dcu:
DailyDCU.com interview with “Wonder Women!” director Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
So I mentioned about a month ago that while attending SXSW, I had the opportunity to catch a screening of the new documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines. The film was a visual love letter to some of my pop-culture characters. Characters that all happened to be women. Here is a quick synopsis:
WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES traces the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, WONDER WOMEN! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation. WONDER WOMEN! goes behind the scenes with Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, comic writers and artists, and real-life superheroines such as Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna and others, who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.
After seeing the film (which I wholly enjoyed), I was able to set up a brief interview with the film’s director Kristy Guevara-Flanagan. Without further ado, here is the interview:
When did you first discover the Wonder Woman character?
I grew up with the TV show so was familiar with the story from that. And, of course, like all my girlfriends I adored it. I remember my neighbor was Wonder Woman for Halloween about 6 years in a row! She struck a chord with the girls of my generation and there was no other popular tv character out there like her.
How did the premise for the film “Wonder Women!” come about?The very first thing was that I read a NYTimes article about Gail Simone coming on board to write Wonder Woman. The article mentioned that it was the first time a woman was really going to write the comic in series form. That just hit me! Here was this character–a symbol of female empowerment–and she had always been written by men. After that I started to look at Wonder Woman’s so-called career and found a very interesting historical figure that could be an entry point for talking about all kinds of issues in regards to representations of strong women in popular culture.
You were obviously influenced by Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman. What was it about that incarnation that stuck with you when making this film?I think in looking back, she was so anomalous. Girls had never had a power fantasy figure to emulate. Boys had light sabers and Star Wars…and we had Wonder Woman. We could twirl around and become superheroes ourselves; we could deflect bullets with our aluminum foil bracelets. It was powerful stuff! And Lynda Carter played it was absolute grace and intelligence and sincerity. If you look back, the rest of the actors are pretty campy, but she never was.
I have to ask, how incredible was she in person?Lynda Carter was pretty great! She had high energy and a lot of spunk. She talked a lot about politics as well (she lives outside of DC) and is very interested in philanthropy. She was just warm and thoughtful. It was fun!
Currently in the comics, writer Brian Azzerello has changed Wonder Woman’s origin to make her the daughter of Zeus. Do you think this change undermines the character in any way?It remains to be seen, but I do think that takes away from her matriarchal origins and her strongly female-centric origin myth.
Many of the female characters that were featured in the film were created by men (Sarah Connor, Buffy, and Wonder Woman). Was there ever a point in the making of the film where you thought to interview some of these male creators?I tried! I tried my darndest to interview Joss Whedon, but he was in full force production on The Avengers. So I got the closest I could, one of his head writers, Jane Espenson, who turns out has a pretty interesting story as well. I also wanted to interview James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow! But it’s hard to get to those people–or at least it was for me. I did a fabulous interview with George Perez whom I love, but in our timeline by the time we get to the 80s we had to focus on the big screen. He will be in the extras!
I was a devout Buffy fan in my teenage years when the show first premiered, before Twilight made vampires “cool”. Do you think the world is ready for another slayer to show up in film or television?I think the world is ready for another iconic female figure who is at the center of the story, the main hero, and whom a whole new generation of girls and boys can learn from and have fun with.
This is the “film school” geek in me asking, what camera did you use, how big was the crew, what did you use to edit, and how long did the post process take?We used the Canon 5D Mark 2 and it was usually just a crew of 3, often 2: one to shoot and one to record sound. Post-production took about a year, but that was really on and off (depending on funding) and we were also still shooting. The edit was probably 4 months. We used Final Cut Pro to edit.
The Huger Games killed at the Box Office and seems to be paving the way for a new leading female hero. Are you fans?Yes! I think this could be our next iconic female hero. My 9-yr old niece was BLOWN away by it. She had never seen such a female hero on screen and fell in love with the movie. I also love that Katniss becomes a political hero as well.
There seemed to be a “call for action” for a Wonder Woman movie at the end of the film, and as I mentioned we know a strong female character can kill at the box office. Combine that with the world’s seemingly endless desire for superhero films, is now the time?YES!
Hopefully the film will be coming to a screen near you sometime in the not-too-distant future. When it does, please get out and support this film. You will be very glad that you did! You can also support the filmmakers by hitting the LIKE button on their Facebook page and by hitting the FOLLOW button on their Twitter.
And dance, your final dance
This is your final chance
To hold the one you love
You know you’ve waited long enough
AND GAYS CANT GET MARRIED?
That’s gonna be your sibling..yet your child..
^^^
