I dedicate this reblog to anyone who thinks that we object to women showing some skin by principle… No, wedon’t. Just as we do not think covering everything up is a universal solution to the problem sexist costume designs.
The way a character is framed (visually and story-wise) makes a world of difference between just having a questionable costume and being outright objectified.
And as much as bikinis, bathing suits, cheerleader outfits etc. remain a silly wardrobe choice for an on-duty warrior/crimefighter, above here we have small sample of evidence that pants or full-body suits can actually lookworse.
Putting a female hero in pants does not mean she is somehow protected from an artist positioning her primarily for the male gaze. For example, Marvel Comics recently began a new ongoing called Fearless Defenders which stars Valkyrie and Misty Knight. Both of these characters wear pants and, yet, I lost count by about page five of how many times Misty’s ass took center stage in any given panel. Basically, where there’s a male gaze will, there’s a male gaze way — pants or no pants, tights or bared legs.
Left: Adrianne Palicki promo shot for NBC’s Wonder Woman.
Right: Kimberly Kane promo shot for ‘Wonder Woman XXX: An Axel Braun Parody’.
….is it just me or does the porno version outfit not only look WAY BETTER crafted and prettier, the actress also has more muscles, a nicer fitting chest piece and a waaay more fitting body type and skin tone.
Also the porno version doesn’t look more “feminine”/more sexy whatever.
That… is EMBARASSING
I looked for some iteration of this post for some time now. It’s so incredible!
Second-hand embarrassment is off the charts. The jokes write themselves.
~Ozzie
Pretty sure the difference here is that Axel Braun knows people who buy his porno want to see Wonder Woman… NBC probably figured they just wanted to see a random female character.
– wincenworks
This week’s throwback inspired by Tumblr user @aspiringwarriorlibrarian who mentioned that Amazons in Justice League movie would look like porn parody of Wonder Woman… if the actual porn Wondy’s costume wasn’t SO MUCH more faithful to what she looks like in the comics.
Also, reminder that the last scrapped attempt at bringing Diana back to TV is the plastic tackiness on the left.
No wonder that Lindy Hemming costumes are remembered so fondly in hindsight, considering the standard for life action Wonder Woman look was set so low that “better than the never-aired NBC series, at least as good as the porn parody” was the minimal expectation.
~Ozzie
For those people who really want to appreciate the $40-at-Party-City-ness of the costume on the left, you’re welcome:
Okay, I may not be a huge comic book buff (yet still a huge fan!), but I’m willing to learn if there’s something I’m missing. I’ve always loved the idea of Wonder Woman – a powerful female warrioress from Ancient Greece/Amazonian culture (iirc), a Xena-like character who fights for virtue, honor, truth, all those good things. She plays with the big boys, and not only keeps up, but shows them how it’s done.
If that’s so, then…whywhyWHY is she most always shown in a skintight, strapless, pantsless, thong/swimming suit/flimsy piece of spandex???? I know she’s pretty indestructible, but do you know how HARD it is to fight in a leather corset, where there’s no straps to keep that gigantic chest in place?
It makes me VERY sad that such a famous, prominent figure of feminine power is mostly seen as a sex icon, mostly featured in sexy/escher-esque poses, wearing “clothing” that looks like it was sprayed on or hanging on with a wing and a prayer (and maybe ample amounts of superglue?), or any variation thereof? I say ‘mostly’, because I have seen some versions where she’s more practical, with pants, real armor, heck I’ll even settle for the Greek/Xena-style skirt in some versions. Bravo to those people for giving our poor warrioress some semblance of dignity.
If I understand correctly, like in the Xena universe, that is the ‘style’ of the era, the leather skirt with the bodice and shoulder armor, reminiscent of Romans and Greeks from Sparta, etc. Well okay then, give WW an outfit that actually looks/works like real armor from that period, instead of the spandex thong/corset she’s most often depicted in. Also, iirc, maybe she doesn’t wear full armor because that’s the ‘Amazon way’, IE: she’s so OP that she doesn’t need full covering. But give her SOMETHING that isn’t so obviously designed to sell sex first, and practicality last!
