Wonder Woman: Scorched Earth
or - if I was a big shot writer whom the media devil gods loved...
I've been on a Wonder Woman kick lately. It could have been started by the Season 1 DVD's I received as gift this past year, but that's beside the point.
While rummaging around online digging up dirt on the fair Princess from Paradise,
I came across a fan art site with concepts and photo-manipulations that are quite good. Got me all excited about the possibilities of the WW movie*, that I know in my gut is going to be about as sub par (if not worse than) Catwoman.
*(The fan art site is not related in any way shape or form with the actual production of the movie now slated for 2013, but the artist's concept of WW is now my desktop.)
After that spurt of awesomeness - I continued digging and found this little article: 10 Reasons No One Cares About Wonder Woman
Blasphamy! you say... however, after reading the article, I found myself nodding in agreement with more often than not - and now, it won't get out of my head.You’d think people would in a frenzy of Wonder-mania, the same as we were during the great Superman media blitz that preceded the mediocre Superman Returns, or the Batman blitz that predated the total rad Dark Knight flick. And yet, and yet… look, let’s be honest: nobody cares about any of this. Nobody really cares about Wonder Woman. There have been times in the past when people sort of cared about her for awhile, but it’s wishful thinking to say she’s as important—or even as interesting—as Superman or Batman just because she’s nearly as old.
In fact, here are ten reasons why nobody really cares about Wonder Woman, even if they say they do. At best, people care about all the things that Wonder Woman could be, but isn’t, thanks to the character’s long history of editorial mismanagement, bizarrely bad writing, and a near-total lack of focus.
What I came to realize is that I've always liked Wonder Woman, but I do really like the idealized version of her that is in my head and not the one that has been in the comics I've read. My WW is loosely based around what the production crew did with the character in the Linda Carter series... in fact - the only WW comics I own are those that have been given to me by others OR ones I've purchased for the artwork. More often than not, I find myself absolutely hating the stories and the way she is portrayed in her own comics. (Special Note: This does not include the cartoons. We're talking strictly comic fodder.)
Which then got me thinking about what the differences are between her and other hero's and I've come to the conclusion - the way she has been conceived by massive reboot of her in the late 80's took away her humanity.
Prior to her being created out of the clay and given life and gifts by the gods, (in a scene strangely reminiscent of the 3 fairies and Sleeping Beauty), she was just one of many Amazon's on the island (granted the best, but was still just one of the gals hangin' about and deflecting bullets for fun.) Now, she's practically a demi-god, and the problem with being a greek demi-god and running around is that we're not. In fact there is precious little we can relate to her anymore.
She grew up in Paradise.
Had a loving family is all pretty much still there.
She jet sets about the planet playing with the fella's but still has home to go to when things get rough.
Nothing wrong with any of that, but us mere mortals all have an axe to grind somewhere. And even other demi-god type characters we have something in common with in that they suffer and since we like to harp on our own troubles we can relate to them.
Hercules - lost his whole damn family. I get that.
Superman - isolated, can't connect with those around him, last of his kind. I get that.
Batman - family gunned down in front of him, full of rage and vengeance wanting to right the wrongs he sees. Oh boy do I get that.
Wonder Woman - ... ... ... hmmmmmm
Deep down I may love the idealized version of her in my head, but in the written version of her, there's very little I can relate to her on a gut human level. She's the kid that got all the breaks, that everything always works out for the better. Which then makes me just a tinsy winsy bit jealous.
Oh sure, she's a little lonely what with being the hottest kick ass babe on the planet and the only guys who could possibly be a match for her are either hopelessly infatuated with someone else or have deep psychological problems that cause them to run around the city at night mussing up thugs for fun...
but really, if Diana was in my house, sitting on the sofa, what in the world we talk about? Where is that connection? Seriously, do you get Wonder Woman like you *get* Sarah Conner? or Jean Grey? or hell, even Xena who's basically Wonder Woman kicked up a notch.
*B*A*M*!
So, to sum up - I have an idea, a nitty gritty idea. An idea that if the media devil dogs would allow me to write would re-create Wonder Woman into the hero I've (we've) always known deep down in our hearts Wonder Woman should be... but I'm a nobody geekoid git at a computer in the middle of nowhere. And even if by some strange rip in the fabric of space and time I was tapped to write a draft... it wouldn't survive the suits. And if a black hole appeared and sucked them all away and my idea became the movie... the mega fans would hate me forever...
why?
Because I would nuke Themyscira.
I would irradiate that place off the face of the earth.
I would give Wonder Woman a reason to hate and destroy us all, that inner conflict that we all struggle with would then be her constant companion. And somehow where I am not able to always take the high road in life, she would be able to rise above it. And that my friends would be a wonder.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Drin Kizael
Bookmarks