Why Wonder Woman's Costume Really Worries Me

I think that you’re dead-on about the costume angst really not being about the costume…or, at least, not *solely* about it. The “rightness” or “wrongness” of the costume is a bellwether of whether or not Kelley “gets” the character.

While my lizard brain will always prefer Wonder Woman’s “star panties,” I accept that a costume update is warranted. Long pants are both more practical and less pandering.

What struck me about the initial design was not just that it looked cheap and tacky, but that it made changes that were both inexplicable and aesthetically unpleasant (e.g. blue boots over blue pants).

The revised costume spotted at the Hollywood Blvd. location shoot seemed a step in the right direction, at least. It’s still not quite what I would’ve done, but I could live with it.

You’re right that the important thing about the Wonder Woman project is the writing, not the wearing. Still, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and the Leg Avenue-style Halloween costume left a bad one.

I don’t think I can share the anxiety about any of this. The comic, the animated version, the “legendary” TV show – all of it was pretty cheesy. I mean, the Lariat of Truth? So this probable abomination is about as worrisome to me as a re-boot of Charlie’s Angels or if the NSYNC reunion is any good. As they used to say, garbage in, garbage out.

What people don’t necessarily realize is that these comic book characters are, in fact, cartoons. As such, they are attempting to make a live action version of a cartoon character – which is extraordinarily difficult. For example, the horrible attempts at making live action movies of the Flintstones. Unless the artistic style is expressly designed to convey a more realistic tone, live adaptations of cartoons almost always look ridiculous.

Notably, Marvel undertook a revamp of its characters through a series referred to as “the Ultimates”. They basically created alternate reality versions of a lot of their characters with more modern aesthetics – ditching the campy style originally used over the previous decades. For the most part, DC has not undertaken a similar revamp and, as such, most of their characters still look fairly ridiculous when translated into live action.

I think this is part of the reason it has been difficult to get a Superman movie off the ground again. Although a lot of people have a very nostalgic view of the older movies, the truth is that the Superman costume is pretty ridiculous.

I am fairly certain this show will be a disaster simply because David E. Kelly is behind it. If she’s “done wrong” it will simply be because it’s a fundamentally bad show, not because of specific take on Wonder Woman. The truth is there’s nothing particularly iconic about Wonder Woman aside from her costume. Take away the costume and she is simply a generic female superhero. The only reason she is popular among women is because she is the most well known (among the very few) female superhero. Most people would very hard pressed to actually describe her character traits or personality.

Wonder woman was my hero growing up, and I saw her as a leading superhero. At the age of 5 years old I used to suffer from many nightmares, and the only thing that helped was putting a picture of Linda Carter as wonder woman on my wall. From then on wonder woman would always defend me from evil figures in my dreams using her magic lasso. She was kind, strong, and she could take on anyone. I used to watch all episodes of wonder woman and justice league. I never thought her outfit was sexy but just what superheros wore. I think it may be hard to watch if she were being portrayed as a sort of sex symbol, but I do prefer her costume to be shorts rather than pants.

I feel kinda churlish posting this right after sandr88′s lovely, moving comment, but Wonder Woman’s never meant much to me.

At the same time I watched the Lynda Carter version as a little girl in the ’70s, I was also watching my mother work her non–star-spangled butt off—taking care of me as a single parent while working full time, writing a doctoral dissertation, and serving an unpaid clinical internship. Wonder Woman’s invisible plane had nothing on my mom’s beat-up old VW Bug.

I guess because everyday wonder women are often still undervalued (we live in a time where a supremely competent, dogged, visionary woman like Nancy Pelosi gets almost universally reviled for her hard work), Wonder Woman, with her magical powers and push-up bra, feels to me like a silly, retrograde, even unhelpful throwback. I’d much rather watch Parks and Recreation—it’s immensely satisfying to see Leslie Knope be great at her job and be a real, funny human being who is also appreciated and understood for what she does and who she is.

So the current incarnation of Wonder Woman could be clad in pretty much anything from a burqa to pasties and a thong and she still wouldn’t resonate with me.

I can’t wait until my baby daughter and I can watch shows like Parks & Rec, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Veronica Mars together.

