Wonder Woman

A brief excerpt pertaining to an essay published in my Composition II class’ textbook.

After reading the first few sentences of this piece, I thought I was going to be subjected to a run-of-the-mill, short history, and/or timeline of the Wonder Woman franchise. Not only did I get a lesson in the birth of the only female super-hero to be published continuously since comic books began (455), but I also learned facts about the history of comics and the super-heroes which they feature. The running trend for comics upon their debut in the early 1900's, contained pages of ghoulish images of torture and murder, bloody scenes. "Eventually, the sadism of boys' comic books was so extreme that it inspired Congressional hearings, and publishers were asked to limit the number of severed heads and dripping entrails - a reminder that television wasn't the first popular medium selling sadism to boys" (457). I have a strong feeling that these violent and gory comics could very well have been one of the contributing factors to the magnitude of male superiority. Not only that but if boys had not been reading such graphic comics, glorifying the male role of super-hero and powerful, maybe there wouldn't be such a huge #Me Too epidemic. Arguably the most important message I took from Gloria Steinem's words is that no one can tell you who to be or how to act just because of your race, gender, or any other determining factors that make you, you. Who knows, maybe had Wonder Woman never existed, would society be where it is today? What I mean by that is, do you think feminism and equal rights between men and women would have progressed as quickly or even at all? This, I am not sure. I do, however, believe that Wonder Woman saved our girls and women of the world from believing that they would ever be less of a person without a man.

Steinem, Gloria. "Wonder Woman." The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines, edited by Gilbert H. Muller, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., New York, NY, 2014, 12th ed, pp. 455-462.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Though I'm not sure of the extent of it, I believe comic books have surely played some roll in the present day shaping of things. When small, I occasionally got a peek at eldest sister's horror comics. I don't recall the name of any of them, but they were full of skeletons, ghouls, werewolves and other such scary things that quickly came to inhabit my nightmares. Being an imaginative little kid whose parents fought each day, I can tell you that those dreams were vivid, real, and horrifying. (Sorry for wandering off subject)
In my view, men have made a terrible mess of the world, so it behooves us all to give women their turn at running things. So, yes, let's see more Wonder Woman and other strong females in entertainment but more so, in leadership positions.

[Kelli April]

It is powerful when a man can admit wrong-doings he had no part of. Very noble, Mr Sam. Don’t ever apologize for getting off-subject (it really wasn’t off-subject in my opinion) because that’s what I feel writing and reading is supposed to do. Spark interest, feelings, questions, etc. are what keeps the writing alive! I welcome all words and feelings one is met with while reading my work. It is why I write AND read others’ work. Thank you!