Wonder Woman and Philosophy E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 385

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian Mystique explores a wide range of philosophical questions surrounding the most popular female superhero of all time, from her creation as feminist propaganda during World War II up to the first female lead in the blockbuster DC movie-franchise.

• The first book dedicated to the philosophical questions raised by the complex and enduringly iconic super-heroine 
• Fighting fascism with feminism since 1941, considers the power of Wonder Woman as an exploration of gender identity and also that of the human condition – what limits us and what we can overcome
• Confronts the ambiguities of Wonder Woman, from her roles as a feminist cause and fully empowered woman, to her objectification as sexual fantasy
• Topics explored include origin stories and identity, propaganda and art, altruism and the ethics of care, Amazonians as transhumanists, eroticism and graphic novels, the crafting of a heroine, domination, relationships, the ethics of killing and torture, and many more.

Leseprobe

The Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture SeriesSeries editor William Irwin

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a healthy helping of popular culture clears the cobwebs from Kant. Philosophy has had a public relations problem for a few centuries now. This series aims to change that, showing that philosophy is relevant to your life—and not just for answering the big questions like “To be or not to be?” but for answering the little questions: “To watch or not to watch South Park” Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn't make you a “complete idiot.” In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching.

Already published in the series:

24 and Philosophy: The World According to JackEdited by Jennifer Hart Weed, Richard Brian Davis, and Ronald Weed

30 Rock and Philosophy: We Want to Go to ThereEdited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and CuriouserEdited by Richard Brian Davis

Arrested Development and Philosophy: They've Made a Huge MistakeEdited by Kristopher Phillips and J. Jeremy Wisnewski

Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to SeeEdited by George A. Dunn

The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest ThinkersEdited by Mark D. White

Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the SoulEdited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp

Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Knowledge Here Begins Out ThereEdited by Jason T. Eberl

The Big Bang Theory and Philosophy: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Aristotle, LockeEdited by Dean Kowalski

The Big Lebowski and Philosophy: Keeping Your Mind Limber with Abiding WisdomEdited by Peter S. Fosl

BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational BookEdited by Luke Cuddy

Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering RealityEdited by William Irwin

The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Art of Fake NewsEdited by Jason Holt

Downton Abbey and Philosophy: The Truth Is Neither Here Nor ThereEdited by Mark D. White

Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Advantage on All Wisdom ChecksEdited by Christopher Robichaud

Ender's Game and Philosophy: The Logic Gate is DownEdited by Kevin S. Decker

Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the PetardedEdited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski

Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate WalkthroughEdited by Jason P. Blahuta and Michel S. Beaulieu

Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Than SwordsEdited by Henry Jacoby

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Philosophy: Everything is FireEdited by Eric Bronson

Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape this BookEdited by Jane Dryden and Mark D. White

Heroes and Philosophy: Buy the Book, Save the WorldEdited by David Kyle Johnson

The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You've Lost Your Dwarves, Your Wizard, and Your WayEdited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson

House and Philosophy: Everybody LiesEdited by Henry Jacoby

House of Cards and Philosophy: Capitalism without ConsumerismEdited by J. Edward Hackett

The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure TreasonEdited by George Dunn and Nicolas Michaud

Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a DreamEdited by David Johnson

Iron Man and Philosophy: Facing the Stark RealityEdited by Mark D. White

Lost and Philosophy: The Island Has Its ReasonsEdited by Sharon M. Kaye

Mad Men and Philosophy: Nothing Is as It SeemsEdited by James South and Rod Carveth

Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain SurgeryEdited by William Irwin

The Office and Philosophy: Scenes from the Unfinished LifeEdited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski

Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: Brains Before BulletsEdited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl

South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something TodayEdited by Robert Arp

Spider-Man and Philosophy: The Web of InquiryEdited by Jonathan Sanford

Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Steel Do?Edited by Mark D. White

Supernatural and Philosophy: Metaphysics and Monsters...for IdjitsEdited by Galen Foresman

Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I AmEdited by Richard Brown and Kevin Decker

True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with YouEdited by George Dunn and Rebecca Housel

Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of ImmortalityEdited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski

The Ultimate Daily Show and Philosophy: More Moments of Zen, More Moments of Indecision TheoryEdited by Jason Holt

The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for MugglesEdited by Gregory Bassham

The Ultimate Lost and Philosophy: Think Together, Die AloneEdited by Sharon Kaye

The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect My Philosophah!Edited by Robert Arp and Kevin S. Decker

The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Unlearn What You Have LearnedEdited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker

The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy:Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker

The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Shotgun. Machete. Reason.Edited by Christopher Robichaud

Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach TestEdited by Mark D. White

Veronica Mars and Philosophy: Investigating the Mysteries of Life (Which is a Bitch Until You Die)Edited by George A. Dunn

X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-VerseEdited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski

Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian MystiqueEdited by Jacob M. Held

WONDER WOMAN AND PHILOSOPHY

THE AMAZONIAN MYSTIQUE

Edited by Jacob M. Held

University of Central Arkansas, AR, US

This edition first published 2017 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The right of Jacob M. Held to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for

Paperback ISBN: 9781119280750

Cover image: STARS © TRACEY QUIRK / EYEEM / GETTY IMAGES; GOLD PAPER © KATSUMI MUROUCHI / GETTY IMAGES; METAL © MFTO / GETTY IMAGES

Dedicated to my wife, Jennifer, who truly is Wonder Woman, even if she refuses to wear the outfit.

CONTENTS

Contributors: The Myndi Mayer Foundation

Acknowledgments

Editor's Note

Introduction: In and For a World of Ordinary Mortals

Note

Part I: You are a Wonder Woman

1: Becoming a (Wonder) Woman: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Ambiguity of Female Identity

What is a Woman?

The Ambiguously Feminist Superhero

To Become a (Wonder) Woman

Notes

2: The God of War is Wearing What?: Gender in the New 52

Hell Hath No Fury

Who Are You Calling Second?

Aggressive Men and the Women Who Nurture Them

Everyone (and No One) is Watching You!

The God of War is Wearing What?

One Big Happy Family

Notes

3: Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn: The Paradox of the Moral Hero

Merciful Minerva! Look at That (Costume)!

Call Me Harley! Everyone Does!

Athena's Shield! No Nada Zero Zip Zilch Nothin' (to Know)!

My Boss Likes Me to Wear (Just) a Smile to Work!

Great Hera! Wonder Wowsa!

Notes

4: Great Hera!: Considering Wonder Woman's Super Heroism

(Super)Heroes as (Super)Samaritans

Making Heroes

Making and Remaking Wonder Woman

Superheroes and Super Heroes

Notes

Part II: Dispatches from Man's World

5: Wonder Woman: Feminist Faux Pas?

Who Can Match Up?

Brawn and Bondage

Damn You Hitler!

The Amazons Wept

A Freakin' Fashion Boutique?

Modern Mediocrity?

Why So Serious?

Notes

6: Feminist Symbol or Fetish?: Žižek, Wonder Woman, and

Final Crisis

The Legacy of William Moulton Marston

On Symptoms…

… and Fetishes

Wonder Woman as the Comic Industry's Fetish

Morrison and Wonder Woman: Earth One

Notes

7: When Clark Met Diana: Friendship and Romance in Comics

Friendship in Philosophy

Friendship in Popular Fiction

Popular Fiction as Action Guiding

Friendship across the Kinsey Scale

Friendship and Amatonormativity

Freeing Friendship

Notes

Part III: When I Deal with Them, I Deal with Them

8: Bound to Face the Truth: The Ethics of Using Wonder Woman's Lasso

The Magic Lasso vs. the Lasso of Truth

Four Ethical Touchstones

“The Truth is My Weapon”

“This is my soul. Please tread carefully.”

Truth-Force

“When we don't want it, the truth burns.”

Notes

9: “What I Had to Do”: The Ethics of Wonder Woman's Execution of Maxwell Lord

Maxwell Lord, Check and Mate

Killing Now to Prevent Killing Later

Would a Moral Philosopher Have Saved Max Lord?

No Regret, No Remorse

Avoiding the Tragic Dilemma

Would She—

Should

She—Do It Again?

Notes

10: Can a Warrior Care?: Wonder Woman and the Improbable Intersection of Care Ethics and Bushido

Bushido and Care

Wonder Woman and the Way of the Warrior

Wonder Woman: Samurai Feminist?

The Caring Warrior

Notes

11: Wonder Woman: Saving Lives through Just Torture?

Torture and the Ticking Bomb

Torture and the Golden Lasso

The Right Thing is Not the Ideal Thing

Notes

12: Wonder Woman Winning with Words: A Paragon of Wisdom, Disarming Threats One at a Time…

In a World of Superheroes, She is Still a Wonder Woman

Lassos, Truth, and Wisdom

Ambassador, Emissary, and Role Model

Notes

Part IV: God(s), Country, Sorority

13: Wonder Woman, Worship, and Gods Almighty: Purpose in Submission to Loving Authority

One God, Two Gods, Old Gods, New Gods

False Gods and the Cult of Wonder Woman

Whose God, Which Divinity?

