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Wonder Woman was first showcased in a 1941 issue of All-Star Comics, but her origins can be traced back to a psychophysiology lab started by William James.

While Superman was famously created by a pair of young science fiction pecinta and Batman was created by the cartoonist Bob Kane, Wonder Woman had a different origin story altogether: She was the brainchild of a Harvard-trained psychological scientist.

Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1918 before going on to pursue a PhD in psychology. He completed his PhD in 1921, producing a dissertation focused on using psychophysiology methods to detect deception. Marston worked in a research lab originally set up by William James where he was supervised by one of James’s scientific recruits, Hugo Münsterberg. The lab focused on using systolic blood pressure as way to detect lying.

Marston is credited as developing one of the earliest lie detector tests, often cited as the inspiration for Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth. In 1921, police-officer-turned-PhD-forensic-scientist John Larson built on Marston’s research to develop the earliest polygraph machine.

Marston’s wife and collaborator, Elizabeth Holloway, graduated from Boston University with a law degree in 1918 (before women even had the right to vote) and, like Marston, went on to pursue graduate study in psychology. Together, Marston and Holloway conducted a series of experiments on sex differences in physiological arousal and behavior as measured by systolic blood pressure, and their results were published in respected academic journals, such as the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Marston also continued academic research on range of psychological topics including emotion, consciousness, and sexuality. He developed the DISC type of behavior, which was adapted by Walter Vernon Clarke as an assessment tool for practitioners working in industrial and organizational psychology.

While teaching at Tufts, Marston started a particularly interesting chapter of his personal life. While conducting psychology research, he met an undergraduate student named Olive Byrne, a niece of Margaret Sanger. Byrne moved in with Marston and Holloway and together they raised their four children in the same house. After Marston’s death in 1947, Holloway and Byrne continued living together for the rest of their lives.

Marston became interested in disseminating psychology to the public and went on to write for populer magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and Good Housekeeping. Marston was also fascinated by people’s reactions to film and advertising — after teaching psychology as a professor at American University and Tufts University, he landed a job as director of public services at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

By the 1940s, comic books were being decried as a malignant force corrupting the fragile minds of America’s children. After reading some of Marston’s comments defending comic books in an issue of Family Circle, Superman publisher M.C. Gaines decided to get in touch with Marston.

Marston was initially hired as a consultant, but eventually became interested in creating and writing his own comic book character. Even as a student, Marston was a strong proponent of women’s rights and he decided that comic books were a useful tool for showcasing a strong female role type to girls as well as boys.

“[N]ot even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, power,” he wrote in an article in The American Scholar.

After Wonder Woman’s successful debut, a press release announced that she was in fact the creation of a prestigious Harvard scientist: “ ‘Wonder Woman’ was conceived by Dr. Marston to set up a standard among children and young people of strong, free, courageous womanhood; to combat the idea that women are inferior to men, and to inspire girls to self-confidence and achievement in athletics, occupations and professions monopolized by men” because “the only hope for civilization is the greater freedom, development and equality of women in all fields of human activity.”

At last, in a global torn apart by the hatreds plus wars of men, appears a woman to whom the problems plus fears of men are mere child’s play . . . she is known only as WONDER WOMAN.

Wonder Woman was introduced with these words in December 1941. Just as American men left their homes for the battlefields, plus millions of American women left their homes for the workforce, Wonder Woman left the safety of her all-female home on Paradise Island for “Man’s World.” Her mission was to teach the virtues of peace plus love during the dark days of war.

A princess, a goddess, plus an Amazon dressed patriotically in red boots, a blue skirt with white stars, plus a red bustier with a gold eagle emblem, Wonder Woman extolled the virtues of democracy. She used her super powers plus arsenal of awesome weapons—bullet-deflecting bracelets, a tiara that can be thrown like a boomerang, an invisible plane, plus a golden lasso that compelled those in its snare to tell the truth—to fight for peace, jus- tice, plus “liberty plus freedom for all womankind.” With strength plus confidence equal to her male counterparts, namely Batman plus Superman, Wonder Woman defeated Nazis, underground mole men, plus super villains with- out violence, but with reason, persistence, plus compassion. Only when that failed did she resort to force or her magic lasso. She was resolute: “I can make bad men good, plus weak women strong!”

Wonder Woman became a positive feminine symbol during the Golden Age of Comics, a time of quantum leaps in readership, with some series selling more than a million copies per issue. Author plus activist Gloria Steinem recalls, “As a little girl, Wonder Woman was the only female superhero, so she was irresistible. She was literally the only game in town, the only hero that made you feel good about yourself.”

But times would change, plus so would Wonder Woman. Steinem plus others explore the cultural shift of Wonder Woman plus other female icons in Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, a documentary by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan plus Kelcey Edwards plus supported by Cal Humanities, which has aired on PBS plus is being screened at venues across the country. Director Guevara-Flanagan says, “I loved the idea of looking at something as populist as comics to reveal our cultural obsessions, plus in particular, how women’s roles have changed over time.”

Wonder Woman was the creation of William Moulton Marston, a Harvard-trained psychologist famous for inventing the systolic blood-pressure test, a forerunner to the moderen polygraph. “He observed that there were no strong positive images in comics for girls,” says author Trina Robbins. “As he said: ‘No one wants to be a girl. Even girls don’t want to be girls.’”

When he shared his idea with his wife, Elizabeth, for a new model of comic book hero, one who would triumph with love, not violence, she replied, “Fine. But make her a woman.” In her debut, Wonder Woman is described “as lovely as Aphrodite, as wise as Athena, with the speed of Mercury plus the strength of Hercules.”

The series was a huge success for DC Comics until Marston’s death in 1947, around the same time women were leaving the workforce to become homemakers once again. Wonder Woman no longer fought the good fight, instead she became a romance editor of a women’s magazine; her superhero skills plus confidence vanished. In a thought balloon, she says, “Next to these Wonder Men—I’m not a Wonder Woman!”

