Being a fan of comic books is hard if you're female. Not only are any ovary-packing characters in the pages of comics often willfully objectified with absurd proportions and insanely skimpy costumes, but also they're often "fridged." [If you're unfamiliar with this term, educate yourself here.] Still, there'll always be Wonder Woman, who somehow sustains her integrity no matter how many ill-conceived makeovers are foisted upon her. So I find it personally thrilling that documentarian Kristy Guevara-Flanagan has used this legendary warrior princess as a jumping off point to explore the evolution of feminism in American society.
In her latest documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, Guevara-Flanagan talks with TV's Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, The Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner, second-wave feminism icon Gloria Steinem, and third-wave feminist/punk rocker Kathleen Hanna about this comic icon's influence on the American zeitgeist over the past 70 years. And as the clip below--courtesy of THR --shows, the filmmaker also reveals how Wonder Woman has inspired everyday women, like Carmela Lane, a Wonder Woman fan and mom:
But beyond showing how Wonder Woman's personal and societal impact, Guevara-Flanagan's doc also investigates how societal pressures and fear of women's liberation pushed back and transformed Wonder Woman and how women in general were portrayed in popular culture. You get a taste of that—as well as the doc's graphic-charged sensibility--in the long-form trailer below:
WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines from Vaquera Films on Vimeo.
And last but not least, a sneak peek at a dynamic new poster depicting Wonder Woman and the movie and TV heroines she inspired.
Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines makes its world premiere this Saturday at the SXSW Film Festival.