Not as a Princess, But as a God

Notes

14: Merciful Minerva in a Modern Metropolis

“A woman with the eternal beauty of Aphrodite and the wisdom of Athena”

Hercules and the Barbarian World of Men

“Let us go back—back to that mysterious Amazon isle called Paradise Island!”

Freedom and Liberty for All

World War II and the Fight for the Classical Legacy

The German Psychologist Hugo Münsterberg as Dr. Psycho

Notes

15: Wonder Woman and Patriarchy: From Themyscira's Amazons to Wittig's Guérrillères

Diana against Man's World: A Feminist Epic Tale

The Guérrillères at War

Listen to Wonder Woman: Fight Patriarch's World

Notes

Part V: Tying Up Loose Ends

16: The Lasso of Truth?

The Lie Detector

A Magic Lie Detector?

The Stronger Sex

Inducement and Submission

Dominance and Compliance

Alluring and Submissive

Bracelets of Submission

The Magic Lasso of Aphrodite

Submission vs. Slavery

Deception and Domination

A Final Twist

Notes

17: Loving Lassos: Wonder Woman, Kink, and Care

Femdom Fantasies

Aphrodite's Law and the Ethics of Care

The Kinky Ties that Bind

Being a Good Mistress

Return to Paradise Island

Notes

18: Golden Lassos and Logical Paradoxes

The Two Rules of the Golden Lasso of Truth

Bizarra and Her Lasso

Revenge of the Magic Lassos

Other Topics in Lasso Logic

Solutions

Notes

Index

EULA

Guide

Cover

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Contributors: The Myndi Mayer Foundation

Mónica Cano Abadía is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). Her doctoral dissertation focused on the philosophy of Judith Butler and the possibilities for social transformation. She is a feminist activist who has loved Wonder Woman ever since she read All Star Comics #8. Already being a fan of superheroes, this issue opened a whole new perspective: there were superheroines out there, fighting villains and heteropatriarchy at the same time! It's no wonder that she has also become a teacher of feminist self-defense. Her recent research interests include global justice and migrations, intersectional theory, new materialisms and posthumanisms.

Adam Barkman is a philosopher and author of five books, including Making Sense of Islamic Art and Architecture (Thames and Hudson, 2015), and the co-editor of four books on philosophy, film, and pop culture, most recently Downton Abbey and Philosophy (Open Court, 2015). Although Adam's wife doesn't claim to be a superhero, she is remarkably efficient at washing their daughter Katie's favorite Wonder Woman shirt every day so it's ready for another day of heroics.

Steve Bein is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dayton, where he is a specialist in Asian thought, primarily Japanese and Chinese philosophy. He is a contributor to The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy and LEGO and Philosophy, and he is also an award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy. Despite his repeated attempts, no matter how often he spins in place he has never once managed to transmogrify himself into a scantily clad Lynda Carter.

Matthew William Brake graduated from Regent University with a Master's of Divinity in 2009. Currently, he is going to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA to pursue an MA in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis on religion, cultures, and values and an MA in philosophy. In the past, his research has focused on the relationship between Søren Kierkegaard and mysticism, and he has written numerous articles for the series Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception, Resources. He gets terrified whenever he thinks about going for a PhD and could use some of Wonder Woman's courage!

Like Elizabeth Holloway Marston, the real-life inspiration for Wonder Woman, Maria Chavez is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. She's also happy to see Grant Morrison's Wonder Woman returning back to her feminist and kinky roots. When Wonder Woman asks, “Isn't it more fun to make the man obey?” Maria would respond, “Yes it is, Wonder Woman. Yes it is!”

Roy T. Cook is CLA Scholar of the College and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities. He is the author of The Yablo Paradox: An Essay on Circularity (Oxford, 2014) and Key Concept in Philosophy: Paradoxes (Polity, 2013) and the co-editor of The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach (with Aaron Meskin, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), the Routledge Companion to Comics (with Aaron Meskin and Frank Bramlett, Routledge, 2016), and LEGO and Philosophy (with Sondra Bacharach, Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming).

Sarah K. Donovan is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wagner College. Her teaching and research interests include community-based, feminist, social, moral, and Continental philosophy. While she is not known for her keen fashion sense, she still thinks a twenty-first-century Wonder Woman really should ask, while looking at her outfit in the mirror, “Would Tim Gunn say ‘make it work’?”

Chris Gavaler is an Assistant Professor of English at Washington and Lee University. His book On the Origin of Superheroes was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2015, and he has collaborated with Nathaniel Goldberg on essays in the Journal of Pop Culture; Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction; Batman, Superman, and Philosophy; and The X-Files and Philosophy. His sense of humor was accidentally erased during the last reboot.