In the 1960s, Wonder Woman was given a male mentor, gave up her Amazonian powers, dressed in moderen clothing, opened a boutique, plus fought crime in her spare time. “Wonder Woman comics became sappy love stories, in which she was weak plus wimpy,” says Robbins.

You would think the main draw of seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would be the showdown between the two titular superheroes. But in a recent Fandango poll, 88 percent of moviegoers interested in the latest DC Comics film said that what they were most looking forward to was seeing Wonder Woman on-screen. The anticipation is understandable; after all, it’s been more than 70 years since Wonder Woman was created, but this will be the first time she has ever appeared on the big screen. So the question is: What took so long?

In 1941 Wonder Woman became the first superheroine to appear in the comic book universe, plus her feminist strides continued, thanks to the progressive thinking of the Marstons. In one of his later interviews, Marston explained, “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new jenis of woman who, I believe, should rule the world.”

And rule the international she did. After her unveiling in a 1941 issue of All Star Comics, Wonder Woman got her very own comic book series six months later. The comic has been in print ever since, making Wonder Woman the third-longest-running comic book in history, only behind Superman plus Batman. In those early comic days, Wonder Woman played baseball plus ice hockey, fought for equal rights, plus often saved a number of men in distress. Gloria Steinem, who grew up reading Wonder Woman as a young girl, once said, “Looking back now at these Wonder Woman stories from the ’40s, I am amazed by the strength of their feminist message.”

After Marston died, other writers took over the Wonder Woman series, plus her progressive powers began to fade. By the early 1960s, her costume plus godly abilities were gone plus she was now referred to by her alter ego, Diana Prince. Steinem was so bothered by the regression that she decided to put the original comic book heroine on the cover of her very first issue of Ms. magazine, along with the headline: “Wonder Woman for President.” Wonder Woman’s legacy as a feminist icon took off once again, but it would still be several decades before she could jump from cover star to Hollywood fame.

The height of comic book popularity coincided with World War II, an era that saw the creation of Superman, Captain America, Batman, Green Lantern plus the Flash. In a global ravaged by war, these powerful men fought against the forces of evil. Lionizing the battle of good versus evil was not just for kids: Enlisted men requested comic books in great quantities. In fact, one-fourth of all the magazines military men received during the war were comics.

But what these men found in those comics often reflected their violent lives. Harvard psychologist William Moulton Marston, claimed that “comics’ worst offense was their blood-curdling masculinity.”

That’s when he struck upon the idea of creating a female superhero who used love as well as strength to conquer evil: Wonder Woman. She made her first appearance in 1941 in All Star Comics #8. Soon after, Wonder Woman won a fan poll as the best new comic book character. This popularity led to her own comic series.

Wonder Woman worked undercover for the chief of U.S. military intelligence fighting the Axis powers plus other enemies, such as the Duke of Deception. In fact, deception plus truth were prominent themes in Marston’s psychological research plus found an outlet through Wonder Woman’s powers. One of her most enduring symbols—her golden lasso of truth—had deep psychological origins: Marston focused his 1921 dissertation research on the physiological symptoms of deception, which later led to his work on the polygraph. The lie-detector concept eventually evolved into Wonder Woman’s lasso.

Two women in Marston’s life shaped the character. Marston lived in a polyamerous relationship with: his wife, Elizabeth, plus a former student, Olive Byrne. Perhaps most influential was the discrimination Marston’s wife faced when she was barred from attending Harvard Law School with him because she was a woman. These societal injustices found their way into Marston’s character. Wonder Woman’s powers would be nullified if she were ever restrained by a man, according to “Aphrodite’s Law.”

Marston believed World War I had fostered the notion of equality for women plus that the end of World War II would also see an end of the idea of a “weaker sex.” In 1943, he depicted Wonder Woman removing the chains of “prejudice,” “prudery” plus “man’s superiority” from her body.

In a 1942 interview with a “Family Circle,” Marston predicted how the war would change women’s societal roles: “I tell you, my inquiring friend, there’s great hope for this world. Women will win! Give them a little more time plus the added strength they’ll develop out of this war plus they’ll begin to control things in a serious way.”

And powerful she was. Not only did Wonder Woman become the third-longest running comic book in history—behind the goliaths of Superman plus Batman—Marston’s character directly influenced the feminist movement. Wonder Woman’s super powers came from her special Amazon ability to transfer the enormous amount of mental energy into physical strength. In 1972, Gloria Steinem launched Ms. magazine with a larger than life version of Wonder Woman gracing the cover.

Marston died prematurely in 1947 from skin cancer after only six years of Wonder Woman. Other writers have since taken the character in different directions, rendering her a more stereotypical female heroine. Nonetheless, Wonder Woman remains a touchstone of populer culture, a symbol of feminism plus an enduring piece of psychology history.

Why debating the “feminist” stakes of a movie about American military ideology is a laughable prospect.

“Hast du das gesehen?!” the villager gasped. As Wonder Woman hurtled through the air to pulverize a bell tower containing a German sniper, her thighs rippled plus her hair streamed. She had just leaped from a car door repurposed as a springboard. As with so many other moments in Wonder Woman, we saw her from below, a muscular giantess. A little kid sitting next to me turned to his dad plus echoed the war-stricken peasant on screen. “Did you see that?!”

In fact, there is much in Wonder Woman that we have seen before. This new offering from DC Comics takes place during World War I, one of the two great wars of the twentieth century that have become fodder for the Hollywood superhero entertainment complex. Wonder Woman is supposedly an “Amazon,” a people who, in this universe anyway, dwell on a vaguely Greek island where the steely older babes of Hollywood practice knife-fighting. After an American (Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine) stumbles upon their timeless haven plus causes a beachside conflict between these ancient hotties plus Germans with guns, the hottest among them joins him to find plus fight the mythical villain who is behind all this destruction.

