Lady Geek of the Week: Kristy Guevera-Flanagan
“Of all people, you know who I am…who the world needs me to be. I’m Wonder Woman.”
Growing up, when something went wrong, did you ever twirl through your living room (maybe tripping over a cat or two), in the hopes of turning into Wonder Woman to save the day? Did you don a Wonder Woman suit for Halloween and stick your tongue out at boys? Looking back, did Wonder Woman change your perspective on feminism or what it meant to be a girl?
Since her debut in the 1940s, Wonder Woman has both shaped and been shaped by society. This is the premise of Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s documentary, “Wonder Women! The Untold story of American Superheroines.”
In the documentary, Guevara-Flanagan tracks the evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman, exploring how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation. Go watch the documentary’s trailer and just try to tell me you’re not filled with feminist pride – ready to twirl around your living room again.
Need even more from Guevara-Flanagan? Check out Wonder City, the online companion game to “Wonder Women!”. It’s a cute, fun, “choose-your-own-adventure” type game that challenges the player to think critically about power and gender.
Now, “stop a bullet cold, make the Axis fold. Change their minds and change the world!” You can start by reading Guevara-Flanagan’s interview with Being Geek Chic!
Q: Where did you find your inspirations for the film?
A: I started researching Wonder Woman after reading an article about Gail Simone, Wonder Woman’s first female writer in 60 plus years! I started looking into the Wonder Woman’s origins, and learned about her creator, the Harvard-trained psychologist and inventor of the lie detector, William Moulton Marston. I actually hadn’t known much about Wonder Woman beyond the Lynda Carter incarnation on TV in the ’70s, but Marston and his early comics fascinated me. Marston wanted to create a hero in opposition to all those male superheroes who were out there. He also recognized the educational value of comics, and really felt women should be able to do anything a man could, but with more grace and diplomacy. And when I read those early comics, I really did find a very radical female hero… even by today’s standards.
