Please, Call Me Diana Prince

The new movie "Wonder Woman" recently had a big opening weekend. It brought in an estimated $100.5 million which makes it the biggest opening ever for a female director. It is also the first major superhero film to be led by a woman. To tell you the truth, while those facts are impressive, I really don't care about that. What I care about is what Wonder Woman is now wearing. Her outfit is quite different from what I remember as a child of the 70's.

I loved Wonder Woman. I was obsessed with her. In fact, I made visitors that came to our home call me Diana Prince, her civilian alias. No joke. Linda Carter, who played the role of Wonder Woman on the television show which ran from 1975-1979, was in my mind the perfect woman role model (besides my mom). She was strong, intelligent, beautiful, and she had lots of cool gadgets - golden lasso, bullet proof wrist cuffs, tiara and awesome red boots. She was a princess crime fighter and at age 5 - that is what I wanted to be. I even had the Underoos to prove it.

Now at age 5, I did not realize how impractical her "costume" was. It must have been hard to round up bad guys while half naked. Look at Batman - fully clothed plus cape, Spiderman- fully clothed plus face mask. Heck, even Hulk had pants on. But Wonder Woman's MO was high healed boots and a tube top. I have only had one strapless dress in my life and when I wore it I spent the entire evening hiking it back up. Not once after Wonder Woman wrangled bad guys did I notice her make a breast adjustment. I guess superheroes do not have the problems of us mere mortals.

Of course at 5 I didn't notice the "sexiness" of Wonder Woman. Only when I got older did it occur to me the impracticality of her outfit and the fact that sex played a role in her ability to fight crime. I guess there is some element of sexuality to all superheroes men and women. None of them are unattractive. (Hey, some people like bulky green people.) But again, one is less clothed than the others.  I have yet to see the new Wonder Woman movie to accurately compare it with recent blockbusters with leading males.

With all that being said, I still was a little upset that the Wonder Woman of my youth got a make over. The starry blue hot pant bottoms are gone, traded in for a slightly longer skirt. Her bosom area is now protected by a more concealing earth tone armor type corset. I don't remember the old Wonder Woman having a shield but I guess these days superheroes need all the help they can get. She still has some sassy boots and shows a bit of skin, but I read the costume designer tried to make the outfit more practical and in my opinion she somewhat succeeded.

Let's face it, to make a Wonder Woman movie successful she could not be covered head to toe. There had to be a sexy element in order to compete with the blockbuster male characters and rake in the cash at the box office, but wouldn't it be nice if all superheroes were on an equal playing field? Why couldn't we put Batman in a Speedo with a utility belt next time Joker comes to town? And Hulk - let's hike up the length on those ripped jeans to maybe a few inches below the thigh. Hey Thor, I think a kilt might be just the right touch to free you up a little on the battlefield.

Wonder Woman has come a long way. And even before the 1970's version, one of people given credit for her creation, William Moulton Marston, wanted to create a character with the attributes of Superman combined with the beauty and goodness of a woman. Hopefully this latest movie will pave the way for other women superheroes at the box office because lets face it, I just want to see what they wear to get the job done. Sometimes I solve a lot problems before I even get out of my pajamas.

My actual Wonder Woman mirror circa 1979ish.