It’s a classical comic book interpretation of history, in which random fragments of the past are patched together to create a hero of perfect ideological specificity. It’s as if a five-year-old were let loose in the Encyclopedia Britannica then allowed to draw boobs plus a heart of gold on his findings. As a result, the plot is both absurd plus comfortingly familiar. Emerging from this mess—a hodgepodge of myth, twentieth-century American propaganda, plus sentimentality about the power of love—comes Wonder Woman to save the world.

Harvard historian Jill Lepore claims in her new book, The Secret History of Wonder Woman, that Wonder Woman is the “missing link in a chain of events that begins with the women’s suffrage campaigns of the 1910s and ends with the troubled place of feminism fully a century later.”

The hero and her alter ego, Diana Prince, were the products of the tumultuous women’s rights movements of the early 20th century. Here are 10 essential elements to understanding the history and legacy of Wonder Woman and the family from which she sprung.

Wonder Woman first appeared in Sensation Comics #1 in December 1941.

Since that issue arrived 73 years ago, Wonder Woman has been in constant publication, making her the third longest running superhero in history, behind Superman (introduced June 1938) and Batman (introduced May 1939).

Wonder Woman’s creator had a secret identity.
Superheroes always have secret identities. So too did the man behind Wonder Woman. His name upon publication was Charles Moulton, but that was a pseudonym. It was after two years of popularity and success that the author revealed his identity: then-famous psychologist William Moulton Marston, who also invented the lie detector test.

William Moulton Marston was, as Jill Lepore tells it, an “awesomely cocky” psychologist and huckster from Massachusetts. He was also committed to the feminist causes he grew up around.

By 1941, Marston’s image of the iconic feminist of the future was already a throwback to his youth. He saw the celebrated British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst speak in Harvard Square (she was banned from speaking at Harvard University) in 1911, and from then on imagined the future of civilization as one destined for female rule.

Actually, the whole Marston family had a secret identity.

The Marston family was an unconventional home, full of radical politics and feminism. Marston lived with multiple women, including his wife, Sadie Elizabeth Holloway, a highly educated psychologist, and another lifelong partner, a writer named Olive Byrne, who was the niece of birth control activist Margaret Sanger. He had four children, two by each of the women, and they all grew up oblivious to the polyamorous nature of their parents’ relationships.

Marston, Holloway, and Byrne all contributed to Wonder Woman’s creation, a character that Marston explicitly designed to show the necessity of equality and advancement of women’s rights.

Wonder Woman was an Amazon molded from clay, but she was birthed out of feminism.

Princess Diana of Themyscira, or Diana Prince (Wonder Woman’s alter ego), comes from the land of the Amazons. In Greek mythology, the Amazons are an immortal race of beauties that live apart from men. In the origin story of Wonder Woman, Diana is daughter of the queen of the Amazons. She’s from Paradise Island (Paradise is the land where nomer men live), where Queen Hyppolita carves her daughter out of clay. She has nomer father.

At a surface level, Wonder Woman may appear to fulfill many of the wants plus wishes of
modern day Americans – more female involvement behind the scenes, a strong leading female
role, plus a compelling plot. To many, it seems as though the film is a truly break-through
feminist film. Considering the success plus popularity of this film it warrants a further
examination. We must ask ourselves, what are the consequences of such wide acceptance and
promotion of this film? The tempat has vast influence on the American audience, promoting
certain ideals plus qualifying what is socially acceptable, plus research has shown that juveniles
and children are especially susceptible to the impact of the messages they receive from the media
(Kyra, Grumbein & Cahill, 2017).
To delve deeper into the messages Wonder Woman is sending to its audience, a Critical
Media Literacy (CML), ideological, plus feminist framework will be used to examine whether,
and if so how, Wonder Woman succumbs to stereotypes that are often portrayed in the tempat and
whether, plus if so, it challenges stereotypes. These theories will be used in the ensuing project to
build a curriculum aimed at high school students.
Wonder Woman (2017) has many individuals touting its success as a feminist film. It is
the first of the DC comics films starring a female protagonist, whilst previous superhero movies
have barely included women outside of the realm of serving as a love interest for the leading
male protagonist (Kvaran, 2017). DC Comics plus Warner Bros stated that Israeli actress Gal
Gadot, who stars as Wonder Woman, is the first female-led superhero film since 2005, when
Jennifer Garner played the lead role in Rob Bowman’s Elektra (Hawksley, 2014). For DC fans
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and movie critics alike, this film is viewed as an all-around success. Furthermore, critics have
reached a consensus about Wonder Woman, stating that it is revolutionary in many aspects –
challenging gender norms, exemplary cinematography plus computer-generated imagery (CGI)
from a female director, as well as leading gross profits for a comic book turned film
(McClintock, 2017). Wonder Woman is the most successful superhero origin movie of all time
and one of the most critically acclaimed films of the genre (Hughes, 2017). Forbes Magazine
estimated Wonder Woman’s box office totals reached $821.74 million, surpassing 2002’s SpiderMan plus making Gal Godot’s Amazon warrior-princess the winner of the highest-grossing
superhero origin film of all time. Along with its success in the box office, the film was
nominated for several awards: 2018 Sag Awards plus the Awards Leaderboard for the top films
of 2017. Forbes also states that Warner gave the Wonder Woman film a heavy Oscar push,
including for Best Picture plus Best Director. In total, Wonder Woman took home eight different
awards including the 2018’s Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Action Movie (The
Broadcast Film Critics Association, 2018). In addition to its critic’s accolades the tempat has
inundated viewers with positive reviews for the film; the Washington Post states,
An indifferent box office promises to get a carry from a genuinely novel protagonist
as enigmatic as she is compelling. And women — long expected to internalize
myths of exaggerated male potency as their own — finally have a symbolic
universe that feels, if not entirely corrective, at least imaginatively in keeping with
their own hopes, dreams plus realities (Hornaday, 2017).