Nathaniel Goldberg teaches philosophy at Washington and Lee University. He's written an academic book called Kantian Conceptual Geography, and with Chris Gavaler is writing a popular book called With Great Power: How Superhero Comics Channel and Challenge Philosophy. Like Wonder Woman, he was originally named “Suprema.”

Jacob M. Held is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the UCA Core at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, AR. He is also the general editor of the “Great Authors and Philosophy” series with Rowman and Littlefield, and editor of Stephen King and Philosophy, the inaugural volume in that series. And although psychotherapy could probably adequately explain his fascination with Wonder Woman, that's one area where he's happy living an unexamined life.

Allie Hernandez is a sophomore at Health Careers High School in San Antonio, TX. She is an avid reader, writer, and illustrator of graphic novels and the superhero genre. Allie has even created her own female superhero, Domino. When she isn't drawing or reading, she is probably engaging in her other loves: music, food, and sleep.

Jill Hernandez is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and specializes in topics at the intersection of ethics, early modern philosophy, and philosophy of religion. She is the author of Early Modern Women and the Problem of Evil: Atrocity and Theodicy (2016), Gabriel Marcel's Ethics of Hope: Evil, God, and Virtue (2013), and the editor of The New Intuitionism (2012). Mostly, though, she fights evil with her Super Crew—Gustavo, Allie, and Sofie … and Sofie's wonderbunny, Puff-n-Fluff.

Matthew A. Hoffman is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, having previously been at Florida State University and King's College London. His research interests are in ethics and the social side of moral philosophy. Lately, however, most of his time has been spent reading comics, which turns out to be a more expensive hobby than buying philosophy books.

Melanie Johnson-Moxley teaches philosophy at Columbia College and the University of Missouri. Her research interests include comparative philosophy, the history of women in philosophy, and the work of A.N. Whitehead. She is a member of the Society for the Study of Women Philosophers and the International Institute for Field-Being. She has revered Wonder Woman above all other superheroes since she could first twirl a lasso and will unabashedly give the Amazon salute in public.

Nathan Kellen is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of Connecticut. His research is primarily on the nature of truth and logic and their connection to other areas of philosophy. He has contributed papers to More Doctor Who and Philosophy (Open Court, 2015) and (co-written with Roy T. Cook) to The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). Unfortunately for him, Wonder Woman's golden lasso cannot be used to figure out how to finish a dissertation, even if that dissertation is on truth.

Dennis Knepp teaches philosophy, religious studies, and Greek mythology at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, WA. He has chapters in the Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture books on Twilight, Alice in Wonderland, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hobbit, Avatar, Superman, Black Sabbath, and Star Wars. Dennis often exclaims “Suffering Socrates!” or “Great Heraclitus!” when he uses a lasso of truth-tables.

Sara Kolmes is a PhD student in philosophy at Georgetown University, and holds Master's degrees in history and philosophy of science, and philosophy from Florida State University. Her main areas of interest are bioethics and environmental ethics, although if working on aesthetics would mean she could justify going to concerts as work, she'd start working in that area in a heartbeat.

James Edwin Mahon is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at CUNY-Lehman College. His research interests include the philosophy of deception, the history of moral philosophy, and applied ethics. From childhood, he has been a Marvel Comics person, and not a DC Comics person. But he has made an exception in this instance, because it's Wonder Woman. As she says, “If it means interfering in an ensconced, outdated system, to help just one woman, man or child … I'm willing to accept the consequences.”

Trip McCrossin teaches in the Philosophy Department at Rutgers University, where he works on, among other things, the nature, history, and legacy of the Enlightenment. Hearing Diana tell Bruce Wayne recently, “You've never met a woman like me,” he can't help but think he's heard this somewhere before, and maybe more than once.

Francis Tobienne, Jr. is Professor of Literature, Writing, and Humanities at South University, Tampa and Senior Dali Research Fellow at The Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL. He is the author of Mandeville's Travails: Merging Travel, Theory and Commentary (2016), The Position of Magic in Selected Medieval Spanish Texts (2008), as well as editor of Occultus: the Hidden and Macabre in Literature and Film (2016). Although he wears bowties to work, he is still hoping to get into The Justice League where his 4-year-old daughter Marisol is Wonder Woman and 2-year-old son Xavier is Batman.

Sabina Tokbergenova is a philosopher interested in ethics and social philosophy. Her most recent publication is a chapter in Aliens and Philosophy. Like Diana Prince, Sabina wears glasses, but unlike Wonder Woman, Sabina is no good without hers.

