Saturday, March 11, 2006

Eyes Open



Before Clockwork Orange, there was Wonder Woman, in which William Moulton Marston played out all his pet theories and fantasies about mind-control and personal domination through bondage. Dude -- a mind-controlling lasso? Twisted.

I have trouble deciding which is the better quote:

1. "Are your bonds comfortable?"
or
2. "This adhesive tape will not hurt you."

Number 2 is much funnier than Number 1, but Number 1 is so much easier to use in daily life...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

OFF TOPIC: Scipio - have you looked at the Showcase METAMORPHO volume? I just got it this weekend but I believe it will provide fodder for many weeks worth of posts.

Oh -- and I prefer the helpful information about adhesive tape - where else are you gonna get consumer advice like that?

Scipio said...

You didn't see my post on how Simon Stagg's giant lap snake chokes Java?!

Anonymous said...

I'm embarassed -- I thought I had read all of your archives, but somehow I missed that one till today.

Bones said...

>...so much easier to use in daily life

Depends on where you work.

Anonymous said...

When William Moulton Marston invented Wonder Woman, did she have the ability to fly? Because she can fly at this point, and when I was growing up, that didn't seem to be one of her powers. Does anyone have any idea when this got introduced? I mean, wasn't there a reason she needed an invisible jetplane in the first place?

Can't keep up with every revision...

Anonymous said...

I think Wonder Woman has an invisible plane for the same reason Batman has a car or I take the subway. Just because she can fly doesn't mean she can fly that fast or that far without getting tired.

J'onn J'onzz, Martian Manhunter said...

Both sound like things a robber would say.

Runs into door
Robber 1: Put your hands up. We have a hostage. *whispers to "hostage" on chair* Are your bonds comfortable? The adhesive tape [over your mouth] will not hurt you.

Yes I have a blog as of yesterday. martianmanhunter.blogspot.com

Scipio said...

" When William Moulton Marston invented Wonder Woman, did she have the ability to fly?"

No, she did not. The Golden Age Wonder Woman could not fly.

In the Silver Age, that was inconvenient. So it was posited that she could "right the air currents" in the upper atmosphere. She couldn't necessarily fly to Paris, but she could have an aerial dogfight (as she did against Superwoman, for example). It was always awkward at best.

When she was recreated after Crisis, the retcon included Hermes as one of her patron gods, and the gift of flight came from him.

The Invisible Plane was another of Marston's science metaphors. Just as the magic lasso stood for the lie detector (which he invented), the invisible plane stood for stealth plane technology for avoiding radar.

Anonymous said...

So Scipio, you probably know the answer to this:

Which of Wonder Woman's powers was she "born" with and which come from her armor/bathing suit/weapons of the gods?

Like, was the contest to choose who would represent the Amazons fair at all?

Scipio said...

Originally, Wonder Woman had not powers other than those are ordinary Amazon would have. She was simply the best of the best.

The magic lasso was the only external device with powers, and she did not orignally have it. It was a gift from the gods, by way of her mother, during the Golden Age, to help her complete her mission (much like the gifts Zeus gives Perseus in "Clash of the Titans").

I know that when she was rebooted, she was given special powers (such as flying).

Anonymous said...

Thanks!

erm, so what's the deal with the bracers?

And the tiara?

Oh, and the bathing suit?