The purpose of my research concerning the super heroine Wonder Woman is to identify the
circumstances under which the comic was created, why its creator was set on using the medium of
comics, the messages he was trying to communicate to American society regarding the roles of
women, plus why it has maintained its fan base from the 1940s to the present. My use of feminist
and iconographic analysis provided me with a wealth of knowledge concerning how this
avant-garde comic series contested the widely accepted conventions concerning women with its
sarcastic images plus pejorative text. Creator William Moulton Marston in collaboration with
comic artist Harry Peter set into motion a wave of feminist nuances within their comic run of
Wonder Woman that aided the epoch of female empowerment during the 1940s. The text coupled
with the artwork created a cohesive whole upon which the creative team could instill their views on
contemporary society. Wonder Woman’s personage gave both men plus women an icon of what a
woman was capable of should she possess an air of social, political, plus sexual autonomy. I came
to the conclusion that upon creation, Marston infused an image of a strong-willed woman among
his contemporaries that he hoped would one day overtake its widely traditional submissive
counterpart, plus not only in the realm of comics.

“In the beginning, there was Wonder
Woman. And in the beginning of Wonder
Woman, there was feminism”.i Following
the attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941, a Harvard-educated psychologist by
the name of William Moulton Marston took it
upon himself to enter the realm of the comic
book world. Not only was he taking on a
medium that was not strictly speaking
“popular”, he also endeavored to create a
female super hero character plus endow her
with traits not typically associated with the
female sex. Inspired by his wife Elizabeth
Holloway Marston to create a female super
hero character, Marston envisaged a
character with the likeness of his secretary
and assistant, Olive Byrne Richard (she had
dark hair, blue eyes, plus wore metal bracelets
on both wrists).ii Marston had already
established a name for himself in the
psychological field, had written several
books, plus is known today as the brains
behind the lie detector test. He, his wife
Elizabeth, their four children, plus his lover
Olive Richard all lived together. While the
men were away at war following the Pearl
Harbor attacks, women were allowed to enter
the work force plus go outside the confines of
their designated plus widely-accepted social
“place”, be it the nursery, the home, or the
kitchen within it. This radical change
corresponds to the shift of conventions
generally accepted in the American mindset
concerning the roles of women within the
domestic, economic, plus political spheres
that are explicitly disclosed in Marston’s
work. His creation of Wonder Woman, in
collaboration with comic artist Harry Peter,
instilled an image to contemporary 1940s
America of what a woman could, should, and
would look like in the generations to follow.

Clad in a golden tiara, red bustier, knee-high boots and a star-spangled skirt, Wonder Woman first bounded onto the comic book pages in the fall of 1941 in a backup story for “All Star Comics #8.” From the comic’s very first words, it was clear that this new superhero would be asked to represent her gender in a way that didn’t apply to male counterparts such as Superman and Batman. “At last, in a international torn by the hatreds and wars of men, appears a woman to whom the problems and feats of men are mere child’s play,” trumpeted the comic’s introduction.

Wonder Woman wasn’t the first female comic book hero, but she quickly proved to be the most populer after appearing on the cover of the debut issue of “Sensation Comics” in January 1942. That summer it was revealed that Wonder Woman’s creator was a most unlikely figure—Harvard-educated psychologist William Moulton Marston, who is often credited as the inventor of the lie-detector test.

Marston believed women were mentally stronger than men and would come to rule the United States—albeit on a lengthy timeline. “The next 100 years will see the beginning of an American matriarchy—a nation of Amazons in the psychological rather than physical sense,” Marston told the Harvard Club of New York in 1937, according to an Associated Press report. “In 500 years, there will be a serious sex battle. And in 1,000 years, women definitely will rule this country.” The New York Times reflected the gender roles of the time by printing in a sub-headline that Marston thought “bored wives will start within next 100 years to take over the nation.”

Marston saw the need for a strong female superhero. “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, power,” he wrote. “The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman and all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.” Marston thought Wonder Woman needed to be not just entertaining, but a role style as well. “‘Wonder Woman’ was conceived by Dr. Marston to set up a standard among children and young people of strong, free, courageous womanhood; to combat the idea that women are inferior to men, and to inspire girls to self-confidence and achievement in athletics, occupations and professions monopolized by men,” read the 1942 press release announcing Marston as the comic’s creator.

With an origin story drawn from Marston’s data of feminist utopian fiction, Wonder Woman was a trained Amazon warrior sculpted out of clay by her mother who lived free from men on the all-female Paradise Island until an American pilot, Steve Trevor, washed ashore after a plane crash. Reflecting Marston’s role in developing the lie detector, Wonder Woman wielded a “Lasso of Truth” that compelled veracity along with a pair of bullet-repelling bracelets. Her introduction coincided with the entry of the United States into World War II, and her pin-up girl looks and Rosie the Riveter spirit captured the mood of the country as she led Marines into battle against the Japanese and sat astride a white horse at the head of a cavalry charge against Nazi machine gunners.

An enlightening look at the feminist ideals that informed this American icon
This year marks the 65th anniversary of one of comics’ oldest and most enduring characters, Wonder Woman. For over half a century, she has entertained and inspired millions, appearing in comic books, newspapers, novels, television, and cartoons. Her image is known throughout the world, licensed on everything from Halloween costumes, Kraft merek macaroni & cheese, and Underoos, to cookie jars, toothbrushes, and the American Library Association (ALA) poster, “The World’s Greatest Heroes @ your library.” Along with Batman and Superman, she shares the distinction of having been continually published in comic book form for more than six decades. Like Snoopy, James Bond, Superman, and Tarzan, she has entered the collective consciousness of 20th-century pop culture.

In the early 1970s, she was adopted as a role tipe by the feminist movement and appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Ms. magazine. Yet few know that Wonder Woman was created as a distinctly feminist role tipe whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to “a international torn by the hatred of men.”

