Okay, so I finally got my own copy of the new Wonder Woman movie (the animated one that came out on Tuesday), and watched it last night.
All in all it was pretty good. There were some lines that made me twitch (“It’s not polite to hit a lady” - wtf?), and I hate Hades’ character design – its just not him, but in general it kept the core themes of the story intact, didn’t stray too much from the original origins, didn’t bastardize Greek mythology toomuch, put good focus on how the Amazons are about men, and showed the conflicts and confusions that would arise when their culture clashes with our own. Most of the stereotypical girly-girl comments were made with sarcasm, so yeah. Good on that.
However, there was a HUGE insult paid to a character who has ALWAYS been a fat girl, and if I can write a capstone project talking about Wonder Woman’s body image, I can certainley talk about hers.
Etta Candy has been a supporting character in the series since it began. I don’t have any images of her right now (since I’m at work), but if you Google her, good pictures pop right up. Anyway, since she was first created she was fat, and for most of the comic’s history, she’s been drawn that way. In the 70’s there were some issues where she suddenly slimmed down, without explanation, but those were AU – in the main storyline she was still a big girl. After the Golden Age, she didn’t have a very important part in the story, but she was still there. Even in the first season of the live action Wonder Woman TV series (the only season Etta appeared in at all), she was played by a plumper actress. And though she sometimes reinforced fat stereotypes, she was still noticeable and important as one of the few fat girl characters in comicdom.
However, her incarnation in the recent Wonder Woman film was absolutely DISGUSTING.
Not only did they slim her down, making her even thinner than the Amazons appear in the film, she’s a vapid woman who uses her sex appeal to get what she wants from men. When we see her, for the two minutes she appears in the film, she’s trying to get Steve Trevor – a big strong man – to move a desk for poor little old her, just because she wants him to pay attention to her. Diana, like myself, is repulsed by her behavior. So at least they point out that she’s being ridiculous.
But it is so sad and wrong that they took this awesome, confident, fat girl character and literally diminished her. I’m very angry about it, actually. I still think the movie was pretty good, but that was ridiculous, and I would have loved the movie even more if a) they left Etta’s design and personality intact or b) they left her out altogether. Honestly, it would have been less damaging if they hadn’t included her in the film. Her short scene doesn’t even add anything to the story, other than to show Diana how some women act in this world, and that could have easily been done with another character.
I’ll try to edit this and upload pictures later, by the way. I don’t think you can really see my point without actually seeing her.
**EDIT**
Now with Pictures!
Etta Candy, as she usually appears in the 70’s.
Etta Candy as she originally appeared.
No image yet for the new crappy animated version, but we’ll see if we can get a screencap from the digital copy of the movie that came with the DVD.
