Is Wonder Woman Born Sexy Yesterday?

I’ve been asked hundreds of times about whether or not I think Diana’s origin story in the new Wonder Woman movie fits into the Born Sexy Yesterday trope. So I thought I’d take a few minutes to offer my thoughts on this question. [Mild spoilers to follow].

The short answer is not really, but I can see why the question comes up so often as there are definitely strong echoes of the trope in Jenkins’ film. Although in this case, I’d argue there are fundamental differences that serve to mitigate most of the negative implications. 

Born Sexy Yesterday is a science fiction convention in which the mind of a naive, yet highly skilled, girl is written into the body of a mature sexualized woman. She essentially exists as part of a sexual power fantasy for the male lead. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, is very much Diana’s story. Yes, she is naive and doesn’t understand the human world or its customs but, to its credit, the film doesn’t frame her lack of knowledge as something “sexy," instead it centers on her growth.

In the department store scene, for example, Diana goes to disrobe in front of everyone but both Steve and Etta stop her before she can. This means the scene doesn’t end up being the moment of titillation for the audience that it easily could have been in the hands of many other directors. Annoyingly, some of the supporting male characters in the film do actively oggle Diana, though it’s quite remarkable that the cinematography doesn't follow their lead and mostly avoids framing her in objectified ways. The camera doesn’t pause, follow or linger on her body in a sexualized way even when she's fighting in her Amazon outfit. And I gotta say, it’s refreshing to see a female superhero whose power isn’t framed as something largely derived from her sex appeal.

There’s no shortage of criticism of the film’s representations out there and I understand and sympathize with those who are frustrated with a female superhero origin story that hinges on her worldly innocence (especially since this almost never happens with male heroes). Still I do think Wonder Woman largely avoids falling into this particular trope. Let me know what you all think in the comments below.

YouTube and Bogus Copyright Claims 

If you tried to watch the Born Sexy Yesterday video this week you might have noticed it disappeared from YouTube for a few days. That’s because for the second time Celestial Pictures filed a bogus takedown to have it remove from the internet. Celestial Pictures owns rights to the 1977 film “The Mighty Peking Man” of which I used 38 seconds in my critique. My video essay is clearly a fair use of that footage. And both times YouTube has agreed with me on that and restored the video to their service. However there’s no guarantee Celestial Pictures won’t try to pull this kind of shenanigans again. Luckily, I sit on the advisory board of a cool organization called New Media Rights which offers legal help to independent online media makers. I’m hopeful that, with their help, we can keep the video online. Bogus copyright claims are a constant issue for my channel, as most large media companies like to pretend that fair use doesn't exist at all. So if you see one of my videos has been taken down (or has ads placed on it) just be patient. I’ve always managed to get the claim reversed, it may just take some time. 

Big Bang Theory Videos 

I’m still working on my analysis of the representations of manhood on The Big Bang Theory. I re-watched all 230 episodes this month and wow, there’s so much to talk about! I’ll definitely be publishing 2 video essays over the summer deconstructing the show. One on geeky Sexism in Hollywood. And another on the ways geeky guys reproduce some of the toxic aspects of hypermasculinity within their own friendships and subcultures. I'll have another update about these upcoming videos soon. 

Thanks again for all your support!

-Jonathan