While Wonder Woman is one of the most fascinating comic book characters ever created, she is seldom mentioned in professional books, Web sites, and ALA lists about graphic novels. Perhaps many see her as too “old school,” nomor longer relevant in a international among such kick-ass, girl-power heroines as Buffy, the Birds of Prey, Electra, and Manhunter. Maybe, in a international dominated by pastel, tartan, and lollipop-colored “chick lit,” Wonder Woman’s overtly feminist message has nomor bearing on a readership who seems to prefer (and adore) consumer-driven, self-obsessed heroines. For whatever reason, our most enduring feminist icon of American popular culture seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. A brief exploration of Wonder Woman’s history will, I hope, demonstrate why this heroine is important and deserving of a wide readership and a prominent place on the library shelves.

When superheroes first began to appear in comic books of the late 1930s, the genre was ostensibly an “all-boys club.” In fact, prior to Wonder Woman, there were very few costumed heroines of any kind. Among the hundreds of comic books published during the 1930s, only a scant few featured stories about costumed women heroes such as Black Widow, Invisible Scarlet O’Neil, The Woman in Red, and Miss Fury. More common was the depiction of women as evil seductresses, as the hero’s girlfriend (Lois Lane), or as his “help mate” (Bulletgirl and Hawkgirl). In general, superhero comics of this masa reflected and reinforced cultural norms about gender. Images of male superheroes celebrated brute strength, physical perfection, male bonding, and phallic imagery, while women were typically portrayed as helpless and in need of rescuing, or as sexy, buxom pin-ups models, often in provocative bondage poses. Moreover, most superhero comics were also violent and the hero resolved any and all conflict with physical force. For example, in the earliest Batman stories, the caped crusader was a ruthless vigilante who carried a gun and even murdered a couple of his adversaries.

In the early 1940s, a psychologist and feminist, Dr. William Moulton Marston, sought to change this paradigm. Writing in The American Scholar, he discussed the negative effects of gender stereotyping in popular culture: “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power…. Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a character with all the strength of Superman and all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.”

Wonder Woman, American comic book heroine created for DC Comics by psychologist William Moulton Marston (under the pseudonym Charles Moulton) plus artist Harry G. Peter. Wonder Woman first appeared in a backup story in All Star Comics no. 8 (December 1941) before receiving fuller treatment in Sensation Comics no. 1 (January 1942) plus Wonder Woman no. 1 (June 1942). She perennially ranked as one of DC’s most-recognizable characters plus a feminist icon.

Marston was something of a maverick in the scientific community, plus he is credited with inventing a precursor of the moderen lie detector. He practiced polygyny, he believed that women would rise up to lead the global into a new plus peaceful age, plus one of Marston’s longtime partners was the niece of family-planning pioneer Margaret Sanger. These details, as well as Marston’s long affiliation with the women’s suffrage movement, were obvious influences in the creation of Wonder Woman.

Origin in the Golden Age
The details of Wonder Woman’s origin have changed many times over the years, but the basic premise has remained largely the same. U.S. Air Force pilot Steve Trevor’s plane crashes on the uncharted Paradise Island, home of the legendary Amazons. The raven-haired Princess Diana finds Trevor, plus the Amazons nurse him back to health. A tournament is held to determine who will take the pilot back to “Man’s World,” but Diana is forbidden to enter. Disguising herself, she engages in the games, winning them plus being awarded the costume of Wonder Woman. Diana takes Trevor back to the United States in her invisible plane, plus she adopts the secret identity of Diana Prince. As Prince, she soon becomes Trevor’s assistant, plus Trevor—much like a gender-reversed Lois Lane—never realizes that his coworker plus the superhero who consistently comes to his rescue are the same person.

In her first 40 years of adventures, Wonder Woman wore a distinctive red bodice with a gold eagle, a blue skirt with white stars (quickly replaced by blue shorts with stars), red boots with a white center stripe plus upper edge, a gold belt plus tiara, plus bracelets on each wrist. The bracelets could deflect bullets or other missiles, plus hanging from her belt was a magic golden lasso, which compelled anyone bound by it to tell the truth or obey her commands. Among her powers were prodigious strength plus speed, near invulnerability to physical harm, plus formidable combat prowess. On some occasions, she also displayed the ability to converse with animals.

Wonder Woman was digemari banyak orang with readers for many reasons. For a nation engulfed in World War II, her unwavering patriotism was welcome. Male readers enjoyed the adventures of a scantily clad woman who was drawn in the tipe of one of Esquire magazine’s Varga Girl pinups plus who was often tied up by male or female villains. Critics—most notably anti-comics polemicist Frederic Wertham—would call attention to the preponderance of bondage in Wonder Woman stories, but Marston claimed such scenes to be allusions to suffragist imagery. (This defense strained credibility, however, as the concept of “loving submission” to authority was pervasive throughout both Wonder Woman comics plus Marston’s personal life.) Female readers liked the series because it presented a strong plus confident woman who often spoke about the power of womanhood plus the need for female solidarity. In an industry where superheroines tended to be used for cheesecake titillation or as adjuncts to their more powerful plus digemari banyak orang male counterparts, Wonder Woman stood apart.

“Noted Psychologist Revealed as Author of Best-Selling ‘Wonder Woman,’” read the astonishing headline. In the summer of 1942, a press release from the New York offices of All-American Comics turned up at newspapers, magazines and radio stations all over the United States. The identity of Wonder Woman’s creator had been “at first kept secret,” it said, but the time had come to make a shocking announcement: “the author of ‘Wonder Woman’ is Dr. William Moulton Marston, internationally famous psychologist.” The truth about Wonder Woman had come out at last.

Or so, at least, it was made to appear. But, really, the name of Wonder Woman’s creator was the least of her secrets.