Mark D. White is chair and professor in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, where he teaches courses in philosophy, economics, and law. He is the author of five books and 60 journal articles and book chapters, and the editor of six books in the Blackwell Philosophy and PopCulture series, including Batman and Philosophy (with Robert Arp) and Superman and Philosophy. He is adamant that until Wonder Woman has to wear pants again, neither does he.

J. Lenore Wright is the Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy at Baylor University. Her scholarly interests include theories and representations of the self and feminist philosophy. In 2006, she published The Philosopher's “I”: Autobiography and the Search for the Self. Other publications include “From ‘I’ to ‘We’: Acts of Agency in Simone de Beauvoir's Philosophical Autobiography” in Philosophy of Autobiography and “Who's Afraid of Naomi Wolf: Feminism in Post-feminist Culture” in Feminism and Popular Culture. She has also published in Teaching Philosophy and the Journal of Interactive Instruction Development and is an academic consultant for the International Organization for Student Success. In her spare time, she enjoys running and rearing her reluctant but willing sons as future feminists.

Andrea Zanin is the author of the pop-culture blog Rantchick.com. She currently lives in London, where she spends her time writing, ranting, being a journalist, and pretending she's Amazonian. Unfortunately, she's not very good at it—lacking in the required height, speed, and breast size. Plus, as it turns out, Zeus is not really her dad (bummer) nor does she have a cool tiara. Talk about feminist faux pas! Andrea has contributed chapters to various pop-culture and philosophy books, including Sons of Anarchy, Hannibal Lecter, and X-Files.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, thanks to Bill Irwin. Since the beginning of my career—with my earliest publication in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy (edited by James B. South)—he has been a constant in my academic life and I have benefited immensely from his presence. Thanks also for the helpful comments on my own work in this book, and for being an ideal editorial partner. I'd also like to thank all the contributors. Writing for an editor can be difficult, and they have all been gracious in accepting editorial suggestions and have written some wonderful essays. A book like this is only as good as its contributors, and we made a great book.

Editor's Note

Over the more than 75 years in which Wonder Woman has entertained us, there have been variations in certain names. For example, her mother is referred to as both Queen Hippolyta and Queen Hippolyte. Likewise, the Amazons suffer at the hands of both Hercules and Heracles. Marston used the god of war's Roman name, Mars, not Ares. Thankfully, the change in names is mostly superficial. However, standardizing the use of these names in this volume, although it would simplify matters, would lead to inaccuracies since alternate versions were, in fact, used throughout Wonder Woman's history. Therefore, I have deferred to the authors and allowed the use of the name that is most accurate given the context of the author's essay.

Introduction: In and For a World of Ordinary Mortals

Jacob M. Held

I've been waiting for Wonder Woman. But as anxious as I've been, I've also been a bit wary. The Amazonian princess is complex, and complexity doesn't translate well on the big screen—the small screen fares only slightly better.

Wonder Woman is problematic. She's a sexy woman. That can't be denied. But she's also a superhero, a fully empowered woman, even at times a god. The masculinity of Batman and Superman befits them as heroes, as strong, powerful, and righteous. By contrast, the femininity of Wonder Woman complicates matters. Objectification is a threat for Wonder Woman. Does her sex appeal diminish her gravitas? Is she less of a heroine and more of a sexual fantasy? And often, resisting her objectification, Wonder Woman can look more like a feminist cause than a hero. Maybe that's okay, though, considering her origins as feminist propaganda. Any way we look at it, we confront the ambiguity of Wonder Woman. She is not just a superhero, nor is she defined by her gender. However, a focus on either overshadows and seemingly diminishes the other.

Echoing the existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986), I've used the term “ambiguity” to describe Wonder Woman.1 Beauvoir uses the term to describe woman's place in the world. As she sees it, women are caught in a bind. Acquiesce to gender norms and lose oneself, or become oneself and lose one's place in the world. So women are in an ambiguous place, and Wonder Woman emphasizes this time and time again. Is she in love with Steve Trevor? Will she marry? Is she a lesbian, straight, or bi? Do these categories even apply to her? Is she mortal or a god? Is she human or Amazon? Is she American or cosmopolitan? She is always torn between two, or more, worlds and is forced to navigate these worlds, thereby creating an identity for herself by defining herself over and against various standards and expectations. She can only become Wonder Woman in opposition, creating a place for herself by continually rejecting previous spaces. Where does she belong? On Paradise Island, or in Boston. On Mount Olympus, or back on Earth. With a partner, or alone.

This ambiguity is not unique to Wonder Woman. We all must wonder where we belong. Although Wonder Woman's challenges are hers by virtue of her being female, and although they are more obvious given the way in which society deals with gender, we are all torn between what we are and what we want to become. We are all limited beings who have to deal with our unique situations and circumstances, our race, gender, class, capabilities, and social position.

