Hot topic. During a team-up with horror writer Clive Barker last week at Los Angeles’s Meltdown comic book store, Grant Morrison said that he was currently writing the book where Wonder Woman would return to her bondage roots.
The basics of Wonder Woman come from William Moulton Marston, a psychologist who created the lie detector, of all things. His idea was that a utopia would be achieved if men were placed in subjugation to women. So, Wonder Woman is a character where you imagine this very strange mélange of girl power, bondage, and a slightly disturbed sexuality. There is this bondage element; these extremely weird dark elements of Wonder Woman haven’t been adequately dealt with. Wonder Woman remains a really bizarre, untouchable character. She should represent women in the same way Superman represents men.
Now, uh, I’m waiting for this stuff to blow up, particularly from someone I’m not going to link to, but I think you’re treading on dangerous ground here Mr. Morrison. I could see where some people out there would discuss why going back to these roots could be seen as moving backwards to something in the character that causes quite a bit of indignation. Considering Marston’s idea of bondage, and how it contributed to the creation of the character was quote:
“The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbound force to enjoy being bound … Only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for a stable, peaceful human society. … Giving to others, being controlled by them, submitting to other people cannot possibly be enjoyable without a strong erotic element”
Regarding male readers, Marston continued: “Give them an alluring woman stronger than themselves to submit to, and they’ll be proud to become her willing slaves!”
Uhm. Yeah. Awkward. Regardless, Morrison said, “To make it work, to give [Wonder Woman] a sexuality that isn’t exploitive, because that’s too easy; but also to give her a [narrative] power.”
The book has no details yet, but Morrison is currently working on it.
Source: Grant Morrison & Clive Barker Meltdown Hollywood [Comic Book Resources].
