a year early, a year late

I wonder if maybe last years’ flop movie, Ghost Busters, the one of the female cast — which was touted as a harbinger or a rallying cry for the Woman to get into the White House…

(see Ellen Degeneres’s show promotion on “Get Out Your Woman Card?)

… maybe wasn’t a year late?  Or, you know, would work better as counter-programming to “That Man in the White House”, a part of the “Resistance” that was lackadisical due to having to face …

Then again, Wonder Woman — the hit movie and reason I wonder — is probably a better movie, which hits at the core themes all the better.  (Finally, a female superhero movie, to better the busts that was Supergirl and Cat Woman.)

How much it fits into William Moulton Marston’s vision — I don’t know.  Not enough bondage scenes, apparently, to match what he had in mind.  As for a sort of “non violence” that Marston was thinking of, I‘m fascinated by a letter in the New York Times by a detractor railing about this.

First, in her minimalist outfit, she promotes an understanding of women as sex objects. There should be no surprise that men are as interested in the movie as women. Second, she is constantly engaged in violent fighting. This is not protest; it is violence.

“Minimalist Outfit” is an odd choice of words.  Like, it’s an art creation?  [Actually when you used that term, I think more along the lines of khakis and your supposed “Normcore” wear — ie: generic.  I don’t know what a generic superhero cape and cowl would be.)  (Seriously–  whatever happened to skimpy or scant?) Beyond that, I as an accidental subscriber to Wizard Magazine in the mid 90s  (A comic reader was I, but not a superhero reader — so my sister gave me a gift subscription not knowing differences… though, to be fair, I did largely enjoy the magazine — stupid as it was — and felt I got a decent immediate background on an area that as a comic book reader I should have)– recall the supersexualized costumes worn by the huge boobed anti-heroes of the day, the better to stick out to the 14 and 15 year old reader. (And I sas a funny comment from a comics blogger and comic store owner looking at old copies of “Lady Death” lamenting that “if Chaos Comics had just gone ahead and published porn, they might still be in business.”)  It was such that there was a cringe-worthy article about this controversy, replete with comments from Sara Dyer offering the very sensible position that you male superheroes in full costume and females in something less — and there’s no real comparison here… next to a picture of Lady Death with a blurb touting her as a strong female character countering the trend of mindless “Bad Girls” in comics… because — er?

On Wonder Woman — we are being treated to such items as… a group of Kindergartener girls  agreed to be Amazons and not fight but work together to defeat evil.  What of it is marketing blitz, I can’t say.

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