Whether you’re a fan of comic books or not it’s ultimately a matter of perception. I grew up watching the original Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter. Looking back on those years and even re-watching them on DVD today what struck me about the show and the character was that she was never glamorized as a sex symbol. Sure she is beautiful and Lynda Carter herself embodied the character with a sort of grace and beauty that wasn’t cheapened by the idea of her being “sexy”. While many people may find Wonder Woman sexy there are also many people who look up to what she stands for. She’s an imaginary character that was meant to be perceived as a hero. Granted she was also created in a time where feminism was largely still taking shape so even as an imaginary character there was still the irony of her having to earn her place in pop culture.

As a fan of the comic books and the Lynda Carter series it’s hard for me to fathom drastic changes to a character that has been around for over 60 years who’s remained fairly unchanged. She’s loved for who she is which represents everything from the touching comment by Sandra88 to a form of expression by the writers and artists who have toiled to write her stories. She is after all a fictional character. Regardless of that fact people have grown to know and love her for how she’s always been portrayed in the comics and the TV show. David E. Kelley’s re-telling of her character (if indeed the horrible leaked script is to be believed) pretty much defaces a pop icon that is beloved by millions of people. We can argue about the sexiness she may or may not exude until the sky falls but you cannot argue what she means to everyone who’s grown up reading and watching Wonder Woman all these years. You simply don’t take a beloved character like her and completely subtract everything that’s made her who she is. It would be like re-painting over a work of art that has been cherished for so long simply because someone thought it needed to be “edgier”, “sexier”, or more “current” or “relevant”. While it might seem like a trivial argument because she’s a “cartoon/comic book” character the place she has in pop culture as well as the effect she’s had over people loving her character over the years can’t be denied. Compared to real life wonder women like in “The Hoobie’s” comment above Wonder Woman may not be relevant to her but it doesn’t mean that other people don’t care or cherish the inspiration she has brought over the years. I’ve always respected her as a hero first and though the idea of her may be ridiculous in context to real life I didn’t grow an affinity for Wonder Woman or other characters like her because I was looking for reality. To me she represented a wonderful escape and the gift of endless possibility. Doing a portrayal of her that is anything less than faithful to the essence and spirit of her comic books is just a crime.

Oh, in my comment above I really didn’t mean to dis Lynda Carter. My recollection is that she did a great job with Wonder Woman, bringing integrity, strength, and warmth to the character even in the campy environment of that series. I guess I just, um, wonder what the reimagined Wonder Woman, at least in the pictures I’ve seen so far, can add to a fictional world that has since been populated by the likes of Jane Craig, Clarice Starling, Jane Tennyson, Buffy Summers, C.J. Cregg, Veronica Mars, Kara Thrace, and Laura Roslin, to name a few. (Not to mention delightfully funny deconstructed versions of female superheroes like Captain Liberty from the live-action version of The Tick.)

This article hit the nail right on the head: we are all afraid of what David E. Kelley is going to do with Wonder Woman. Judging from what I’ve seen so far I would have to call this version “Wondy McBeal”, not Wonder Woman. I will reserve judgement until I see the actual pilot, and I don’t blame Adrienne Palicki for any of this. She’s an actress. She didn’t write that script, and she didn’t design that costume.

@The Hoobie, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I have to respectfully disagree. Wonder Woman is an icon, and she deserves the same care and respect that the male superheroes get. I grew up with Lynda Carter’s version, and while I loved seeing her in that role, I would be the first to admit the stunts and special effects were cheesy, because that was how it was back then. Times have changed, and technology has advanced, even on the small screen. I expect to see a sense of wonder from this modern day re-imagining of Wonder Woman. I have the feeling Kelley is not the man for the job.

I would be willing to bet that nearly everyone has their own list of notable female characters. I love Buffy, Captain Liberty and Clarice Starling, but I notice Xena: Warrior Princess and Mrs. Emma Peel (The Avengers) were missing from your list. The rest of the characters you mentioned do absolutely nothing for me, and that’s okay. You have your list, and everyone else can have theirs.

Some folks may not agree with the heroines you and I favor. Frankly, they might not care about any of them, and they might not be moved by them. That’s okay too. Fiction is big enough so that everyone can find something to relate to.

I loved sandr88′s poignant post, about how Wonder Woman helped her through some pretty bad times. That’s what superheroes (male and female) are meant to do: they inspire us. To each his/her own.