META: Wish Fulfillment, WCs, and Mary Sues

[Tom Russell]

Jamas Enright wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 martinphipps2 at yahoo.com wrote:

> > this case, to tell the truth).  Rumour has it he even had his wife
> > dress in a Wonder Woman costume.
>
> Not his wife, try his mistress...and the two of them were into the whole
> bondage thing.

Not only that, but I believe the mistress (Olive Byrne) was living with
both William Moulton Marston and his wife, Sadie.  Wonder Woman herself
was tied up in the comic books on, oh, I don't know... EVERY OTHER
PANEL!

And, to top off the wrongness of it all-- the way in which she was a
total failure as a Role Model For Strong Women but instead a total
success as the sum total of her creator's sexual predilections-- the
cherry on top of all this is: Wonder Woman isn't even a good or
interesting character.

And, I think, she fails on an iconic level.  When someone says
Superman, I think of truth, justice, and the American way.  Apple pie,
a proudly swelling chest, a chiseled chin and a smile, sunlight blaring
in the background.

When someone says Batman, I think of dark things, of shadows.  I think
of homicidal maniacs, severe architecture, of an orphan standing over
his parents in a grimy alleyway.

Hell, when someone says Scrooge McDuck, I think of adventure, of
whimsy, of daring and surprise around every corner!

But when someone says Wonder Woman, I think of an invisible jet and
Etta Candy.

I mean, sure, the Superman and Batman mythos have some silly elements
(Ace the Bat-Hound?), but the essential, iconic nature of the
characters over come it.  To me, Wonder Woman lacks that iconic
stature.  That's not necessarily a bad thing: there are many great
characters who don't operate on iconic levels, but rather on very
specific ones.  They are very complex, very specific characters with a
great deal of personality.

But Wonder Woman lacks even that.

In the words of Master Blaster:

Lame.  Frickin' lame.

> --
> Jamas Enright
> "Answers answered and questions questioned."
> Homepage: http://www.eyrie.org/~thad/
> Blue Light Productions homepage: http://www.blue-light-productions.com/
>
> "If a great state has decided by law that twice two is five, it would be
> foolish to allow mathematicians to testify." - Comment during the Scopes
> Monkey Trial.

Yes, but one can be equal to zero.

--Tom