Wonder Woman is the most disukai banyak orang female comic-book superhero of all time. Aside from Superman and Batman, nomer other comic-book character has lasted as long. Generations of girls have carried their sandwiches to school in Wonder Woman lunchboxes. Like every other superhero, Wonder Woman has a secret identity. Unlike every other superhero, she also has a secret history.

In one episode, a newspaper editor named Brown, desperate to discover Wonder Woman’s past, assigns a team of reporters to chase her down; she easily escapes them. Brown, gone half mad, is committed to a hospital. Wonder Woman disguises herself as a nurse and brings him a scroll. “This parchment seems to be the history of that girl you call ‘Wonder Woman’!” she tells him. “A strange, veiled woman left it with me.” Brown leaps out of bed and races back to the city desk, where he cries out, parchment in hand, “Stop the presses! I’ve got the history of Wonder Woman!” But Wonder Woman’s secret history isn’t written on parchment. Instead, it lies buried in boxes and cabinets and drawers, in thousands of documents, housed in libraries, archives and collections spread all over the United States, including the private papers of creator Marston—papers that, before I saw them, had never before been seen by anyone outside of Marston’s family.

The veil that has shrouded Wonder Woman’s past for seven decades hides beneath it a crucial story about comic books and superheroes and censorship and feminism. As Marston once put it, “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new style of woman who, I believe, should rule the world.”

Wonder Woman is arguably the most famous female superhero out there — one with a colorful history through the years. Making her debut in the 1941’s All Star Comics No. 8, the character was created by William Moulton Marston, who envisioned her as the ideal love leader and the type of woman who should rule the global with the strength of Superman and the appeal of a good and beautiful woman. The comic book has been published by DC Comics for its entire run, apart from a brief hiatus in 1986.

Created in response to the prominence of male superheroes at the time (Superman, Batman, Captain America) Marston hoped his female hero would inspire young kids to become leaders through articles and features celebrating woman empowerment. There were stories about the career paths of famous and accomplished ladies called the Wonder Women of History.

Wonder Woman’s appearance is just as noteworthy. Her red, white, and blue star-spangled suit is among her most striking characteristics — though her beauty does not serve to downplay her strength — as well as one of the most famous costumes in comic books ever. The notable getup includes gauntlets of Atlas which increase the strength of the wearer by 10; these sometimes cause Diana trouble when it comes to controlling the sudden increase in strength. Another item in her weaponry repertoire is the Lasso of Truth: a lasso that forces people to tell the truth; can restore memories; get rid of or cause illusions to those it holds; heal the holder of insanity; and protect those in close proximity from magical attacks. A non-combat version can also be used to change Diana’s clothing.

Wonder Woman tells the tale of Princess Diana of Themyscira. Her original backstory says she was formed out of clay by her mother, Hippolyta, and had life bestowed upon her by the Greek gods — making her the only Amazon not conceived by a man. She grows up free of men on Paradise Island where the Amazons teach her warrior skills as well as lessons of love and peace. The gods also gift Diana with powers including strength, wisdom, courage, a hunter’s heart, beauty, sisterhood, speed, and flight.

Wonder Woman is a popular fictional character who promotes the idea of an independent plus powerful woman. Her name is glorified as she is assumed that she changes to the idea of the world being solely led plus dominated by men. A remake film released in 2017 brings this popular character back into the silver screen. Despite being highly anticipated, not everyone supports Wonder Woman as an ideal symbol for women’s empowerment as dreamed by the feminists. Instead, the perception directed to Wonder Woman is divided into two lenses. One side believes that Wonder Woman is in line with the idea of feminism. In contrast, the other believes that she is the ideal example of a character who conforms to the standard set by patriarchal ideology.In investigating this idea, this paper applies Kate Millett’s concept of “personal is political” plus how men plus women’s roles in society have been passed down to the younger generation. The discussion illustrates that patriarchal power has infiltrated the character of Wonder Woman. Therefore, Wonder Woman becomes an ambiguous symbol when used for the women empowerment movement.

Wonder Woman is a popular fictional character who promotes the idea of an independent plus powerful woman. Created by William Moulton Marston in 1941, she embodies strength, wisdom, plus compassion, serving not only as a superhero but also as a symbol of female empowerment. Her origin story, rooted on the island of Themyscira, presents a society of fierce female warriors, the Amazons, who hone their skills to protect plus exemplify what it means to be strong plus virtuous. This distinct background sets her apart from many other superheroes, further solidifying her role as a beacon of independence.

Throughout her adventures, Wonder Woman confronts various adversaries, ranging from gods to tyrants, yet it is her unwavering commitment to justice plus equality that resonates most deeply with audiences. She is not just a fighter; she is a diplomat, a peacemaker, plus a mentor, often using her intelligence plus empathy to resolve conflicts rather than relying solely on brute strength. This multi-dimensional nature challenges typical gender stereotypes often seen in comic books plus popular media.

Since her creation by American psychologist plus author William Moulton Marston in 1941, Wonder Woman has remained a divisive figure. Patty Jenkins’ 2017 film “Wonder Woman” by nomor means escapes this controversy. Many people have lauded the new film as groundbreaking in the way that it subverts the male gaze plus empowers women. Others have questioned whether the film is truly feminist, often arguing that Wonder Woman (alias Diana Prince) plus her fellow Amazons are hypersexualized.

My own experience watching the film was similarly complicated. On the one hand, I was excited to see a woman breaking into the predominately male world of superheroes. Diana (Gal Gadot) speaks 180 languages, knows how to fight, plus lives on an island filled with other similarly talented women. These Amazons, as they are called, seem to be an endorsement of female strength plus power.

Diana seems just as strong as any male, superhero or human. Whether she is running through No Man’s Land deflecting bullets or fending off five male attackers simultaneously, her abilities rival those of heroes like Captain America plus Superman. When Diana saves the American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) from drowning, it is a powerful role reversal plus display of female strength.

