Showing posts with label Wonder Woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wonder Woman. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Ambivelence, Thy Name is Etta

Look, I'm a purist about many things.  I think, most of the times, it isn't neccessary to muck around with a story that works, unless you are making a strong point about said work.  For example, if you are going to set A Midsummer Night's Dream at the beach?  Please have a real reason, a way this re-conceptualization shines a new light on the story.  Don't just fuck around with a classic in the name of modernization, or to be different.

And yet... some things need to be changed as they age, because in today's context they go against they go against the original intent of the piece.  The piece under discussion, while not Shakespeare, is certainly iconic and embedded in th current culture.  We are speaking of Wonder Woman, or to be more specific, cohort... Etta.  Etta Candy.  Yeah.  You got it.  She "etta candy".  She etta lot o' candy and got real fat.



Etta was introduced in the second issue of Wonder Woman, and was supposedly born so thin and malnourished that she nearly died.  What saved her?  Chocolate of course!  Lots and lots of chocolate.  She ate a shit ton of it and got hefty.  Health problems over!



Now, for those of you out there insisting that Etta is kick ass and awesome?  That she's some kind of pioneer for the appreciation of self and of our own bodies, however they may be shaped?  I wish I agreed with you.

There is some evidence that supports your claim.  Yes, in one issue, Etta magically gains Wonder Woman's body and decides she prefers her own.  Sweet!  How body positive!  If it were not for the fact that her choice to keep her figure is written with all the jocularity and "can you believe it" whizz bang that comics could muster back then.  Her choice was at most a bone thrown to the heavy girls out there, and at worst a joke based on the incredulity that anyone would choose to be that size.

Yes Etta saves Wonder Woman in a lot of the issues. and has plenty of opportunities to be heroic.  She loves herself, loves her body, and stands up for herself and her friends with strength and bravado.   She is the leader of The Holliday Girls, a sorority that aids Wonder Woman in her adventures and is often taking down oppressors wherever they may pop up.  They also get into a lot of freaky shit behind the scenes...

My main point here, is that, yes, it is great to see an earthly woman who is even more confident and in charge than Wonder Woman, getting things done in a more down and dirty way. I love that she is a woman who has taken her fair share of hits from society, who would love to sideline her, and she always takes center stage, and takes charge.  But unfortunately, there is no getting around the fact that Etta is a joke.  She was written as a joke.  Her family (dad named "Hard", mother named "Sugar" and brother "Mint") is a joke.  Yes, she rescued some captured children... WITH A BOX OF CANDY!  And yes, she stopped a bullet...WITH A BOX OF CANDY! One of her favorite catch phrases?  "For the love of chocolate!" She is there to provide contrast with Wonder Woman, and as a kind of side show freak.  She's shock value.  A big woman who loves herself? Who doesn't want to change?   Whaaaaaaat? As much as I want to like the character, I can't get away from the fact that she is treated as a curiosity.

Etta Candy in the Modern Age
Through the years, a lot has changed with Etta. The attitude with which she was handled changed.  A lot.  She joined the airforce, was aid to a General and to Steve Trevor, and in at least one version she eventually married him, displacing him as Wonder Woman's love interest.  She's gone from body proud, to weight concious and back, she's been black, and white, fat and thin.

Etta Candy as played by Beatrice Colen

Etta Candy in the New 52
Etta Candy in Wonder Woman #1


Grant Morrison's version from "Earth One" harkens back to the original

Etta Candy in Wonder Woman (The Animated Film)










Etta Candy, as featured in The Legend Of Wonder Woman by Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon
My favorite incarnation of Etta is from The Legend Of Wonder Woman, a digital comic soon to be released as a collection in hardcover.  It sends Princess Diana back to college.  It's an origin story of sorts, in which Diana learns how to live in the modern world (the modern world being America in the 1940's. Etta is once again the head of The Holliday Girls (now a girl group a la The Andrews Sisters), and back to being more ample.  She's beautiful, confident, and relate-able.  No longer relegated to comic relief, yet retaining the sass and moxie that made her unique.  Are there a couple digs?  Yes.  As readers we are supposed to wonder at her grand ambitions to be a Hollywood star wooed by Gable, with no thoughts that her ample proportions might be an obstacle, and we the readers are supposed to smirk a bit.  But it's progress.  Major progress.


And what's next for Etta Candy?  She's featured in the upcoming Wonder Woman film, of course, and she still has that damn name.  Etta, as played by Lucy Davis, seems to be taking on some of the comic duties, but in a way that is much more modern and respectful.  In many ways she seems to be the eyes and ears of the audience.  Our "way in" to the character.  It's definitely a fine line to tread, allowing Etta her unique appeal and power (he curvy figure being a major component of which) without turning her into a figure of fun.




But through all these incarnations, no matter how grim and gritty the tone of the book or story, no matter how slender she is, she has been saddled with that awful name.  Etta Candy.  It's not even a real name.  It's a pun, like a bad drag name.  When she's heavy it's insulting, and when she's slender it's incongruous and takes you out of the story, because it's a relic of a less accepting age when men were the sole dictators of the rule of beauty.  As long as that name is tied to the character she won't be completely freed to be the in charge positive force she could and should be. 

