Broadcast this Sunday, January 29 at 9:10 p.m. on TF1, wonder woman takes certain liberties with the source material, especially regarding the era. So why these discrepancies with the chronology of the comics? Tele-Leisure explains to you.
There was a time when comics were all about male characters. Superman, Batman, Flash, or even Captain America, who will be the subject of a new film, reigned supreme in the boards of American comic books. A certain William Moulton Marston then wishes to develop this exclusively male conception of the superhero. In the early 1940s, this psychologist was an editorial advisor for All-American Publications (a publishing company that would merge with DC Comics). To go against the current of this universe, particularly criticized for its violence, it proposes a strong female character in order to promote another type of model for youth: Wonder Woman. Little by little, this superheroine met with enormous success, even becoming one of the main figures of Marvel’s competing stable… Before being entitled to a series, and more recently to a film worn by Gal Gadot released in 2017.
A size difference
Originally in the comics, Steve Trevor, a United States Air Force pilot crash lands on an island populated only by women. Among these Amazons, warriors with mythological origins having superhuman powers, is Diana (who will become Wonder Woman), the daughter of Queen Hippolyte. Quite logically, William Moulton Marston places his story in his time, in other words during the Second World War. However, the film directed by Patty Jenkins takes place… in 1918. So why this choice of temporality? The producer Charles Roven evokes above all the idea of developing this powerful and independent female character at the time of the first suffragettes. He also suggests a whole other reason. “The intricacies of the early 20th century convey the horror of modern warfare”he explains in comments reported by Allocinated.
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“She is part of a war where heroes do not exist”evokes the producer Charles Roven
Going to the end of his idea, Charles Roven specifies: “It was the first war that was not fought in close combat but rather from afar, with a certain distance. Previously, even shooting someone had to be done up close and therefore you had to face the gaze of your opponent. Whereas in World War I, you could bomb a place without even seeing your enemy or anything else you were destroying. Killing became easier.”. A dynamic of “war machine” faced by Diana Prince: “Up until then, Wonder Woman was fighting warriors who deserved respect and admiration and suddenly she’s part of a war where heroes don’t exist because you can’t be a hero if you don’t know who we’re up against.” This choice of time therefore carefully considered.
