Popular Culture Review Volume 29, Number 2, Summer 2018 | Page 186

An Analysis of the Cultural Dismissal of Wonder Woman
Here ’ s this woman , a very gorgeous woman running around half-naked essentially wearing pretty much a swimming outfit , and somehow , she comes across as not being ultra-sexual , that in fact , she is this symbol to young women , or ... women of any age , as not being defiled by that exposure . Essentially , the character was taken as what the character ’ s meant to be , as an object of energy and motion , not as of corrupted sexuality , or something that is just for the boys . ( Beauty , Brawn , and Bulletproof Bracelets )
Andy Mangels has said that “ Other than Christopher Reeve , there has never been a single actor who has so embodied a comic book character as Lynda Carter did ; she was the epitome of everything Wonder Woman was in the comics and everything that fans of Wonder Woman wanted the character to be ” ( Revolutionizing a Classic ). Alex Ross stated that Carter is of “ near equal importance to the legend of Wonder Woman ... as the creators .” He also said that “ there is really only one Wonder Woman to anybody ’ s eyes ” ( Beauty , Brawn , and Bulletproof Bracelets ). What these interviews did not appear to emphasize or explore , however , is that at the time , there literally was only one successful live-action Wonder Woman . Hughes even attributed the character ’ s inherent qualities of gentleness and peace to Lynda Carter ’ s portrayal ( Revolutionizing a Classic ). Although these interviews were part of promotional DVD retrospectives , the footage that was released reflected an emphasis in comics circles that Lynda Carter was the only Wonder Woman , rather than questions about why she was the only Wonder Woman , or why the qualities of the character have not been more present in American culture .
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