Wonder Woman superhero Diana Prince – Honorary Oakley

It’s been a tad quiet on the old Honorary Oakley voting front lately, but I was reading something and it mentioned ‘wonder woman as feminist icon’… so I thought to myself, indeed, let’s make Wonder Woman an Honorary Oakley, everyone knows who she is! So with that in mind let’s take a little peek at why Wonder Woman, may, or may not be a feminist icon and what makes her cool enough to be included in our Honorary Oakley hall of fame.

Let’s take a closer look at Wonder Woman herself…..

Wonder Woman – A quick bio:

Name: Diana Prince
Born: Paradise Island
Height: 5′ 11″
Weight: 135 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Base of Operations: Olympus, formally Paradise Island and Gateway City.
Mother: Hippolyte
Occupation: Goddess of Truth formally Ambassador and Princess of the Amazons & secretary to Colonel Darnell, U. S. Military Intelligence
Group Affiliation: Justice League of America, former reserve member of the JLE.

Wonder Woman as Feminist Icon:
Well this is a tough one and it really depends from which angle you look at it since the room is split into those who see Wonder Woman as a great symbol of girl power and womanhood and those who see her as the exact opposite, that of man made woman and eye candy.

To truly get to grips with this we’d have to delve into all manner of academic drivel, feminist theory, queer theory, Marxist theory and social constructionist perspective to name but a few, but we’re not here to wade through the realms of academia, we’re here to celebrate a strong female icon. So although we will take a tiny peek and not dismiss the negatives that the ideology of ‘Wonder Woman’ has, we’re also going to concentrate on the positive influences the character has had on generations of young girls who tuned in to watch her greatest adventures.

History of Diana Prince:
Princess Diana (we’ll not go into any odd comparisons with the obvious) daughter of the Queen & leader of the idyllic and hidden Amazon community of Paradise Island, gets her feminist ideals all in a tangle when a male American Army officer (Steve Trevor) crash lands and of course the ‘tribe’ become enamored of him. Diana herself falls in love with him as she nurses him back to health. This leads to a face off in which the strongest woman will get to leave with him to fight the forces of evil (the Third Reich). The winner is the Princess herself who decides to leave her people to return to the United States to help in the war effort. Taking on a secret identity…. she becomes a secretary (Diana Prince)… wait… a secretary?…
…. oh dear, it’s all seeming a little non Honorary Oakley isn’t it? Surely this goes against everything the Oakley stands for? Perhaps in some respects but we need to look at the bigger picture.

Secretary or Subversive:
Culturally speaking ‘Diana Prince’ was one of the first strong female characters that girls and indeed women could look up to. Despite the rather strange beginnings of the character itself, she was in some senses the female equivalent of superman, hiding behind her glasses only to burst out with truth and justice and that all important ‘American Way’. She was strong and kicks ass regardless of the foe and we have to forgive the obvious impracticality of wearing what is essentially a sequined swimsuit to fight crime, after-all superman wears his underwear on the outside ;o)

Despite the obvious negative aspects the female superhero is bound to encompass (silly attire being just one of them), Wonder Woman opened the eyes of many young girls to the thought that they too may be powerful and ass kicking, with comic books the realm of boys, the Wonder Woman TV series opened up the viewing audience to a captivated female spectator.

Multi… Media:
Yes wonder woman covered a vast number of things and was not JUST a TV show, she was of course a comic book hero and appeared in numerous different versions, with the first being way back in 1941 (yes honestly), she was also a marketing boon as she appeared in various forms such as toys, games and other merchandise… most of which is still ongoing today with Wonder Woman still appearing on notebooks, key chains, lunchboxes, t-shirts and more. Today she has become an iconic figure for women everywhere. And for you gaming fanatics, yes Wonder Woman has even appeared in a video game!

Dubious Beginnings Backfire? …
It’s difficult to truly get to the crux of what was occurring within the mind of the man who created wonder woman, some say he was a feminist himself who truly believed in pushing forth the rights of women, whilst others seem to suggest some sort of dominatrix fascination with the imagery of a woman and ‘a golden laso of truth’ all too ’sexually fuelled’. Whatever the case, Wonder Woman was one of the first female Super Heroes (though not the first since Hawk Girl and Red Tornado preceded her in the 40’s) and she still has a hold in popular culture today, some 60+ years later. This in itself only adds to the overall ideology of the character and the overall strengths the character brought out in many young girls. So despite the obvious sexualizing connotations used by the powers that be, Wonder Woman remains today a popular icon of female strength.

So there we have it, another entrant into the Honorary Oakley Hall of Fame and we once again hope it was for all the reasons the Honorary Oakley stands for. Wonder Woman, although having some dubious beginnings has and will always remain an icon of strong women and equality and for this…..

Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman … We Salute You!!

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