We need to embrace Wonder Woman in all of her contradictions. She is a reflection of, and challenge to, our norms, our values, our society. She exemplifies our ideals, while posing serious questions about the place of those ideals in modern society. She speaks to our better selves while recognizing our frailty. She speaks to excellence in an imperfect world. She speaks to meaning and order in a chaotic world. She speaks to integrity in ambiguity. Like Wonder Woman, we live in ambiguity, but we have to live. So we stake our commitments and move forward doing the best that we can.

The aim of this book is appropriately ambiguous. Considering Wonder Woman philosophically is both fun and serious. So, read for pleasure and pause for contemplation.

Note

1

. For her classic presentation of these issues, see Simone de Beauvoir,

The Second Sex

.

Part IYou are a Wonder Woman

1Becoming a (Wonder) Woman: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Ambiguity of Female Identity

J. Lenore Wright

More than 70 years have passed since the debut of Wonder Woman in All Star Comics. To the wonder of many, Wonder Woman remains one of the most popular comic-book superheroes of all time. As Jill Lepore aptly observes in The Secret History of Wonder Woman, “Aside from Superman and Batman, no other comic-book character has lasted as long.”1 What, precisely, gives Wonder Woman her wondrous staying power in the American popular consciousness?

Her overt femininity (need I mention the bustier, boots, and bracelets?) coupled with her Amazonian strength and speed (“she was both stronger than Hercules and swifter than Mercury”) crosses gender and generational divides.2 The raven-haired beauty emboldened a generation of men reared on pin-ups and promises to fight fascism in World War II. The lasso-wielding freedom fighter empowered women to leave the domestic sphere for the public sphere and take control of their lives and livelihood.3 The lone female founder of the Justice League of America (formerly known as the Justice Society of America) inspired countercultural Americans to voice stories of struggle and alienation. Today, the tiara-wearing heroine's combined fierceness and frivolity appeals to readers' fluid understanding of gender norms and identities.4 Ironically, it is Wonder Woman's ambiguity that makes her appeal so enduring.

Wonder Woman is a walking—and sometimes flying—paradox of attributions and images. She is, at once, a female sex symbol and feminist icon: physically enchanting, psychically vulnerable, morally virtuous, financially independent, self-determining, and, in tune with her womanly ways, self-sacrificing. “She was meant to be the strongest, smartest, bravest woman the world had ever seen,” writes Lepore.5 In short, Wonder Woman represents a robust modern conception of American womanhood.

This chapter explores the complexities of Wonder Woman's identity, as she navigates male and female spheres of existence to embody a modern American ideal.6 The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) maintains, in the Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) and The Second Sex (1949), that sexual differences shape human existence insofar as society offers men and women different possibilities for expressing who they are and what they desire. Whereas man actively creates his destiny, woman passively accepts her uncertain existence. The critical feminist task is for women to transcend barriers to freedom so they can begin to forge their identities and enjoy self-fulfillment. Wonder Woman exemplifies this “woman of tomorrow.”7 “Wiser and stronger than men,” she gives up her right to eternal life and commitment to remain “aloof from men” to join her love interest, Captain Steve Trevor, an army intelligence officer, in America and defend democracy “and equal rights for women.”8 Wonder Woman challenges established social roles and the assumed facticity of life by creating her identity in the world, an identity born out of sacrifice and pain. In becoming who she is—in making a new life in a new country under a new name—Wonder Woman gives new meaning to Beauvoir's claim that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”9

What is a Woman?

On the cusp of her 40th birthday, Simone de Beauvoir became preoccupied with the question, “What has it meant to me to be a woman?” Previously, she had insisted that women's lives were no different from men's lives. Beauvoir initially rejected the term “feminist” to describe herself and distanced herself from feminist thought. Yet, as she considered the condition of women further, she realized that being a woman had shaped her experiences in profound ways. Beauvoir writes, “I looked and it was a revelation: the world was a masculine world, my childhood had been nourished by myths formed by men, and I hadn't reacted to them in the same way I should have done if I had been a boy.”10

Beauvoir adopts the question “What is a Woman?” as the guiding question of her pivotal feminist text, The Second Sex (1949), in which she observes that despite significant social and cultural differences worldwide, women share the experience of being dependent persons. Men, by contrast, are independent; they are the creators and prime examples of absolute rules and values in a fixed patriarchal system. Man, then, defines humanity:

Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being… And she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called ‘the sex,’ by which is meant that she appears essentially to the male as a sexual being… She is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute—she is the Other.11

