Content area
Full text
Abstract: Wonder Woman, a founding female figure in superhero fiction, was initially celebrated as a symbol of women's empowerment in the 1970s but faced criticism in the 2010s for embodying fetishized objectification. This article aims to explore the gender representation of the 1970s TV series Wonder Woman and the 2010s Wonder Woman movie through a feminist approach. The portrayal of Wonder Woman in the TV series challenged the traditional stereotypes of femininity and the subordinary roles of women under patriarchy at that time. The Wonder Woman movie, however, lacked diversity under an intersectional framework and signified the beauty myth for male pleasure, which undermined her validity as a feminist icon. Through close analysis, it is revealed that the white feminist privilege and fetish fashion of superheroines traditionally recognized as feminist icons are problematic, calling for more scholarly attention on discriminatory gender representation in contemporary popular culture.
Key Words: Wonder Woman, Gender Representation, Intersectionality, Feminism
1. Introduction
DC Comics, also known as DC, is a major American comic book publisher and the primary division of DC Entertainment. Produced by DC Comics, Wonder Woman is one of the most influential female superheroes in Western society. As a founding female figure in the genre of superhero fiction, Wonder Woman became an iconic symbol of feminism in the 1970s when the Wonder Woman TV series was aired. In view of the historical underrepresentation and misrepresentation of female characters, the cinematic portrayal of Wonder Woman challenges the dominance of male characters in the genre of superhero fiction (Robinson, 2004, p. 95). Thus, as suggested on the cover page of Ms. magazine in 1972, Wonder Woman was regarded as a pivotal figure of feminism at that time (Steinem, 1972). However, in 2016, Wonder Woman had her feminist role of "Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls77 revoked in the UN, for she was criticised as "oversexualized" (Marso, 2016). Even though the commercially successful film Wonder Woman enjoyed widespread popularity among viewers in 2017, the ongoing feminist critique of Wonder Woman continued, criticizing her as a figure of fetishized objectification and sexual disempowerment (Killian, 2019). Contrasting with prevailing 1970s viewpoints, notable shifts in feminist perspectives on Wonder Woman's media representation on screen became evident in the 2010s.
Existing feminist...