Fans Are "Wondering About Wonder Woman"


How long must we wait?

While working on a film article about the dumbing-down of American films and audiences, I came across the following timely headline on Yahoo! News:

Wondering About Wonder Woman by Claudia Zap

The numbers of internet searches for "Wonder Woman" since the start of the summer blockbuster movie season (see "The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man", and "Hancock") is staggering, justifying Wonder Woman fans like me who have been waiting for a movie since the first "Spider-Man", "X-men", and "Hulk" movies. DC Comics answered with two stellar Batman movies featuring one of my favorite actors, Christian Bale, and the moody blockbuster "Superman Returns", which I understand based on the popularity of the characters, but Marvel had already given Hollywood the greenlight for two Fantastic Four movies, while Joss Whedon's development of the Amazon Princess with a lasso was being stunted. I realize Hollywood has a problem with Wonder Woman, and it may have a lot to do with the marketing of singularly heroic women in movies.

Does anyone else remember the excitement about the news of Joss Whedon writing and directing a "Wonder Woman" movie? I had it posted on my MySpace profile for a couple of years before it became apparent it wasn't happening anytime soon. And then began the buzz about a live action Justice League movie, which would precede Whedon's adaptation but prominently feature Wonder Woman. Another reason for a fan to rejoice!

And to be let down again.

Whedon quit the project early last year due to "creative differences", and according to one online article about the Justice League movie, that idea was shelved indefinitely, allegedly due to the writer's strike. But maybe that was a smart move, with all the inferior CGI fodder since the ill-fated "Catwoman". Wonder Woman movie rights holder and producer Joel Silver seems to think putting it on hold is the best idea. It may be all about economics, and wanting to get top dollars in the box office competition. But if you look at successful movies featuring strong female characters (Sex in the City, Mamma Mia, and the potential of Sisters of The Traveling Pants 2), you would think Hollywood types like Silver would see the money is already there. Wonder Woman is still as familiar as Carrie and her three gal pals, and she's been around longer. And if we took a poll right now, I suspect a movie featuring the Amazon Princess would have more male fans in attendance than another movie featuring the four Manhattan princesses. Yet fans of Wonder Woman - men and women - are disappointed to find out the Justice League and Wonder Woman movies have been put on hold indefinitely.



Wonder Woman Trivia Questions

The following 5 questions will test if you're a true fan of the almost 67-year-old superheroine. (Answers at the end of this post.)

1. You probably already know who invented the DC Comics superheroine, William Moulton Marston, and when, in 1941. But do you know how the lasso she uses became legendary?

2. Do you know when the first Wonder Woman movie came to be, and who starred as the powerful princess?

3. Which famous actress was featured as Lynda Carter's sidekick in the 1970s television series "Wonder Woman", portraying a young Amazonian princess known as Wonder Girl?

4. Wonder Woman was featured on the long-running animated series "Super Friends", but this wasn't the first time she was broadcast on television. What and when was her animated debut?

5. How did the invisible airplane become a visible fixture in the Wonder Woman TV series and animated Super Friends?


But there is some good news for Wonder Woman fans: Comic-Con 2008 revealed a trailer new animated feature to be released on DVD. It's better than nothing. And Keri Russell (TV's "Felicity" and the late Adrienne Shelley's "Waitress") voices the superheroine.


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Courtesy of ComicBookMovie.com

I can't wait to see it. And the list of possible leads for Wonder Woman will keep the myth of another live action movie alive. Just google "Wonder Woman Movie Lead Contenders" and you'll have fun speculating if you're a true fan.

~ Danna Williams

Trivia Answers:

1. The lasso of truth is based on the lie detector, invented by Wonder Woman creator. Her lasso became a symbol for truth and justice.

2. It's complicated: Technically, the first time fans saw Wonder Woman on film is when Ellie Wood Walker starred as the superheroine in the short (4 minute) feature "Wonder Woman: Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" in 1967. She was cast as Diana Prince, and Linda Harrison was cast as her Wonder Woman alter ego. The first full-length "Wonder Woman" was a test, or pilot film for the eventual live action series. It was a 1974 movie airing on TV, starring Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman. (So if you guessed either one, consider yourself correct.)