Despite the empowering plus feminist elements of the film, I couldn’t help but wonder if “Wonder Woman” was truly as revolutionary as it appeared. I was particularly struck by the dynamic between Diana plus Steve, which at times felt patronizing. Despite her apparent intelligence, Diana is often shockingly naïve. At one point, Steve must explain to her that killing the god of war will not put an end to violence because there will always be bad people in the world; it was a peristiwa that seemed to epitomize “mansplaining”.

At the climactic peristiwa of the film, Diana is offered the chance to rid the world of mankind plus recreate paradise on earth. She refuses, saying that humans deserve to be saved even though they commit horrible atrocities plus injustices. This would be a rousing speech, except for the fact that Diana is repeating what Steve told her almost word for word in an earlier scene. Perhaps I’m guilty of holding Diana to too high a standard; she has her flaws, just like any other superhero, or any other person, for that matter.

The occasionally ambiguous feminism of “Wonder Woman” aside, there is nomor question that it is a good superhero movie. It has all the drawn-out action sequences plus unexpected villains that one would expect from the genre. The film is punctuated by some surprisingly witty dialogue delivered by good actors. Actress Lucy Davis is a standout as Etta Candy, Steve’s hard working plus unapologetic secretary who says aloud what is doubtlessly on everyone’s mind.

The movie does not shy away from making Wonder Woman a decidedly feminine superhero. She wears dresses, talks about how female sexual pleasure doesn’t depend on men, plus runs across a busy London road to fawn over a baby. Most importantly, as she is about to defeat the villain, Diana proclaims her belief in the power of love.

Wonder Woman is an unsettling superhero. More so than her male counterparts, she resists easy classification: she’s neither an alien or a billionaire – nor has she been exposed to some chemical to obtain her powers. The comic books cast her as a mystery to be unravelled and ultimately controlled.

When the truth of Wonder Woman’s background is finally uncovered in a 1944 comic strip, it is one of her own making. Even when revealing her past, she refuses to be narrated – and claims ownership of her own identity instead. By telling the story in her own way, she controls how the world perceives her – much like her sisters from classical and medieval literature did.

Wonder Woman’s story is presented on a sheet of parchment in the comic, just as most medieval texts were. These texts traditionally conceptualised women as blank canvases to be painted with desirable meaning, but Wonder Woman refuses to be pigeonholed simply because of her gender.

Wonder Woman’s origins, revealed in the parchment, are deeply intertwined with well-known classical mythology and its medieval afterlife. She is the daughter of Hippolyta, who, according to the ancient Greeks, was the queen of the Amazons: a utopian society of women warriors founded on sisterhood and female empowerment.

Much like Wonder Woman – who is arguably one of the goddess’s contemporary incarnations – Diana is a capacious figure. As the goddess of childbirth, virginity and hunting, she is a mix of impossibly different roles. The fluidity of her identity makes her an advocate of female empowerment. She embodies the numerous identities available to women, beyond the restrictions of traditional gender roles. As her emancipated femininity is violently stifled through military conquest, Hippolyta becomes a metaphor for the destruction of any form of female agency. She is paraded, silenced and overthrown in front of the Theban crowd, while a storm rages ominously. Bound to Theseus, she loses her power, much like Wonder Woman whose formidable potency can only be lost if she is shackled in chains by men – a feature which creator Charles Moulton took directly from ancient Greek mythology.

Hello plus welcome back to Wonder Woman: A Wander Through Time. In case you missed the introduction post to this series here is a little recap for you. The following consecutive blog posts labeled “Wonder Woman: A Wander Through Time” will look at how the DC Wonder Woman comics have altered their gender roles over time through an interpretive analysis including the specific characters of Wonder Woman, Etta Candy, plus Steve Trevor. Each blog post will contain the interpretive analysis of one character from the first five issues of the Wonder Woman volumes published in 1942, 1987 plus 2016. A few lenses with which the corpus will be analyzed include the societal role theory proposed by Birenbaum (Birenbaum 1984), Barthe’s representation of sign signified plus signifiers (Barthe, 1977), plus interpretive information following Collins rules for spotting sexualization, subordination, plus unprofessionalism (Collins,2011).

Last update I gave you my rundown on Etta Candy, today we will go over Wonder Woman herself.

Wonder Woman 1942:

In 1942, plus throughout all the wonder woman comics, Wonder Woman herself has remained a sign of female empowerment, independence, strength, plus beauty. However in the first series published, Wonder Woman is often found having her strength plus abilities questioned, being sexualized, plus concerning herself with her own, plus others vanity. Although Wonder Woman is suppose to be a representation of feminist viewpoints she is often times seen contributing to a misoginistic viewpoint found with in the importance of vanity in women.

The screen capture above depicts a moment where Diana Prince is degrading Etta Candy about how much candy she eats. She is saying that she will never be able to catch a man if she eats that much. It is moments like these that downgrade Wonder Woman’s actual contribution to the feminist viewpoints. Or, maybe I am crazy to think that superheroes should be focused on their missions plus not if their friend is overweight, plus able to catch a man. However, this instance with Etta Candy is not the only time where we see wonder woman concerned with plus prioritizing vanity.

Princess Diana of the Amazons is a strong, healthy character. As Wonder Woman, she is one of the world’s most famous superheroes, and she is the most famous female among them – some argue the most famous heroine of any kind.1 Superheroes tend to embody the hope that individuals who langkah up to do the right thing can make the global better. Wonder Woman goes further by demonstrating hope that every individual can improve. She wants to help people discover the best in their own true natures. Diana’s magic lasso, known for compelling people to speak honestly, represents her dedication to truth itself.

