrupts the damsel in distress stereotype. Before lastly describing the representation of menacing villains through cinematography decisions, sound and an actor’s performance.

Pallas Athena and Wonder Woman have shaped up history and influenced women throughout generations due to their power in defending justice. These strong, independent women have shown many similarities that have given women the confidence to stand up for themselves leading to the opportunities today’s women have. They both liked to settle battles and fights by peaceful means. These two women, symbolized fortitude, wisdom, and intelligence. Pallas Athena, the Greek patron goddess of the Amazons and Diana Prince the modern heroine of Wonder Woman (2017) both demonstrate a feminist

In the first chapter of The Rhetorical Power of Pop Culture by Deanna Sellnow, the author defines popular culture and explains the importance of studying the subject. Sellnow begins with a short explanation of ethics to convey that the influence popular culture has is not always used ethically. Secondly, Sellnow compares the different contexts of culture, elitist and diversity, to explain what popular culture is not. Popular culture is compiled of everyday things that influence people through subtle messages such as what is appropriate and inappropriate, good and bad, and so on.

In the span of our history, women have always been outcasted as “something else,” to put lightly. Cultures tend to see women in different lights, usually ending up being the assumption that all women are home goers and weak, and not as strong and willed as their male counterparts. Not to say many women do not follow this assumption. Nonetheless, women can be perceived in many more lights than only one simple assumption. The Odyssey views women as strong, but ruthless and snake-like. Wonder Woman views women as strong, but weak and useless as well. Both these pieces of literature show women in the many limelights society has seen over the years. Both The Odyssey and Wonder Woman show women in different ways, together as strong, and separate in their own ways.

Who doesn’t love a good superhero? The perfect figure, the spandex suit, the flowing cape, flawless looks, and the powers we can only dream of having. Superheroes have been around for ages now, leaving an everlasting imprint on our hearts. It is no secret that males dominate the superhero industry; both the heroes themselves and those who create them. Superman, Batman, Ironman, and Spiderman have become the top heroes of all time; there is nothing wrong with them holding the spotlight, but female heroes are underrepresented. There are notable female heroes, but they tend to be drawn with a busty figure that few women are naturally blessed with, and show little emotional rational in fights. Take Black Widow (Marvel) for example, anyone would love for her figure and kick-ass moves. Wonder Woman is our hero of the hour, she has made her way onto the big screen; casting her into the spotlight more than ever. She screams fights for love, promotes peace, is a beacon of hope, and screams feminism. What’s not to love? The new movie released on June 2, 2017, has called more attention to the American-spirited, Amazonian woman than ever before. The movie is the first fully female directed movie, Patty Jenkins brings a great female to the big screen. Although the movie is great and supports feminism, is the movie the depiction of Wonder Woman that should be idealized?

The first research entitled “The representation of gender roles in the media - An analysis of gender discourse in Sex and the City movies ” was constructed by Therese Ottosson and Xin Cheng in 2012.

Craig Held’s “Female Fans of New York Comic Con Fight Glass Ceiling,” looks at the 2012 New York Comic Con, finding that women were in 42% attendance, and highlights the popular trend in comic cons now to include a panel on women and comics. The 2012 NYCC panel, title Women of Marvel, aimed to bring together eight female employees to discuss the way women are being treated in the comic book world. Discussions like this open up for change, a change people continue to demand. Adam Frey acknowledges this diversity demand in “Comics: You’ve Got Your Diversity, So Why Don’t You Buy Them?” Frey analyzes Diamond Comic Distributors, INC’s March Top 200 comic sales, listing every non-white male lead comic book. Considering the “diversity” list from thirty years ago, the list is impressively long at 37. Granted, this does not even make up 30% of the market. However, Frey believes, as do I, that this diversity is a step in the right direction for the comic books, but fans are not buying the comics; thus, most of these publications are going to be canceled. He puts the accountability to the fans, saying that it is not enough to ask for diversity, but you must support it when it is given to you. However, Frey fails to acknowledge that just because a comic book has a non-white male lead means that the “diversity” is not being portrayed in a way that will appeal to a white-male

Throughout the world women are depicted to be oversexualized among forms of media such as video games and comic books. The idea of oversexualization towards female characters is that they have been often drawn and animated in hypersexual ways. Even going as far as viewing them as a sex object, their revealing body images are eye candy through the eyes of men. Hence women found in comic books and video games are frequently emphasized by their excessive physical appearances, objectification, portrayal, and character role.