3. Debra Winger. The academy award nominated actor made her debut as Wonder Girl in two episodes.

4. According to Wikipedia, "‎Wonder Woman's first actual broadcast appearance was as a guest in an episode of The Brady Kids cartoon series in 1972, entitled "It's All Greek to Me". The Brady kids meet Wonder Woman and together they find themselves accidentally transported back to the time of the Ancient Olympic Games. " Groovy...

5. That's a trick question: The invisible plane was invented early in the comic book series, 1942, not on television. It's not featured much in the recent comic book and animated series.

Looks cool... But would it have killed them to add an "s"?

I have a love/hate relationship with dance movies. I simply wanted to express where I'm coming from before I give my two cents about the new release that is plastered on the MySpace login page - "How She Move". (I'll save my opinions on "Meet The Spartans" and "Semi-Pro" after the paid critics roast both, well done or burnt.)

Long before "Dirty Dancing" swept me off my feet (then made me gag a few years later), I was mesmerized (and then nauseated) by "Flashdance". What a feelin'! No offense against my sister Jennifer Beals (who shines in "The L Word"), but she wasn't winning any academy awards with her first starring role in a feature film. But I thought her day gig as a welder was hot. Feminist hot, believable to the average blue collar worker or not... But this blog isn't about "Norma Rae" - it's about dance movies. A year later there was the modern dance masterpiece "Breakin'". And who can forget the urban legend sequel, "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo"? I tried breakdancing for a while, but my career never took off after being dissed by my family during a dance-off with my sister. There's a laundry list of them, the dance movies we love or hate - or both - from the forbidden waste of dance fad flick "Lambada", to my all-time favorite that revels in underdog feel-goodness, "Strictly Ballroom". And I'm not ashamed to admit "Save The Last Dance" is in my DVD collection. It's ironically bold that MTV recycled this plot, featuring a young black female lead on the screen.

But when I first watched the preview for "How She Move" on television, I couldn't help but hear the "ch-ching" of cash registers (do they still make that sound?) and my high school English teacher Mrs. Gonzales sighing in exasperation. And it made my heart lurch. Street slang now pervades pop culture, and this culture - our culture- loudly proclaims that it's alright to be grammatically incorrect. No - it's the cool thing to do. Nevermind all the connotations of racism and illiteracy, two things a lot of people loathe. At least in my house.

Well, I'll never be one of the cool kids, spouting urban street slang even if I'm suburban or rural offspring. That time has passed, so I can be that corny old broad who insists your kids get off the street and play in their own backyards.

Would it kill them - the writer(s), director, producer(s), and post-production - to have added an "s" to the title? "How She Move" definitely grabs your attention. You read it and say it to yourself just once. You sound like a street hustler, or most likely a wannabe urban white hipster with one black friend. (Yeah, I went there.) Now say it with the "s". "How She Moves" doesn't sound so bad. It still flows like a rappers rhyme. Maybe it's a little softer... Too soft? Too romantic?


Almost makes you want to watch MTV again, right old folks?

As I write this critique, the words sounding off in my head, I wonder if the filmmakers were having the same debate.

I'm not admitting defeat about the "s". I'm sure the movie would still find an audience. I'm just not sure if that audience would be teenagers with expendable cash, searching for the freshest dance moves to bring to the Valentine's Day dance, or Prom floor. If they would have added the "s", would the majority of the audience be older men escorting women on dates?

The world may never know.

Here's the IMDB.com description of "She Hate Me" - I mean "How She Move": "Following her sister's death from drug addiction, a high school student is forced to leave her private school to return to her old, crime-filled neighborhood where she re-kindles an unlikely passion for the competitive world of step dancing."

Here's my one sentence review: A black teenager exiled from suburbia searches for social acceptance with her old neighborhood's step team.

And here's the trailer for "How She Move", which opens today in theaters across the U.S.A.:



Enjoy the movies this weekend, whatever you watch.

~ DIY Danna