5 Things Needed to Make a Great Wonder Woman Movie

11/21/2011 by Rick Regan

by Slamadams

Wonder Woman has had a tumultuous progression to the silver screen. While the comic book adaptation is falling out of many audience’s good graces given the number of them, the request for more strong female protagonists has only gotten higher. Many filmmakers try to tackle the subject, but it usually ends pretty poorly with filmmakers and fans giving up hope on the feasibility of the project. It always seems like the same problems. The costume! The lack of bad guys! The fish out of water story! There are some very simple ways around these.

1. Change the Costume

Let’s face it, Wonder Woman’s costume is too revealing for her to be taken seriously as a hero or a feminist icon. But at the same time, it is not far off of a usable costume. Anyone who has seen Brad Pitt in Troy can see that Ancient Greeks were prone to fighting in armor/battle skirt combos. There is a danger of Xena comparisons, but those comparisons are going to come up anyway. You might as well embrace the aspects that franchise got right.merican flag lingerie is straight out of male fantasy territory.

2. Remember that Themyscira is not an alien planet

Themyscira is an island nation home to Wonder Woman’s Amazon race. As I have seen it portrayed in other mediums other than comics it is usually a land that time forgot still living as if it is Ancient Greece. Wonder Woman leaving the island is usually met withcuriosity and confusion of the outside world, but in the comics, the Amazons are not ignorant of the outside world. In some versions, Queen Hippolyta served as Wonder Woman as a member of the Justice Society of America. Some of Wonder Woman’s Amazon sisters seem to come and go from the island as they please crossing paths with Diana out in the real world. And than there is the Bana,a splinter group from the original Amazons that lived in man’s world and culminated knowledge and resources for modern technology. They were recently seen putting that understanding of modern technology to good use in the “Amazons Attack” story arc.

3. Her Lack of a Rogue’s Gallery is an Opportunity

Joss Whedon was right. Wonder Woman lacks the great rogue’s gallery that has helped facilitate Batman’s easy transition to the screen. She has Circe, a powerful but dull witch who spent more time manipulating people than serving a physical threat, and Cheetah, a non-Amazon woman in a cheetah costume. Besides these two, Ares, the god of war, has been considered Wonder Woman’s arch-nemesis. The rest of Greek mythology offers a wide variety of gods, demi-gods, supernatural beings, and creatures to throw in Wonder Woman’s path. Given the recent explosion of sword-and-sandal sub-genre, what with the success of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and the desire to fill their gap now that they are over, Wonder Woman’s connection to Greek mythology seems ripe for taking advantage of.

4. Do Not Be Afraid of Age

Usually when it is time to cast a superhero, a number of 20-something unknowns are paraded in front of the comic die-hards as if they actually care. Yes, most characters in comic books are drawn as if they are eternally 25, but they are also mostly drawn with muscles and breasts of unrealistic proportions and dressed in gaudy spandex. Wonder Woman’s persona is much more complicated that a 20-something may be able to take on. It is a balance between feminine grace and warrior spirit. She needs to hopeful enough to want peace and love, but cynical enough to not expect it around every corner. Many times, that understanding needs to come with age and life experience. What I am trying to say is there are plenty of 30-something actresses with undeniable beauty, talent, and physicality to take on the role. The two actresses that come first to my mind are Charlize Theron and Lena Heady, both of whom are around the same age as Christian Bale and Ryan Reynolds.

5. In Order to Have a Strong Female Character, You Need to Have a Weak Female Character

You read that right. I know it is weird thing to say, but please, here me out. There are these characters that tvtrope.com has affectionately named Mary Sue. It is primarily a character who meets all the criteria of the basic male stereotype: amazing good looks and undying loyalty to her male counterpart. What makes it different from a regular love interest, is a Mary Sue has a characteristic or talent that makes her seem like an actually strong female character. Marion Ravenwood may be able to drink men under the table and Lara Croft may be really good at raiding tombs, but they are technically only allowed to do that so that women are tricked into not complaining about her being a weak character and to make them better trophies for the male audience. What makes up interesting characters is their ability to over come problems. Wonder Woman needs to have her own motivation and her own fight, not Steve Trevor’s. She needs to have personal issues to work through, not just physical threats. She needs to be able to show and overcome weakness.