In defining humanity, man pursues a freely chosen future. He invents tools and creates values that allow him to transcend the repetition of life. Woman, bound by her body—bound by what Beauvoir characterizes as her immanence in reproduction—is imprisoned in the repetition of life. She is unable to subdue her body or control her future. (Historically speaking, pregnancy and childbirth reduce women's capacity for work and make them dependent upon men for protection and food. This was particularly true before the advent of reliable birth control. Of course, Amazons don't have this worry.) Woman is thus immanent rather than transcendent, dependent rather than independent, and, therefore, denied her very humanity. Beauvoir embraces the philosophical leanings of her romantic partner and intellectual companion, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), who advances the existentialist idea that individuals are responsible for determining who they are and what meaning their lives bear. Similarly, Beauvoir maintains that women, like men, must look reality squarely in the face and assume a responsibility for changing it by engaging in a struggle for freedom. Marston anticipates and aides Beauvoir's call in the figure of Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman's feminist spirit originates in her ancestry. We learn in the introductory issue (All Star Comics #8, December 1941–January 1942) that Wonder Woman is the daughter of Hippolyte, Queen of Amazonia, an ancient Greek nation ruled for centuries by women. Threatened by the Amazons' autonomy and power, Hercules attempts to defeat the Amazons through combat. He loses. But through deceit and trickery, he manages to secure the magic girdle created by Aphrodite to ensure Hippolyte's success. The Amazons are enslaved until their degradation becomes unbearable. Aphrodite takes pity upon Amazonia and returns the magic girdle to Hippolyte, who overcomes the male captors, flees Amazonia with her female subjects, and establishes a new world on an uncharted island they name Paradise Island.12 Like the historic path of liberation for modern women, the Amazons' liberation is not without conditions. “Aphrodite also decreed that we must always wear these bracelets fashioned by our captors, as a reminder that we must always keep aloof from men.”13 Wonder Woman, who later acquires the name Diana after her godmother, the goddess of the moon, threatens this newly established order when Wonder Woman falls in love with an American captain who crash lands his airplane on Paradise Island. Her mother warns, “So long as we do not permit ourselves to be again beguiled by men! We are indeed a race of Wonder Women! That was the promise of Aphrodite—and we must keep our promise to her if we are to remain here safe and in peace! That is why this American must go and as soon as possible!”14

Despite Wonder Woman's respect for her mother's authority and commitment to women's independence, romantic love prevails. Wonder Woman gives up eternal life (that's right, eternal life) and her beloved home on Paradise Island for Captain Trevor. Like modern women everywhere, Wonder Woman sacrifices her self-interest for the sake of womanhood: devotion and service to men above fidelity to oneself. Patriarchy assigns women this familiar, secondary role. Yet, like the modern women Marston envisions and seeks to inspire, Wonder Woman does not relinquish her independent identity entirely. She transfers her nationalist commitments to her new homeland of America, “the land she learns to love and protect.”15 She both embraces and subverts traditional female roles, thereby challenging prevailing notions of womanhood. Lepore observes that Wonder Woman's shifting identity and iconographic representation from the 1940s to the present mirrors ongoing and often inconsistent constructions of womanhood:

Wonder Woman isn't only an Amazonian princess with badass boots. She's the missing link in a chain of events that begins with the woman suffrage campaign of the 1910s and ends with the troubled place of feminism fully a century later. Feminism made Wonder Woman. And then Wonder Woman remade feminism, which hasn't been altogether good for feminism. Superheroes, who are supposed to be better than everyone else, are excellent at clobbering people; they're lousy at fighting for equality.16

In 1911, the terms “Amazon” and “New Women” were applied to women who rebelled against social norms, left home, and attended college.17 “Feminism,” a term rarely used before 1910, was common by 1913. “Feminism meant advocacy of women's rights and freedoms and a vision of equality markedly different from that embraced by the “woman movement” of the nineteenth century, which had been founded less on a principle of equality than a set of ideas about women's moral superiority.”18

Marston tethered the feminist philosophy of Wonder Woman to the progressive views of early feminists, views he inherited from his beloved professor of philosophy, George Herbert Palmer. Palmer supported women's suffrage and women's education on the grounds that “girls are also human beings, a point often overlooked.”19 But Marston also understood and at times empathized with the social and political forces that vie against women's equality, real as well as symbolic forces that keep women dependent on men. It is fitting, then, that the singular weakness he gives to Wonder Woman, loss of strength, occurs whenever a man binds her in chains. Equality in theory is well and good. In practice, however, even Wonder Woman is subject to male power.

