hi i read your post about how you didn't like wonder woman using a sword over her lasso and i understand where you're coming from, but i thought she used the sword more now because the lasso was a throwback to wondy's co-creator william marston bondage fetish and DC didn't want their most recognizable superheroine, probably the most recognizable superheroine EVER, to be associated with just being a sexual object? i could be wrong but i think that's why
Wow there are a lot of people who don’t follow me who are trying to educate me about Wonder Woman this morning. :-)
I’m going to respond to this because it’s representative of a lot of the responses I’m getting to this post.
First of all, anyone who uses a lasso is not automatically “just being a sexual object,” that’s absurd. But there are a whole lot of people who snicker and snark and dismiss the Golden Lasso because William Moulton Marston was apparently into bondage.
I already did a mini-rant on the bondage themes in 1940s Wonder Woman here. It’s my attempt to point out that the bondage theme is very important to Wonder Woman in a way that has a lot of value that has nothing to do with her creator’s kinks.
I have also written about why Golden Age Wonder Woman is the best, regardless of bondage, here.
My point about the sword was more about how Amazons have come to be increasingly portrayed in modern comics as a predominantly violent, warlike, military culture, when they were originally a peaceful, enlightened paradise. Yes, they are skilled warriors, but as I said, they are only superior warriors because their civilization is superior in every way, including science, culture, and philosophy.
Marston’s Amazons live according to “Aphrodite’s Law” of “peace and loving kindness.” They had a whole island called Reform Island where they would try to teach Wonder Woman’s villains how to be better people, rather than killing.
Wonder Woman is literally an ambassador from a more enlightened society, a society dedicated to peace, love, and justice, not war.
It’s the tendency to drift away from this concept that I regret. I don’t think that Wonder Woman should NEVER use a sword. I just regret that it’s become the dominant image of her.
Look, I get that times change. Mainstream superhero comics today are generally darker, more violent, aimed at older audiences. Writers are questioning the simplistic assumptions underlying these characters that were originally created for adventure and morality tales for children.
One way to update an old comic hero is to deconstruct the simplistic values and assumptions of the old days by making them darker, more cynical, less idealistic. Another is to try to figure out how to update those values and make them work in new ways today.