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Coming Soon: Power, Grace, Wisdom, Wonder

I've said it before.  How can a woman who stands for peace, an alternate way of living from the violence of man, carry a sword?  Why?  Who decided this should be?  In the recently released trailer for the June 2017 release of the looooong awaited Wonder Woman film, the fucking sword is very prevalent.  And she seems very ready to "whip it out".  Now that said, she seems to use it not to hack at people, but at things-- wood, weapons, and to distract and dazzle.  To my mind her golden lasso does just as good a job, but I suppose you can't expect the movie to go TOO far from it's usual philosophy that for women to be as good as men they must be warriors(although, in truth, I do).

Apart from the presence of the sword, there's a lot to be excited about with this trailer.  There is a great screen chemistry between Gal Gadot and Chris Pine's, and he carries a lot of the humor featured in the trailer to great affect.  Etta Candy (Wonder Woman's earthly side kick from the 40's) even makes an appearance, and she's handled with the right amount of care, or so it seems at least from this tiny glimpse. Although, can I for one say let's get rid of that awful, insulting name.  "Etta Candy"????  Aw, for fuck's sake.

I did think it interesting that the setting for the movie is not World War II, but World War I.  The original story was so firmly grounded in the mid-twentieth century aesthetic and mindset, that I never thought they would set it anywhere except the forties, assuming they didn't set it in the present.  This decision does a few things though...  it distances the look from campy visual aesthetics and anything "Old Hollywood".  As much as I love the forties, that glamor, that packaging and that era has become a lot more associated with camp, and for a film that wants to have the appropriate amount of humor and relatively camp free, I understand it.

  It also sets it apart from Captain America and its "aw shucks" mentality, which worked beautifully in that film, but anything similar at this point from a competing franchise's character could be seen as retreading through subject matter that has already been done exceedingly well.

Finally, and possibly most significantly, this time period coincides with the women's suffrage movement, the heroine's of which were major inspirations for the character.  The realization of a major achievement for women's equality could be a wonderful context to really show Wonder Woman in all her glory.

I have to say, this could be a really fun and empowering film, and Gadot certainly seems strong enough, extremely charismatic (in a super serious way, taking care of business way).


Saturday, April 9, 2016

The Return of Wonder Woman

On April 12th, a new Wonder Woman book is coming out by Grant Morrison, entitled Wonder Woman: Earth 1.  In many ways, this could be the return of Wonder Woman after a long absence.  What I mean by that, is that she's gone through many mutations since she was first created, which is both expected and somewhat desired (I mean you don't want a character to be stagnant).  In the fifties she became a lot more dreamy and romance focused.  In the seventies she became more secret agent than super hero and even lost her costume.  In the 2000's she added a sword and shield and became just another "woman kicking ass".  All this is fine, as I said.  But the Wonder Woman I love is the way she was originally envisioned by Charles Marsdon, and the way she was portrayed in the tv show, as a force for peace.  She was better than men, knew more than they did, didn't adopt their violent ways.  This new book is returning to those roots.



There are some changes, of course.  The media is focusing on her fluid sexuality (after all she's been living in a society devoid of men for thousands of years) and that Steve Trevor is black.  I'm kind of excited by both of these changes, as well as the new visions of her Amazon home, which is being imagined as more of an alien society who's culture and technology has developed from the Greeks, but in a way much different from us.  What else is exciting to me?  No fucking sword.  Morrison doesn't think she needs them, because the tools she had were already pretty great.  And, you won't find much violence in this new book, as Wonder Woman is pretty amazing at getting things done without resorting to it.  All of these things, plus the return of her sidekick, Etta Candy...



are why I'm more excited about this release, than that of her first film appearance in Superman V Batman.  Grant did a pretty in-depth interview recently for IGN, and I really recommend checking it out, and purchasing the book on the 12th (though the interview incorrectly states that it was released on the 6th)

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Since When Did Wonder Woman Need A Sword??

When I was a kid, my heroes were always women.  Always.  The characters I admired were Snow White, Dorothy, Wonder Woman... They were my escape from Superman and Batman, and the other cartoon purveyors of machismo that dominated pop culture.  These female heroes brought joy to a previously darkened world, helped their friends see the strength within, and stood for the power of peace in a war torn world.  They were in every way better than most male heroes.  They weren't always whipping out swords or guns and they weren't always punching people out.  They had other, superior ways of overcoming challenges.

Let's take a look at Wonder Woman.  She was created during World War Two as an answer to the male dominated violence in the world.  Psychiatrist William Moulton Marston believed the problem with comics at that time was that they were too violent and full of "blood curdling masculinity".  As a feminist, he created Wonder Woman (though many believe his wife Olive was not only the inspiration for the character, but a large portion of the brains behind her as well) as a character far better than men.  She comes from the Paradise Island in a time of great war to teach men how to live in peace.  Her powers are the powers of truth and love and beauty.  She repels bullets with her bracelets, and uses her golden lasso to make men tell the truth.  She is an amazing heroine, with a unique perspective, a great origin story, and until very recently she never needed a sword.  Never.


