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By pleasebelieveme, Thursday, July 1, 2010, 1 commentsSomewhere, in the bowels of a family album, and yet unposted and untagged on Facebook (thank God), is a faded relic: a picture of my cousins and me posing proudly in our flame retardant Wonder Woman tank tops and bloomers. Minus the cuffs and lassos, we stand Charlie's Angel style, our grinning faces sticky from candy and our eyes wide with delight. Girl power, indeed.
So it pained me to read that my childhood hero, - the Lynda Carter-era Wonder Woman - has received a makeover…a freshening of sorts. Gone are the kicky striped majorette boots and bouffant hair. Bye bye to the flame red and bright blue Playboy Bunny-like onesie festooned with gold stars.
Having never believed in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, I hesitate to describe this change along those lines. And really, it isn't that deep. But I feel like a piece of my childhood is gone, like when you drive past a formerly familiar site (like the spot in my hometown where we used to pick strawberries in the summer) and are startled to find there's a Super Wal-Mart in its place.
But to give Diana Prince midnight blue jeggings, gold-trimmed ankle boots that not even CMT's latest songbird would wear, a military-inspired bolero and Rihanna's cast-off fingerless gloves? And for God's sake, a CHOKER? AND stringy hair?
How dare they!
I am, of course, over-reacting.
But when I look at Peter Parker's sleek body stocking, Bruce Wayne's state of the art, impenetrable batsuit and Clark Kent's unchanged costume, I'm seriously miffed. Yes, Wonder Woman's sensible new outfit allows for more comfortable crime fighting, but it's not….very cute. This new outfit is a little less sexualized, which will probably score several points among those of us women warriors who believe powehouses need not peddle flesh, but dang, can't we look good doing it? While I was watching Wonder Woman join the Justice League in shutting down the forces of evil on television with my cousins, my mother and aunts (and many of yours) were forging their careers alongside their male colleagues, in the uniform of the day: muted suits with subtle decoration and shoulders suitably padded. They could exist in a man's world, but they had to alter their clothes to be in it.
So I get this more contemporary reimagining. I really do. I have long wondered why Diana, unlike her Justice Leage brethren had to bare more skin than they did, and also why she has failed to receive the red carpet worthy, blockbuster treatment. This new look might be aimed at broadening her mass appeal so she can become a live action superhero. I could see the pouty, flinty-eyed Megan Fox or even Angelina Jolie suiting up in this get-up.
Can she at least have a comb though? Greasy-looking, wispy bangs are out this season.
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1 Comments
I saw this last night on the
I saw this last night on the news and I was like "NOOOOOOOO!" She looks like a goth wearing jeggings. I like my Wonder Woman just how she is! Did McDonald's mess with the Golden Arches? I mean... you don't mess with the batsuit, why mess with Wonder Woman? When a look or a symbol works, keep it.
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