Children always looking for a positive role model to have, and many end up choosing superheroes they see in their favorite comic books or ones they have seen in the media. Since children are so easily affected by things they see in their childhood, having discriminatory elements in these influential characters may be problematic. “The Wonder Woman Precedent: Female (Super) Heroism on Trial” written by Julie D. O’Reilly, was published in the Journal of American Culture in 2005. O’Reilly is a professor of communication and women and gender at Heidelberg University. In “The Wonder Woman Precedent”, she writes about the hardships that female superheroes in the media must face that male superheroes do not go

In the long legacy of DC comics there are two female archetypes who couldn 't be more different: one is a paragon of virtue and one is a psychopath. One has an abusive relationship with an insane criminal that defines her identity; the other encourages women and girls to fight for their independence. One has decades of historical canon and an inception full of purpose; the other was meant to be a one-off and a short amusement in a kids ' cartoon, but exploded into a phenomenon. Despite their many differences, they are both beloved the world over. They hold constant interest for fans over the years and, for many women, both mark milestones of feminism. To understand this phenomenon more we will take a closer look at the characters of

“Wonder Woman is a walking- and sometimes flying- paradox of attributions and images. She is, at once, a female sex symbol and feminist icon: physically vulnerable, morally virtuous, financially independent, self-determining, and, in tune with her womanly ways, self-sacrificing” (Wright 6). Wonder Woman was created by William Marston in order to show and achieve women empowerment. At the time that Wonder Woman was assembled, there were no women superheroes. The only superheroes that were created at the time were powerful, strong, fully-clothed, white, males. Even though Wonder Woman is just as powerful and important as other male superheroes, she is often easily centered out from other superheroes because of her physique, lack of clothes,

Durkheim writes that education of youth cannot be taught by the family nor the state because they are either too distant or too close to understand the child, therefore, there needs to be an institution located in between the two (Durkheim, 1991, 193). This institution is school (Durkheim, 1991, 191). School is one of the only places where social life is prevalent (Durkheim, 1991, 192). Secondary institutions like school aims to aid children in internalizing hegemonic ideals of the group (Durkheim, 1991, 192). The cinematic production “Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood, and Corporate Power” demonstrates this by showing how mediums like Disney movies teaches dominant ideologies of society. For instance, when looking at gender representations of females in these types of films, the ideologies implemented in this film is that girl’s appearance will get them what they want or that they need to be saved (Mickey Mouse Monopoly, 2001). These ideologies are internalized by youth without them noticing. Girls and boys will play with one another, and the former will play the role of the victim waiting to be saved by the latter (Mickey Mouse Monopoly, 2001). This contemporary examples signifies that secondary institutions has moved far beyond school and that education can be done through mass media. Interestingly, Mary Wollstonecraft (1993) states that women are taught to care for their appearances and

Abstract: This study analyzes the linguistic behavior of female characters in shoJo (girls) and ladies (women) manga (Japanese comics) and discusses the portrayal of female gender identities in the context of popular print media. Considering the great impact that Japanese print media has had over Japanese women's speech patterns throughout history, a linguistic analysis of female characters' speech patterns in shojo and ladies manga may reveal the kinds of representations of language and gender in manga and how these representations may affect Japanese women's gender identity today. Based on data collected through quantitative and

Many critics were out spoken about feminism’s existence and portrayal in Wonder Woman. One notable critic of the film is journalist Zoe Williams who coins the phrase “subversive feminism” to describe Wonder Woman. In her critique of the film, Williams explains that Wonder Woman tries to be a movie pertaining to feminism but fails to illustrate this notion in a genuine way. “Yes, she is sort of naked a lot of the time, but this isn’t objectification so much as a cultural reset: having thighs, actual thighs you can kick things with, not thighs that look like arms, is a feminist act… The whole Diana myth, women safeguarding the world from male violence not with nurture but with better violence, is a feminist act.” My argument with Williams’s comment about Wonder Woman’s appearance in the movie is that

Gender performativity is related to performance and shares elements with it, but it has no subject. She explains, “The action of gender requires a performance that is repeated. This repetition is at once a reenactment and reexperiencing of a set of meanings already socially established” (178). Performativity creates a fictional reality in which gender and its roles are determined according to a men/women binary distinction. According to her, the category of Women from which the feminist struggle arises is different from this political, hierarchical myth based on