Spandex may be all the rage for comic books (and it’s probably easier to draw), but I’d like to direct your attention to some of these wonderful blogs for many, many more reasons why our beloved Wonder Woman deserves more than a minimal-coverage, maximum-bust corset (and why practical armor can be even more BA and gorgeous):
Unless there is a practical, logical reason why WW is nearly always shown in the aforementioned ILLOGICAL ways, let’s face it: Sex sells, and too many people are buying. And that is no excuse, because women like myself want to see our gender treated with more dignity, respect, and understanding than what is given. You know what, I’ll bet Superman is chivalrous. And so is Wonder Woman.
I challenge any WW artist to design her with something more akin to Lady Sif (from the movie version), instead of just going with the flow.
TL;DR – Wonder Woman is too freaking amazing to be treated as a sex icon. She deserves a whole heck of a lot more from us, her fans. She deserves something befitting who she is, and what she represents.
My post isn’t intended to insult anyone, I know we all have different ideas and viewpoints. I’m just expressing my own views and frustrations with society :/
/end rant (btw, I have no problem with the comic book world; check my blogs, I’m a huge nerd! But I do have a problem with how prevalent the sex industry is, especially in my fandoms! Move over boys, girls are nerds too!)
I really find it baffling that after sixty-four years and countless re-boots, re-designs, re-imaginings for different mediums, etc. DC Comics keeps coming back to basically her original costume but with no skirt:
Epic creativity.
– wincenworks
Even when she gets a skirt, it’s like a swimsuit equivalent.
It’s shaped like a W, get it?? …For Wonder Woman!
-Icy
This was the most appropriate throwback we could think of, with Justice League film and its degraded Amazon costumes coming so soon. Diana, as well as her people, really deserves better.
Even the cover above, which Icy added, is a perfect example of Wonder Woman costumes which @realms-master talks about! That armor is literally painted on her (impossibly narrow-waisted) torso, especially the boobplate that somehow conforms to gravity along with the breasts. No amount of intricate shading would mask that. Also note the dissonance between Wondy’s serene expression and triumphant pose. It’s obvious that the artist, Liam Sharp, aimed to make her more “appealing” than powerful.
As the article points out, the Justice League movie has an essentially all male executive team as well as a male costumer. There’s presumably also a Creepy Marketing Guy (or even a small army of them, seeing as this is a DC/Warner Bros production).
No matter who to blame, this is just self-demonstrably shameful.
What’s really baffling about this is that Zack Snyder and same costumer, Michael Wilkinson, did manage to create a fairly decent (fantastic by comparison, but certainly not without it’s faults) female costume design in Man of Steel, as worn by the glorious Faora-Ul:
Most of the high end production staff from Justice League also contributed on Wonder Woman. So that leaves us with several equally terrible possibilities:
Someone with executive power literally saw the early sections of Wonder Woman and decided that what it needed was more women’s body on display so asked for “sexy versions of that”
The executive(s) in charge have been starting with “playing it safe” to build hype on the initial movies, and now have concluded that since those were a success they can throw female characters and fans under the bus in favor of their own puerile fantasies
You may notice a theme of this being an executive with very poor judgement, and as much as a suspect otherwise I really hope it’s NOT Zack Snyder. Because if it is, this does not bode well for the future:
She had a lot of exquisitely ridiculous costumesthroughout time (green is usually her color, corresponding with Loki’s), so I decided to take jab at by far the most WTFiest design, from the Ultimate Marvel continuity.
Now that is an “evil is sexy” trope in full swing! Looks like literal BDSM outfit, only done by someone who never saw real BDSM gear (so E.L. James’s visual artist counterpart?). Art by our “favorite” Frank Cho (first and third image) and David Finch (second image), so the comparison wasn’t really far off.
I’m always upset by Hel(a) being just another smooth-skinned Barbie in Marvel stories, considering how interesting is her appearance as told by Norsemyths she originates from. Half of her body is supposed to be that of a corpse, which disturbed Asgardians enough to give her reign over Hel (or Helheim), the land of those who died inglorious deaths, where other gods won’t have to interact with her.
We have to send a strongly-worded letter to Marvel about this blatant CENSORSHIP! How could they put Tony in that awful, protective full-body armor when he could be saving the world in a metal crop top?? Now, finally, he and Cap can match!
And with such soulful eyes, he will definitely lead the Avengers to victory!
I guess, in a way, superheroine costumes are kinda like pokemon who evolve only via trade (except pokemon are always awesome). They need a change of medium to be even a little bit less awful.