The fantasy of American women throughout the early twentieth century is realized again and again in the adventures of Wonder Woman: to escape.20 In the words of Annie Lucasta (“Lou”) Rogers, a feminist cartoonist and colleague of Wonder Woman cartoonist Harry G. Peter, she and other women wanted to know “how to arrange the world so that women can be human beings, with a chance to exercise their infinitely varied gifts in infinitely varied ways, instead of being destined by the accident of their sex to one field of activity—housework and child-raising.”21 Embedded in Roger's claim is an idea fleshed out by Marston and Peter in the character of Wonder Woman and theorized by Beauvoir: the ambiguity of existence should enrich women's lives and expand their capacity for self-definition, not confine them to a less significant and/or diverse existence. Self-identity, then, is a philosophical and political endeavor. Unless women resist the prescribed identity and artificial essence assigned to them—women are the weaker sex, women are objects, women are inherently feminine, and, therefore, submissive—and claim the freedom to define for themselves who and what they are, women will never be fully human. In Linda Stein's words, the Wonder Woman stories express Marston's belief that “individuals free of gender stereotypes are also free to develop to their full potential.”22

Wonder Woman realizes the critical link between personal emancipation and collective liberation. “I'll rely on myself and not a man,” she tells Prudence, a rescuee. The defender of democracy develops her abilities, pursues economic opportunities, and addresses world problems. Moreover, she illustrates the existential and political value of freedom from male oppression: “What a sweet sound! My man-made bonds have snapped! My woman's power returns again” (Wonder Woman #4, April–May 1943). Wonder Woman's self-empowerment is a productive model of female transcendence.

The Ambiguously Feminist Superhero

For Wonder Woman and her early readers, the personal is political, as the feminist slogan goes. Mitra C. Emad argues that Peter's iconographic blending of politics and personhood—star-spangled tights on a sensuous female form—invited women of the war generation to see themselves in Wonder Woman's narrative of American exceptionalism and achievement:

Until his death in 1947, Marston, in collaboration with artist Harry G. Peter, produced a comic in which the hero, while often saving Capt. Trevor, primarily saved helpless women from imminent death and destruction, attempting also to empower women to look after themselves and discover their own physical and economic strengths. Girls are taught that if they “feel [they] can do things, so [they] can do them,” and women are exhorted to “get strong and earn your own living.”23

The overlaying of politics on Wonder Woman's ageless yet ever-changing body, however, creates a philosophical quandary.24 The nation is a man's domain, and nationalism a man's game. The body is a woman's domain, and embodiment a woman's game. Hence, appending national identity to woman's identity creates “oppositional encounters” between masculine, public ideals and feminine, private ideals.25 It also creates a tension between purported sources of power: political authority or political influence. The super-powerful warrior, free from traditional gender norms, fights monsters and men, flaunting the unlimited power of the state. The super-feminine woman, bound by traditional gender norms, enacts an attractive, heteronormative identity, surreptitiously creating her own furtive field of influence among uber-powerful men.26 How is one to understand the conflicting ideals Wonder Woman embraces? She is a modern (super-) woman who must make hard choices about which spheres of society to enter, and, thus, which elements of identity to surrender or proclaim. In short, she must relinquish some freedom to become a woman; i.e., to be subdued, sexualized, and made safe for a man's world. Women are in an ambiguous position. A woman can pursue her freedom by rejecting societal norms and expectations and consequently be outcast, thus subverting her attempt at freedom, or she can adopt these norms and standards and thereby subvert her subjectivity. A woman must navigate between two worlds, treading a fine line between transcendence and immanence, subject and object, freedom and servitude. The feminist philosophy of Wonder Woman is ambiguous indeed.

Marston and his collaborators exploit Wonder Woman's ambiguity by invoking distinct male and female spheres of activity. They then judiciously elevate one sphere (and one correlative identity) above the other. Which sphere gets privileged varies according to the cultural context in which the comic is produced. In a wartime edition of Wonder Woman comics (Wonder Woman #5, June–July 1943), a period in which women assumed vacated male positions to facilitate military success, George Washington appears as a symbol not of patriotism but patriarchy, poised to undermine women's emerging equality. “Women will lose the war for America!” he declares, “Women will betray their country through weakness if not treachery.”27 Marston “places gender above nationalism in rendering George Washington in such unpatriotic tones,” Emad explains. “In other words, Marston seems to say, nationalism at the expense of women's power remains a conventional nationalism that must be subject to critique.”28

The push for social change throughout the Marston era of Wonder Woman comics is a boon to first and second-wave feminists. Marston develops themes and images empowering to women and affirming of their intellectual and economic interests: “normal human females successfully acting as presidents, professors, and police officers.”29