              



The sword started appearing around ten years ago, and gained major prominence in a newer, bloodier iteration of Wonder Woman.  In the upcoming film?  Major sword action.  I guess this is a way for movie execs to answer the demand that women be treated as strong and proactive, and stars of their own lives, much like men have always been depicted.  No longer do women need to be helpless eye candy.  I for one think this is awesome.  However, I feel like the people paying lip service to feminism, for the most part are doing simply that.  Paying lip service.  The movie exec way to make a woman strong?  Make her more warlike.  They've thrown Alice and SnowWhite both into armor, and for me the strengths they had originally--compassion, ingenuity, wit, and the audacity to call out pomposity and ridiculousness-- were thrown under the bus and deemed "less than".  Well, every gay kid knows that those qualities are often all we had to get us through the trials and tribulations of daily life as a child to find the "other side".  And for those who say that Wonder Woman deserves a sword because she should be able to "kick ass" just as much as Superman and Batman?  Where's Superman's sword??  Oh, yeah.  He doesn't need one because he has superhuman strength.  For the record, so does Wonder Woman, and she's never needed a sword to show the bad guys what's what.

                                                   



For my money, the addition of a sword, and other cheap plot developments like a romantic relationship with Superman (Wonder Woman does not need to be a supporting character to Superman's mythology, thanks very much, cuz she's got shit of her own to do, and in her story she is the only one doing the saving) do nothing but weaken the character.  And thus far it is doubtful, to my mind, that she will fare very well in these new film interpretations.  It's likely to be another case in which the woman is stuck on the side to be arm candy and to occasionally surprise us all because she can really "kick ass" just like a man.  Of course, she's usually only aloud to fight other women, and when she is fighting men she often (as was the case of recent Man From UNCLE film) overpowers them in ridiculously sexual ways like snapping their necks between her inner thighs.  Really??  But even if it turns out that the new film doesn't know how to handle Wonder Woman, she will always have the comics, which continue to experiment with her and in many vehicles, allow her to be the strong, independent and peaceful leader she was born to be.

And of course, just when you are about to give up hope, along comes a character like Rey from the newest Star Wars film.  She's bright, in charge, using her mental and metaphysical powers as well as those of combat, AND she's nurturing, empathic and occasionally funny.  If only she had come about before Wonder Woman was in development, it's possible they could have taken some inspiration from her and I would be feeling a lot better than I do.

Monday, September 27, 2010

My Top Ten Divas, #10

When I was a kid growing up, looking for heroes, I didn't find them where people expected me to.  Or, I should say, the heroes I found were not the ones most adults hoped I would find.  When I was five I loved watching Batman re-runs on t.v, but not because of Batman, or even Robin.  I loved them because of Catwoman.  She was wicked, she was in control (though it was the kind of control I didn't understand yet) and she was incredibly graceful.  I wanted to be her.  But I knew there was something dishonorable about it.  I knew I shouldn't tell people that.  So when I was running around the playground at pre-school and I threw open the chain link gate and it flew back in my face and busted my lip, I told the teacher that I was pretending to be Batman and not Julie Newmar.

As I got older I continued to love and admire women more than the men.  And as I got older I became less and less apologetic about it.  I was thirteen when I started admitting I cared more about Judy Garland than I did "The Dead Kennedy's", and it was pretty freeing.   And so now, I unapologetically, and loudly proclaim my top-ten divas.  The ones I love most, who may not always fit the term in the expected sense of the word (they're not all singers, not all particularly well-known anymore, nor are they all even human) but they are iconic representations of the many sides of what it means to be fierce, emotional, open, honest, and talented.  If you have thoughts, comments, or disagree, please post them, because I'd love to hear what you have to say...

                                  10.  Wonder Woman

Promotional portrait of American actor Lynda Carter in costume in front of a backdrop of stars for the television series, 'Wonder Woman,' 1976.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Specifically, Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman.  When I was a kid I would watch her on television in awe.  And every time it was time for Diana Prince to become Wonder Woman I would spin around with her, living vicariously through her.  I never doubted that she would do the right thing, never questioned whether or not she would succeed.  I had an unwavering faith in her, and simply watched the show to see how stylishly she would achieve her goal.  It never seemed odd to me that she was always the one rescuing Steve Trevor, rather than the other way around.  Too often in movies and television today, if the protagonist is a woman, she will need rescuing in one way or another, from a man.  But not Wonder Woman.  And I think, because she embodied so many characteristics we think of as mannish and masculine, people accepted it.  She had all the assertiveness, strength and determination that were considered steretyplically male, but with the nurturing and intuitive, balanced heart we think of as feminine.  And that juxtaposition of the masculine and the feminine, plus her untouchable goodness, that oddly robotic demeanor touched with maternal warmth and her overstated curves packed into that proudly patriotic costume make her my number ten. 

Cursive

  Last week I returned to doing my  morning pages , a practice I was committed to for years, and then abandoned, at least partially in the d...