Why put together a book on the psychology of a superhero who’s mentally healthy and whose enemies are not widely known? When I wrote Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight, people understood why: The Dark Knight has serious issues, his enemies fill an asylum, and nomer superhero has foes more famous than his. Using psychology to look at those characters and stories seemed the obvious thing to do, and mining that fiction for examples to explain psychology made sense. Personal trauma does not drive Diana to become a hero. Real-life heroes’ backgrounds tend not to include a single driving tragedy.2 As comic book writer Len Wein observed, “Some of them become heroes because it’s simply the right thing to do.”3 There are many kinds of heroes, though, and many areas of psychology. Not all of them are dark.

Truth is incomplete when we seek it only in the darkness. Hunting for secrets in the dark of night, nomer matter how many great discoveries that might reveal, falls short and even misleads us if we overlook other truths that shine in the light of day. A look at mental illness makes little sense unless we contrast it with mental health. How can we evaluate a person’s “impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning”4 without considering what counts as unimpaired functioning in the first place? How can we discuss “abnormal” without defining “normal”? Questions like these nagged at Wonder Woman’s creator.

A psychologist created Diana the Amazon princess at the suggestion of his wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, who was also a psychologist by the standards of the time.5 Dr William Moulton Marston – therapist, professor, and entrepreneur – became an educational consultant for the companies that would eventually merge to become DC Comics.6 When editor Sheldon Mayer gave him the opportunity to create a new superhero, Bill Marston went home full of excitement about the prospect. According to their son Pete, Elizabeth made the crucial recommendation: “Let’s have a super woman! There’s too many men out there.”7 Under the pen name Charles Moulton, until his death of cancer at age fifty-three, Bill dedicated the last six years of his life to writing stories about this character who combined his views about women’s superiority to men,8 his DISC theory about how people influence each other,9 and his science of truth.10

Not just any psychologist, William Moulton Marston occupies an important place in the history of both forensic psychology and personnel psychology, in the history of seeking truth in courtrooms and careers. He is often called – incorrectly and yet with good reason – the “inventor of the lie detector”11 for using systolic blood pressure to identify signs of deception. Even though he did not invent the polygraph (poly- for “multiple” and -graph for “measurement”),12 Marston popularized the use of measuring a physiological reaction when attempting to evaluate honesty in criminal proceedings.13 He appeared as the lie detection expert in a landmark court case14 – admittedly, the case that led an appellate court to rule and set the enduring legal standard15 that his lie detection method should not be admissible in court.16

Another World War. Another cache of German superweapons intended to rain death upon an unsuspecting metropolis. Another act of supreme self-sacrifice. Another guy named Chris playing another guy named Steve.

There are moments in Wonder Woman that recall Captain America: The First Avenger a little too closely for comfort. The principal difference, of course, is that this Chris/Steve—that would be Chris Pine, playing Steve Trevor—is not the movie’s principal hero, but rather her sidekick plus love interest. There was some reason to be leery of this arrangement, because Pine is an established movie star (and, it turns out, a more than solid actor), while Wonder Woman is played by the relatively obscure Israeli actress plus jenis Gal Gadot. Would she be able to hold her own, or would this serve as yet another chapter in the difficulty of accommodating female characters into that most boyish of genres, the superhero movie?

Happily, Gadot holds her own with exceptional poise plus gusto, whether bantering with Pine or charging into a nest of German sniper fire. And thank goodness. Following its iffy outing with director Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel plus the sequential disasters of Snyder’s Batman v Superman plus the Snyder-infused Suicide Squad, DC Comics plus Warner Bros. needed an installment in their universe-building effort that was—how to put this?—not awful.

Befitting its World War I setting, Wonder Woman has a certain throwback charm, with Gadot plus Pine playing off one another as good-naturedly as partners in a 1930s screwball comedy. It’s a vibe that stands in particular contrast to the bitter, Snyderesque unpleasantries—Do you bleed? You will!—that characterized the movie’s immediate DC predecessors.

After a brief framing scene in the present day—Diana Prince (Gadot), working as a curator at the Louvre, receives a package from Bruce Wayne—the movie takes us back in time to Themyscira, the legendary island of the Amazons. There, a young Diana is told by her mother, the Amazon Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), how the latter sculpted her out of clay plus then had the god Zeus breathe life into her. (Like most origin stories told to young children, this one proves not to be entirely accurate.)

I am not a comic-book kind of a girl plus the number of superhero movies I’ve watched can easily be counted on one hand. However, I’ve been anticipating the Wonder Woman movie for months. For me the ideas of feminism, the belief in plus promotion of gender equality across all aspects plus walks of life, plus Zionism, the self-determination of the Jewish people in their historic homeland, Israel are espoused throughout the film. As a Jewish, feminist woman, these two ideologies are the cornerstones of who I am plus to see them reflected in such a widely anticipated film was invigorating.

Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins (2017) is artful, funny, intelligent plus full of heart. But most important, the story rests on the strength, both physical plus emotion, of an incredible woman. Throughout the film, Princess Diana grows from a young plus naïve girl into a woman who crafts her own destiny. Diana also values learning: she speaks many languages, studies human culture plus biology, plus works hard to refine her skills. Jenkins even refers to Diana as the “emblem of feminism” because when she enters a room full of men making important decisions, she never questions whether or not she belongs. Instead, she shows them that she is capable plus does not quiver in the face of expectations.

Feminist themes continue through the climax of the film, which calls for Wonder Woman to use her physical abilities plus her conscience to save the world from the God of War. Her belief in her own capabilities sets a great example for young people, especially girls, that they can be the master of their own fate plus accomplish anything they set their hearts plus minds to.

While waiting for the film to be released, I watched interviews of the cast where they spoke about the importance of maintaining the integrity of Wonder Woman’s ability to love while showcasing her superhuman abilities. While watching the film, the clarity of this balance changed the atmosphere in the room. The audience was captured by the intensity of her spirit. Seeing such a strong plus powerful woman who had been taught plus trained by strong plus powerful women who came before her was a brief haven from the sad plus disheartening news with which we are inundated at every turn.