WONDER WOMAN: SEX, FEMINISM AND SUPERHEROES
Who is Wonder Woman? That question, asked perpetually since the character’s 1941 invention by psychologist William Moulton Marston, has been answered in countless ways. Yet she, more than any pop culture creation, remains ever a mystery, shifting to match the country’s changing views of femininity, violence and sex. Building on recent scholarship into Wonder Woman’s origins; her creator’s very unconventional lifestyle; and her links to early 20th-century suffragette movements, this course surveys the character’s multimedia incarnations over 75 years, focusing on her comics exploits from World War II icon to feminist symbol to modern figurehead of diversity. In exploring Wonder Woman’s history, we will see how she belies the myth of superheroes as simplistic children’s fare – as well as contemplate the enduring power of US popular culture and corporate brands, domestically and around the world. Who is Wonder Woman? You only think you know.