Yes, I said all that in my post. And noted that DC has now changed her origin story back.
Sorry, and not being adversarial in any way, but do you have a citation for that? Google doesn’t say much. and I’m very curious about it.
No problem.
I definitely left the theater thinking it had been clearly communicated that Zeus was Wonder Woman’s actual father, and that the “made from clay” story was a lie. I can’t remember the exact lines that gave me this impression, though.
I don’t know that I give much weight to the argument “Wonder Woman has to be made out of clay because that’s what happened in the comics”, when it comes to interpreting the movie. Especially given that they made other significant changes, like setting her origin during World War I. Plus, the daughter of Zeus version might still have been the status quo at the time the movie was being written.
Also, I don’t really think “made from clay” is as central to Wonder Woman’s character as “Batman’s parents were murdered” (which gives him his motivation to fight crime) or “Superman is from the planet Krypton” (which explains why he has powers). The most important element of Wonder Woman’s origin, to my thinking, is the whole “raised on an island of mythical women warriors” thing.
Awesome. Thanks for that.
There was a line in the movie where Hippolyta told Diana “That was just a story.” But she was talking about Ares being responsible for the war.
My understanding it that it was controversial at the time. The Amazons had traditionally been portrayed as a benevolent, if isolated, society and Themyscira was regarded as “Paradise Island”.
Azzarello decided to darken it up. He created a dark secret behind Themyscira and the Amazons. They were not isolated from men. Instead they would kidnap men and force them to have sex so they could reproduce. The men would then be murdered. Any daughters that resulted would be raised as Amazons. And any sons were sold into slavery so the Amazons had money to buy weapons.
A lot of people didn’t like this idea. Some didn’t like it because it was changing comic book history. Some didn’t like it as part of a general pattern of darkening comic books. And some saw it specifically as an anti-feminism message. The Amazons were a society of supposedly independent women. But they really secretly needed men after all. And trying to live without men turned them into murderous man-haters.
Zeus being Diana’s father was part of this. It meant that Wonder Woman, like all the other Amazons, needed a man to create her. And that the source of Wonder Woman’s powers came from her father not her mother.
Is this a valid interpretation? I don’t know. But it exists and there are a number of people saying this. And, admittedly, there are a lot of people taking the opposite side. There are plenty of people who think Azzarello did a great job on Wonder Woman and revived interest in the character. What I think is clear is that a controversy over this issue exists. Which may be why the movie script kept some ambiguity over Diana’s origins.
I just saw the movie for the second time the other night. At one point in the climactic battle Ares calls Diana “sister,” and she calls him “brother,” strongly suggesting she knows they are both children of Zeus.