Author's Psychologocal Bias in Wonder Woman

William Moulton Marston in writing Wonder Woman fetishizes women. With many quotes with him where he fantasizes that "man is brought under the love domination of woman" his bare desires are exposed. His sexual life bleeds into many aspects of his worldview in such a way that it's inexorably tied to the things that he produces. From the early polygraph that involves restraining a person to tease out secrets to the lasso of truth that operates in much the same way, this influence is plainly evident.

The "slaves" choose a new mistress in Wonder Woman 1942 #3

I think the specific aspect of this I would like to focus on comes from the above page. The power dynamic play is a common aspect of the type of BDSM that Marston engaged in. (I understand potential complaints about it being tasteless, though that doesn't change the fact that this is a not uncommon variation on it.) It's delivered almost as a joke; initially the setup is that these women were hypnotized into acting as Paula's slaves, however it's then revealed that this was a willing relationship to at least some degree. I imagine she must've been kidnapping them from a BDSM club to have them all be like this, but I digress. The women here are portrayed in a submissive position of a kind similar to the types of engagements that Marston was involved in, which is quite a substantial bleed in from what might normally be expected in a children's comic. I imagine with a more typical author when freed from the hypnotism the girls would lose the previous power dynamic, but instead in Wonder Woman the dynamic is shifted to be more positive rather than being removed. They instead switch to working for the good guys under the same terms as they had previously worked for the villain. Of course, as long as they're happy with the arrangement and being treated well enough there's no issue there, much like in real BDSM relationships.

In the end though, it's remarkable that this fetishization was actually progressive compared to many contemporaries. Even though Wonder Woman is frequently bound, she manages to free herself from it without always being the damsel in distress. As such, Wonder Woman still managed to be a role model for many young women at the time despite these more questionable aspects.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr. Sinister and the Ethics of Genetics

Image
Mr. Sinister in Powers of X uses genetic experiments in a way that is sometimes silly and sometimes cruel, but a look at his decision making can be used to shine a light on a larger issue in the ethics of genetic manipulation in people: Who gets to call the shots? A Mr. Sinister clone not calling the shots in Powers of X #4 Proponents of human genetic manipulation often tout benefits such as the curing of genetic diseases, but the question that stems from this is what counts as a disease that needs to be cured? At first this may seem silly, "well obviously cancer or HIV risk" some might fairly say, however others may go further. Schizophrenia has some genetic component , autism has some as well, even sexuality and gender are sometimes deemed to have a genetic component. Which of these are diseases? Which should be cured if any? Look at the states across the world trying to ban LGBT people from public life, clearly some would view it in such a way. This simple thought expe...
Read more

How Super Spiders Move

Image
The Spider-Man comics have covered a lot of styles over the years, but one thing that's of particular note is how they handle movement. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) and Spider-Man (1990) primarily utilize speed lines following behind the action to emphasize movement which is pretty typical for comics.   A kick with speed lines from The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #50   The latter's much more realistic art style allows the emphasis on the chaos of shapes from the webs to help emphasize this. They form into nonsensical shapes and patterns that grab the eye and embody flying through the air at high speed. The chaos of these webs even manages to break beyond the panels in a few places. Flying with knots of webs in Spider-Man (1990) #1 A more recent example of a similar style is used in the comics with Spinstress which mainly use speed lines as a backdrop for more intense scenes with a focus primarily on the posing to show movement. Here dramatic poses serve to allow the comic to ca...
Read more

How is Science Made Fun Today?

Image
Science is a process. This fact is imparted through as people make it through high-school. As we observe the natural world and find new patterns we must adjust our hypotheses to suit these new ideas. This has been seen in many cases, such as Newton's law of gravitation which was famously modified by Einstein's theory of relativity as new research was done. Now the question is, how is this information usually conveyed to the general public? There was a time when people gathered in coffee shops to gossip about the latest breakthroughs. Most people don't tend to read scientific articles in the modern era, though there are a handful that subscribe to scientific magazines. The massive rise of popular science has been greatly influenced by the internet in this day, mirroring the coffee shops that once housed rousing discussions on an often much grander scale. One common way is through viral "fun facts" shared on social media, though these can often be sensationalist if ...
Read more